Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/29

 assigned for reducing it to 200,000 Dollars from 237,000 at which it had been fixed, was his having received what he considered as positive information of these two facts, the one, that this Vessel, the Pss Royal, had been actually re-delivered to her owners, in good condition, at the Port of Macao; the other, that the Vice Roy of Mexico had not only advanced a considerable sum of Money to Captn Colnett, but provided, at the King of Spain's expence, for the entire re-equipment of his Ship, the Argonaut. Now it appears pretty clearly from this letter and from Colnett's former narrative, 1°, that in adjusting the proposed compromise, the value of the Pss Royal and her original cargo ought to be taken into account, since tho' tendered at Macao, she was not actually restored, and the Tender itself, considering the circumstances in which she then was, was little better than illusory; and 2°, that Captn Colnet was obliged, tho' as it should seem, contrary to the Vice Roy's intentions, to expend at St Bias almost the whole of the money with which he had been supplied at Mexico, in the necessary repairs and refitting of his Vessel; so that, as the Spaniards were confessedly bound to restore both Ships in statu quo, they are plainly not entitled to charge that advance of money as making part of the stipulated indemnification. I presume therefore, as I mentioned above, that the Spanish Minister, on his being made acquainted with the substance of these two papers, must immediately see that the information which had led him to lower hia intended offer, was by no means correct, and consequently agree to fix it, as before, at 237,000 Dollars, which sum, rating the Dollar at only 4s and 2d, which I believe is less than its present value, would amount to within a few hundred Pounds of the 50,000 £ demanded by the Claimants, but I think that it would be better to try to obtain the augmentation by this mode, than by proposing as Messrs Meares & Etches recommend, that the 200,000 Dollars now offered should be rated at 5s each, so as to render the effective payment about 240,000 Dollars. For Count d'Aranda would not