THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL PROBLEM 117 



I and unreservedly to relinquish the Mosquito protectorate, 

 lyet the main object of the treaty the assured neutraliza- 

 tion of the canal, was satisfactorily accomplished. With that 

 question settled, the Mosquito claims of England, so far as 

 the United States was concerned, had lost their greatest 

 significance. In fact, Bulwer wrote to Palmerston that, " We 

 have no longer any interest in maintaining the Mosquitos 

 [Indians] where they are, nor our protection over them in 

 that locality ; " but as Great Britain could not " honorably 

 abandon" her ties with the Indians, Bulwer frankly sug- 

 gested to the British foreign secretary that some arrange- 

 ment be made whereby the Mosquito Indians "could be 

 withdrawn from the vicinity of the canal, and thereby 

 remove all cause of dispute [with the United States]." 

 Upon the whole, then, the satisfactory features of the treaty 

 among which must be counted the probable exemption of 

 the country from a war with Great Britain seemed at the 

 time to outweigh its omissions. 



The instrument was severely criticised in the Cabinet, and 

 afterward met with strong opposition in the Senate, notwith- 

 standing which, however, it was soon ratified by a vote of 42 

 toll. 



The treaty was immediately endorsed by the British 

 Government. Before the exchange of ratifications was 

 effected, however, Palmerston became disturbed by the 

 ambiguous nature of the phraseology of the first article, 

 and being, moreover, desirous of removing any misappre- 

 hensions that he feared might still exist upon the subject, 

 he ordered Bulwer to announce to Secretary Clayton that 

 British interpretation of the language of the treaty left 

 unaffected existing English possessions in Central America. 

 Bulwer accordingly met the Secretary of State with the 

 declaration that " Her Majesty's Government does not under- 

 stand the engagements of that convention to apply to Her 

 Majesty's settlement at Honduras, or to its dependencies." 

 The word "dependencies" was somewhat vague, and as it 

 pointed ominously to the Mosquito reservation, it no doubt 

 uncovered to Mr. Clayton's vision the skeleton which he had 



