The Sooloo Archipelago. 129 



heighten this impression, but the expectation was 

 doomed to disappointment. 



For many years a weary diplomatic correspon- 

 dence has been going on upon the subject of the 

 Sooloo Archipelago. Spain has expended much 

 money, and lost many of her sons in attempting to 

 reduce the Sooloo Sultan to a state of vassalage, 

 and for years a desultory kind of warfare has been 

 prosecuted. This was originally occasioned by the 

 necessity of putting an end to the frequent piratical 

 attacks of the Sooloo slave-praus upon the compara- 

 tively defenceless natives of islands under the 

 Spanish rule. England, however, persistently re- 

 fused to recognise the Spanish claim of sovereignty 

 over the group, and certain high-handed measures 

 on the part of the Spanish authorities against various 

 English and German merchant vessels brought about 

 the Protocol of 1877, by which Germany and 

 England secured freedom of trade in Sooloo ; and 

 on this point Spain has more than fulfilled her obli- 

 gations. In 1878, Spain at length forced the Sultan 

 to sign the "Capitulation," constituting himself a 

 subject of Spain. For this he receives an annual 

 pension of 2,400 dollars, and by virtue of this 

 treaty, Spain not only reiterated her claim of 

 sovereignty over the Sooloo Archipelago, but also 

 over the Sabah territory, ceded to the British North 



I 



