New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-30
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To the Editor ofthe Gre cont:
Many Of my friends ana acquaintance scattered
through your country having exacted the promise
that would impart to them such Information as
might obtain in relation to this, which they knew it
was my intention to visit, permit me to com
munieate with them through the medium of your
columns {most Of them being subscribers to your
paper) for under existing circumstances, it will be
impossible for me to write to each of them aud
as it is subject in which many others of your
readers may be interested, feel less hesitation III
making this request.
In this, and subsequent communications, I will
confne myself to a statement of facts, as in max.
! ing the contemplated explorations, am aetuated
! by desire 10 promote my pecuniary welfare, and
/ the happiness Of my family. Not being engaged
in any land speculation, or representing any one
but myself, Twin not advise ayindivdual to come to
| this comparative wilderness, but will communicate
| for the enlightenment Of those who wish to change
4 their abode, who must act upon their own iudg-
ment, (as have done) or better still, come and
Investigate for themselves. Unless my observations
convince me thar 1t will be the most profitable
and comfortable place of residence, do not intend
to remain in any portion of the country.
Influenced by the same motives which actuate
me, Messrs John NJ. Bateman, G. L. Fuselier and
Geo. O. Focte, of st. Mary, and Mr.. L. D. Arnoult,
of New Orleans, embarked for this port on the
3lst of May last, on the steamship Exact which
encountered severe storm, was disabled, and put
into Havana, where she was detained for near
month, after which she arrived here on the 9th
instant.
Messrs. Bateman and FuseHer were among the
Oldest, most experienced and successful of Lousi-
ana's sugar planters before the war.
As the mass of the people do not generally I'M
derstand that there is colony in this quarter of
the globe under the protection or one of the most
powerful nations OF the world lGreat Britain, J
which guarantees and secures to every individual
residing within its limits equal civil, political and
religious rights, which they enjoy in peace and
security and where the English Language is spoken
by large majority Of the population, will quote
a brief historical sketch of the colony
British Honduras is colony on the eastcoast of
/ Central America, bounded on tile north by the
Mexican portion of Yucatan, on the west and south
by the State of Guatemala and on the east by the
bay of Honduras. The coast was discovered in
l5H2 by Columbus and its early settlement is sup
posed to have been effected from Jamaica by ad-
| ventHTers who were attracted by the fine timber
i (logwood and mahogany which grew on the banks
of the Hondo and other rivers. In 1870, a treaty
was entered into with Spain, acknowledging in d
measure the territorial rights Of Great Britain in
this treaty the settlers still further eneroaehed on
Spanish sail.
l The Jealousy of the spaniards was soon aroused
: by the increasing numbers and boldness of the
e adventurous wood-eutters, and expeditions were
fitted out for the purpose of expeIling them from
the territory. These expeditions were uniformly
unsuccessful and resulted in further territorial CON
cessions to Great Britain.
3 The attacks on the settlers were, however, re-
/ newed with rather better success, and the Span
t iards succeeded in driving them from Campechy,
and combining them within the limits of the first
settlement. Attacks were made on Belize in Ills,
L 1904 and l779, and on the latter occasion, the
: Spaniards succeeded in capturing many of the
settlers, who were shipped off prisoners to Ha-
/. vanR. By the treaties of 1883 and 1856 Great
Britain obtained from Spain specific grant of the
settlement, under certain limitations as to exercise
of the rights Of sovereignty and cultivation of the
soil, but the boundaries were very mperfeetly de-
! lined In consequence Of the conclusion of these
treaties, there was great influx Of British settlers
I into Belize from the Mosquito shore. In 1898 the
/ Spaniards again attacked the settlers, but were
n repulsed.
/ After this success the settlers naturally asserted
l. that the colony was held by right of conquest
!, and that they were entirely absolved from the
e conditions imposed by the treaties with Spain OF
) 1888 and 1885. The result of this position was
that they gradually extended their oecupancies on
# the west to Garbutts Falls and on the south from
the Slbun to the Sarstoon river. These extensions
were not noticed BY Spain; and there would ap-
i pear to have been a tacit acknowledgements
that she had lost her rights under the treaties Of
t l7s3 and 1856. The territorial questions which
have since given rise to so much discussion have
9 been those relating to the boundaries between
Honduras, Guatemala and the Republic of Mexico.
, These republics advanced pretensions in the
0 character OF inhertors of the supposed rights of
il Spalni but they have benefited too much by the
presence Of the British to have any real wish that
they should retire within the limits of the treaty
III of 1855. The republic Of Central America fire.
Q quently claimed the power of restricting the
limits OF the colony OF Honduras; but this claim
w TnH1Gt nl 4 Tl,.,+4 81,
t sovereignty accruing to old Spain did not deyolve
: upon any OF the republics and when the repub-
nc 81 Central America was itself broken up into
1lye separate republics, it became still more OBJ
Vl0us that the Obligations contracted by England
y and Spain We're theneeforth impossible to be full
Tiled by the new States, if they had not been
heretofore determined. In $780, when the CLAY
ton-Bulwer treaty was under discussion il was
particularly stipulated that the promise of Great
Britain not to coloniZe or occupy Nicaragua
Costa Rica, the Musquito coast or any part Of
Central America did not apply to the settlement
of British Honduras.
lnrecent years and apart from questions of the ma
tare to whichwe Aavereferred, some apprehension
4 has been caused from time TO time by the ocea-
sionay disturbed state of the northern frontier.
owing to- the extinction of Spanish Mexican and
other civilized authority in that part of Yucatan
Il This was the result Of barbarous warfare which
lasted some years: and ended in the capture of
A BueaaF by the Indian chief Puc and the massacre
OF many ofthe inhabitants under circumstances of
singular atrocity, catastrophe which led to the
j settlement on the British side OF the Hondo, of
some thousands of Spanish xican refugees who
nave placed themselves under the protection of
/ British power. The mutual inr0ads and az.
gressions Of these refugees, and the Santa Cruz
1 and Ghinchanl1a Indians, have. given great deal
OF trouble, within the last two or three years to
4 the British authorities The Spanish Mexicans of
Merida and Campeche, the principal towns of Yu.
catan, are said to recognize the authority of The
new central government of the Emperor Maximil-
Ian, which is also Ostensibly, at least recognized
/ by the 0hinehanha Indians, under Luciano Zuc. 1t
is believed that it is the object of the government
Of Hueatan to subjugate, with the assistance of
lue and his followers, the Santa Cruz Indians who
still maintain neutrality-suspicious. in the center and
onthe east coast Of the pennsular. The government
/ OF Honduras is administered by lieutenant GOV
ernor, who is subordinate to the governor of
Jamaica, assisted by an executive council an
! pointed BY the crown. In 1858 an act was passed
| ehutled AN act to amend the system of govern
!neit Oh brtsh Honduras, = by which it is provided
tn1 tle legislature shall consist Of the superinten
gent SnoR lieutenant governor) and legislative
assembly OF is elected and 8 nominated members
me number OF registered electors il l27: Az ONLY
f voted at the last election. The qualification for
voters is ownership Of realty OF annual value of
81 or upwards; occupation for months preyiorsl{
TO registration Of land or house at rent of s7 ar
i up wards, per annum receipt at time of and for
4 months previous TO registration of salary at the
| rate Of Gl00 year or upwards. January is fixed
| for the regular meeting. The regular session
4 generally lasts for six or eight weeks. The ord-
nary and maximum duration OF an assembly is fnnr