The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-04 00:00:00

THE SION, LONDON;

M AGA ZINES, &c.—( CO NTIN tJED.) route across. the Isthmus, be under their entire
er,7±rol. Thev hove done this, as far Ls we
•.i. h'orn the Go-

1 . I t'.

UR NA I

the foal Laonthly part of this Joul-i:al Up. t's•itn
"A &mg tn my Readers," in which Dizl
Coil:
grazefally and gratefully thanlN h(1. 1111MCZ'CUS
readers tor their very gratifying putronage,, and
proini!es

v.rnatent tni, Com t:y. Aouther route, how-
sh'er, offers itself to public enterprise through the
Mosquito territory, and thence across Ni,.‘aragua or
Costa Rica to the Pacific. A counterfoil is here
_opened in case of any abuse of their privil-ges by the
United States Company, through the opportunity it
affords of a route for British trade to the Pacific.
The ‘,..'hole question then is this, are the United States
to monopolise both routes, or to have such a control
over the second route as to deprive the valuable com-
merce of this country of one independent communi-
cation across the isthmus from the Atlantic to the
Pacific? That instructions to oppose this have
been given to Mr. Bancroft, as has been recently
reported, is not credited ; but, if it be true, there is
no hesitation expressed as to what the answer of the
Government ought to be. The United States may
rely upon it, this country will back the Government
in any position it may take to protect its just and
necessary interests on this subject. It is perhaps not
generally known that, entering the river San Juan, at
Grey Town, steamers of small draft could run up to
the River Sarapiqui, in Costa Rica, and navigate it
likewise for some way up. From thence to the town
of San Jose, the capital of this little republic, there is
already a mule tract, the usual road of central Ame-
rica ; but, from San Josh to Punta Arenas, a good
road (the only one made throughout central America
since the independence) has been run to the Pacific.
The Costa Ricans are now engaged in forming a road
from San Jose to the Sarapiqui. When this is com-
pleted a good route will have been constructed from
sea to sca, and be the only one in existence on the
American continent. IVhile the Nicaraguans pos-
sessed the port of San Juan (now Grey Town), they
manifested great jealousy of the Costa Rica people, and
precluded their communicating this way with Europe.
The assertion by the British Government in 1847 of
their protectorate rights in Mosquito has again opened
out this country to improvement. Another question
exists, the most important which can now be pre-
sented to the consideration of this country—the proba-
bility that here will be found the most available po-
sition for the opening of a ship canal. If this is to be
effected, it must not be under the anarchial influences
of Nicaragua, or the monopolising spirit of the United
States ; and this can alone be prevented by Great
Britain continuing to maintain her connexion with
Mosquito, the origin of which is anterior to the ex-
istence of any of those settlements in North America
which now, in their independence, evince such a
narrow jealousy of the parent state.
"There can be no mistake as to this being the view
and fixed determination of Government, if we may
judge by the letter of Mr. Barclay, our Consul at
New York, to the agents of the New York and New
Orleans Steam Kavigation Company. Mr. Barclay
states, in referenece to an agreement made by these
parties with the Nicaragua Government, for the ex-
clusive right of navigating St. John's River, that
he is instructed officially to inform them' of the
boundary line of the Mosquito kingdom, and to
intimate to the company that the Port of St. John's,
now called Grey Town, at which they have agreed
with the Nicaragua Government to build a store, also
belongs to Mosquito; that her Majesty's Govern-
ment is bound to protect the King of Mosquito in
the exercise of the territorial rights which he pos-
sesses over Grey Town, and over the lower part of St.
John's River, and that the Government of Nicaragua
has entered into an agreement in regard to a place in
which it has no competence.' To this we would only
add that Nicaragua was not in the occupation of the
port of San Juan when it made the agreement re-
ferred to, and from the time of its independence of
Spain in 1823 it first took up a position at the mouth
of the San Juan (in usurpation of the rights of Mos-
quito) only about eight years prior to its compulsory
retirement before a mixed force of Mosquito militia
and British soldiery, and that from the outset the
King of Mosquito protested against the aggression,
and would have repelled it by force but for his reli-
ance on the intervention of this country, to which lie
had made appeal."

,l. C~

"that the future shall hatter the past;
That devotion shah sweeten my labour;
That ray working shall ha to set human luve free,
And make each one at peace with his neighbour."
Sueh has been the object of the Journal hitherto, and
it will be difficult, we should say, for its future to
better the past or the present. Eliz t Cook's contri-
butions to this fourth number are, besides the " Song
tom Readers," " The Bird in the Storm," " Our
Pather," and " Early to Bed and Early to Rise." The
latter is a beautiful and forceful illustration of the
homely proverb—
" Full many a day for ever is lost
By delaying its work till to-morrow;
The minutes of sloth have often cost
Long years of bootless sorrow."
We shall be glad to meet with many similarly useful
and beautiful elaborations of the popular proverb.
It is a theme well suited to the pen of Eliza Cook,
'whose muse ever loves to combine the utile and the
dulee. Among the prose contents of this part are
many most interesting tales, some of them founded
on facts, such as " The Heiress of the Spaldings."
The Poachers " is a tale of game-preserving, fraught
with a terrible interest. " The Young Lady who
was not Punctual " tells of a young lady who lost
her lover owing to her bad habit of losing her time;
such a lesson cannot fail to produce good effect.
„ Preparations for Pleasure " gives an amusing cc-
count of the miseries of a pic-nic party. We cannot,
however, particularise all the interesting contents of
four numbers of Eliza Cook's Journal. Silverpen
has contributed an article on Ragged Schools, written
With her accustomed earnestness, and another of her
beautifully natural home-pictures, "John Ashmore
of Birmingham." We notice with pleasure, among
the contributors to this part, Julia Kavanagh, the
authoress of that heart-touching tale of the triumph
of perseverance, " Madeleine of Auvergne," which
last season delighted so many readers. With such
additions to its original staff, Eliza Cook's Journal
promises to redeem its pledge, and, if possible,
to " better the past."

NICARAGUA AND THE M
QUITO TERRITORY
(From the Post.)
There is no doubt of the insatiable craving and
intolerance of democratic ambition. There can be
no reason then for surprise should the United States,
her appetite whetted by the spoil of Mexico and the
golden prize of California, desire to reserve in store
the Mosquito territory, and to reject by an arbitrary
mandate all notion of British protection. It is not,
however, the rich vegetation and prolific resources of
the eastern shores of the central American isthmus,
or the promise which these offer to the perseverance
of the industrious emigrant, which tempt her cupidity;
recent annexations have already added to the Union
vast domains of no inferior fertility, which it may
require centuries to people.
A. far grander purpose seems to be stirring up
republican bile. To monopolise the commerce of
the Pacific, to become the supreme arbiter of the
destinies of nations and people occupying the coasts
bathed by the wide-spread waters of that extensive
necan—theee are imperial conceptions, and a bold
though unscrupulous venture to obtain their realisa-
tion is more consistant with the character of the
present American Executive than that course of
Peddling intrigue which stamped with infamy all
concerned in the Texan affair.
We have before us in this question no matter of
.!Peculation on which to argue, but a broad material
Interest and plain right to sustain. The United States
have now obtained a permanent footing and practi-
cally a present dominion over the Isthmus of Panama.
"lice the contemplated railway completed, the only
;accessible transit passage for heavy merchandise from
the Atlantic to the Pacific will be under their sole
control. On this fact Lave been based their
calculations. As long as no intermediate route
shall exist, the facilities which will be afforded
ror traffic across Panama between Europe and
the Pacific, China, India, the Eastern Archipelago,
Australia; and New Zealand, promise to make this
the great channel of mercantile intercourse. The
bower of regulating the terms of that intercourse,
the tolls or transit dues to be charged, have become
the right of a company of United States citizens.
Already have the Government proposed preferential
tells and fares in favour of American trade. They
likewise claim, and will no doubt exercise, the right
eef transport across Panama for United States troops,
;end government stores and munitions of war. These
are no secret matters, they were openly mooted at the
Rest meeting of Congress, and were no doubt duly
I.epresented to the Foreign office by our minister at
Vashington, or he signally failed in his duty. We
k now not whether Lord Palmerston remonstrated.
Ihe Isthmus of Panama forms yet nominally a
p: art of the independent state of New Granada.
he course proposed to be pursued by the
aUnited States was instructive, and the remedy
lane pretty nearly in our own hands. The means of'
n?,rming an intermediate route, either for land car-
rl age or shipping, through the Mosquito territory,
s' ad Nicaragua or Costa Rica, offered a safeguard
gainst undue encroachments or injury to British
terests.
, This subject merits, from the prominence it is
likely to attain, to be well understood. With this
;surance we shall need no apology for here referring
oar readers to the interesting and valuable informs-
ti on which appeared upon it in our City article of
e
aturday.
As regards the question of international right, the
el Aim made by Nicaragua to the mouth of the St.
" ohn—nay, we believe, to the whole Mosquito ter-
ti tory, and to our colony of Belize besides—is un-
11$ aially preposterous. The pretensions of Nicaragua
1a credible as it may seem, are ernded simply on
Fite, that she is a revolted colony of Spain, and that,
4ralemuch as Spain claimed the Mosquito territory,
and it adjoins Nicaragua, the latter has a right to it
t ;be character of an inheritance.
`lThis illusory fabric, however, will quickly disap-
pee before a simple historical statement of the facts,
rich are briefly these. Spain never subjugated the
4413squito Indians, and never was able to establish a
Pan nmianent footing on any portion of the coast ex-
rt•
ding from Cape Honduras to the Chiriqui Lagoon;
bat
e on the contrary, a perpetual warfare and deadly
4at red existed between the Spaniards and these
..r
t liens. Moreover, at the time when the ancient
411) gdom of Guatimala, of which Nicaragua formed
Pat t, threw off the yoke of Spain, no portion of the
coa st was in the occupation of even a temporary
'ola:e. And had there been—as there neither was
nc,r ever has been—on that coast either a Spanish
ae ttlement or native population which has been sub-
jected to Spanish rule, so no revolt from Spain could
gi Ne any rights to Nicaragua, who can only lay claim
to such territory as may have been possessed or occu-
pi by her iebabitants when Spanish rule ceased over
th at portion of the American isthmus.
The position of Great Britain in the matter is very
eleaple. The origin of her connexion with Mosquito
dates from the alliances of the buccaneers with the
Mosquito Indians, whom they supplied with fire-arms
and assisted in their warfare against Spain. This
was succeeded by frequent proffers of surrendering the
wbole country and placing it under the dominion of
the Sovereign of England, made by the king and chief
of those Indians.
These proffers were refused, but the country was
taken under our protection, and the Kings of Mos-
quito have ever claimed to hold under allegiance to
ngland. The Mosquito territory became in this
fashion annexed as a kind of dependency of Jamaica ;
the King of Mosquito, on each new reign, having
habitually gone through the ceremony of a solemn
coronation either at Jamaica or Belize.
When, some years since, the Nicaraguans took pos-
session of the port of San Juan, now Grey Town,
Mr. Chatfield, our Consul-General at Guatimala,
was instructed to remonstrate; and Lord Aberdeen
subsequently sent a consul-general to Mosquito to
'watch over British interests in that quarter; and
finally, in 1847, the encroachments of Nicaragua and
llonduras to the north increasing with impunity,
Lord Palmerston took the necessary steps to prevent
a recurrence of their aggressions.
What, then, we would ask, is the claim of Spain
which Nicaragua pretends to inherit, and on behalf
of which the United States, it is said, are about to
interpose ? The Pope, by a bull, in the sixteenth
entury, gave to the exclusive dominion of Spain the
"whole of the lands and adjacent territories which her
navigators might discover! We wish the United
,itates joy of the new title they will have to sustain ;
at it is well they should consider that if it be a sound
One, then their tenure of California, under a Mexican
title, wants the de jure right, while it has the same
tie facto existence, with that of Great Britain at Mos-
quito;
and that in like manner as they would know
how to sustain the goodness of their title :against all
claimants, this country is quite equal to maintain her
"n against all corners.

A SONG FOR THE RAGGED SCHOOLS.
(From Eliza Cook's Journal.)
To work, to work! ye good and wise,
Let " ragged " scholars grace your schools,
Ere Christian children can arise,
They must be trained by Christian rules.
We ask no fragrance from the bud
Where canker-vermin feeds and reigns,
We seek no health pulse in the blood,
Where poison runneth in the veins.
And can we hope that harvest fruits
In living bosoms can be grown,
That palms and vines will fix their roots,
Where only briers have been sown?
Man trains his hound with watchful care,
Before he trusts him in the chase;
Man keeps his steed on fitting fare
Before ho tries him in the race;
And yet he thinks the human soul,
A meagre, fierce and untaught thing,
Shall heed the written Law's control,
And soar on Reason's steady wing.
Oh, they who aid not by their gold,
Or voice, or deed, the helpless ones,
They who with reckless brain withhold
Truth's sunshine from cur lowly sons;
Shall they be blameless—when the guilt
Of rude and savage hands is known;
When crime is wrought and blood is spilt—
Shall the poor sinner stand alone?
Dare we condemn the hearts we leave
To grope their way in abject gloom,
Yet conscious that we help to weave
The shroud-fold of Corruption's loom?
Shall we send forth the poor and stark,
All rudderless on stormy seas,
And yet expect their spirit-bark
To ride out every tempest breeze?
Shall we, with dim short-sighted eyes,
Look on their forms of kindred clay,
And dare to trample and despise
Our sharers in a " judgment day ?"
Oh, narrow, blind, and witless preachers!
Do we expect the " ragged" band
To be among God's perfect creatures,
While we refuse the helping hand?
To work, to work! with hope and joy,
Let us be doing what we can;
Better build school-rooms for " the boy,"
Than cells and gibbets for " the man."
To work, to work! ye rich and wise,
Let " ragged " children claim your care,
Till those who yield Crime's jackal cries,
Have learned the tones of peace and prayer.
Eraza. Cowl.

The W.l.owing is an extract from the article referred
to The subject of the Panama Railroad and a
canal,„ communication from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean is creating new attention since the ai-pearance
of the very proper and necessary letter of the English
Consul at New Ycrk, and the excitement which inte-
r,e'tcri parties in the United dates have endeavoured,
!Jut with small avail, to raise upon the matter. There
is one thing, however, in which the Americans hav
been successful, and that is in exciting considerable
interest in this country upon a subject N\ hich is be-
coming now understood. The United States have
secured for themselves exclusive rights and privileges
at
Panama, by which British trade to the Pacific
4445t7 while the Zufam4 rAilwny continues the sole

COURT CIRCULAR.
BALMORAL, SEPT. L
Her Majesty and the Prince walked out this morning.
The Royal dinner party this evening will include Mr.
and Mrs. Farquharson, of Invercauld, and Sir Charles
LS ell.

The Quail will hold a Privy Council to-morrow
(Wednesday), the sth inst., at Balmoral. Summonses
to the Ministers and Officers of State to attend the
Council were issued yesterday from the Privy Council-
office, Whiteheli.

GRAND SUB-UNION FESTIVAL
The grand opening festival of the North-Wes
Sub-Union cf Mechanics' Institutes is definitely
fixed to take place in Harrogate on the 27th of the
present month. To give the public an idea of the
unusual and splendid attractions which will mark the
celebration of this event, we have only to say that Mr.
G. L. Banks, the general secretary of the Sub-Union
is in correspondence with many of the most eminent
authors and public men of the age, some of whom
have pledged themselves to attend, while the result of
his applicAtion to others is not yet made known. Of
those who it is already known will honour Harrogate
with their company, comes, first of all, the celebrated
George Cruikshank, the eminent artist and carica-
turist, whose exquisite dashes of humour and beautiful
conceptions contributed to Punch, the Man in the
Moon, and shown in his illustrations of the works of
Dickens and others, and still more recently in
his seri: s of tableaux, " The Bottle," have
won for him a world famed reputation, and
placed him in the highest ranks of ge-
nius. The above gentleman will preside,
and will be ably .supported by Lord Goderich, who
in the handsomest manner possible has recently iden-
tified himself with the Mechanics' Institution at
Kirby Malzeard ; the Hon. and Very Rev. 11. D.
Er.-:.kine, Dean of Ripon, son of the late Lord Ers-
kine, whose name is a tower of strength, and whose
good works ought to be had in everlasting remem-
brance ; George Dawson, Esq , M.A., the eminent
lecturer, of Birmingham; Charles Swain, Esq., of
Manchester, author of " The Mind," " Dramatic
Chapters," " English Melodies," &c.; Edward Baines,
Esq., President of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics'
Institutes ; Charles Mackay, Esq., LL.D., of London ;
William Scholefield, Esq., M.P. for Birmingham,
&c. The arrangements for the occasion will consist
of a public dejeuner, at two o'clock, at the Queen
Hotel, and of a public meeting in the evening,
tickets for which must be obtained some days prior
to the festival. The following are the stewards :
the Worshipful the Mayor of Ripon ; John James
Harrison, E,q. ; William Williamson, Esq. ; Wm-
Bennett, Esq , M.D. ; George Kennion, Esq., M.D. ;
Robert Pollock, Esq.; 'William Melville Lomas,
Esq. ; H. Myers!, E q.; and John Richardson, Esq.
A superior hand will be in attendance during the
proceeding3.—Harrogate Advertiser.
_ _

COST or CHOU:P.A.—At the last fortnightly meet-
ing of the Liverpool Board of &v an, the proceedings
relattC; chic fly to the sanitary measures adopted by the
board at the present juncture. Mr. Berhord said the
botird were spending about 10,000/. a year in order to
relieve the keleters from cholera.