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Doc. No. 75. 



those provinces when they were dependants of Spain. So certain is ihm^ 

 that the constituent assembly of Costa Rica^ respecting the ancient de- 

 marcation, fixed J in the 2d article of the constitution of the 2lst of Jan- 

 nary, 1825, the ISalio river as the line separating it from Nicaragua ever 

 since both ^^ere provinces of the ancient kingdom of Guatemala^ and 

 Nicaragua was so conforming to this, that in the constitution of the22d 

 of April; 1826, it was said her limfts extended to the State of Costa Rica^r 

 which were the Satto river, as I have said. Within these limits it com- 

 prised the district of Nicoya^ the object of the question between Nicaragua 

 and Costa Rica. If this question was to be treated simply as at the time 

 when both States were provinces of Guatemala, the solution ought to be' 

 sought in the laws and the official and historical documents relative to 

 those countries, amongst which should be quoted the dictionary of Don' 

 Antonio Alcedo, published 1788 3; the History of Guatemala, by Don 

 Domingo JuarroS;^ edited in 1823; and tlie pohtical and statistical sketch 

 made in 1824, by Don Miguel Gonzalez Saravia, last governor of Nica- 

 ragua, during the Spanish domination. The first; speaking of Nicoya^ 

 says: Nicoya is a province and akaldia of the kingdom of Gaiatemala^ 

 in Central America) its hmits are, on the east Costa Rica, on the north 

 the lake of Nicaragua, on the west and south the Pacific ocean; its ex- 

 tension is small, and is considered as a part of the province of Nicaraguaj? 

 whose governor appoints the alcalde as his lieutenant.'^ Mr. Juarros, in 

 describing Nicaragtia^ says: The intendancy of Nicaragua includes 

 five districts: of those Leon, which is the first, was formerly considered 

 a government; the others^ Healejo, Matagalpa^ Subtiava, and Nicoya^^ were 

 corregidorships: but now ail these are under the jurisdiction of the in- 

 tendant of the province^ who has six deputies^ one resident at the city 

 of Segovia, one in the town of Realejo, and one in each of the villages of 

 Subtiavay Matagalpa, Mesaya^ and Nicoya.'^ The 3d^ in relation to Ni- 

 caragua, says: The area of this province has the figure of a triangle,, 

 almost isosceles, whose sides, in angles a little obtuse, run in the north 

 from east to west, from the gulf of Amapala, commonly called Conchagua^- 

 on the Pacific, to the Pearl river on the Atlantic; from there it runs to the 

 south on the coast and confines of the province of Verag uas, thence to 

 Burnea point on the Pacific, and from this in a diagonal line to Amapala 

 gulf. It is situated (including the part of Costa Rica which is in the 

 southern angle) between IG^ and 30° 30' latitude north, and W 3(y 

 and 81° 15' longitude, from the meridian of Cadiz. It confines on the 

 north with the gulf of Amapala, which washes its coasts and receives its 

 largest rivers, with the province of Honduras and the mountains and 

 territories occupied by the Indians, not reduced, down to the Mosquito 

 country; on the east with the Caribbean sea; on the south with the prov- 

 ince of Costa Rica, from which it is divided by the river Salto, in the gulf 

 of Nicoya; and on the west with the Pacific ocean." But the difficulty 

 is not here; because, though the ancient limits of these two provinces are 

 unquestionable; though Costa Rica, in her constitution of 1825, re- 

 spected those limits, fixing hers to the Salto river, as 1 have said j and 

 though in the elections for deputies of Nicaragua Nicoya took part, and 

 was represented in the constituent assembly of the State in 1826;, Costa 

 Rica now claims not only the district of Nicoya towards the Pacific, but also 

 the territory on the south of the river San Juan, doAvn to its embouchure 

 in the Atlantic. She alleges in favor of this pretension a decree passed 



