Evening star., 1897-05-15

a result the king has Complained to his
old friend, the British government. and
temporarily abandoned his dominions to
sojourn in jamaica under the pro-
lection of John Bull. Complications
are feared, as In 1850 Nicaragua
| agreed. in treaty with England and the
United States. to pay the Mosquito sover-
| eign and his successors Sc, ,OO9 per annum
| forever. This treaty was broken in Feb
| ruary, 1894, when the Nicaraguans invaded
| the Mosquito coast, and John Bull and
Uncle Sam were forced to interfere once
more. Since then a bare remnant of the
pension has been paid yearly to the Mos
| quitoes. and now Nicaragua, in defiance of
| England. has fatty refused to disburse fur
| ther. This announcement has caused a fiut-
| ter In British Honduras, and it is highly
| probable that trouble like that of 1884
| when war was only averted by skllful
| dlplomacy-may ensue. Meanwhile the king
| of the Mosquito coast has, as has been
| said, been welcomed to Jamaica by Eng
land, and there enjoys British allow
| ance OF S.5O per diem. on which he man.
ages to have a good time
| 1t is the popular belief that, since the
star Of imperialism paled in republican
| Brazil, no monarch has reigned in all
| America-that from Bering straits to Tier
| ra del Fuego every royal throne on the
| continent has been swept away And.yet
| Oit kANlcIlCdu SUI ut Tile present day there
dwells and rules king, the heir of q
line Of potentates which extends far be-
yond the ken of the chronicler. This SOW
| erign is almost ignored In American geog-
raphies, but In English and throughout
| Europe generally he is described as Ibis
| majesty, George William Albert king of
| the Mosquito coast"
His Kingdom.
Mosquito coast" sounds Incomfortab,v
1t suggests torridity-zand mosquitoes. As
a matter of fact the little nation over which
| King George William Albert rules is no
better or no worse than any other Cen
| trail American state. The kingdom lies To
the eastward of 'Nicaragua-which country
exercises over it a protectorate 1t is a mar
row strip of territory, about 22O miles in
| length, stretching along the Caribbean sea
| from north to south between latitude IL
degrees and latitude II degrees. The pop
| ulation at present comprises 1000 souls.
500 of whom reside in the capital town of
Bluefields. To the westward, the Nicara-
guam mountains divide 1t from the repub-
| lie of Nicaragua.
! Before the white man came with bis t,,o
| destructive agents, gunpowder and fire.
water, the ancestor of King George was
| indeed a mighty monarch. He ruled ali
the Mosquito Indians. whose happy hunt
| ing grounds extended from Mexico on the
north, far into South America The only
Indian tribes which the Spaniards were un-
| able to subdue were the Arucanians of
Chile and the Mosanitoss The latter CON
and other great captains notwithstandine
In the days of the buccaneers, those dare
devil rangers of the deep found precarions
shelter along the Mosquito coast: and to
their seductive TASKS may be traced the
first downward tendencies Of the warlike
| Mosquito.
During the early portion of the last CEN
tury a Spanish slave ship was wrecked
| R1upfo1dq The Tpf7iapo Cla :
white men. but the negro slaves they well
coined as brethren. These Africans set
| tied down among them and married Mos
| quito wives. Hence the mixed negro and
among whom very. few Of pure descent
from the primeval red man can be found.
The Monroe Doctrine.
The first white man whom the Indians
permitted to dwell among them was Robert
Handy. shrewd Yorkshire .ttyke." who
had gone thither prospecting for mahog-
any. The Princess Chuquiza, heiress of
| the ancient Mosquito royal house. fell in
| love with and married Handy Their eld-
| est son. George Handy. became king OF
| Mosquito coast, and. as such, was recog-
| rized by England and Spain. His son in
turn. Robert Charles Frederick Handy.
| was taken to Belize. IN British Honduras
| and there solemnly crowned by the Eng
lish governor In 1926. This crowning and
the attempt to form British protectorate
| over the Mosquito coast first called forth
| from President James Monroe that famous
declaration of United States responsibility
in American affairs known as the Monroe
Mosquitoes must always remain associated
i with the memory OF great President and
a great principle,
The, United States carried the day, and
/ England resigned her Mosquito protector
ate. Nicaragua was thereupon appointed