184 Doc. No. 75.^ 



you to sbow; by any other evidence than the documents Avhich yon your- 

 self have quoted, that long before Nicaragua came into existence as a 

 State, Great Britain exercised a protectorship over the Mosquito as a 

 separate nation. But, nevertheless, ev^en at the risk of making this letter 

 needlessly long, I will mention one or two facts which clearly demonstrate 

 that it was so. 



At what time and in what manner the connexions between Great 

 Britain and the Mosquito nation first began, is not well known; but it is 

 certain, and on record, that while the Duke of Albeiparle was governor 

 of Jamaica, to which office he was appointed in 1687, the Mosquito In- 

 dians made a formal cession of the sovereignty of their country to the 

 King of England; and that in consequence of that cession, the chief 

 of the Mosquitos received his appointment as King, by a commission 

 given to him by the governor of Jamaica, in the name and on the behalf 

 of the King of England. 



Somewhat more than thirty years afterwards — namely, on the 25th of 

 June, 1720, as appears by the journals of the house of assembly of Ja- 

 maica — a convention about runaway slaves was concluded between Sir 

 Nicholas Lawes, governor of Jamaica, and King Jeremy of the Mosquitos. 

 From that time downwards, during the reigns of George I, II, and III, 

 the connexion between Great Britain and the Mosquitos continued uninter- 

 rupted and unimpaired; and at times during that period, there were 

 British settlers established in the Mosquito territory, with a British resi- 

 dent officer appointed by the governor and council of Jamaica, on behalf 

 of the British Crown, to superintend those settlers; and the council of 

 Jamaica, in a report to Governor Dallas on the 16th of July, 1774, ad- 

 verting to the inland boundary of the Mosquito territory, mentions it as 

 running along 'Uhe distant mountains which bound the Spanish terri- 

 tory;" a clear proof that Mosquito was a separate State, and did not belong 

 to Spain. But the colonial records of the British government abound 

 with correspondence about the Mosquito King and nation, proving not 

 only the strong and constant interest taken by the British government in 

 their welfare, but the close and intimate connexion which has uninter- 

 ruptedly subsisted between Great Britain and Mosquito. 



If it be established, as it clearly is, that the Mosquito territory is, and 

 for centuries has been, a separate State, distinct from the American pos- 

 sessions of Spain, there cannot be a moment's doubt that the port of 

 Greytown, at the mouth of the river St. John's, belongs to, and forms 

 part of, that Mosquito territory. This can be shown by quotations from 

 numerous authorities, public and private, official and literary; and so far 

 from there being any just ground to doubt that the southern extremity of 

 the Mosquito territory includes the port of Greytov/n, there are, on the 

 contrary, good and substantial reasons which can be alleged to show that 

 the rights of Mosquito extend southward as far as the Boca de! Tora, at 

 which place the King of Mosquito has at various times exercised rights 

 by levying duties. 



Such being the state of these matters, it can scarcely be necessary for 

 me to say that her Majesty's government cannot allow the government 

 of Nicaragua to mix up its unfounded pretension to the territory of Mos- 

 quito with the just claims of the British creditors upon Nicaragua; and 

 any attempt on the part of the Nicaraguan government to do so would 

 constitute one of those cases of denial of justice, and of notorious injus- 



