The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-01-11
THIRTY-sECOND CONGRESS-.
SECOND SESSION.


on Thursday last when the debate took place or would
then have replied to the remarks made by the Senator
from louisiana, Mr Downs) That Senator said that he
would never have voted for the treaty nor would anv
other Senator have done had been understood that
it did not include all Central America and also fnma
ted that the Secretary of State not communicated to
the President the condition annexed TO the bv
Great Britain. He (hir Pearce,) for one would have
voted for the treaty with that understanding and did 30
vote The documents made public showed that he
was not alone in understanding the treaty He was
one OF the many members of the Senate to whom the
Secretary of State had shown the draft Of the treaty
ana he then understood II to 1t appeared Mr..
tanned foothod in Central America more than hun
dred years As early 1868 Spain her the
right to certain dyewoods In 1888 further conces-
sions obtained from the King of SPAIN and thi
latter treaty described of the islands mentioned
here Those treaties with Spain gave England certain
special commercial privileges for limited time, but
Great Britain did not conne herself to the of the
grant but has gone doubtless making encroachments
upon the rights of Spain Hostes have several times
broken out between the Spanish American people and the
british authorities in Honduras. The British repulsed
title by conquest For nearya century Spain has relaxed
her claims to these possessions seemed to very
little about them and Great Britain has continued her
pos essions consolidated it's power and has since then
claimed and maintained dominion these islands In
1885 the British authorities issued proclamation for
may declaring the islands to be the possessions of Eng
land In 1S47 Mr. Polk appointed consul at the Belize
who received his instructions from the British
this recognized the British dominion over
these islands The object of the treaty not as
been stated to exclude Great Britain its object and pur
port clearly forth the eamble- O. to estab
lish interoceanc communication, and that neither
government to exercise any exclusive power, &C.
over the territory connected with that canal He read
an article from the Union to show that the object of the
treaty was not misunderstood at the time. 1t to
make the territory in and about the canal neutral and
exclude Great Britain from exercising any command
control over it, He understood Central America, as
named in the treaty to mean political Central America,
embracing within that description the five States-Guata
mala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua Salvador and Honduras
He considered the treaty excluding Great Britain from
Central America thus defined in its political sense and
that the explanations of Messrs Buwer and Clayton in
no wise defeated that object He did not question the
accuracy of Mr. Cass' statement of the conversation he
had held with MIR King could he doubt for a moment
the purity honor Of Mr. King. But the health of the
latter gentleman such, that ii known, that
no conversation upon public subjects could be had with
him. for it would require him to refresh his memory upon
events and circumstances occurring but he
felt confident that that gentleman would the
written by him. and published by Mr. Clayton Mr. Clayton
concealed nothing and was guilty of no duplicty He
to the President and his cabinet He disclosed everything
to all those TO whom would have been right to do
He authorized by Mr. Clayton to say that the rati
fcatons submitted to the President and his cabi
net, and approved by him and them. His object in
speaking to show that the Secretary of State
ects and purposes not disclosed He regretted to have
heard the Senator from California say that he
lie question that he did not show excessive stupidity He
did not believe there was another Senator present who
would make such statement He had always regarded
Mr.. Clay ton q man of remarkable acuteness.
SPEECH OF MR. SEWARD.
Mr.. SEWARD (free soiD of N. Y said on the 10th of
was signed at washington by Mr. Clayton then score
tary Of State and Sir Henry l. Bulwer then Minister
anG nsao
Britain, contained among others, the following pro-
Articlr THE governments of the United States and
Great Britain hereby declare that neither the the
other win obtain maintain for itself any exclusive
control the said ship canal agreeing that neither will
maintain any fortihcatons commanding the
in the vicinity thereof occupy, coonze
Costa Rca the Mosquito coast, any part of Cen
tra America; will either make of any
ance which either has may have to with any state
people for the purpose OF erecting or maintaining any
ing Nicaragua Costa Rca, the Mosquito coast any part
OF Central America OF assuming or exercising dominion
the same will the United States Great Britain
take advantage OF intimacy or use any alliance con-
nection influence that either may possess with any
State government through whose territory the said
canal may pass, for the purpose of acquiring holding,
directly indirectly for the citizens subjects of one
rights advantages in regard to and nvi
CATION through the said canal which shall not be offered,
in the terms, to the citizens subjects Of the
other"
ARTICLE s-The contracting parties this convention
engage tonve every State with which either or both have
friendly intercourse to enter into spuations with them
similar those which they have entered into with each
other to the end that all other States may share in the hon
and advantage Of having contributed to work of such
general interest and Importance the canal herein
tempaed and the contracting parties likewise agree that
each shall treaty stpulaons with such Of the
Central American States, they deem advisable for
the ore M ,na a
maintaining the said canal as ship communication be.
tween the two oceans for the benefit Of mankind on
equal terms to all, and OF protecting the same
article s-The governments Of the United States and
Great Britain having not only desired, entering this
convention to accomplish particular object but also to
establish great principle they hereby agree to extend
their protection by treaty spulatons to any other pract
cable communications whether by canal railway,
the isthmus which connects North with South
America and especially to the inter oceanic communica
tons, should the prove to be practicable whether
IN nh
lsbed, by the way of Tehuantepec or Panama"
On the 10th of June, 1850 Sir Henry Bulwer gave
tice to Mr. Clayton that he instructed to insist
ratfyng the convention in an explanatory declaration
that the engagements to neutral territory did not ap
ply Her Maestys settlement at Honduras and its de-
pendences, On the 4th of July, 1850 John NJ. Clayton
replied that the United States also understood that those
engagements did not apply to British Honduras and its
dependencies And, with these mutual explanations, the
convention was ratified, and the ratifcatons were
exchanged The British settlement at Honduras
and its dependencies consist of the town of Be-
! lie on the coast of the Caribbean sea- with a
tract of almost barren and unnhabted country stretch
ing inward containing about fifty thousand miles,
and is alleged of certain islands lying by in that
sea, named Roaan, Bonacca Utla, Barbarat. Helena,
and Nooet which territory and islands marked in all
British maps colonies d Great Britain On the 18th Of
July 1852 the British authorities at the Belize issued
proclamation announcing that the Queen had constituted
those islands distinct colony, by the OF the Bay Of
Islands In January, 1853 the President of the United
States sent 10 the Senate answer to previous call for
the late Secretary Of State and the late British mi
mister, declaring the construction Of the convention
which have mentioned. The Senator from Michigan,
thereupon said that the papers dscoseda very extaor
nary fact to wit that while on its face, under
stood by the Senate the convention included British Hon
durss and It's dependencies ii without the knowledge
consent Of the Senate explained u the negotiations
the ratification to exclude them and thus in derogation
| Of the rights Of the Senate the construction OF
the treaty was changed in vital point that, IN the
transaction the Executive Department of General Taylors
administration had committed great error unpreceden
ted in diplomacy and he protested that neither the Sc
nate himself in approving understood the convention
II thus shown TO have been understood by the
eotators in ratfyin2 IL and that If it had been
derstood by the Senate would not have received single
and in this protest he included the honorable Sena
tor from Alabama Mr.. King, who at the time chair
man of the Committee Of Foreign Affairs, and alleged
that that gentleman had told him that he had supposed
until that day that the project Of accepting the Queen Of
England qualification OF the construction Of the treaty
had been abandoned and that the convention stood with
out such qualification its original provisions The
| honorable Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. DOwns)
MD that la llnnnht the ,rhnla nhiecL of the