126 



Doc- No. 75. 



discussion of the subject, to retain the Mosquito shore under their protec- 

 tion and sovereignty! The only reason he assigns for this determination 

 isj that the word ''Spanish^'' and not American continent" was used, 

 with tlie design ; as he insinuates, of affording a pretext for further ques- 

 tioning the Spanish title. 



That this iorced construction was never acquiesced in by Spain is 

 manifest, from the fact that fresh disputes between the two Crowns, re- 

 garding the Mosquito shore, arose soon after the conclusion of the treaty 

 of 1783. These were again adjusted, definitively no doubt, as Spain 

 hoped, by the treaty of July, 1786. The first article of that treaty stipu- 

 lates that his Britannic Majesty's subjects, and the other colonists who 

 have hitherto enjo^^ed the protection of England, shall evacuate the coun- 

 try of the MosquUoSy as well as the continent in general, and the islands 

 adjacent, without exception, situated beyond the line hereinafter de- 

 scribed," &c. This line provided for an extension of the limits within 

 which the British were allowed to cut woods, and gather the natural 

 fruits of the earth; but 'Hhe stipulation was never to be used as a pretext 

 for establishing any plantation, since all the lands in question being indis- 

 putably acknowledged to belong of right to the Crown of Spain, no settle- 

 menti" of that kind., or the population which ivould follow, could be alloioed. ' ' 

 Nearly every article of this treaty admits the Spanish title, and in the 

 strongest terms. British subjects are to evacuate Spanish territory; and 

 if they do not, "his Britannic Majesty, so far from affording them the 

 least succor, or even protection, will disavow them in the most solemn 

 manner, as he will equally do those who may hereafter attempt to settle 

 upon the territory belonging to the Spanish dominion." By the 14th arti- 

 cle, "His Catholic Majesty, prompted solely by motives of humanity, 

 promises to the King oif England that he will not exercise any severity 

 against the Mosquitos inhabiting in part the countries which are to be 

 evacuated by virtue of the present convention, on account of the connex- 

 ions which may have subsisted between the said Indians and the English; 

 and his Britannic Majesty, on his part, will strictly prohibit all his subjects 

 from furnishing arms or warlike stores to the Indians," &c. 



A motion was made in the British House of Lords, " that the terms of 

 the convention with Spain, signed in July, 1786, did not meet the favor- 

 able opinion of this House." But it was negatived. The parliamentary 

 document (Macgregor's) adds: " From September, 1785, until July, 

 1786, the respective claims of England and Spain to the Mosquito terri- 

 tories were discussed; and on the 12th of July, 1786, it was announced 

 that the territory was to be delivered up to the Crown of Spain. This 

 abandonment of the country and its inhabitants was considered at the 

 time by the British people a most profligate surrender. 



" It was with the most painful reluctance, and only in obedience to 

 positive orders, that the British settlers slowly and discontentedly left 

 their plantations." Yet Lord Palmerston, in his note of the 17th May, 

 1848, to the Nicaragua minister, says of Mosquito, that it is " a State 

 which, for more than a century, has been acknowledged and protected by 

 Great Britain." 



A British writer of abihty in the Quarterly Review, (vol. 28, 1823, 

 1823, p. 159,) speaking of this claim to the Mosquito territory, and the 

 treaties of 1783 and 1786, says: " Nothing can more clearly establish the 

 sole right of Spain to these territories than the treaty and convention 



