300 Doc. No. 75 



rank of an independent State. Now, hy an effect of weakness, and of a 

 mistaken policy of the government of Costa Rica, Great Britain will ac- 

 quire by cession the lands situated to the south of the river San Juan, 

 between the Serapique river, a tributary of the former, and the Atlantic 

 coast- though a question is pending between the two States relative to the 

 boundary line that must separate their respective territories and jurisdic- 

 tions. Having been informed of this fact, which threatens the independ- 

 ence of my country and its territorial integrity, and in fulfilment of the 

 duties imposed on me as a representative of Nicaragua at this court, I 

 have addressed to his excellency the honorable Lord Palmerston the fol- 

 lowing communication; 



London, July 9, 1849. 

 My Lord: In my communication of the 22d of January last, I had 

 the honor of enclosing to your excellency the protest that Don Gregorio 

 Juares, commissioned by the government of Nicaragua to treat with Don 

 Felipe Molina, minister from Costa Rica, put in the hands of the latter 

 on the 23d of September of last year, respecting the rights of Nicaragua to 

 the territory lying between the southern shore of the Lake of Nicaragua 

 and the mouth of the river San Juan, which territory is claimed by the 

 aforesaid State of Costa Rica. But it having after that date come to my 

 knowledge' that the said minister from Costa Rica is making with your 

 excellency a treaty by which he cedes to Great Britain the territory in 

 question, disregarding the amicable means that have been offered to ar- 

 range the differences existing between the two States respecting it, I find 

 myself under the painful but indispensable dnty of protesting, as I do pro- 

 test, against the said treaty, not only because it tends to the dismember- 

 ment of the Nicaraguan territory, bat also because it is a manifest usurpa- 

 tion of the rights of that State, and a flagrant violation of the precepts of 

 justice which the law of nations commands to be observed for the preser- 

 vation of peace and order, so necessary for the common welfare. 



'^'It is not for Costa Rica, my lord, not even for Nicaragua, to dispose 

 by a treaty with her Majesty's government of any part of that territory, 

 whichever it may be — it is for the nation, for the Central American States 

 only, to do it; and this is the reason why Honduras and San Salvador 

 have protested against the occupation of San Juan, though it was granted 

 provisionally by the armistice of the '7th of March of last year between the 

 said State of Nicaragua and Captain Granville Loch, in spite of the cir- 

 cumstances in which Nicaragua was at the time of the aggression. And 

 if it was considered so m the case of a State disposing of a territory which 

 is indisputably her own, what will be said when Costa Rica cedes a thing 

 that does not belong to her, or is at least an object of dispute? If she 

 has rights to make valid before an impartial tribunal, let her do it; Nica- 

 ragua has no fear, because reason and justice are on her side. 



'^This act, my lord, is not opposed to the high and unalterable con- 

 sideration in which Nicaragua has held and will always hold the two 

 high contracting parties; and I confess that it is only my imperative duty 

 that has dicta1;ed it, and this duty is of such a nature that any State would 

 do the same if placed in the same circumstances of being deprived of a 

 part of its territory to be given to one more powerful; contemning the 

 friendly means proposed to decide the question. 



