The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-02-07
D. c..
SPEECH OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD
CENTRAL AMERICAN QUESTION
In me Senate Of e CeIed states. January 81. Is5o

| desire to concentrate the attention of the |
Senate and of the country upon the Central
American Question. Therefore / pass over the
controversy about Mr.. Champions violation of
our neutrality laws, l do the more general
tonic of the Monroe doctrine, both of which sub
jects have been deliberately discussed by the SEN
ator from Michigan.
The President OF the United States has caused
our 10 be fully and ably presented, and Great
Britain has explicitly refused to comply with our
demands 1t belongs now to Congress to deter
mine the course which the country shall pursue.
ii is necessary, therefore, to review our position
II il is right, we cannot recede without dishonor
never TO be incurred. If it is wrong we cannot |
recede too soon. If we shall not recede we may |
involve our country in no common war-an evil |
10 be avoided if possible, consistently with duty. |
shall therefore take not TO say, consciously,
anything that might tend to infame our own
country, or to exasperate Great Britain
il is no question of persons OF parties nor is
1t domestic question. Therefore, | shall
refrain now, | did when spake TO it before,
from bringing any personal partisan or do
mestic subject into the debate, no matter who
shall invite or who shall provoke to such
course
Speaking geographically, Central America is
situated on the Isthmus which unites the two
Continents Of North America and South America,
and extends from the southern border of Mexico
10 the northern boundary of New Grenada; and it
spreads from that part of the Atlantic Ocean
which is called the Caribbean Sea, to the shore
of the Pacific Ocean. Speaking politically Cen
trail America is constituted by the independent
States of Guatemala San Salvador, Honduras,
Nicaragua, and Costa RIGA. These States ex-
cude the Balize, or British Honduras, and include
the Mosquito Coast Central America was dis
covered by Columbus, in the service of Spain,
and so, according to the law OF that age, became
part of the dominion of that kingdom the
d.. l.ra ord al
TO Portugal all the regions she should discover
in going eastward from the Azores, and to Spain
all she should discover in going westward from
that point without knowing that the two parties
pursuing their opposite courses, were ultimately
meet and conflict. This portion of the 18TH
conquered and colonized and occupied
by Spain in 1928, and became, after a time the
kingdom or vice-royalty of Guatemala. This
vice-royalty, or province, threw off the Spanish
authority, and became an Independent federal
republic in 1923, under the name of the Republic
of Central America. In 1899, the FIVE States
which have already named. and which consti-
tuted The Republic, dissolved their political
union, and each assumed absolute independence.
They have an aggregate population of about two
millions--one twelfth whites, four twefths mixed,
and the residue Indians.
The acquisition of California by the United States
in l845 the disclosure of its immense mineral |
wealth, and the consequent political organization
anu utFtlOpneHl Oh soldlt,
upon them and on the world the solution of that
great problem of communication across the
lsthmus, between the two Oceans, which had
been studied without practical result three hun
dred and fifty years. Such passage. while it
would be beneficial to all nations, was indispen-
sable 10 the United States, because California
practically Inaccessible from the Atlantic
States for the purposes Of commerce and defence.
The United States had sympathized with all
the Spanish American States in their revolu-
tons, and had extended to them favorable COM
mercial treaties In 1929 the President, Mr.
Monroe, after grave consideration had announced
TO the world, ~ postulate, that tho American
Continents, by the free and independent condition
which they have assumed and maintained, are
henceforth not TO be considered subjects for flu
ture colonization by any European Power" But
the United States had nevertheless, always de-
clined, although often urgently invited and in
voked to interfere in the political affairs of those
States.
Three prominent routes for inter-oceanc pas
sages were discussed One by the way Of To-
huantepec, in Mexico; one by the way of San
Juan and Lake Nicaragua understood to be
within the State of Nicaragua; and one by the
way of Chagres, in New Grenada. The citizens
and the Government of the United States ap-
piled themselves to obtain the opening of all
tnese r ;csr,o az the l4th of March ls49, the
c;,;zens of the United States, grhhtiHS"c' WIN
exclusive right to construct canal OF rai~ ~
from ocean TO ocean, through the River San Juan
and the Lake Nicaragua On the us. =. 'ui'.
~ 1919 Nicaragua rendered to the Ohileu S'a'.
<sraa,y Offering them peculiar and Distinguishing
vontag.s connected with that undertaking, oi
cohStion that they should guaranty the so'er-
elgntNof that State On the 10th OF Septeaml99er
issastAa. ~as offered by that State to the Uni
TED states, by which il proposed that the
passage should be open on equal terms to all
M Aaffn h.,
necessary stpulatons for its safety and preserva-
tion The United States hesitated and RETAINED
from accepting either treaty. The subject wa,
embarrassed by the presence and Intervention of
Great Britain IN Central America While Snain
retained her dominion on these continents and
Inc adjacent islands, she jealousy excluded for
elgn Powers from commerce with her Colonios
A contraband trade consequently o,rexr mn ho
tween them and the British Colonies in this
hemisphere The British Government connived
AT that Illicit commerce. Wars ensued At the
Niose OF these wars in 1888, Great Britain had
settlement, known as the Balize or British Hon
dnras, Situate IN the department or intendancy of
lucalth; and also a possession or OCCUPANCY on
me mosquito Coast, forming part of the shore
oil the Caribbean Sea. The extent and the titles
OF ooth these possessions were vehemently dis
puted by the Central American States On
Inc 10Th of September ls47, the British agent
announced to the States of Nicaragua and Hon
uuras the determination of his Government to
sustain the British Protectorate on the Mosouito
Coast from Cape Honduras to and includinr Tho
lower part oil the River San Juan% On the Sth
oi FEBRUARY, 1918, only six days after the treaty
OF Guadalupe HidalSo (which transferred Califor.
ma 10 the United States) was signed. two British
snlps entered San Juan. and expelled tho State
OF Nicaragua therefrom; and four davs after
wards, the same force was used in TAKING the
port OF Serapaqu on the lower branch or nor,
OF the River San Juan Nicaragua succnmhaI
but protested, the 18th of March. 1873 on
the 10th of October, lS49, a British man-of-war
captured Tigre Island off the Pacific Coast. but
belonging to Nicaragua. At the same time Great
gritain had sometimes disputed with Honduras
Tor the Island of Ruatan, which was capable by
being fortified at q small expense of commandino
every possible passage between the two Oceans.
through Central America. Costa Rica disputine,
with Nicaragua the boundary of the San Juan
was understood to favor Great Britain: Honduras.
Cautimaal and Nicaragua invoked the aid of the
United States in resisting her aggressons
IL was under these circumstances that the
treaty OF 1850, called sometimes the CLAYTON and
Bulwer treaty, or the Central American treaty.
was negotiated and concluded
Practically, the negotiation began in an inter-
view held at London, on the oath of Sen;emher
ls49, between Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister
of Great Britain, and Mr. Rives, American Minis
ter to France, then on his way to the French
Court.
Mr.. Rives stated that the British Consul at
New York had publicly claimed for the MOSQUITO
Indians sovereignty and ownership over the
mouth and lower part of the River San Juan
that the United States had now become a party
to the question in their own right, by virtue of
the contract by which Nicaragua had granted to
amarican citizens the RIGHT to construc. an inter