THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 155 



interest in Latin America and the colonial 

 West Indies. With California a part of the 

 United States, the long-discussed projects of 

 easy transit from ocean to ocean across Central 

 America assumed immediate and pressing im 

 portance. The discovery of gold and the ensuing 

 movement of fortune-hunters and settlers in 

 myriads to the Pacific territory added a prodig 

 ious practical emphasis. Before this unforeseen 

 climax appeared, however, both British and 

 American diplomats had been diligently fishing 

 in the murky waters of Latin-American politics 

 for a controlling position in respect to any pos 

 sible isthmian canal. In the early forties a 

 British official formally asserted that the terri 

 tory of the Mosquito Indians included the port 

 of San Juan de Nicaragua, which would be the 

 terminus of any canal that should be cut across 

 Nicaragua. As the Mosquitos were held to 

 be a kingdom under the protection of Great 

 Britain, the bearing of the claim on their behalf 

 was obvious. In 1848 the British officer came 

 to San Juan with a war-ship, captured the Nica- 

 raguan garrison, established a British garrison 

 in possession, and changed the name of the port 

 to Greytown. Meanwhile a group of islands 

 off the coast, conveniently situated with refer- 



