Doc. No 75. 



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tioi'i that the privilege conceded to British subjects in the article* of the 

 convention of 1786, should be prorogued; and that for this reason I 

 protested against the declaration of the 17th of February, in my de- 

 spatches of the 5th and 19th of March, (in which 1 proposed to name 

 arbiters to decide the question,) and 1 newly protested against it as being 

 prejudicial to the rights of Nicaragua, humiliating to its government, and 

 contrary to tht? practices usual amongst nations that owe each other mu- 

 tual consideration. 



Thirdly. To show, in conclusion, the h^^pothecary right of the credit- 

 ors to the revenues of the said port, and their duty to support the claim 

 of Nicaragua against the usurpation that has been made in the name of 

 the Mosquito tribes, unless they will wait until the State, by itself, shall 

 have obtained the proper reparation of the offence. 



This is the state of affairs . 



Question between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.'''' 



This is an event that, by a fatality which has befallen to the lot of 

 Central America, has originated from the spirit of independence that 

 animates that people. This spirit has been carried to a degree of exag- 

 geration, and is the source of all our discords, the civil war that has pro- 

 duced the dissolution of the union which nature, religion, and our com- 

 mon origin, had formed of the States of Central America — a union that 

 the institutions adopted after the emancipation from Spain ought to have 

 fortified and perpetuated, by means of a federal pact. Thus it is not strange 

 that when this tie was broken, those States fell to ruin. The weakness 

 consequent to their isolated situation in which they found themselves^ 

 created discredit and want of consideration in their relations with for- 

 eign nations. Let it be said as a simple digression, without inculpating 

 anybody;, or attributing to any person the causes of our misfortunes. I 

 will pass now to explain the question between Nicaragua and Costa 

 Rica, which verges on the designation of the territorial limits. The 

 province of Costa Rica, which, under the colonial regime of Spain, was 

 subordinated in some parts to Nicaragua, became after the independence 

 a sovereign and free State, and as such a member of the union called 



Central American Confederation," according to the constitution of 

 1824. The people, enervated by the joy of their sudden transition to 

 which they owed their political being; flattered by the idea of a happier 

 future uiider the beneficial influence of the institutions they had 

 adopted; little experienced in matters of government and administration 

 of public affairs, the men who were called to organize the country under 

 the new form, without any other thought but that of fraternity and union 

 to strengthen the nation against a reaction of the metropolis, did not 

 care to fix with due exactness the limits of every State, thinking it suffi-^ 

 cient to fix those that separated the republic from Mexico and Colombia. 



Thus it is, that, though it does not appear in the constitution of each 

 State, the demarcation of its own limits, it was always considered that the 

 boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica was the same that divided 



*Mr. De Marcoleta has this document, and can answer any questions put to him on the 

 fiVibjeci of this report. 



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