Doc. No. 75. 281 



Moorish chiefs at Portendic, and another for arms J (fcc , given, to the Sultan 

 of Johanna. It appeared to him most improper to be expending the pub- 

 lic money in arming these obscure savages. 



Lord Palmerston said, that the Mosquito State had been under the pro- 

 tection of England for more than two hundred years. The United States, 

 therefore, whose antiquity as such was scarcely so great, could not very 

 well complain that EJngland was setting up a State in the Mosquito terri- 

 tory. As to Portendic, there was a large corn trade carried on by Eng- 

 land in that quarter; and it was considered expedient, and indeed neces- 

 sary, to make, now and then, small presents to the local chieftains. As 

 to the Sultan of Johanna, he did not, at the present moment, call to mind 

 what the exact circumstances were^ but they were probably of the same 

 character. 



No. 11. 



Report on the state of the affairs of Nicaragua. 



In my despatches of the 20th of January last, I laid before Lord Palmer- 

 ston the right which Nicaragua has over the port of San Juan and Mosquito 

 territory, stating, Istly, that from the time of the Spanish government, 

 both have been considered as dependants of the ancient kingdom of Gua- 

 temala; 2dly, that as such, they were comprised within the limits which 

 the constitution of 1824 fixed for the republic of Central America; 3dly, 

 that neither the Spanish government, nor that of Central America con- 

 federation, have recognised as a nation the wandering tribes which the 

 government of her Britannic Majesty, it is asserted, took under its pro- 

 tection more than tv/o hundred years ago; 4thly, that this protection has 

 not existed, espacially after they renounced it on the celebration of the 

 treaty of 1783, and the convention of 1786, which left the said tribes of 

 Mosquitos wholly wnder the Spanish dominion; 5thly, that if the British 

 government has now decided to lend them its protection, they have not 

 thereby acquired the right to constitute themselves an independent State, 

 and much less to appropriate to themselves a port which Nicaragua has, 

 without any contradiction, possessed ever since it was qualified, in 1796, 

 by his Catholic Majesty, for the imports and exports of that province; 

 6thly, that even were the sovereignty of the aforesaid tribes recognised, 

 out of deference to her Britannic Majesty, it is still unquestionable that 

 the port of San Juan is without the limits of that territory, which, from 

 the remotest times, has borne the name of Mosquitos, and which is 

 situated between Bluefields and Cape Gracias a Dios; 7thly, that not only 

 the opinions of the geographers and impartial travellers who have laid down 

 the said limits are in favor of Nicaragua, but also the possession which 

 she has ever since held in the presence of the whole world; 8thly, that 

 although it is true that until a not very remote epoch she did not estab- 

 lish a custom-house there, still it is no less so that during all this period 

 she has made use of it, and by other acts proved her possession, by which 

 Nicaragua has preserved a kind of ownership, in virtue whereof it was 

 requalified by a decree of the general government in 1825, and a custom- 

 house was then established; 9thly, that while iMcaragua has, at least, 

 the right of first occupant, even supposing that she did not establish a 

 custom-house there until the year 1836, as the British agents assert, the 

 Mosquitos have not even this right, as they have never possessed it, nor 



