28 HERBERT INGRAM PRIESTLY
show them. If it be objected that we are here taking Martinez' testimony in his own cause, it is yet plain that his account of the quarrel and arrest in the cabin written at the moment have quite as much air of verisimilitude as the accounts of the other participants, which were equally partisan, and were written later. Notice also Duf fin's letter of July 14 [13], in Meares' Voyage, cited by Dr. Manning (p. 336), wherein the writer calls attention to Colnett's refusal at Duffin's request, to "draw out every particular concerning our being captured. . . . His objection is that he has involved himself . . . in difficulties that he is not able to extricate himself from. . . ." Manning's conjecture is that this refusal was for shame of his (Colnett's) insanity; it is quite as reasonable to conjecture that it was due to the fact that he had been rash in putting himself in a situation where seizure was the normal outcome of his actions. It is noticeable that Duffin's account, the one written by the only sane English participant, exculpates Martinez from the charge of harshness, and puts the blame for the situation upon Colnett by implication, in his letter in Meares' Voyage, Appendix.
With regard to the capture of the Princess Royal, Capt. Hudson, which returned to Nootka July 13, the log adds to Bancroft's account, which merely states the event in a dozen words, and to the more detailed narrative of Manning, the assertion that when Hudson put off to the shore in his boat he was disguised as a common seaman. He was, as the English accounts have it also, taken from his boat onto the Spanish launch sent to meet him, and disarmed; but his boat succeeded in eluding the capturing launch, made off to an inlet too narrow for the latter, and attempted to speak to Colnett on the captured packet. This, Martinez refused to permit, unless the crew should surrender themselves, to be taken on board his frigate. (Log pp. 130-131.) "As soon as I had descended to my cabin and found Hudson there, I com- manded him to write an order directing his sloop to enter the
