Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-08-16
THE cLAYToN-BuLwER TREATY.


correspondent of the New York Courier
and Enquirer, after stating that the British
government agreed to abandon the Mosquito
protectorate says:
But she does not abandon it, and Mr.. Clay.
ton subsequently explained that under the con-
vention she was not bound to do so that, in
fact, wrong construction had been given to
the treaty. and that, so far as the question of
territorial jurisdiction was concerned the
treaty was dead letter. Mr. Webster took
the same view, but recommended that Grey
town should be mutually regarded as free
commercial town, subject to no foreign juris-
ton"
This is a mistake. The British government.
by the C!ayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, agreed
to abandon the Mosquito Protectorate; but the
writer in the Courier and Enquirer is certainly
mistaken in attributing to Mr.. Clayton, one of
the negotiators, any such explanation as that
mentioned above. When the treaty was about
to be finally ratified, Mr.. Clayton signed a
memorandum which stated that the contracting
parties did not understand that the stipulations
of the treaty extended to the British settlement
at the Balize Mr.. Clayton signed this memo
randum, because, as he stated afterwards, the
negotiators did not regard the Balize, or Brit
ish Honduras, as part of Central America
but as part of the peninsula of Yucatan,
which belongs to Mexico.
This memorandum attracted no attention un
til news was received that the British had
siezed on the Bay Islands opposite the coast of
Honduras. Indeed, we do not believe that it
was ever brought to the notice of the public,
until the first of January, 1853. Then it gave
rise to much excitement and to q warm debate
in the Senate. Congress adjourned on the
fourth OF March, but an extra session of the
Senate was Immediately called TO act upon
General Pierce's nominations. Mr.. CLAYTON
was member of the extra session; he revived
the debate on the Clayton Bulwer treaty, and
in order to justify his course, he submitted a
long argument and cited many authorities to
prove that the Balize was part of Yucatan.
and was not, therefore, embraced in those slip.
ulations of the treaty, whose operation was con.
fined to Central America
Such was the explanation which Mr.. CLAYTON
made He contended that Great Britain was
not bound to break up her settlement at the
Balize, but he did not, as the writer in the
Courier and Enquirer alleges, contend that
Great Britain was not bound to abandon the
Mosquito protectorate, nor did he admit that the
treaty was dead letter as far as the question of
territorial jurisdiction was concerned. On the
contrary, he contended that the British did, By
the terms Of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, stipu-
late to give up the Mosquito protectorate, and
the right to occupy, colonize, or assume juris-
diction in any part of Central America. We
remember very well, that when the treaty was
published in 1850, the Wing party boosted Of
1t as triumph of Wing craftsmanship, and
showered enconiums on Mr.. Clayton, because
he had, as they alleged, driven the British out
of Central America. The British officials put
q different construction on the treaty, and
not only adhered to the Mosquito protec-
torate, but attempted to seize and colonize the
Bay Islands during Mr.. Fillmorc's administra.
ton.
The writer in the Courier and Enquirer SAYS
that Mr.. Webster concurred in the views ex.
pressed in the explanation he attributes to Mr..
Clayton. But Mr.. Clayton's explanation was
not of the character represented, and it was
made some months after Mr. Websters death
If Mr.. Webster ever admitted that Great Bri.
tain was not bound to give up the Mosquito
Protectorate and that the Clayton. Bulwer treaty
was dead letter so far as the question of ter
ritorial jurisdiction was concerned, we are en-.
tirely ignorant Of the fact and incredulous as to
its existence. We remember that he united
with the British and Costa RIGA ministers TO
make new convention which undertook 10
eettle boundary disputes on the Isthmus in
manner most Injurious to Nicaragua, without
consulting that State or her representative at
Washington. But the whole scheme fell through
and miscarried, leaving matters as they stood
under the Clayton. Bulwer treaty If we re-
member correctly, that scheme did not propose
the establishment of a free city at San Juan or
Greytown, but gave up the town to Nicaragua,
its rightful owner, on the payment of an annual
tribute to the Mosquito king. The proposition
TO establish a free port came from England
after the outrage on the Prometheus and when
American citizens had obtained temporary
control over the town. Mr.. Everett was at that
time Secretary Of State. ..
The writer in the Courier and Enquirer also
states that "the claim of Nicaragua has always
been denied by Great Britain, while exercising
her protectorate over the Mosquito shore, a
pretension now two centuries old Within
this time England has abandoned and renewed
this Mosquito protectorate several times. 1t
has not been continuous but even if it had
been, England has not, until a recent date
disputed the title Of Nicaragua to the left bank
of the San Juan river. San Juan had been
occupied as part Of Nicaragua for more than
q century, and it was not until the Mexican
war that Great Britain began framing pre-.
text TO seize upon it as a part of the Mosquito
coast When it became apparent that the