New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-04-01
Central America-Cesta Bica and Mica
ragua.


Our statement that Mr.. Molina, the
Minister of Costa RIGA, now at Washing
ton, would probably do his utmost to de-
feat the negotiations now at hand between
the United States and Nicaragua, and that
Costa RIGA was opposed to a Federal
Union of the Central American States, has
drawn forth reply in the form of com
munication to the National IntelIigencer, in
which the writer has the assurance to say
"The principal object ofthe mission of Mr.. No
lima is to promote such settlement, and to Ia
cilitate the ship canal enterprise The Republic
of Costa Rca long since accepted without re-
serve the arbitration of the United States aud
Great Britain for the settlement OF difficulties
existing between her and Nicaragua, in regard to
the territory which the proposed canal will ira
verse. Let Nicaragua adopt the same course,
and the question is settled All political diltcgl-
ties will be removed. The settlement will be
an affair of few days. But Nicaragua has re-
fused to submit to such arbitration
Now this same Molina, as representative
of Costa RIGA in England, made a contract
at London in tie Spring of 1850 with
George Filler and John Carmichael for the
construction of an interoceanic canal through
the River San Juan, Lake Nicaragua,
and the isshmus Of Sapoa into the Gulf Of
Salinas on the Pacific, all of which right
fully belong to Nicaragua, but are claimed
by Costa RIGA. This contract necessarily
conflicts with that made by the American
Company with Nicaragua, which the
Clayton aud Bulwer treaty was intended
to guarantee. And yet, although Mr.. Mo
lima is thus party to a hostile contract
based on pretensions most indefens!bie, he
prcsumes to state, or cause to be stated In
a Washington journal, that his principal
object is to facilitate the ship canal enter
prise We venture to say, and the facts
are there to sustain the assertion, that his
sole object is to involve the question in all
possible difficulties, and prevent the con-
struction of the canal ia order to compel
Nicaragua to accede to demands which
have no just ground whatever.
These demands are two; one relating to
the department of Guanacaste, or, as it was
formerly called, Nicoya, which lies on the
South of Lake Nicaragua, extending from
the Pacific on the West about half way
across the country toward the East; the
other to the territory between this depart
ment and the Atlantic. The department
in question, as we can show by any amount
of evidence, was a perfectly defined part
of Nicaragua when the latter was Span
ish province; as a part of Nicaragua 1t
sent delegates to the Constituent Assembly
of that State, held in 1925. On December
9, 1926. the Federal Congress arbitrarily,
and against the will of the people of the de-
partment, and notwithstanding the protest
ofthe people of the State, adopted a decree
separating Nicoya from Nicaragua and at
taching tito Costa RIGA " Professionally and
until The boundaries Of the State shall be de-
termined." This annexation, which Mica
ragua submitted to, protesting, but not
threatening secession, was thus essentially
temporary and of purely administrative
nature, and was brought abOutno doubt, to
diminish the greater power of Nicaragua
in the Confederation. When the Confe-
Iteration was dissolved, of course this act
of merely temporary, conditional and ad-
ministrative annexation, passed by its Con-
eress without the consent of Nicaragua,
ceased to have any legal effect; and indeed
both States expressly declared thattheythen
resumed all their original rights the same as
if the confederation had never existed.
However, Costa Riea refused TO surrender
Nic)ya, and now asserts her right to 1t just
as if it had been part of her original terri
tory, or had been definitely and validly
conveyed to her. This claim, We say, IS en- .
tirely groundless. Nevertheless such has
been the moderation and the friendly spirit
of Nicaragua in this as well as in other rela-
tions with the States Of Central America,
that she has not compelled its remuneration
by force, as she has perfect right TO do.
With regard to the Territory between
Gusnacaste and the Atlantic, the real rights
of the parties are not so we'll Defined
However it is certain that the claim of
Costa Rica to the right shore of the San
Juan up to Castillo Viejo, or up to any
where, is merely fictitious and untenable,
,rumped up for an Interior purpose. The
Costa Rican frontier lies some distance true
south Of that river, as can be shown by