The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-02-16

SSeccI 8 Mr. souue. Relative 10
the Clnyton and BuIWcr Treaty
AIR. Soule. (dcm y Of La. resumed his speech
........r..rced an Moedav. He said, when, III"
other day, the debate was suspended, ne was
cc;,, : ~ state the occurrence which trsnsprsd
= ryecutive session upon the ratification o. tne
treaty. He thought II, however. Que 70 n.msc'.
not to proceed 10 do 20 until ne nad ascenaanc"
The sense Of tina Sanase - TO the rrcpriety and
right Of abiding 70 the secret Proceeolngs, .no
he senability which Ind been evinced after.
ward. MA but confi,m med him in the wisdom and
nronrety Of that course. Not apprehend
: / snv serious consequences would resutto inc
nation from any such disclosure. for, indeed, IN
Ali. =. N many other instances, that which 10
kent secret ,s found, when divulged, to be OF but
i;,tle Importance. Still, it was due to those who
Mad voted for the treaty that the reasons govern
ING such votes should 60 forth to the county
lie had indicated, on Monday las, the serop,es
which induced him to be dissatisfied with tne
wording Of the treaty, when informally Piesen.
al 70 the Senators, himself included, and also
49,, ,ho.e .crunies had been met and answered.
lie wa. not altogether satisfied with that answer
and tbouoh he felt the utmost confidence IN the
sher Chairman OF the Committee on foreign
Relations. he presumed to call the attention 9.
the gentleman to the questiepabis provision %
The treaty.: and the assurances he received rom
that gentleman few seconds after an interview
with MIR. CLAYTON, were the same % hao FORM
erIv been given When the treaty came oeio!e
the Senate, he felt tito be his duty to state, IN
the debate on it, and difficulties and douo,s
which had arisen in his mind on this point, a.
though he intended to rest his vote on tue 'n'ei
lioence. wisdom and learning Of those more com
reten. - ;udoe Of such matters than he was
and then Il was that the Senator from Michi-
ran used the language, that "Never before nao
Great Britain been known to surrenoer doinin.
ION without war" When he expressed tne
doubts upon his mind - to the effects OF these
,,ord.. friend Of his, from the South, hut now
NO Longer in the Senate, declared he had heard
enmOk Of il. and would vote against it. These
assurances, thus given and thus repeated, OF the
true object of tho treaty, were 0ndo1oteoty 'ne
reason governing him 40 well a. the senators 70
voting for the treaty. He could nardIy nase
supposed that there was single senator WV
voted for the treaty but who supposed u contain.
ed an absolute renuncistion by Great britain, OF
an her rights and claim to dominion in Central
America. II there was ono who supposed :!
meant only to relate TO the canal, and contained
No remuneration BY Great Britain, let that one
take the floor and 50 declare himself. tie mao
seen in the newspapers a correspondence g",hg
to show a discrepancy between Mr. Kings lei
ter DO Mr., CLAYTON, and what he had just SAID
was the understanding OF the treaty tie oio
not so understand it :,
Il was fully admitted, and understood BY all,
when the treaty was under consideration, tnat
its terms did not refer TO, or interfere WIN 'ne
lcense--tor that was the proper term-ot Greas
-. 4 - fhn y.
in his letter, merely refers to this pre- carlous
right. or license, to cut logwocd in Honduras,
as being in no way affected BY the treaty Tor
he expressly warns Mr.. Clayton not to use any
words implying an admission of any right to
such dominion. Mr.. Kings whole letter q
mounts to nothing more than that the treaty
docs not abolish the precarious license OF Great
Britain to cut loswood in Honduras. II was a
remarkable fact that the con versalion respecting
the British Minister'S scruples upon the point u
national pride, &c, took place some time aiter
the treaty had been sent 10 Ens!.nd and had
been supervised BY LORD Pslmerston, and That
not till after its ratlfcedon by the Senate d'o
the British Minister deem any explanation Of
its terms 10 be aecessary. But i was, ne
Thought easy to sea what the object OF Grrat
Brir:n may have been; forgetting the nature OF
our government and institutions, and supp 81
ing the Minister of State to possess powers IN
known to our constitution, but unusual. they
may have believed that by protocol the Nv"
neeotiators could have changed the whole fea
lures Of the treaty. But such was beyond the
reach Of the Secretary. No actO ms could u
feet the treaty, or change its purpose and objects
from what il was when sealed and approved BY
the Senate. So all that was done by the nsgo-
tiators, was done beyond the power given the
Secretary by the constitution, and was OF no
force. But supposing that the British rights IN
Honduras were in terms excluded from tne
operations of the treaty, the question naturally
arises what those rights were, not thus renoua
ced. Admitting Great Britain to have had
rights, it could not be denied but that she had
the faculty Of renouncing them.
But leaving the treaty aside altogether, let It
be seen what the rights Of England, are, inde-
pendent Oft They had heard much about I'll
iibustering; and marauding; but what was the
history Of England respecting those islands
The Bay Of Islands occupied q peculiar and in
teresting position in the Caribbean sea.
A Spanish writer at an early day pointed out
their importance. In 1642, party of English
freebooters, took possession Of these islands,
then belonging to Spain. In l7l5, the Span
iards found them mere waste, the English
freebooters having destroyed all the establish
nlents they had found on the islands. In l742,
England again attempted to seize the whole
coast of Central America, and also these islands
The ire Of Spain was reused. She was then,as
now, proud nation, but she had then the ability
to command respect, and war ensued. In 1863,
. treaty between England and Spain was con.
cluded, by the provisions Of which England
was bound 10 destroy all her Notifications, &c,
in that region. But England, relying on
secret reservation, denied that Ruatan was in
cluded in the treaty, and Kept that island FORTH
ed. War again ensued, during which Guata'
mala seised Ruaian A new treaty was made
in 1853, and Spain, desiring to protect herself
from any invasion by Great Britain, provided
that the British should abandon all Central
America, and oil islands dependent thereon
Great Britain thus, by solemn treaty, surrend'
esed al her rights and claims to any part OF the
continent and the dependent island; but still,
notwithstanding this treaty, England held fast
pressed upon England what she considered her
righ.s, and this led to another treaty, by which
was removed every difficulty, 20 far as the pre-.
tensions Of England were concerned.
By Il, England agreed to evacuate all her
possessions and ports on the continent, and on
al islands, without exception. In 1876, war
raging between Eagland and Spain, this treaty
wse suspended, end the English again resumed
possession Of Rustan, but surrendered it to an
officer cent there from Honduras. In 1914, .
new treaty was made, which re-affirmed and
incorporated within it the very stipulations Of
the treaty Of 1756, and unless SOMETHING has
transpired since then, Tie English claims to doe
mission over those islands have not shadow Of
right. After that these Islands were taken pos
session Of By the State Of Honduras. In l5l3,
Conmedose Macdosnel, then commanding the
British forces, took possession Of the islands,
hauled down the Honduras flag, and raised that
Of England. He had, however, scarcely left
there when the British aag was taken down,
and the UNION jack Displayed. Macdonnel was
shortly after Eimoved from the post, and the
British goyer9ment repudiated his conduct a.
unauthorised, aud the Central American States
thonght ill claim 10 the Island was abandoned
By Great Britain !; but they were mistaken
They were weak and had to submit TO whate-
yer that proud power might dictate. Grea,
Britain asserts no claim over these Islands, ex
cepe % far o. the claim il connected with the
Bolise. Under the several treaties with Spain
her right was limited, and was nothing more
than The license to cut wood in Honduras-