Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1856-01-17

the ratification of the convention, j
vas distinctly expressed, that the mu
tual covenants of non-occupation were
not intended to apply to the British
establishment at the Balize. Thn
qualification is to be ascribed to the
fact that, in virtue of successive trea'
ties with previous sovereigns of the
country, Great Britain had obtained
a concession of the right to cut mahog.
any or dye-woods at the Balize, but
with positive exclusion of all domain
or sovereignty; and thus it confirms
the natural construction and under
stood import of the treaty as to the
rest of the region to which the stipu-
lations apply.
Tt, however, became apparent at an
early day after entering upon the dis
charge of my present functions that
Great Britain continued in the e1er-
else or assertion of large authority in
all that part of Central America COM
monty called the Mosquito coast, and
covering the entire length of the
State of Nicaragua, and a part of
Costa Rica; that she regarded the
BaIize as her absolute domain, and
was gradually extending its limits at
the expense of the State of Honduras;
and that she had formally colonlzed
a considerable insular group known
as the Bay Islands, and belonging, of
right, to that State.
All these acts or pretensions of
Great Britain being contrary to the
rights of the States of Central Amer
ca, and to the manifest tenor of
her erstipulations with the United States,
as understood by this government,
have been made the subject Of nego-
tiation through the American Min
ister in London. | transmit herewith
the instructions to him on the subject
and the correspondence between him
and the British Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, by which you will perceive
that the two governments differ wide
ly and irreconcilably as to the con-
struction of the convention, and Its
effects on their respective relations
to Central America.
Great Britain so construes the con-
vention, as to maintain unchanged all
her previous pretentions over the
Mosquito, coast, and in different parts
of Central America. These pretensions
as to the Mosquito coast, are founded
on the assumption of political relation
between Great Britainand the remnant
Of tribe of Indians ON the coast,
entered into at a time when the whole
country was a colonial possession of
Spain. It cannot be successfully con-
that, by the public law of
Europe and America, no possible act
of such Indians or their predecessors
could confer on Great Britain any
political rights.
Great Britain does not allege the
assent cf Spain as the origin Of her
claims ON the Mosquito coast. She
has, on the contrary, by repeated and
successive treaties, renouneed and
relinquished all pretensions of her
own, and recognized the full and
sovereign rights of Spain in the most
unequivocal terms. Yet these pre-
tensions, so without solid foundation
in the beginning, and unexpectedly
abiured, were, at a recent period,
revived by Great Britain, against the
Central American States, the legit-
innate successors to all the ancient
jurisdiction of Spain in that region.
They were first applied only to a
defined part of the coast of Nioara-
qua, afterwards to the whole of its
Atlantic coast, and lastly to part Of
the coast of Costa Rica; and they are
now re-asserted to this extent, not
withstanding engagements to the Uni
ted States.
On the eastern coast Of Nicaragua
and Costa Rica, the interference OF
Great Britain, though exerted at one
time in the form of military occupa-
ton of the port of San Juan del
Norte. then in the peaceful possession
of the appropriate authorities of the
Central American States, is now pre-
sented by her as the rightful exercise is
of a protectorshipvoyer the Mosquito
tribe of Indians.
But the establishment at the ballze'
now reaching beyond its treaty limits
into the State Of Honduras, and that
of the Bay Islands appertalnlng o.
right to the same State, are as dis
ltinctly colonial governments as those