The true Democrat., 1856-01-29
MIR. BUCHANAN TO MIR. MARCY.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, etc.
 MIR. BUCHANAN TO MIR. MARCY.
 No. 95.
 LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
 London, October 4, 1855
 SIR: I have now the honor of transmitting to you copy of the note of Lord Clarendon, of the 20th received by me on the 29th ult, in answer to my note of the 11th., on the Central American question, as we'll as a copy of my reply, dated on the 4th inst Lord Carendon's note is of such character as might have been anticipated, aftor the conversation between his Lordship and myself on the 5th of April last, reported in my dispatch (No 60.) of the 7th of that month. This note has been received so much sooner than 1 had anticipated that if l were now in possession of my letter of recall, might return home on the 9th of Octobe., as had originally determined. It is impossible, however, should leave before this letter should arrive. and it is certainly proper, under all cir cumstances, that should remain here no lon- ger than may be necessary. If, therefore, 1t shall not have been forwarded before the arri- val of this dispatch, 1 trust it may be sent by the next succeeding steamer.
 Yours, very respectfully,
 JAMES BUCHANAN.
 Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of State.
 LORD CLARENDON TO MR. BUCHANAN.
 The undersigned Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note which MT. Buchanan, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, addressed to him on the 11th instant, stating that he had been directed by the Presi- hof quest from the British government a statement of the position which it has determined to maintain in regard to the Bay Islands, to the territory between the Sbrun and the Sarstroon. as well as the Belize settlement and to the Mosquito protectorate, and setting forth the conclusion at which the President has arrived upon the whole case, namely, that it the intention of the convention of the 18th of April, 1850 to exclude both the contracting parties from holding or occupying as well as from ac quiring territorial possessions in Central Ame- rica, and that consequently Great Britain is bound to withdraw from the possession she now holds of Ruatan and other Central American islands on the coast of the State of Honduras as we'll as, from the territory n Central Ameri- ca between the Sibrun and the Sarstroon, that the possession of the British government at the Belize should be restricted to the limits and ob- jects specified in the treaties between Great Britain and Spain of 1783 and 1786; and that the protectorate of the so-caled Mosquito king dom was finally disposed of by the convention.
 The undersigned observes with pleasure that while thus expressing the opinion of the Presi- dent of the United States on the several points thus enumerated, Mr. Buchanan announces that it is far from his purpose to reopen the general discussion upon them. Her Majesty's govern ment had indeed refrained from pursuing that discussion by replying to Mr. Buchanan's note of the 22d of July, 1854, because it appeared to them that the continuation of the correspon- dence was not likely to lead to any satisfactory conclusion; and, as Her Maesty's government are still of that opinion, the undersigned will confne his answer to Mir. Buchanan's present note within the same limits as those which MT. Buchanan has prescribed himself.
 In answer, therefore, to the question put by Mir. Buchanan, the undersigned has the honor to state to him that her Majesty's government adhere to the opinion which they have uniform ly held that the convention of April 19, 185O was merely prospective in its operation, and did not in any way interfere with the state of things existing at the time of its conclusion. If it had been intended to do so, there can be no ques- tion but that in conformity with what the un- dersigned believes to be the universal rule in regard to instruments of this nature, 1t would have contained, in pecifc terms, renunciation on the part of Great Britain of the possessions and rights which, up to the conclusion of the convention, she had claimed to maintain, and such renunciaton would not have been left as a mere matter of inference.
 Neither can her Maiestys government sub. scribe to the position that if the convention did not bear the meaning attached to 1t by the go- vernment of the United States, d self-denying obligation which was not equally contracted by Great Britain, and that such state of things could not have been in the intention of the con- tracting parties; because if the convention did bear the meaning attached to it by the United States, it would then have imposed upon Great Britain the obligation to renounce possessions and rights without any equivalent remuneration on the part of the United States If the go- vernment of the United States can complain in the convention as presenting an unilateral character unfavorable to the United States, with much greater reason might the government of Great Britain, in the other case, if the United States were to be acted upon in the construc- ton of the convention, complain of it as preju- dcal to England
 But looking at the object the contracting par ties had in view at the conclusion of the con- vention, namely, the security of the proposed ship canal, the British government considered that the design ofthe contracting parties was not to disturb any state of things then existing, but to guard against the future creation of state of things, which nightly possibility interfere with the security of the proposed canal That such was the true design of the convention is .ob- vious from the provision in the sixth article, by which the contracting parties engaged to invite every State to enter into stipulations with them similar to those contained in the conventon.- But if the positions of the United States go- vernment were sound, and the con vention was intended to interfere with the state of things existing at the time of it's conclusion, and to impose upon Great Britain to withdraw from portions of territory occupied by it, similar obligation would be contracted by other States acceding to the convention, and the govern ments of Central America States would, by the mere act of accession, sign away their rightsto the territories in which they are situated.
 The British government share the conviction of the President of the United States that the interest of the two countries and their mutual desire to maintain existing friendly relations will alike inspire each party with a concilatory to ,n ,I