36 



Doc. No. 75. 



upon, to the end that a good correspondence may reign between the two 

 nations^, and that the Enghsh workmen, cutters^ and laborers may not 

 trespass from an uncertainty of the boundaries. 



The respective commissaries shall fix upon convenient places, in the 

 territory above marked out, in order that his Britannic Majesty's sub- 

 jects employed in the felling of logwood may, without interruption, 

 build therein houses and magazines necessary for themselves, their fami- 

 lies, and their effects; and his Catholic Majesty assures to them the en- 

 joyment of all that is expressed in the present article; provided that these 

 stipulations shall not be considered as derogating in anywise from his 

 rights of sovereignty. 



'^Therefore, all the English who may be dispersed in any other parts^ 

 whether on tlie Spanish continent, or in any of the islands whatsoever, de- 

 pendent on the aforesaid Spanish continent, and for whatever reason it might 

 be, without exception, shall retire within the district which has been 

 above described, in the space of eighteen months, to be computed from 

 the exchange of the ratifications; and for this purpose orders shall be 

 issued on the part of his Britannic Majesty. His governors shall be or- 

 dered to grant to the English dispersed every convenience possible for 

 their removing to the settlement agreed upon by the present article^ or for 

 their retiring wherever they shall think proper. 



It is likewise stipulated, that if any fortifications should actually have 

 been heretofore erected within the limits marked out, his Britannic Ma- 

 jesty shall cause them all to be demolished; and he will order his sub- 

 jects not to build any new ones. The English inhabitants who shall 

 setde there for the cutting of logwood shall be permitted to enjoy a free 

 fishery for their subsistence, on the coasts of the district above agreed on^ 

 or of the islands situated opposite thereto, without being in anywise dis- 

 turbed on that account; provided they do not establish themselves^ in any 

 manner, on the said islands." 



In order to prevent such usurpations on the Mosquito coast, in addi- 

 tion to what there is comprehended in the general terms of the treaty of 

 Versailles, it was specially decided in the treaty conclnded between the 

 two governments at London, in July, 1786, that the English should 

 abandon that coast; and, in virtue of this, the settlers, troops, and super- 

 intendent were withdrawn, as you confess. The sovereignty exercised by 

 the Spanish government over the coast called by that imaginary name, 

 the name of those Indians, was effective; and the rights which the British 

 pretend to claim from amity, commerce, and intimate alliance with those 

 people, become null. 



As such intimate alliance did not exist, it would not have been re- 

 newed, as you say it was, after the cessation of the power of Spain in this 

 hemisphere, because as it could only be counteracted by means of treaties 

 between sovereigns. You confess that the treaty concluded between 

 the Kings of England and Spain prohibited such relations between the 

 English and the Mosquitos. It is clear that these Indians possessed no 

 sovereignty according to the views not only of the Spanish government, 

 bat also of the British, and that the latter could not contract an aUiance 

 with the pretended King of the Mosquitos; so that, as this alliance never 

 existed, it could not have been renewed. 



What this supreme government has declared, and you have admitted, 

 as to the power of Spain over the coast called the Mosquito coast, goes to 



