have thought proper to receive, concerning Mosquito, the remonstrances of those neighbouring Republics which have successively risen in America on the ruins of the Spanish Empire; even then it may be observed that no remonstrance was made by any of such Republics for many years after the protectorale of Great Britain over Mosquito had been a fact well known to them; and, moreover, that when such remonstrances were made, they were made with similar pretensions, not by one only, but by several, of those Governments, insomuch that, if the Mosquito Indians were at this moment withdrawn altogether from the portion of America which they now inhabit, and if it were permitted to the States of Spanish origin to inherit, each respect~ ively, the claims of their parent State, it would still be a question on which of the claimants the territory thus left unoccupied would of right devolve; whilst it is certain that such withdrawal, without previous arrangements, would lead to contests alike disadvantageous to the real interests of the several States, and to the general prosperity of Central America herself.

Thus much with reference to the conduct and position of Spain and the Central American States with regard to the British protectorate in Mosquito; but, with respect to the conduct and position of the United States relative thereto, Mr. Buchanan is mistaken in thinking that the United States' Government has always contested and resisted the position assumed by Great Britain on the Mosquito coast.

It may be true that the United States were not informed of the position of Great Britain in respect to Mosquito until 1842, but they were then informed of it; and yet there is no trace of their having alluded to this question in their communications with Her Majesty's Government up to the end of 1849. Nay, in 1850, when the President of the United States presented to Congress various papers relative to the affairs of Central America, it will be seen that, on introducing these affairs to the attention of Congress, the President's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs expressly says that the Government of Nicaragua, in November 1847, solicited the aid of the United States' Government to prevent an anticipated attack on San Juan by the British forces acting on behalf of the Mosquito King, but received no answer: That the President of Nicaragua adressed the President of the United States at the same time, and received no answer: That, in April 1848, the United States' Consul at Nicaragua, at the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of that Republic, stated the occupation of San Juan by a British force, but was not answered: That on the 5th of November, 1848, M. Castellon, proceeding to London from Nicaragua and then to Washington, adressed a letter to the United States' Secretary of State, soliciting his intervention with regard to the claims of Great Britain in right of the Mosquito King, and received no answer: That on the 12th of January, 1849, Mr. Bancroft, then Representative of the United States to the Court of St. James, referring to M. Castellon's arrival in London, and the subject of his mission to settle the affairs of San Juan de Nicaragua with the British Government, said: "I think it proper

to state to you my opinion that Lord Palmerston will not recede. I have of course taken no part;" and that again, in March, Mr. Bancroft wrote that M. Castellon would be anxious to seek advice from the United States, but that he had always made answer to him,,,that he was not authorised to offer advice."

It would thus seem, on the authority of the United States' Government itself, that up to the end of 1849, the United States' Government had made no remark or remonstrance to Great Britain on the subject of her protectorate of Mosquito; and that even with respect to the capture of San Juan de Nicaragua (now called Greytown), the United States' Minister in London was not authorised to take any steps concerning it, nor even to afford to the Commissioner from Nicaragua the benefit of his counsels and good offices thereupon; and it is but right to observe that the United States' Government pursued by this course towards Her Majesty's Government that friendly and considerate poliey which Her Majesty's Government always wishes to pursue, and has pursued, towards the United States' Government, when that Government has had differences with other Powers.

With regard to the Grounds on which Her Majesty's Government made the capture of San Juan de Nicaragua in 1848, the desire of Her Majesty's Government to avoid all subjects of controversy on which it is not absolutely necessary to enter, restrains it from here adverting to the documents which stated the reasons on which Her Majesty's Government came to the resolution it at that time adopted: and indeed, as those documeats were laid before Parliament, and communicated offi~ cially to the United States' Government, it would be superfluous now to recapitulate their contents.

With regard to the doctrine laid down by Mr. President Monroe in 1823, concerning the future colonization of the American continents by European States, as an international axiom which ought to regulate the conduct of European States, it can only be viewed as the dictum of the distinguished personage who delivered it; but Her Majesty's Government cannot admit that doctrine as an international axiom which ought to regulate the conduct of European States.

The doctrine with regard to the incapacity of the Indians to exercise the rights of Sovereign Powers, must also remain a doctrine on which each State which has to deal with such Indians must be free to exercise its own policy and to follow the dictates of its own conscience.

It is certainly true that Great Britain, Spain, and the United States were all at one time in the habit of treating the Indian races in the manner which Mr. Buchanan describes; but this past practice, though general, cannot be taken as an invariable guide for any future policy. The period has not yet passed beyond the memory of man at which Great Britain and the United States, now so nobly distinguished in suppressing the Slave Trade, practised and encouraged that trade, and deemed it legitimate.

The project of a free Republic, composed chiefly of negroes

from the United States, and originally established under the enlightened and humane patronage of the United States, would have been deemed, fifty years ago, an absurd and impossible chimera: yet Libería exists, and now flourishes as an independent State. Already, Great Britain, in her own dealings with Indians, has recognised their rulers as independent Chiefs; whilst, in her Treaties with foreign Powers, she has spoken of their tribes as nations, and stipulated for the restoration of their possessions.

Thus on all the above-mentioned topics Her Majesty's Government, without seeking to impose any opinions on the United States' Government, claims a right to hold its own opinions; nor does it indeed appear necessary, although doubtless it would be desirable, that Her Majesty's Government and the United States' Government should be perfectly agreed with respect to them.

The one remaining subject to be discussed is, however, of a very different character. It relates to a question in which Great Britain and the United States are both directly concerned, and in regard to which it is a matter both of honour and interest that they should avoid all misunderstandings or disagree

ments.

This subject is the rightful interpretation of a Treaty engagement to which Great Britain and the United States are parties.

Mr. Buchanan lays it down as a fact that Great Britain held the sovereignty of the Mosquito Coast prior to 1850, and he then states that Great Britain still continues to hold this sovereignty, although the Treaty of 1850 prohibits her from so doing.

But Mr. Buchanan confounds the two conditions of a Sovereignty and of a Protectorate, and under this error treats the agreement,,not to colonise, nor occupy, nor fortify, nor assume, nor exercise dominion over," as including an agreement not to protect.

With respect to sovereignty, Great Britain never claimed, and does not now claim, or hold, any sovereignty in or over Mosquito; but with respect to the Protectorate which Great Britain has long exercised over Mosquito, Her Majesty's Government asserts that the Treaty of 1850 did not, and was not meant to, annihilate such protectorate, but simply to confine its powers and limit its influence.

Now the spirit of a Treaty must always be inferred from the circumstances under which it takes place, and the true construction of a Treaty must be deduced from the literal meaning of the words employed in its framing.

The circumstances under which the Treaty of 1850 took place were the following:

Up to March 1849, i. c., one whole year after the capture of San Juan de Nicaragua by the British forces, the United States' Government made no observation, as it has already been stated to the British Government, having any allusion to this But in November 1849 Mr. Laurence, then just arrived in England as the Representative of the United States' Government, addressed a note to Lord Palmerston, not asking any

act.

question as to the British Protectorate of Mosquito, but requesting to know whether Her Majesty's Government would join with the United States in guaranteeing the neutrality of a shipcanal, railway, or other communication between the two oceans, to be opened to the world, and common to all nations, and whether the British Government intended to occupy or colonise Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, so called, or any part of Central America. To this note Lord Palmerston replied by stating that Her Majesty's Government had no intention to occupy or colonise Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, nor any part of Central America, and that Her Majesty's Government would feel great pleasure in combining and cooperating with the Government of the United States for the purpose of assisting the operations of a Company which might be formed with a view to establish a general communication by canal or railroad across the isthmus separating the northern and southern portions of the American Continent, both by offering security for the works while in progress, and when completed and in use, and by placing such communication, through the means of political arrangements, beyond the reach of molestation, disturbance, or obstacle, by reason of international disputes which may at any time unfortunately arise; upon the conditions, moreover, that such communication should at all times be open and accessible for the commerce of all nations, and on equal terms for all.

These notes, copies of which are hereunto annexed, are of great importance, inasmuch as they laid the foundation for the subsequent Convention of Washington, whilst they explain the nature of the feelings entertained at that time by the United States' Government and by the Government of Her Majesty.

It was clear that the United States' Government, which had regarded the affairs of Central America not long before with comparative indifference, had had its attention lately called to this part of the world by its acquisition of California, and the discovery of the ore which that region was found to contain circumstances which rendered of vast importance some safe and rapid means of communication between the possessions of the United States on the Pacific, and the possessions of the United States on the Atlantic.

A project of a canal communication, moreover, through the State and Lake of Nicaragua and the River San Juan was then in contemplation, and Nicaragua had granted to a company of American citizens whatever rights it possessed over this proposed line of traffic.

Great Britain, however, by having placed a people under her protection in possession of the port and town of San Juan de Nicaragua, might exert her influence either to prevent this Canal being formed, or, if she allowed it to be formed, might aim, through her Protectorate, at acquiring over such Canal peculiar rights or absolute control.

The Government of the United States was therefore justly anxious to know whether the British Government would favour or impede the construction of a Canal by the River San Juan, and whether it would attempt to establish predominant and

permanent power over this Canal, by colonising, fortifying, occupying, or taking absolute possession of the country through which it passed.

The mere Protectorate of Great Britain, stripped of those attributes which affected the construction and the freedom of the proposed Canal, was of small consequence to the United States; but, connected with those attributes, it was a matter of great importance.

On the other hand, Her Majesty's Government, which had just expelled the Nicaraguans from Greytown (or San Juan de Nicaragua) and the country adjacent, and had formally discussed and finally rejected the claims of the Nicaraguan Government to these contested possessions, could not with honour or credit retire, at the mere interposition of the United States, from the position it had assumed, or abandon the long-established British Protectorate over the Mosquitos, and allow the authorities of Nicaragua to reoccupy the ground from which they had so recently been driven. But Great Britain could clearly engage herself to the United States to do all that was required respecting the construction and protection of any canal-communication_to be enjoyed on equal terms by all nations, and she could also limit the powers of her Protectorate over Mosquito so as to remove all suspicion, or possibility, of her using it in any manner that would place such canal-communication under her exclusive authority and dominion.

Thus, when the drawing up of a Trealy afterwards took place, the object of the British negotiator, and, it must be presumed, that of both negotiators, necessarily was, to draw up such a Convention as, without conceding any specific point on which one party could not in honour yield, would make such concessions on all other points as the other party desired; and if the Convention in question be referred to, it will be seen that it is drawn up carefully in such a manner as to make it a matter of indifference, so far as the Canal is concerned, as to whether the port and town of San Juan are under the modified Protectorate of Great Britain, or under the Government of Nicaragua. Moreover, in drawing up this Treaty, both Mr. Clayton and Sir H. L. Bulwer referred to the notes which had passed between Lord Palmerston and Mr Laurence, and even made use of the precise terms which had been there employed, from which it must of necessity be inferred that they meant to transfer to their Convention, with the words which they borrowed, the meaning which had previously been attached to those words in the documents from which they extracted them; and a reference to such documents will at once show that Mr. Laurence, while be asked Her Majesty's Government whether it meant to occupy, fortify, colonize, or assume or exercise dominion over Mosquito, did not allude to the Protectorate of Great Britain over that country; and that Lord Palmerston, in declaring that Her Majesty's Government did not intend to do any of these things, expressly left the question concerning the political relations between Great Britain and the Mosquitos untouched.