The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-09-14
Rirfmunn pispatrh.
-, .x.nAy noRNrNa~~sEPr. -. 1853


wpnNgspAY MoRNINe s n :. ~ 80
urs,,.h Claim to hsat
sr" nan of tisordercd inteiiect |
We ~. na.session an Instrument Oh
~ao ''". he STYLED "a Touch warrant
80 he alleged TO possess such Fase An1
a"" 49,. ~. Qualities that II conferred upon
,.,re 1, the absolute and indefeasieie
"'u. :, everything he could lay his hands
''s"I .on,s 70 be the opinion OF tho Liver
on" .n,oa that the British government holds
- .seh instrument a. this, II we may Judge
rr,r, the defence IL sets up for IL In the case OF
pu.,.n The British authorities. IL says.
s,uad that island unoccupied, took possession
IF 4, and by the act OF taxing possession es-
,ahli.het. claim to IL which cannot be con-
.r,verted, such Is the substance and sam
total Of the argument by which Il sus;ains the
rreten.iens OF Great Britain in the premises
Ut. we'll for as Of the United States that she
does not take q fancy to some OF the fioriaa
Keve, or ssme other Of the islands lying aio"s
oar extensive coast, both on the Atiannc aho
Pacific side OF the continent. 1t Is wen i'i
Great Britain herselffhat no other nation i''A
or claims. fi.is iilimitable right of havinee'eiS
thing il touches, otherwise the three huh"ieo
uninhabitcd islands that lie upon me eoAs -. VI
Scotland might bring her into tronoie' Ano
Emperor Of the French might seize upon LUG
first one of them that possessed the ao'ah'"se
of ,olerable harbor. and estahilsh haNai
station there, or, in the course Oh events
might happen that Denmark, becoming o'ce
more strong upon the ocean. might seiZe upon
them for her own advantage.
Tere can be nothing more absurd IMAM ehs
pretensiou thus set up in behalf OF Great BIZ
tain. by the usages Of nations, the hfst as
coverer, or the first possessor, OF an isiahd ON
an uninhabited or barbarous coast, has been
allowed 70 appropriate IL. But who ever hearo
OF such an usage, with regard TO an isiaha ~
ing upon q coast which has been settled lor
more than three hundred years! what oii-
ference does it make, so far "a sovereignty Is
concerned whether any body lives on the Isiahd
or not, There may DO thousand reasons
WHY IL may not be inhabited. The climate
may he fatal 1t may be exposed 10 pirates, or
To hurricanes, or to sudden overflow, or 10
hundred marine casualties Or it may be san
DIV and sterile, or marshy and impossible to
drain or not susceptible Of cultiyation-for
these and variety .of reasons besides. But
does the bare fact of its not being inhabited,
for any reason OF for no reason, give any for
elgn nation right TO plant settlement upon
it. in the very waters of another sovereignty
tits too absurd to bear mentioning.
tits not true. that the Island of Ruatan was
uoishnbited when the English took possession
oft This statement was contradicted IN TINS
paper upon more occasions than one, when the
same question was under agitation many
years ago. On the contrary, Ruatan was cap
tured in the year 1920, from the Republic
of Honduras, by the Governor OF the Brit
ish settlement, bearing the same name, and
thu ACT was disayowed by the British gov
eminent. How could it be captured from
Honduras, if it did not belong TO that govern
rnent! How came the British government to
disavow the act, II it amounted TO no more IMAM
taxing possession of an uninhabifed island,
aud il it had right to take it and hold IL
because It was uninhabited! Why disavow
an act, conformabe in all respects to the law
of nations The capture and disavowal are
sufficient to settle the question of fact with re-
gard 10 the hab tation. But if they were not,
there is abundance of poSifirs proof TO that
effect and that proof came out years ago, in
the negotiations upon this subject and are
now in the possession of the British govern
1nent When. in 1871, Col. MACDONALD seized
Ruatan. he found there detachment OF SOL
diers under the command of a sergeant, sent
there by the government of Honduras to pro-
tect The inhabitants, " no were few in number,
and citizens of that State. These persons
would have resisted him. had they been able
but being too weak 10 oppose any obstacle 10
his design they submitted with the best grace
they could, and allowed him to hoist the Brit
ash flag simply because they could not pre-
vent him from dolngit. No sooner, however,
was his back turned than they showed their
true feeling by hauling down his flag and
planting that OF the Republic in its place. He
only secured submission at last, by returning,
with a stronger force. and threatening TO pun
fsh. with exemplary severity, all attempts to
assert the just rights of the Republic. Fruit
ful as British history is of ontrages upon un-
protected nationalities, it hardly presents
more fragrant case than this.
The ABioa endeavors 10 sustain the absurd
claim OF prior occupation by asserting that
the Island of RuaIan never belonged to Spain,
and that consequently Honduras. claiming
under Spain, could never have had right to ii.
This is 4 paipabie mis- Ia tement. BY the LIST arti-
Gle OF the Treaty, made in 1885, q. Britain stipu-
lated TO 'evacuatc the con tinent' (meanng Spa
nish America lin general, and the islands ADA
csn,.without exception, situated beyond the line
hereinafter described as WHAT ouSHt W ur ING
from ier;' and by article 2nd of The same trea-
" the line In question is drawn in such
manner as to exclude her altogether from the
Bay Islands. Here, then, is q positive treaty,
by which Great Britain is precluded from &C.
cupying any of the Bay Islands, even though
they should be uninhabited, which, in the par
tieuiar case under consideration, they were
not. 1t is proper to say, that ali these facts
were stated by the American government, on
a former occasion, that they have from that
time been, and still are in possession of the
British government ana that no attempt
whatever, so far we can learn, has ever
been made To palliate or deny a single one OF
them. The inference is obvious. Great Bril-
tain is well aware that her claim will not
stand the test of scrutiny, and that she has as
much right to the Bay Islands, as the govern
ment of Honduras hasFto the Isle Of Man, and
more. aH
Anti-Southern School Books.
We really think it Is worth the while of
Southern school teachers and booksellers 10
inspect critically the school books which are
man u fac tured at the North. We have already
called attention to Il modern history by DIR.
LORD which is in use in our high seminaries,
and which speaks in an unjust and slanderous
way of Southern institutions. We have re-
Gently looked at another school book for chill