The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-05-04

Gent attention, viz: that if the whole natts su
to be peaoeably disposed Of it was absoIrtelv No
| cessary that soch an understanding should tax
| place between the United States and Great R-;t
ain. Phe United States could not h r. q srst :,
exclusive privileges from Nicaragua. bec.nse NJ
aragua was not in condition to rive snch &C.,,
Sne claimed an unbroken sovereignty over the
whole route 6he was satisfied thai her cis; nc e
good, and perhaps we were satisaed thst - was
good. Il think myself that it was: but Il Vas Mt
uncontested. Theirs was smother rreat posr.h ho
denied the validity of the claim; there was grea.
We. set up lvaI Pretensions, and it was ne
ce,sary that these should be disposed of and that
asi said, was the great object, or one Of the orss
Objects effected by the treaty of the 10Th IF All,
1907: And will say this-I wish to do no more
an no less toan justice to Great although
sne oso get up this claim, and although we think Il
nnlounded, YET in reference to the canal abe act q
up only to waive it. She did not make . nee of
TINS pretension to obstruct the execution of the
cnet.el wnicn Nicaragua had given. She said in
erect, that nicaragua had no right to give such
charter because she did not own the territory for
the whole distance But she did not use her rival
claim to obstruct that charter. On the contrary.
II was one OF the leading objects of the convention
Great Britain to the execution of that charter
which had been granted to American citizens. She
gave her own consent in the form of obtainino the
ASSEM- OF tne mosquito Indians, over whom she
claimed protectorate. 1t was only a form of
giving her own consent. She not onIy pave her
own consent, and that of the Mosquito Indians. but
she undertook to use her influence in continuation
WHO WHO the united States, to obtain that of Costa
nica; 30 tnat Whatever we may think of her rights
as the protector of the Mosquito Indians. abe
awaited herself of them, not to obstruct but to aid
the work. - NV
Now, as to the protectorate which Great Britain
claims it is her right and her duty to exe.cise over
the Mosquito Indians nv friend from Delawar re
has characterized it very we'll. Using the famous
motto OF Junius he has called this MOSQUITO king
oom nomsn's "mora, the shadow of a name. And
1t 10 certainly nothing more. There is in an i'm
portant document which lies on your table letter
rom Mr.. Rives to Mr.. Clayton, then Secretary of
Snte. giving report of conference which he
had, BY direction of the Department of State with
Lord Palmerston his way to Paris, in 1S49.
Lofd Palmerston said to Mr.. Rives:
"From very early period the Mosquito Indians
had been treated by the British government as a
separate and independent State-they had what
was called king, who, by-the-by, he added, (says
Mr. Rives,) in tone of pleasantly. was as much
king as you or IL
After this account which the British Minister for
Foreign Affairs gives of the Mosquito kingdom
and OF the Mosquito king, / think it would be
wasting the time of the Senate of the United States
for me to bestow many words to prove the inanity
Of me anng .o ana snguom Nevertheless il was
history in it. 1t had a pedigree. 1t ran back two
centuries, and Great Britain maintained, appa
rently in good faith, that in the course of these
two centuries she has contracted certain obliga.
now reduced to mere handful, and they in the
most wretcbed condition-which she does not feel
herself at liberty to disregard.
This Mosquito kingdom in it's Origin and pro-
gress ia really little more important than it
might otherwise be thought. 1t played very i'm
portant part in the history of the world. 1t was
prominent incident in the Spanish colonial system
which for century and half gave character to
the politics of the whole civilized world. America
having been discovered by the great navigator
who sailed under Spanish auspices Spain possess
ed herself of the largest and the nobest part of the
continent. From California to Cape Horn, with
the exception of Brazil every thing fell into her
hands. 1t was not merely the largest. and fairest
part, but it was the part which contained within
itself those tropical treasures. and especially those
treasures of silver and gold, (which have in ali times
overmastered the imagnations of men. Why,
sir, believe such was the state of things in the
seventeenth century, that the whole exportable
product of what ID known as the United
States, did not exceed one half million of dollars
annually, and that, need not tell you, was per
haps no more than half the amount contained in
one of the treasure ships which were regularly
despatched from Vera Cruz to Cadiz. Spain lock-
ed up all this treasure beneath the bolts and bars
of her colonial monopoly. She did no more with
respect to her colonies than England with respect
to hers. 1t was the ancient colonial system; but
the productions of the Spanish colonies were much
more important than those of the English colonies
The whole commercial world sought it's revenge
by endeavoring to force a contraband trade with
the Spanish colonies. This trade was carried on
by Wholesale and retail, by private individual
and by armed squadrons, by adventures in whom
the trader, the buccaneer, and the pirate were
SO mixed up, that it hard to say which char
acter prevailed. After Jamaica was conquered,
in the time of Cromwell, that island became the
basis of these operations. Spain of course sought
to defend herself, and she not only instituted
a line Of guarda costas all along her shores to
drive off every vessel that was seen lowering in
those waters, as if a pestilence lurked in her
sails-for such was the detestable character of
col -h1toh oo1eo
took to establish right of search of any merchant
vessel which should show itself within a consdera-
BILE distance of the Spanish coast. OF course this
led to infinite collisions. Wars were constantly
breaking out; in these wars islands were seized,
and establishments we're formed upon the main
Roatan and the other Bay Islands were captured
by Admiral Vernon in the first half of the last CEN
fury When the war ceased these islands would
be surrendered, and the establishments given up,
or pretended to be given up. But the peace would
prove to be hollow truce, the system of fore
ing a contraband trade would recommence, the
same right of search would be asserted, war would
break out again. and then the same circle of ope.
rations be repeated.
1t 10 but fair to say that in this long struggle of
a century and half the commercial world took
sides against Spain. We now are inclined to sym
Patnlze with her, we think but meanly of this Mos
quito protectorate, and we regard the occupation
OF those lslands and these establishments on the
main by Great Britain as acts of injustice and vio-
lepce. But it was not thought 80 then. The whole
CoAhu'SICial WOrlQ, exCluelVeFOf Spain and her al
lies, sympathized with England. and no part of the
world more than the English colonies. now the
United States have been amused in reading the
old colonial journals to see the illusions of loya
feeling constantly poured out from these colonies
when the public mind was greatly excited in Eng.
land upon subjects of this kind On that memora-
Die occasion, which you recollect from the history
OF those times, when a certain Captain Jenkins was
brought upon the floor of Parliament, and exhibited
bis mutiated ears, and fragment which had been
torn from one OF them, and produced such an ex-
citement that England, against the opinion of the
Prime Minister, was thrown into war with Spain,
IN the whole compass of the British Empire there
was perhaps nowhere such fervent, loyal zeal ex
hlblted as in these transatlantic colonies In the
war which took place the fleets and armies of Eng
land were recruited in these American colonies. 1
can tell you, sir that in the old graveyards of New
England you can still read the epitaphs of men who
brought home the diseases of the tropics from Porto
Bello and Carthagena. There are men now living
whose great grandlathers laid down their bones
upon the Spanish main The name of the home of
Washington upon the banks of the Potomac, here
in your neighborhood, derived it's origin from the
enthusiasm felt by Washingtons elder brother for
one OF the unfortunate heroes OF those wars, who
found upon these pestiferous coasts an enemy
against which human courage and strength were
of no avail:
sYou, gallant Vernon, saw
lhe miserable scene; you plying saw
10 infant weakness shrunk the warriors arm;
Saw the deep. racking pang, the ghastly FORM
The lin nd tho 6no