90 



Doc. No. 75. 



by the government of Nicaragua towards Great Britain than that of in-' 

 trusting one of our principal ports to its l®yalty and gr>od faith? 



The declarations of an English commander, too generous to misemploy 

 the position he was placed in with relation to this State, and too much 

 enlightened to prefer the doublful rights of conquest to the measure of an 

 amicable negotiation which we were disposed to accept, were grounds 

 and motives sufficiently powerful to produce the expectation that the 

 hour had arrived for doing justice to a State which had employed no 

 other means of defending its rights than those of reason and of pacific 

 demands. 



But Captain Granville having unfortunately no other instructions than to 

 demand the giving up of the prisoners Hodgson and Little, to require expla- 

 nations upon the outrage which was supposed to be committed upon the 

 British flag, and an effective guarantee that the inhabitants of San Juan 

 should not hereafter be molested, the commissioners of the State did not 

 hesitate to sign, on the 7th instant, the treaty proposed by the aforesaid com- 

 mandant of the British forces, a copy of which is enclosed, (No. 5,) not- 

 withstanding the hardship which it involves in departing from the basis of 

 reciprocity which ought never to be refused in an agreement of this nature; 

 but reserving the explanations which they thought desirable to bring before 

 the government of her Britannic Majesty, my government has ratified the 

 treaty under the authority of the Constituent Assembly, to take effect for 

 the whole term necessary to decide definitively ^Hhe question between 

 this government and that of Great Britain respecting the territory of the 

 Mosquito coast, through the medium of a diplomatic agent who shall be 

 appointed to that court on the part of the confederation or of Nicaragua 

 alone, both by virtue of article 6 of the treaty itself, and in pursuance of 

 a decree to this effect issued by the legislative power." In the meantime 

 I am authorized to declare to your Grace, that neither the above treaty, 

 nor the occupation of the port of San Juan, which is permitted provision- 

 ally, can, by virtue of the same, exclude or prejudice in any way the 

 rights which the State really believes to appertain to it upon the said port 

 and territory of Mosquito, and that its admission is not, nor ought to be, 

 considered other than as a demonstration of friendship and acquiescence 

 to her Britannic Majesty, with the confident hope that when the causes 

 shall have ceased which have created the difficulties that have occurred 

 between the two governments, its claims will be heard, and all those pos- 

 sessions restored which we have inherited from our ancestors, and which 

 we have maintained in peace before all the nations of the world, as the 

 minister plenipotentiary which my government proposes to appoint to 

 your court, with the least possible delay, will have the honor of laying 

 before your Grace personally. 



In making this candid declaration, the Director of the State of Nicar- 

 agua is firmly persuaded that the government of her Britannic Majesty 

 cannot but see in his conduct the most undeniable proof of his sincere 

 and continued disposition to maintain peace and a good understanding 

 between the two countries, and that her Britannic Majesty, guided by the 

 same spirit, will be desirous of cultivating with this youthf\il State the 

 firiendship and good understanding which it desires for their mutual 

 benefit. 



Allow me, &c. 



SEBASTIAN SALINAS. 



