94 Doc. No. 75. 



of mills or other machines whatsoever; (this restriction^ however^ does 

 not regard the use of saw-millsj for cutting or otherwise preparing the 

 wood.) Since all the lands in question being indisputably acknowledged 

 to belong of right to the Crown of Spain, no settlements of that kind, or 

 the population which would follow, could be allowed. ^' The English 

 shall be permitted to transport and convey all such wood, and other pro- 

 duce of the place, in its natural and uncultivated state, down the rivers to 

 the sea; but without ever going beyond the limits which are prescribed 

 to them by the stipulations above granted, and without thereby taking 

 an opportunity of ascending the said rivers beyond their bounds into the 

 countries belonging to Spain." 



And yet from this simple permission, within certain precise limits to 

 cut and carry away all the different kinds of wood, and '^the produce of 

 the earth, uncultivated and purely natural," accompanied by the most 

 solemn acknowledgment on the part of Great Britain that all the lands 

 in question belong of right to the Crown of Spain," she has by succes- 

 sive encroachments established the British colony of the Belize. 



The government of the United States has not yet determined what 

 course it v/ill pursue in regard to the encroachments of the British gov- 

 ernment as protector of the King and kingdom of the Mosquitos; but you 

 are instructed to obtain all the information within your power upon the 

 nature and extent of these encroachments, and communicate it with the 

 least possible delay to this department. We are, also, desirous to learn 

 the number of the Mosquito tribe, the degree of civilization they have 

 attained, and everything else concerning them. 



The independence as well as the interests of the nations on the conti- 

 nent, require that they should maintain an American system of policy 

 entirely distinct from that which prevails in Europe. To suffer any in- 

 terference on the part of the European governments with the domestic 

 concerns of the American republics, and to permit them to establish new 

 colonies upon this continent, would be to jeopard their independence and 

 to ruin their interests. These truths ought everywhere throughout this 

 continent to be impressed upon the public mind; but what can the United 

 States do to resist such European interference whilst the Spanish Ameri- 

 can republics contmue to weaken themselves by division and civil war, 

 and deprive themselves of the abiUty of doing anything for their own pro- 

 tection? 



The relations between the United States and the States which formerly 

 composed the republic of Central America, are of a character in which 

 this government has always felt a lively interest. On the 22d of Novem- 

 ber, 1822, after the Central American States had achieved their independ- 

 ence of Spain, but before they were united under a common government, 

 the Congress of St. Salvador passed an act declaring that State a member 

 of our Union, and Messrs. Aree and Rodriguez were sent hither to nego- 

 tiate with this government upon the subject. No formal answer was 

 given to the application ; but the regard of our country, and the confidence 

 in its institutions which it implied, deserve to be held in respectful re- 

 membrance. 



The federation of Central America had not long been formed, when its 

 government accredited to that of the United States a minister plenipoten- 

 tiary, with whom a treaty was concluded in this city on the 9th of De- 

 cember, 1826. This treaty was on a basis more liberal than any which 



