Doc. No. 75. 



299 



countries. The desert territoiy of the bank of the San Jiian, if it does 

 not belong to Nicaragua, must to New Grenada, which has for its support 

 the royal order issued by his UathoUc Majesty on the 30th of November, 

 1803, commanding the aggregation to the viceroyship of Santa Fe all 

 the coast of the Atlantic from Cape Gracias a Dins to the river Chagres, 

 which previously belonged to the viceroyship of Guatemala; upon which 

 subject a question is pending between the two republics, which, in the 

 treaty executed on the 15th of May, 1825, bound themselves to arrange 

 in an amicable manner as soon as circumstances should allow. This 

 arrangement has never taken place; and, consequently, the demarcation of 

 limits between Cenfral America and New Grenada remains in the provi- 

 sional character given to it by the 7th article of the said treaty, which is 

 binding on all the States that formerly composed the federation of Central 

 America. 



Conclusion. 



I have related the facts, with all their circumstances, as they happened, 

 confining myself in the account to the limits of a mere historian, without 

 adding more than those observations which the very nature of the affair 

 has given room for, but preserving to the persons whom * * * all the 

 consideration which I owe them, not only from the social position which 

 they occupy, but also from the relations of friendship which unite me to 

 them. 



In drawing up my account, I have availed myself not only of my mem- 

 ory, but also of the documents which exist in the archives of the re- 

 spective governments, or which have been published at various periods. 

 I have not thought fit to blame any one, because 1 am sure that such 

 means are only fit to excite hatred and resentment injurious to all society, 

 and because, I not being the party who is to judge this affair, I should 

 usurp the attributes of the government and the public, whom I consider 

 to be the only judges in these questions. 



I dearly hope that my country may obtain a just recompense for all the 

 evils which it has received, if the cause has a sufficient merit for it; but 

 I am also of opinion that peace, that inestimable gift of Heaven, is worthy 

 of any sacrifice, and that if it is necessary to make any to preserve it, 

 such sacrifice ought not to be omitted, saving only the national honor and 

 dignity, without which Nicaragua could not exist as a political being, nor 

 be respected by other nations in the manner which its prosperity and wel- 

 fare require. 



FRAN. CASTELLON. 



London, July T, 1849. 



No. 12. 



London, July 9, 1849. 

 An act of violence perpetrated by British officers in the month of Janu- 

 ary, 1848, has put in the possession of Great Britain the magnificent port 

 of San Juan de Nicaragua, which is destined to be one day the key of the 

 inter-oceanic canal through the isthmus of that State. This aggression, 

 against which my government have solemnly protested before the world, 

 was executed in the name of the savage tribes of Mosquitos that her Bri- 

 tannic Majesty's government wish to raise, under their protection, to the 



