128 DocJ^o. 75. 



31st December, 1828; of which a copy was officially communicated to the 

 Spanish government. 



- Macgregor concludes his statement of the British claim as follows: ^'It 

 having been decided that Prince George should be crowned as usual at 

 Belize, the necessary preparations Avere made. The regalia, consisting of 

 a silver gilt crown, a sword and sceptre, all of moderate value, and given 

 formerly to one of the kings by the British government, were brought 

 from the usual places of security, the dwelling of the chief at Yaughes 

 river." 



On the 17th of April the British sloop-of- war Hyacinth arrived at 

 Blaefields, for the purpose of carryingjhe young King, George Augustus 

 Frederick, to Belize, to be crowned according to ancient usage, which 

 was performed by the commissary of the Bishop of Jamaica, on the 7th 

 of May, 1845, in St. John's Church, Belize, in the presence of the super- 

 intendent, Colonel Fancourt, Mr. \Yalker, British agent at Blueiields, 

 and several chiefs." 



This pageant is thus set forth in a document prepared under the auspices 

 of the British executive, and published to the world by the British Parlia- 

 ment. It was laid before the House of Commons on the 3d of July, 1848, 

 and contains the British exhibit of " the most authentic information that 

 can be procured as to the boundary clain^£(^ by the King of Mosquito." 



The crowning of George Frederick Augustus does not seem to be the 

 first instance of the creation of a king to assert the rights of his ally and 

 protector. In 1822 a book was published, entitled '^A Sketch of the Mos- 

 quito Shore, including the Territory of Poyais" &c., ^^by Thomas Strange- 

 ways, K. G. C, captain first Poyais native regiment, and aid-de-camp 

 to his Highness Gregor, cacique of Poyais," in which we are informed that 

 the cacique of Poyais is no less a personage than ^' his Highness the Mac- 

 gregor of the Clan Alpine, directly descended from the ancient kings of 

 Scotland." The monarchy therefore does not appear to be hereditary, or the 

 succession confined to the native princes. He is plainly the mere agent 

 and instrument of Great Britain, and selected by herself. 



It is manifest, indeed, that the rights claimed by Great Britain nomi- 

 nally in behalf of the Mosquito King, but really as her own, are founded 

 in repeated usurpations, which usurpations were repeatedly and solemnly 

 acknowledged and relinquished by her during the domination of Spain 

 on the American continent. Since that domination has ceased, those 

 claims could have had no other foundation for renewal than the supposed 

 weakness or indifference of the governments invested wiih the rights of 

 Spain in that quarter. These claims certainly can derive no warrant from 

 the indifference of the government of Nicaragua, as the letters of the 

 Minister for Foreign Affairs of that State to this department, above adverted 

 to, abundantly show. 



Against the aggressions on her territory Nicaragua has firmly strug- 

 gled, and protested without ceasing, and the feelings of her people may be 

 judged from the impassioned language of the proclamation of her Supreme 

 Director^ on the 12th of November, 1848. ^' The moment," says he, ^'has 

 arrived for losing a country with ignominy, or for sacrificing with honor 

 the dearest treasures to preserve it. As regards myself, if the power which 

 menaces sets aside justice, I am firmly resolved to be entombed in the 

 remains of Nicaragua, rather than survive its ruin." The eloquent appeal 

 of the minister of Nicaragua to his government is evidence, not less strik- 



