Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1856-01-03
Our Relations with Great Britain.-The
Central American Question.

Il
whether the country was aware Of the vast
Importance Of the commercial interests and
advantages secured by the Clayton-Bulwer
treaty. We presume not or there would
have been more anxiety manifested in the past,
on the subject of the continued possession by
the British government of that portion Of
Central America embracing the Atlantic ter
minus Of tho existing and contemplated
inter-oceanic Communications with the Pacific,
through the river San Juan and the lakes. II
is well known that ship canal has been pro-
posed through this route, now travelled prin-
cipally BY steamers, and that the Clayton
Bnlwer treaty secures TO the United States,
equal privileges in regard thereto with those
enjoyed by Great Britain, who had assumed
Jurisdiction over, and still occupies the Allan
tic end Of the route.
We shall not stop to inquire into the validi-
ty OF the claim which Great Britain had set up
to Jurisdiction, or to protectorate over that
portion OF Central America, in which, by the
Clayton-Bulwcr treaty, both nations were
thereafter to have joint and equal privileges
for the treaty stipulates, that neither party
shall occupy, .tortVg, colonise, or assume do
minion ooe,, Nicaragua Costa RIGA, the Mos
quito coast or any part of Central America.
Whatever claims; therefore, Great Britain then
had, or assumed to have, we're surrendered by
this treaty, as they had been twice or thrice
before surrendered and abandoned, by solemn
treaties, made with Spain, whilst the latter ma
ton claimed and exercised sovereignty over
them, as a portion Of her American posses
sions, at
Under this Clayton Bulwer treaty then,
Great Britain again gave up all pretence Of
any separate or exclusive jurisdiction there
and agreed not to occupy" any portion Of
these States, but consented to enjoy Jointly
with the United States those commercial priv
lsgcs, which arc, or might be afforded by the
present or any future interoceanic communica-
ton, made through any Of the States of Cen
trail America, with the consent Of the authori-
lies of said States. Both are bound by the
treaty to afford ample and equal protection to
said route, in the present and the future.
The value and importance Of those advsn-
tages to the United States can only be estimat-
cd by taking prospective view Of the trade OF
California, Oregon, and Washington, with our
Atlantic cities and adding thereto the benefit
of our rapidly increasing trade with the East
o-n portions of Asia
Who will undertake TO measure the value in
the future, to American commerce, of an un-
restricted transit Of our vessels through ship
canal across Central American who will IN
dertake to estimate the damage and loss to the
commerce of the United States, II Great Bri-
tain be allowed to withhold from us the rights
now in question: Is there an able bodied man
in the United States, who would refuse to
enlist For the war, were it necessary thus to
obtain what the strong arm Of British power
seems disposed to deny us? Not one ~ .
Great Britain is our great commercial rival
She has sought during the last century to mo-
nopolize the commerce Of the world, nor has
she stopt at any means for the accomplishment
of this purpose. The arts of diplomacy, and
the horrors of war,--fraud, chicanery, and
force have in turn been resorted to, in the
prosecution Of her ambitious schemes Of com
mercial monopoly and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. The
United States presented barrier to her success,
and In the false name Of philanthropy she i'm
povcrished her West India possessions, to
spread fatal contagion over the southern por-
ton Of our country, and destroy the culture of
that great staple which now commands the
productions Of Europe, and will, ere long, con
troll the commerce Of the globe. This project
failed, and shs saw tho United States progress
Ing with unchecked strides to commercial su-
premacy, and for a moment an apparent sense
of justice, or a fear Of consequences, governed
her diplomacy.
In an hour of honest impulse, or perhaps Of
apprehension for the consequences Of an en-
forcement Of the Monroe doctrine by the Uni
ted States, she relinquished under the Clayton
Bulwer treaty, her pretended rights in the
Central american States, for joint enjoyment
with our government Of the privileges Of a
transit Of her ships across the isthmus. The
sagacity of the Statesman Of Dell
aware" thus obtained, at an opportune moment,
by treaty, what at any other time perhaps,
war only could have acquired, and what even
now it may require awar to enforce, to wit:
equal commercial rights NTH Great Britain,
through the rivers and lakes of Central Amer
lea. But there stands the coronar,t, signed,
sealed, and delipered.' \.
!. And thanks to John M Clayton, of Della
ware its author, it's meaning is not ambigu-
ous---its terms are not equivocsl--its objects
and purposes are as transparent as the light Of
Heaveni I
Shall that covenant be broken by Great Brit
ain with impunity2 Shall that nation, which
for thirty years past has been our commercial