The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-04-29

closed quiet and dull. Dealers were beginning to look
with some anxiety for the next news irom Europe
by the Collins steamer.
Alleged Treaty with Nicaragua.
Central American affairs have chronic inter-
mittency. They come up at stated intervals,
arc discussed in the Senate, talked about in the
newspapers for while, and then disappear
again. .Sach has been their course for the last
five years; and, SO far as we can discover, they
are as far from q solution now as ever. There
are certain diseases capable of easy cure, if
taken in time and treated radically, but which
become complicated and dangerous in the hands
of quack. So of this Central American ques-
ton; originally Of easy solution, it has been be
deyilled by political charlatans until it has be-
come involved and troublesome, and altogether
a nuisance. The policy of our government in
respect to it has been Facilitating and hesitating,
and productive of no result hey ond losing us
the confidence Of our friends and augmepting
the contempt of our enemies
BY advices from Washington we learn that
the whole matter has again come up, in the form
Of treaty negotiated with The government Of
Nicaragua by Mr.. Borland the representative
provisions of the treaty are net known, beyond
that the United States recognizes the sovereign
ty of Nicaragua over the Mosquito shore-that
is to say, recognizes the boundaries which Mica
ragua possessed as a province Of Spain, and
subsequently as sovereign republican State,
until foycibly deprived of q portion Of her ter
ritory by Great Britain, under the pretence that
la1a md II ibn IaJ tn R;por
whom Great Britain, for sinister purposes, as
sumes to exercise power which she DISCUSSES
as a "protectorate.'
OF course the announcement OF such a treaty
has elected q familiar howl from that portion
of the American press in the English interest,
and we are told 1T that its object is to place the
United States government in hostile position
towards that Of Great Britain, in pursuance Of
the policy adopted by Mr.. Squier, when he was
Minister in Nicaragua" These morcenarics Of
England arc reinforced, on this occasion, by q
set of men who profess to have obtain
ed what is called the Mosquito Grant"
or an assignment Of a part of certain grants of
land made by some anterior Mosquito King"
and which, although subsequently revoked.
their own advantage The recognition of Nj
caraguan sovereignty over the Mosquito shore
would seriously interfere with their scheme,
and hence they, too, with their corps Of letter
writer's are out in full cry against the alleged
treaty. 1t has been negotiated, they say, with
out instructions from the government; but as
that seems to be the way in which our
brc;p ic In 4bo
ing can hardly be called irregular. But
whether the treaty is palatable to England or
not; whether it suits the purposes of this or
that man or set Of men or whether it is
in accordance with instructions from Washing
ton, or got up by Mr. Borland on his own re
sponsibilty, is of little consequence There is
no doubt of the existence of such treaty, and
the only question with us is this-does It accord
with sound American policy? Does it meet
our duty, and our thousand promises, direct
and implied, to Nicaragua?
We should insult the intelligence of every
reader of this paper were we to 90 into Sc
rious refutation of the Anglo-Mosquitian pre-
tensions on the east shore of Central America.
The socalled Mosquito kingdom is composed of
handful Of miserable savages, without settled
habtations, without laws, without a written
language or fixed institutions, and destitute of
even distinct idea Of God-in no respect en-
titled to be regarded as q nationality capable of
understanding, and much less of exercising, the
duties of a sovereign State. In virtue OF
certain equiyocal relations with these savages,
originating in buccaneering times, England has
assumed at intervals a species of protectoratc
over them. But during the existence of Spanish
authority in America she was obliged to retract
and disavow this protection as often as it was
asserted, and finally, formally and by treaty, to
recognise Spanish sovereignty over the Mos
quito shore. But when the revolution in Span
ish America extinguished the power of the
Spanish crown, and the republics which sue
ceeded her became involved in dissensioas then
England began gradually to revive her preten-
sions on the Mosquito shore, and sent arents
there TO advance her interests And when the
acquisition Of California gave, for the first time
an immediate practical Importance to the ques-
ton OF inter-oceanic communication, she hasten
ell to seize upon the key to one of the probable
great routes of transit. In other words, she took
forcible possession Of the port Of San Juan de