Doc. No. 75. 



29 



To his honor Lieutenant Governor Dolling: 



We find it difficult to give any exact definition of the limits and ex- 

 tension of the Mosquito coast. The cape of Gracias a DioS; to the 15th 

 degree of north latitude^ is recognised as the centre of the seacoast; which 

 runs from Cape Honduras to the small stream or northern branch of the 

 channel of the river San Jua?i de Nicaragua, about 180 leagues 5 and the 

 distant mountains which constitute the hmits of the Spanish territories 

 may be considered as forming the boundary line of the interior. There 

 are various works in Avhich the precise boundaries are set down; but I 

 think it only necessary to mention one, whose testimony upon this sub- 

 ject at least cannot be suspected of partiaUty towards the Mosquitos. I 

 allude to the historian of the kingdom of Guatemala, Don Domingo Tu- 

 arros, who, in page 52, vol. 1, describes two provinces situated between 

 the districts of Nicaragua and Comayagua, inhabited by uncivilized In- 

 dians, who he says are alternately called Jicagues, Mosquitos, and Sam- 

 bos j which provinces, he adds, extend all along the Atlantic coast, from 

 the Agnan river to that of San Juan del Norte. Having thus shown that 

 a perfect alliance has existed for nearly two hundred years between the 

 government of her Majesty and the people of Mosquito, and, moreover, 

 that her Majesty's government has good reasons for believing that the left 

 shore of the mouth of San Juan is Mosquito and not Nicaragua territory, 

 all that remains for me to do is to recommend a little more caution to the 

 government of Nicaragua for the future, so that it may not again presume 

 to impute motives of action to the British government for which there is 

 not the shghtest foundation. In fact, the expression that the government 

 of her Majesty has descended so far as to resort to subterfuge in order to 

 avoid the fulfilment of obligations towards the government of Nicaragua, 

 is so utterly absurd that it disarms the anger which such an imputation 

 would otherwise have excited. In order to prevent at all times and in all 

 cases the least equivocation or misconstruction as to the intentions of her 

 Majesty's government in regard to the Mosquito nation, on the part of 

 those evil-disposed persons who are striving without effect, I believe, to 

 foment feelings of malevolence against Great Britain and British subjects in 

 this country, I here declare my conviction that her Majesty's governrnxent 

 simply desu'es that the chief of the Mosquito nation shall exercise his 

 power like one who rules supreme over his own territory, receiving the 

 protection of her Majesty's government against foreign aggression, and, as 

 a necessary consequence of that protection, the benefit of its counsel in all 

 those matters where advice is considered necessary. 



I have the honor to remain, sir, your most obedient servant, 



FREDERICK CHATFIELD, 



" Consul General i?i Central America. 



P. S. — The collection of documents which accompanied your com- 

 munication of the lUth instant are herewith returned. 



^^F. C/' 



