Doc. No. 75. 



37 



pTOve that the Mosquitos have never been sovereigns, but have only 

 formed a small portion of the kingdom of Guatemala, within whose hmits 

 are comprised— according to the Recopilacion de Indias^ book 2, title 15, 

 law 6, now in force, so far as it is not contrary to existing institutions, 

 declaring that its government should include, and its audience should 

 have for its district — the said province of Guatemala, with those of 

 Nicaragua, Chiapas, Higueras, Cabo de Honduras, Vera Paz, and Loco- 

 comisco, with the islands on the coast, bounded on the east by the prov- 

 ince of Tierra Firma, on the west by that of New Gallicia, by the At- 

 lantic sea on the north, and the S"Uth sea on the south." 



These boundaries evidently embrace the coast in question, and conse- 

 quently the Mosquito Indians thereon dwelling were inhabitants of the 

 same kingdom of Guatemala. All the documents cited in tho answer 

 from this department of the IQth instant, and acknowledged by you in 

 your reply of the I6th, prove the authority exercised by the kingdom of 

 Guatemala over these people and the territory inhabited by them; and 

 there is no difficulty in proving to you that the establishment on Black 

 dver was in existence in 1800. The acts m.entioned by you could not 

 give any rights to the Mosquitos, and formal measures were afterwards 

 taken to provide an effective government for those coasts. 



The return stated by you to have been made by the President of Gua- 

 temala of some Mosquito Indians, who had been brought away as pri- 

 soners with some (Jaribs to Truxiilo, by the Commandant Vallegos, and 

 that they crossed the dividing line at Manto, are circumstances which, 

 although they might have occurred, as stated, prove nothing in favor of 

 the Mosquitos, as an act of humanity coyld not be interpreted, in rigorous 

 justice, to that effect; nor were any boundaries in question; nor did the 

 President have powers to agree upon any which should alter those estab- 

 lished by the law of the whole kingdom. 



The mistakes committed by certain subjects of Prance or of New 

 Grenada, in addressing themselves to the pretended Mosquito King for 

 the restoration of negro slaves, does not prove that the governments of 

 those nations, and still less that Great Britain, which had by solemn acts 

 disarmed the pretended sovereignty of those Indians, could have recog- 

 laised this sovereignty as residing in their chief, possessing a separate ter- 

 ritory. 



This government therefore had abundant grounds for denying that you 

 had a legal right to declare to the government of Central America, that 

 her Britannic Majesty's government recognised the Mosquito nation. As 

 that nation does not exist, so is the territory wholly imaginary which is 

 claimed for them between the latitudes of 10 degrees 30 minutes and 16 

 degrees 10 minutes, and the longitude of 83 degrees 37 minutes and 88 

 degrees.. Equally devoid of validity are the boundaries as set forth by 

 the council of Jamaica on the 16th of July, 1774, in these words: " Of 

 the boundaries and extent of this country, we find it difficult to form a 

 precise idea: Cape Gracias a Dios, in 15 degrees north latitude, is generally 

 reckoned the centre of its seacoast, which is supposed to extend from 

 Cape Honduras to the northern branch of the Desaguadero of Nicaragua, 

 about 180 leagues; and the distant mountains which bound the Spanish 

 territories behind may be considered as the inland line." 



This document moreover justifies the right of Nicaragua to the port of 



