The Washington union., 1857-05-06


the establishment of this colony il palpabe violation
both of the letter and spirit of the Clayton and Bulwer
convention.
Ruaian is well known to be island of great value
and Importance on account of ts excellent harbo which
along that Indeed it has been described
by Spanish author the key OF the Bay of Honduras
and the focus of the trade OF the neghborng countries
Such Is its commanding geographical position that Great
Britain in possession of it, could completely arrest the
trade of the United States in its passage to and from the
isthmus In vain may the convention have prohibited
Great Britain from erecting maintaining any fortihea
tions commanding the Nicaragua canal in other por
tons of Central America If she shall continue to exercise
dominion over the Bay Islands. "
And, again, in his masterly reply to Lord Claren-
don, of July 22 1854 he thus refers to tho sub
jeet:
what are the facts of the case When the treaty
concluded Great Britain simply in the occupation of
Ruatan under the capture made by Colonel Macdonald
She had established regular form of government over
its few inhabitants who, to say the least were OF very
heterogeneous character She had then taken but the
first STEP and this in the face of the remonstrances Of
Honduras towards the appropriation of the island No
trouble could anticipated by the United States
in regard 10 this island No doubt could have been
terained but that Great Britain would promptly withdraw
from it after the conclusion of the treaty Her relation
towards Ratan at this time merely that OF simple
occupant From this occupancy it easy to retire. and
the island would then have naturally reverted to Hondu
ns Instead however of taking step backward, the
government of Great Britain has since taken stride for
ward and has proceeded to establish regular colonial
government it, But this is not all They have not
confined themselves Ruatan alone, but have embraced
within their colony five other Central American islands off
the coast of the of Honduras One Of these Bonae
ca SAYS Bonnycaste is island about sixty miles in
circumference and is supposed to be the first island which
Columbus discovered his fourth voyage. 1t was not
known however in the United States, that the British
had made claim to OF thcse five Cen
tral American islands previous to the proclamation an
nouncing their colonization Indeed the British state
Mt heres assarts
cuped any period by Great Britain before their ncopo
ration with Ruatan and the establishment in 1851 of the
colony of the Bay Islands,
In this has the feeble State of Honduras been
deprived of every valuable island along her coast and this
is now completely commanded by the impending power of
Great Britain
.Ihe government of the United States view the estab
lishment of the colony Of the Bay Islands in still more
unavorable light than they do the omission the part
of the British government to carry the provisions OF the
treaty into effect They feel this to be the commission OF
positive act in palpabe violation both of the letter and
spirit of the Clayton and Bulwer convention.
These views were fully concurred in by the emf
nent statesman who then Secretary of State at
Washington In his despatch of August 6, 1855, Mr..
Marcy says:
need not express to you the surprise the President
felt learning the views of her Maestys government
as presented You in Lord Clarendon statement Of the
I'd of May, 1854 in regard to Ruatan and the other
islands, constituting what be looked upon the
British colony of the Bay Islands These views
sidered by this government not only contrary to the
spirit but directly at variance with the clear language of
the convention Of 1850
after the very cogent argument contained in your
able reply to that statement the President is unwilling to
believe that tho positions rather indicated than main
tanned by Lord Clarendon relative to Ruatan, will be ad
hered to. If stipulation explicit in terms and
clearly applicable to the Bay Islands, is to be nuled by
interpretation every other provision in that instrument
so far it imposes obligations upon Great Britain, may,
AZ ha
Should Great Britain refuse withdraw from Ruatan
and the other islands the coast of the State of Hond
rs her determination in that respect, could not but be
regarded by the President noncompliance with the
stpuations of the treaty of 1850 The fact that these
islands are part of Central America is unquesonabe
and the stpuations of the convention directly ap
pcabe to them that there to be for rails
ing question Of Interpretation
"After what was said to you by Lord Aberdeen when
at the head of the British government It is to bc hoped
that the British pretcnsion to hold Ruatan will be aban
doned.'
Similar extracts might be multiplied to the same
point and from the allusion in the preceding extract to
Lord Aberdeen as well two other illusions in
the published correspondence hereis good to
believe that this distinguished man had conceded tho
justice of our claim with respect to the Bay Islands,
and that had his administration continued, the whole
CentraLAmerican controversy would have been ami
cably adjusted. However this may be, there can be
no doubt whatever that, in the settled opinion of this
country, these slands--Ruatan, Bonaco, and the
rest-belong of right to the republic of Honduras
The seizure of Ruatan by Colonel Macdonald, in
I84l carried no shadow of title with it, but was
merely an outrage upon Honduras whose territory
was thus appropriated in time of profound peace
by kind of fllibustering foray which Honduras
not strong enough to resist To the other portions
of the "Bay Islands colony" the claim of Great Brit
ain is even less plausible than to Ruaan. 1t was fit
ting therefore that before any treaty was enter
ed upon between the United States and Great Brit
ain these 'Bay islands should have been rcmitted
to their lawful ownership This understood to
have been accomplished by separate treaty between
her Britannia Majesty and the republic OF Honduras,
dated in August of last year. and referred to in of
the separate articles Of the DallasCarendon treaty
which recently died in London. No such treaty
with Honduras really essential for the purpose,
inasmuch as (accordng to the American view of the
case) the Islands already belonged to that republic,
and it was only necessary for Great Britain to let
them alone But Great Britain and Honduras were
competent parties to contract and it was not for us
to quarrel with their method of accomplishing de-
sirable object. Our government took for granted
the restoration of the Islands and the Dallas -Claren