Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-03-09
TIE MOSQUITO COAST.
A TRlliiss. BONE WITH MANY
HUNTERS FOR 1T.
A Long-Disputed Territory Wanted
by England, Spain, the United
States, and Nicaragua.

quitia pronounced Mos-kee-shi-ah, the
accent on the second syllable)-has occu-
pied the attention of European nations, off
and on, since away back in the seventeenth
century. 1t seems remarkable that the
Government of her Britannia Majesty,
upon whose vast possessions the sun
never SETS" should show so much more in
terest in this insignificant bit of unhealthy
coast, in an of-the-way corner of Amer
lea, than do the Americans themselves:
but such, nevertheless, has long been the
case
The contested strip of Nicaragua's ter
ritory, which is only about forty miles
wide, was under the alleged protection of
Great Britain from 1866 to 1850, when
that rather un-American document, the
Bulwer-Clayton treaty, gave TO England
certain rights in her colony of Belize IN
exchange for such claims as she had set
up on this coast; and by the treaty of
Managua, in 1860, England formally ceded
her protectorate to Nicaragua.
But the wrangle still goes on, almost
unabated-not that there is now any Just
have something to wrangle about, and this
much-gnawed bone will do as well as any
other
First, let us see where the long contested
strip is located. You viii find it in the
northeastern portion of Central America,
bounded north and east by the Caribbean
sea, south by Costa Rica, west by Hondu-
ras and southwest by Nicaragua. The San
Juan river divides it from Costa Rica, and
including some disputed portions claimed
by Costa Rica-Mosquitia comprises an
area of about 81, 600 square miles, at least
that is a fair average of the many estimates
that have been made, for nobody seems to
know exactly where the boundary line
should be.
The adjacent "Bsy of Islands," includ-
ing Ruatan, Utila, Bonaca, ETC., now be-
long to the Republic of Honduras, but I'M
til 1921 those islands formed part Of the
Spanish Vice-Royalty of Guatemala. The
earliest Spanish historians squandered a
vast amount of time and ink in pointing
out their Importance, and subsequent
events would indicated that they succeeded
in impressing their ideas upon the world
In 1912 party Of English buccaneers took
forcible possession OF the islands (then
claimed by SPAIN, and held them more
than half a century. In Ills the Span
iards made an attempt to regain possession
Of them. and finally did so, only to find
each once lovely island barren waste
covered with smoking ruins, for the free
hooters destroyed every thing that could
enforced departure.
In 1742 England again seized the g Bay
of Islands" and attempted to take pos
session of the whole eastern coast of Cen
trail America. By that time, however.
Castilian blood was up, and Spain-al-
ways proud nation-had then more
ability to command respect than she can
claim to-day. A war ensued, which was
kept up at intervals during twenty years,
mostly on the high seas, when treaty of
peace was at last concluded, by the pro-
visions of which England was bound to
destroy all her Notifications in that region
and withdraw her men,
But willy Albion, relying on a secret
reservation, afterward denied that Ruatan
was included in the treaty, and kept that
island fortified more strongly than ever.
War, of course, resulted, and during the
course of it Ruatan was seized by Guate-
mala. A new treaty was made IN 1853,
and Spain, desiring to protect herself from
any future invasion by Great Britain, pro-
vided that the British should abandon all
Central America and all the islands de-
pendent upon it. 1t was by solemn treaty
England surrendered all her claims to any
part of the American continent and its
adjacent islands; but, notwithstanding all
this, she still held fast to little Ruatan,
and she stuck to the point for three long
years with perseverance worthy better
cause, while Spain ragged in vain. At
length another treaty was patched up, by
which England agreed to evacuate ali her
ports and possessions on the American
continent and all its islands, without anv
exceptions or reservations whatever. But
in 1896, while England and Spain were at
war for other reasons, the English again
grabbed Ruatan, but soon gave it up to
Honduras. In 1914 another treaty was
entered into, precisely like that of %
years before, except that now England
gave the possessions to Honduras instead
of to Spain Indeed, the chief business of
the Powers in those days seems to have
been the making of treaties and the break
ing of them.
Again in 1S43 Commodore Macdonald
of the British navy took possession of the
islands, hauled down the flag of Honduras
and hoisted that of England; but hardly
had he turned his back upon Ruatan when
the British flag was taken down and the
Union Jack displayed. Macdonald was
removed from his post, and Britain
grown wiser concerning the might Of her
rebel daughter the United States-repudi-
ated his conduct as unauthorized By this
action the Central American States natur-
ally imagined that Albion had concluded.
at last, to abandon all claim to the long
contested territory But in that they were
mistaken and, being weak, they were
obliged to submit. Great Britain now
asserts no claim over the Bay of Island,
except so far as the claim is connected
with Belize; and her rights there are aues-
tionable, being based upon nothing but an
ancient treaty with Spain, which simply
gave her license 10 cut wood in Honduras.
After the discovery of gold in California,
and the consequent rush across the 18TH
mas, Notwithstanding that new at
tempts would be made 10 open an inter
oceanic ship canal "a scheme which had
even then been talked of for three CEN
turies)-set on foot negotiations with the
United States, through Lord Palmerstcp,
for the formation Of treaty intended to
oircumscribe the genius OF America and
put check npon the eviden; intention OF
the United States to appropriate to herself
the advantages Of such a communication
across the continent The result was that
celebrated convention of 1850 between the
Hon. John NJ. Clayton, United States Sec
rotary of State, and the Right Honorable
Sir Henry Bulwer, Minister Plenipoten-
tiary and Envoy Extraordinary of Great
Britain at Washington, and Member OF
Her Maiesty's Most Honorable Order cf
the Bath.
The remarkable prodigy which these
national midwives introduced TO the world
is too we'll known to need reproduction.
The treaty Matched between them vaunt
inglv announced to the world that all
future disputes were settled in Central
America, so far as the pretensions OF Great
Britain in that quarter we're concerned :
that the Mosquito Question" was perma-
nently disposed of, and the general welfare
of all mankind assured in possible mode
of communication between the oceans.
The only part of it, however, which had
political bearing, or which really touched