118 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



been so anxious to conceal; There can be little doubt that 

 the great majority of senators, if not all of them, who had 

 voted for ratification, had assumed that the treaty called 

 for relinquishment of Greytown and all of Mosquitia, that 

 being but part of the agreement which they hoped would 

 inaugurate a new era of friendly cooperation of the two great 

 powers in the construction of the canal. 



Even without a definite statement in the instrument to 

 the effect that Mosquitia would be abandoned, Mr. Clayton 

 believed that that result would very soon be brought about 

 when once the treaty was in force, and he was undesirous of 

 surrendering the other advantages to his country, which he 

 supposed the treaty offered, simply on account of this new 

 assertion of England's unwillingness to yield her Mosquito 

 pretensions. But the subject was a peculiarly delicate one ; 

 the Secretary's colleagues in the Cabinet (with the possible 

 exception of Reverdy Johnson, the Attorney General), and 

 those of his personal friends, in whose confidence the nego- 

 tiations reposed, felt it to be a mistake to conclude a treaty 

 without a positive promise on the part of Great Britain to 

 withdraw entirely from Nicaragua. 



Possibly Mr. Clayton entertained similar misgivings. The 

 political situation in the United States, however, which 

 threatened at any moment to spring the mine of anti-British 

 feeling at home and thus wreck every effort he had made to 

 check further English aggression in Nicaragua, and to secure 

 a neutral waterway, impelled him to continue in his efforts 

 to reach an understanding, even though an ambiguous one. 

 Perhaps a half loaf were better in this case than none at all ; 

 at best, the treaty represented a mutual yielding of interests 

 which both nations considered vital and were extremely loath 

 to concede. From a first formed determination, then, to 

 refuse an exchange of ratifications upon the basis of Sir 

 Henry Bulwer's declaration and to abandon all further 

 negotiations, Mr. Clayton finally decided, as a last resort, 

 to try the plan of placing a construction upon Sir Henry 

 Bulwer's reservation that might be more satisfactory to him- 

 self and yet acceptable to Great Britain. Mr. Clayton accord- 



