tent only. Lord Rawdon then proceeded to censure the ministers, especially for the fourteenth article of the convention, by which the King of Spain promises not to exercise any act of severity against the Mosquitos inhabiting in part the countries which are to be evacuated. on account of the connexions which may have subsisted between the said Indians and the English, which his lordship declared to be "a most degrading humiliation of Great Britain.” The Earl of Carlisle, in the same manner, spoke of the Mosquito shore as a settlement that had been in the undisturbed possession of Great Britain for more than a century. He considered the ministers especially censurable "for having hung up the humiliation of Great Britain in every court in Europe, in an article so degrading to the national honor as the 14th article of the convention, because there could be no secret reason for such a mortifying sacrifice of the spirit of the country." Lord Stormont, likewise, particularly enlarged on the 14th article as an unnecessary degradation of the country; and aid "the Mosquito Indians had proved themselves faithful allies, and Led in variably adhered to the interests of Great Britain." He contende that "they were an independent people, and that we had no right whatever to deliver them over to the Spanish yoke." On the part of the ministry, the Duke of Manchester and the Marquis of Carmarthen said very little more than in support of their own personal agency in the treaty of 1783, and the convention of 1786; the defence being left to the lord chancellor, the champion of the administration, who left the woolsack, and in a most masterly manner answered the various arguments that had been urged in support of the motion. He began with declaring that "he had expected to have heard the question spoken to with that degree of explicitness and candor that belonged to it. He had looked for more accuracy of description, in point of geographical character, than had been attempted. The Mosquito shore had been talked of as a tract of country extending between four and five hundred miles, without the smallest mention of the swamps and morasses with which it was interspersed, nor any allowance for the parts of it that were actually impossible to be either cultivated or inhabited. With regard to settlements, it would be imagined, by those who were strangers to the fact, that there had been a regular government, a regular council, and established laws peculiar to the territory; when the fact was, there neither had existed one nor the other." His lordship went into the history of the settlement, tracing it down from the year 1650 to the year 1777, mentioning Lord Godolphin's treaty, and all its circumstances, and deducing arguments from each fact he mentioned, to prove that the Mosquito shore never had been fairly deemed to be a British settlement; but that a detachment of soldiers had been landed from the island of Jamaica, who had erected fortifications, which had been afterwards abandoned by order of the government at home. He instanced the transactions on the subject of the peace of Paris, in 1763, when Governor Lyttleton governed Jamaica, and enlarged upon them to show that this country, by the peace of Paris, had renounced whatever claim she might before that period have fancied she had a right to maintain; and had given a fresh proof of her having done so, in the year 1777, when Lord George Germaine, the secretary of the American department, sent out Mr. Lawrie to the Mosquito shore to see that the stipulations of that treaty between this country and Spain were carried fully into execution. His lordship enlarged very much on these particulars; and after enforcing and applying them to the arguments that had been urged in defence of the motion, proceeded to notice what Lord Carlisle had said on the delicacy of questions of that sort, declaring that he had been happy to hear the matter so judiciously observed upon. His lordship said he should have been extremely glad if the whole grounds of the transactions could, with prudence and propriety, have been gone into; but as that could not be done, he must meet the matter as he found it. With regard to the degradation of the country that the 14th article was pretended to hold out, he denied the fact. The Mosquitos were not our allies, they were not a people we were bound by treaty to protect, nor were there anything like the number of British subjects there that had been stated; the number having been, according to the last report from thence, only 120 men, and 16 women. The fact was, we had procured (by contract, if the noble lord pleased) a stipulation that the king of Spain would not punish those British subjects, and the Mosquitos, who had possessed themselves improperly of the rights belonging to the Spanish crown, and, in consequence of such irregular possession, had persisted for a course of time, but with frequent interruption, in the enjoyment of those rights. His lordship repelled the argument that the settlement was a regular and legal settlement with some sort of indignation; and, so far from agreeing, as had been contended, that we had uniformly remained in the quiet and unquestionable possession of our claim to the territory, he called upon the noble Viscount Stormont to declare, as a man of honor, whether he did not know the contrary." The purport of Lord Stormont's answer is not given. Lord Rawdon, however, defended his motion, and produced some documents by General Dalling, when governor of Jamaica, to prove that a superintendent had been sent over to the settlement on the Mosquito shore, at that time, with a view to form a government. The lord chancellor replied that he was aware of the application for a charter; but he wished the noble lord had mentioned the answer that was given to that application when it was made. His lordship said "the having sent a superintendent over with a view to the estab lishment of a regular council, &c., did not, by any means, prove that the government at home had countenanced the scheme. He referred the noble lord to what had been before stated relative to the conduct of Governor Lyttleton, in 1763, and of Lord George Germaine, in 1777, as an ample proof that, let what would have been the state of the Mosquito shore, or the opinion of this country, in 1744 or 1748, the idea of settling there had been changed completely since, and the fortifications recently abandoned and withdrawn." After some further debate, (the particulars of which are not given,) the question was taken and decided against Lord Rawdon's motion to condemn the convention by a vote of fifty-three to seventeen.* Nothing could be more fatal-not the treaty of 1786 itself-to the pretensions set up by Great Britain for herself and the Mosquito Indians, than this debate and the vote on the motion to censure the treaty of 1786. The lords who supported the motion of censure on the administration, for having made the treaty, assert, it is true, that Great Britain and her ally, the Mosquitos, had rights before the treaty of 1786, but admit that these rights were given up by that treaty. This position destroys the pretensions of Great Britain, both for herself and the Mosquitos, of having rights there after that treaty. On the other hand, Lord Thurlow, in his defence of the administration, denied all claims on the part of the Mosquito Indians, as well as on the part of Great Britain, except what was given by the clause relative to the Belize. His position, which was concurred in by nearly the whole house of lords, is therefore equally fatal to these pretensions of the British government. In one view or the other, the vote of ole house of lords is an acknowledgment that Great Britain, after 1,86, had no rights whatever in Central America, or in that vicinity, except the limited usufruct to a small tract of country-the Belize-not claimed as a part of Central America, and that the Mosquito Indians had no sovereign rights to any territory whatever. * The acts of Parliament show that Great Britain had no dominion. there not even in the Belize; and by four treaties, three with Spain and one with the United States, (that of the 19th of April, 1850,) she has precluded herself from interposing in the affairs of Central America. I therefore trust you will encounter but little difficulty in inducing her to abandon unfounded pretensions, and to respect these solemn treaty stipulations. The whole Central American question, so far as Great Britain has seen fit to connect herself with it, is entirely confided to your management, under such instructions as you may from time to time desire, or such as the President may consider himself called upon to furnish, in the progress of the discussions which may arise thereon. * * * * * * I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES BUCHANAN, Esq., &c., &c., &c. * * W. L. MARCY. Mr. Marcy to Mr. Buchanan. [No. 11.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 12, 1853. SIR: Your two despatches, No. 3, (July 27,) and No. 4, (August 24,) have been received. I herewith transmit to you the President's full power to conclude a treaty with Great Britain in regard to the Central American questions. A copy of the despatch of her Majesty's This debate is found more at large in Parliamentary Register, 1787, vol. 22. principal secretary of state for foreign affairs to Mr. Crampton, containing the "overtures, &c., dated January 19, 1853, was forwarded to you from this department on the 30th of July last. I do not find any other document on file in the State Department containing overtures, &c., on the Central American questions; but it is probable that in the conferences between my predecessors and the British minister, in relation to the Mosquito protectorate and the affairs of San Juan, (Greytown,) overtures may have been suggested by him. The general views of the President in regard to Central American affairs were presented in the first instructions with which you were furnished. The President did not deem it necessary to be more explicit as to the points of difference which might arise until he was fully possessed of the views of her Majesty's government. The main object to be accomplished is to induce the British government to withdraw from all interference in the political affairs of the Central American states and the adjacent islands. It is quite evident, judging by communications received from her Majesty's government, particularly in regard to the difficulties at San Juan de Nicaragua, that a difference of opinion between it and the United States exists as to the construction and effect of the Clayton and Bulwer treaty; but how wide that difference is, and on what particular points it is raised, have not yet been very clearly disclosed. This difference will be, as the President presumes, fully known when these matters shall be brought by you under the consideration of the British government. Your intimate knowledge of the subject in all its bearings, and of the general views of the President which are embodied in your instructions, will enable you to cover the whole American ground in opening the negotiation. How much will be conceded and how much contested by Great Britain remains to be seen. Until points of difference are discussed, and the views opposed to those here entertained are fully considered, the President does not deem it advisable to fix on ultimata. These, if desired in a more advanced state of the negotiation, will be furnished. In relation to the Belize I believe your instructions are sufficiently explicit. To the territorial extent, and for the limited uses, described in her treaty of 1786 with Spain, Great Britain has a right to continue in possession of that country. Though the United States cannot claim as a matter of right that she shall altogether withdraw from Belize, it is a very important object to prevail on her to give up that territory, now regarded as of very little value. This government is not aware that Great Britain claims to have full sovereignty over it; but, if she does, the United States would contest that claim, and regard the assertion of it as an infringement of the Monroe doctrinea doctrine which it is the policy of the President to maintain. I believe Great Britain has never defined the character of her claim to possess what is called "the colony of the Bay Islands." It does not appear to be one of her organized colonies. She has not, in explicit language, claimed sovereignty over it, though her acts have indicated such a purpose. Whatever may have been her rights or pretension to rights over this colony, they were all given up, according to the view here taken of the subject, by the Clayton and Bulwer treaty. The President cannot conceive that Great Britain can have any plausible grounds for excepting this possession from the operation of that treaty, and he is quite sure she can allege none to which he could concede; yet he thinks it the wiser course to give her an opportunity to explain her views thereon before presenting a solemn and formal protest against her further occupancy of that colony. The President expects that you will treat this subject in such a manner as to leave no doubt on the minds of her Majesty's ministers that the abandonment of that colony will be insisted on by the United States. It is presumed that the only part of that colony to which England will Le disposed to attach much value, or have any inducement to retain, is the island of Ruatan. From an intimation made to me, it may be the she will take the position that this island does not belong to any of the Central American States, but is to be regarded in the same condition as one of the West India islands. By reference to the treaties between Great Britain and Spain, you will find this island clearly recognised as a Spanish possession, and a part of the old viceroyalty of Guatemala. Should an attempt be made to distinguish between this island and the States of Central America, upon the ground above suggested, it is probable that more full information than we now have in regard to that subject may be obtained from, or through, Mr. Molina, the diplomatic representative near this government from Costa Rica and Guatemala. On receiving an intimation from you that further information thereon may be necessary, every effort will be here made to procure and forward it to you. A copy of the convention of the 8th of February last will be forwarded to you. With this will be sent a copy of the Congressional Globe, if it can be procured, containing the debates of the last session of Congress, and the called session of the Senate. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES BUCHANAN, Esq., &c., &c., &c. W. L. MARCY. Mr. Marcy to Mr. Buchanan. [No. 21.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your despatch (No. 16) of the 12th ultimo came to hand yesterday, and was laid before the President. He approves entirely of the suggestion made by you to Lord Clarendon to place the Mosquito Indians in the same relation to Nicaragua that our own Indians sustain to the United States, since it is in strict accordance with the views of this government on that subject, as will be seen from the following |