4 



Doc. No. 75. 



the accompanying correspondence; which is respectfully submitted m 

 response to the resolution. 



The Secretary of State of the State of Nicaiagna^ Seiior Bnitrago, in s 

 letter to the Hon. James Bnchanany late Secretary of State of the United 

 States, dated the ]2th day of November;- 1847,. solicited the friendly 

 offices of this government to prevent an attack upon the town oi San ' 

 Juan de Nicaragua, then contemplated by the British authorities as allies 

 of the Mosquito King. This letter, a translation of which is herewith y 

 sent, distinctly charges that the object of the British government in 

 taking this key of the continent is, not to protect the small tribe of Mos- 

 quitos, but to establish their own empire over the Atlantic extremity of 

 the line by which a canal connecting the two oceans is most practicable^ 

 insuring to them the preponderance on the American continent as well 

 as their direct relations with Asia, the East Indies, and other important 

 countries in the world." No answer appears to have been returned to 

 this letter. 



The President and Supreme Director of the State of Nicaragua, Don 

 Jos6 Guerrera, also, on' the 15th day of the same month, addressed a com- 

 munication to President Polk, a translation of which is herewith sent^ 

 expressing an earnest desire to establish relations of amity and commerce^ 

 with this government. In this the president of Nicaragua says: ^^My 

 desire Avas carried to the utmost, on seeing in your message, at the open- 

 ing of the 29th Congress of your republic, a sincere profession of political 

 faith, in all respects conformable with the principles professed by these- 

 States, determined as they are to sustain with firmness the continental 

 cause, the rights of America in general, and the non-interference of Euro- 

 pean powers in their concerns." He also announces the critical situation 

 in which Nicaragua was then placed, and charges upon the Court of 

 St. James ^' a well known design to establish colonies on the coast of 

 Nicaragua, and to render itself master of the inter-oceanic canal, for which 

 so many facilities are presented by the isthmus in that State." No reply 

 was made to this letter. 



On the 8th day of February, 1 848, (six days after the negotiation, by 

 Mr. Trist, of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,) the British ships of war 



Alarm" and ^' Vixen" arrived at San Juan de Nicaragua, and took 

 possession of that town, the name of which was changed to Grey- 

 town." On the 12th of that month the British forces attacked and; 

 after a sharp action, captured the port of Serapaqui, then garrisoned by 

 the troops of Nicaragua. The war was ended on the 7th day of March^ 

 1848, by articles of agreement concluded by Captain Granvill Gower 

 Loch, the commander of the expedition, on the pait of Great Britain^ 

 with the commissioner of the State of Nicaragua, a copy of which ac- 

 companies the note of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua to 

 the Secretary of State of the United States, under date of the 17th of 

 March, 1848. 



It is provided by the third article of this agreement, that Nicaragua 

 shall not disturb the inhabitants of San Juan, understanding that any 

 such act will be considered by Great Britain as a declaration of open 

 hostilities." By the 6th article of the same agreement, it is provided 

 that these articles will not hinder Nicaragua from soliciting, by means 

 of a commissioner to her Britannic Majesty, a final arrangement of thes© 

 affairs." 



