Doc. No. 75. 



49 



fjopy of the protest made on the 21th October, 1847, to the commander of 

 the English frigate Alarm. 



October 27, 1847. 



Sir: The undersigned, commandant of the port of the mouth of San 

 Juan de [Nicaragua, being informed of the forcible assistance and co-opera- 

 tion which the commander of her Britannic Majesty's frigate ^^Alarm," 

 in the name of the British government, has decided to afford in favor of 

 the occupation of this port intended by the King of the Mosquitos, can- 

 not but deeply deplore the attack which said assistance involves against 

 the rights of sovereignty and integrity of the territory of the free State of 

 Nicaragua, whose government the undersigned represents on this occa- 

 sion, and in name of which he is called upon to pratest against the abuse C 

 of the naval forces and the name of the great nation which the com- 

 mander of the frigate Alarm" represents. 



The State of Nicaragua, in present circumstances, wanting other means 

 for the defence of her rights than those afforded by reason and justice, 

 sustained solely by the morality (moral) of the civilized world, at the 

 head of which is Great Britain, the government of Nicaragua reserves to 

 itself, through the undersigned, the right of remonstrating, as may be con- 

 venient, and with ail possible means, against the violation and usurpation of^ 

 a port within its territory which has always belonged to this State, which 

 all commercial nations have ever recognised as such, and which, although 

 it may be occupied by a foreign power, will always continue to belong to 

 the Nicaraguan territory, where nature has placed it. 



I request, sir, that you will receive the protest in due form, returning to 

 me one of the duplicates in which it is made, accepted by you; and, at the 

 same time, I have, &c., 



RAFAEL BERMUDEZ. 



The frigate referred to in the foregoing notes is manned by English 

 officers and three hundred or four hundred men. The flag with which 

 she entered San Juan is the British, and she subsequently hoisted the flag 

 called the Mosquito flag. On the envelope of the communication of the 

 so-called oflcer of the council of his Mosquito Majesty is the seal of the 

 British consul resident at Bluefields; so that the whole is the work of 

 English subjects on the coast of Mosquito, 



To prove the indisputable right which the State of Nicaragua really and 

 effectually has to the port of San Juan, which it is now desired to take 

 away from us, we here insert the following documents: 



To the Governor Intendant of Nicaragua, 



In order to foment the population and trade of the island ©f Carmen, his 

 Majesty has been pleased, in consideration of the report of the Viceroy of 

 New Spain, the Marquis of Branciforte, to make its port a port of entry of 

 the second class, with all the privileges and immunities granted under the 

 decree of the I8th of October, 1789, and subsequent orders applicable to 

 ports of that class. 



Further, that the province of Nicaragua, and others of the kingdom of 

 Guatemala, distant upwards of three hundred leagues from the capital and 

 ports of Omoa and Santa Tomas de Gastilla, may trade direct with the 

 metropolis, without the inconvenience of such great distances, his 

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