32D CONG....2D SESS. whose independence we have, on great considerations and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by a European Power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. In the war between those new governments and Spain, we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur, which, in the judgment of the competent au thorities of this Government, shall make a corresponding change, on the part of the United States, indispensable to their security. "The late events in Spain and Portugal show that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced than that the allied Powers should have thought it proper, on any principle satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed by force in the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent such interposition may be carried, on the same principle, is a question in which all independent Powers whose Governments differ from theirs are interested; even those most remote, and surely none more so than the United States. Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its Powers; to consider the Government de facto as the legitimate Government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy; meeting, in all instances, the just claims of every Power; submitting to injuries from none. But, in regard to those continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied Powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can any one believe that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition, in any form, with indifference. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new governments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other Powers will pursue the same course." In the subsequent or eighth annual message of the same President, (Mr. Monroe,) he again alluded to the contest between Spain and her colonies; said that the latter had fully achieved their independence, and that said independence had been recognized by the United States. He then adverted to the European Powers; said that it was "the interest of the United States to preserve the 'most friendly relations with them, but that with regard to our neighbors, the republics of South 'America, our situation was different. It was 'impossible for the European Governments to interfere in their concerns without affecting us. Indeed, the motive which might induce such in'terference would appear to be equally applicable to 'us;" and he added that "it was gratifying to 'know that some of the Powers with whom we enjoyed a very friendly intercourse, and to whom these views had been communicated, had ap'peared to acquiesce in them." In this statement it will be observed that all intervention between the Governments of this hemisphere by the Powers of Europe, for whatever purpose, whether "oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny," is declared to be "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States." The purpose for which the intervention might be made does not change the dangerous and hostile character of the act; and the reason is obvious, and our late experience gives it additional force. If once they are permitted to interfere, protectorates, and consequent acquisitions and fortifications of strong points, for the effectual protection of such wards, would render the State so protected and occupied, the mere creature and victim of the stronger power, and would lead by a thousand pretexts which everybody but Mr. Fillmore can see at once, to the introduction of the European system into the continent, which is inconsistent with our safety. How dangerous every infraction of this principle is, may be seen by the late overtures for a tripartite treaty, which would have bound us in all time from the acquisition of Cuba, and which has even awakened the Executive. This offer, so promptly rejected, was, however, a corollary, a necessary consequence of the tripartite mediation in Haytí, and the admission in Honduras, and along the Mosquito coast, of the claims of England. The offer on the part of France and England to make a treaty stipulating for the eternal separation of Cuba from the United States does not equal in insolence either of the two encroachments which we have not only submitted to but invited. To what depth of degradation—to what sacrifice of pride, honor, and power-to what extreme of hu Foreign Policy-Cuba-Mr. Marshall. miliating subserviency to Europe we would have insensibly gone, I forbear to conjecture. We have gone far enough, however, to prove that the only safety is in the rigid observance of the Monroe doctrine which is contained in one line: Non-interference on the part of European Powers with the independent governments of the New World. That this doctrine should have been enforced with jealous precision against France and England in the Island of Hayti by the United States is made more apparent by the fact that each of these Powers has guarded against interference by the other, and that the United States alone has been indifferent to the progress of either in the island. The joint mediation met the views of both those Powers, as it gave to them a controlling majority in any negotiations which might be entered into. And that there could have existed no adequate motive for accepting or tolerating the joint interference of those Powers is demonstrated by the fact, that that connection with us did not influence Soulouque in any degree, but that the joint mediation was as ludicrously impotent as our sole attempt could by possibility have been. By the treaty of Ryswick, 1697, Spain ceded to France the western one third of the Island of San Domingo, retaining the eastern two thirds: The black population of the western or French portion of the island in 1790 massacred the whites, and became independent of France. The blacks of the east or Spanish division did not join in this rebellion. In the same year the Spanish part of the island was ceded by Spain to France, and remained in her possession till 1808, when the English aided the Creoles to throw off the control of France, and the territory was confirmed to Spain in 1815 by the treaty of Paris, and was governed as a Spanish province till 1821. In 1822, Dominica, with a view to connect herself with the Colombian republic, revolted from Spain. This purpose was never carried into effect; but Spain was unable to attempt even its subjugation, and has never to this day reasserted her claim. On the contrary, she has openly acknowledged their independence by demanding, in 1830, from Hayti an indemnity for its loss, and also by receiving and treating with the Dominican commissioner in 1847 for the acknowledgment of the republic then established in the east. In February, 1822, Boyer, the chief of the west or negro part of the island, the now Empire of Hayti, invaded the east with a force which was irresistible by the Dominicans. The provisional authorities were compelled to submit, and the territory was incorporated with the Haytian republic. It is not necessary to my present purpose to recount all the atrocities practiced by Boyer on the Dominicans. It is enough that his administration was so intolerable, not only to the Dominicans, but to the Haytians, that he was driven from power and from the country in the year 1843. Riviere, who overthrew and succeeded Boyer, was more ferocious toward the Dominicans than his predecessor. It is true that Dominica sent her representative to the convention held at Port au Prince, in 1843, to remodel the constitution. In the first business before the convention, the difficulty arose which led to the establishment of a separate republic in Dominica. This was the basis on which the union (if any union was to be between the west and the east) should be established. The Dominican delegates insisted, as a fundamental provision, upon the protection and encouragement of white immigration. It was refused by the Haytian representatives. Upon this the Dominicans declared themselves independent of Hayti, in a manifesto published 16th of January, 1844 In the war which immediately followed, the Dominicans beat the Haytians in several actions, and have maintained themselves in this independence ever since. In November, 1844, the constitution, modeled after our own, was proclaimed. The two successors of Riviere-Guerrier and Riché-made no serious attempt against Dominica. But Soulouque who succeeded, has exhausted every means in his power to annoy or to reconquer the country, and has publicly declared his intention to exterminate the whites from the island. Shortly after the establishment of the Dominican republic, commissioners were sent to this place to ask its recllognition. Had they not a right to ask it? No claim HO. OF REPS. to sovereignty had been advanced by any European Power for more than twenty years. They had, driven by a tyranny unexampled, thrown off the connection, forced in the first place with Hayti, and were in fact and of right independent. The leading ground of difference between them and Hayti, white immigration, should have commanded our sympathies; and the doom of extermination pronounced against them, gave them a right to protection on the grounds of common humanity. On the arrival of these commissioners, Mr. Calhoun was in the Department of State. The large and comprehensive mind of that great statesman, appreciated at once the importance of the interests involved, and he sent out a special agent to exam-> ine carefully and report on the affairs of the island. Before the report was made, or at least before it was acted on, Mr. Calhoun retired from the Department of State. Mr. Buchanan, who succeeded Mr. Calhoun, sent another special agent, Lieutenant Porter, who made a long, and I think, an able report, which was never acted upon, owing to the excitement and absorbing interest of the Mexican war, which was just then being commenced, and the events which followed it. This is, however, but an imperfect excuse for a most serious fault. In 1849, just at the accession of General Taylor, Soulouque made the most formidable attack upon Dominica which it had sustained. He reached within two days' march of Santo Domingo city, and with a force apparently irresistible. The indifference and neglect of the United States had extinguished all hope of interposition on our part, and in despair the Dominicans applied for a French protectorate. This would have been accepted by France at once, and the Bay of Samaná (a point of more importance than Havana, and which, it is rumored, she has at last taken possession of) ceded to her the island, in fact, would have become her property, but for the interference of the British Minister, who gave notice that Great Britain would not consent to it. The correspondence on this subject, copied from the archives in Santo Domingo, is now in this city, and in possession of the gentleman afterwards sent out by Mr. Clayton as special agent to Dominica. Whether this would have been submitted to or not by the United States, it is impossible to say; but it was by no action on the part of our representative at home or abroad that it was prevented. After the invasion of Soulouque, which was defeated by the exertions of the Dominicans, though made more formidable by domestic treason and foreign intrigue, Mr. Clayton, then Secretary of State, sent, as had grown to be a habit, a special agent to Dominica. I have had access to the reports and papers of this gentleman, so far as they could with propriety be communicated. Upon his arrival petitions and addresses from all parts of the Republic came to General Santa Anna and the President of the Republic, urging a retraction of the offers to France and opposing the French connection, and advocating annexation to or protection from the United States. An application was made to the agent, and by him forwarded to the Government here, praying for intervention by the United States for the pacification of the country. This application was forwarded by him along with a report, which set forth additional reasons, of the most conclusive character, why it should be favorably considered, and then, if not before, the authorities here should have become fully aware of the intrigues which both France and England (the joint mediators) had kept on foot for the acquisition of some hold in the island, and of the most fatal effect upon our interest. I shall give a short synopsis of the report, and then a short history of the diplomacy of those Powers in Hayti. And I think it must be clear to every mind, that whatever might have been decided as to our own intervention, or the extent and character of it, nothing but criminal carelessness or infatuated and predestinated stupidity could fail to recognize the necessity for excluding France and England from any share in the matter or any the least control over our free action. The report urges that the duty and interest of the United States was to intervene, for the reasons which I have before given, and which were subsequently assigned as the causes of the joint mediation, and goes on to urge further, that the war 32D CONG.....2D SESS. was one of extermination and for conquest, and that it involved the very existence of the white race in the island; that the Haytian constitution declared as a first principle "that no white of any nation should place his foot upon the soil with the title of proprietor," and that the Dominicans invited white immigration by grants of land and the privileges of citizenship; that our commerce suffered from the war, and that our citizens were endangered, and our property lawlessly seized by the barbarians of Haytí in the prosecution of the war; that acts of plunder and piracy to the amount of many hundreds of thousands of dollars had been committed against our citizens, as is proven by Mr. Webster's Report, House Doc., 3d Sess. 27th Congress. The report further urged the fact upon our Government, that England and France coveted Samaná, and that the Dominicans would be forced to cede it to one or the other, in consideration of protection which they had vainly sought from us. It was urged that France had never relinquished her designs to recover the island, and that England had always been, and was then, engaged in efforts to acquire the control of the island. The Government was by this report put in the possession of this additional fact-that the Consul General and Minister Plenipotentiary, Sir R. Schomburgh, as soon as he discovered that an application was made for the mediation of the United States, had offered and urged the mediation of England, which was not accepted. The Dominicans did not trust the English Government, but better informed, and consequently more prudent than the United States, feared the known policy of Great Britain on the great question between the races, and did not believe that she would support them in good faith against the double claim of Soulouque to sympathy-both as negro and as emperor. Dominica had been taught by many years of observation, that it was no part of the policy of Great Britain to support a free white republic on the island, but that her designs were to acquire rights for herself in that territory. The mediation of England was, however, pressed by Schomburgh with such earnestness, that the Dominicans dared no longer refuse it peremptorily, and the American agent was consulted by the authorities on the subject. The Dominicans would not, however, agree to it, unless it was distinctly understood that the United States and France were to be joint mediators, and with the further distinct avowal that the call for joint mediation was in the alternative, and should be made only on condition that the United States refused to intervene alone. This report, and these offers on the part of Dominica, were met by General Taylor's administration, so far as to instruct their agent to give notice to Soulouque that this Government would not view with indifference any aggression on Dominica, at least while Soulouque was indebted to the United States. This notice had the effect to suspend for a time an invasion which Soulouque was preparing in 1850. Mr. Bulwer now gave notice of the readiness of his Government to enter into the joint mediation, and the Administration replied, that upon the return of their special agent, they would give a definitive answer. The reputation of Mr. Clayton is, however, free from the stain of this disgrace. Nothing was, in fact, done by him. General Taylor died while the affair was pending, and Mr. Webster took charge of the Department of State. It is worth remark, and should be borne in mind, that after the departure of this special agent from Santo Domingo, no treaty being concluded for the safety of Dominica, but everything left as it had always been, and still is, open and unsettled, the agents of France, and also of England, endorsed the propositions of Soulouque to that Republic, and endeavored to induce its authorities to submit to his demands. This is conclusive evidence that neither of those Powers were acting in good faith with us, or Dominica, and, taken in connection with the fact that the mediation wholly and shamefully failed of its purpose, and that the threats of the three greatest Powers of the earth did not alarm a barbarian who was unable to have resisted, for one moment, the attack of either of them-and that those threats were not carried out by either against him, when he met fully the very contingency on which they were uttered-it is monstrous-wholly incredible, on any principle of human action, that Foreign Policy-Cuba-Mr. Marshall. the majority of them could have been acting in "We were surprised," says the Dominican official or- Ho. OF REPs. "The United States is the natural protector of all the republican States of the continent, the center of the hopes of the American cause. Nicaragua, who derived its first impulses from you, and is animated by your example, doubts not that her representations will be received on a subject which threatens her institutions and independence, and affects the interests of all the American republics." Mr. Buchanan, to whom this letter was addressed, did not reply to it at all; but subsequently, after the same application was repeated, and the English had actually seized the port of San Juan, he sent out Mr. Hise to negotiate. Mr. Hise did not return till after General Taylor was inaugurated, when he came with a treaty, the leading features of which I shall give by extracting its most important provisions. The instructions of Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Hise assert in bold and true terms the rights of the United States and the motives of England; and for their most lame and impotent conclusion, I confess myself at a loss to account. I give those clauses which contain the substance and meaning of the whole. He says: "The object of Great Britain in this seizure is evident from the policy which she has uniformly pursued throughout her history, of seizing upon every valuable commercial point in the world, whenever circumstances have placed it in her power. Her purpose, probably, is to obtain the control of the route for a railroad and canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by way of Lake Nicaragua.” 1st. That the United States should enjoy the perpetual right of way through the territories of Nicaragua by any means of conveyance then existing, or which thereafter might be devised. 2d. That the United States, or a company chartered by it, might construct a railroad or canal from one ocean to the other, and occupy such lands, and use such natural materials and products of the country as might be necessary for the purpose. He also insists on the policy "of excluding all interference on the part of European governments in the domestic affairs of the American republics." The same spirit which has conducted our negoHe asserts the wrong of Britain, and denies their tiations in Hayti has guided our policy in Nicara- claims, but says, in conclusion, that "the Governgua, and to the same or even worse results. The ment of the United States has not yet determined state of things existing at the present moment, what course it will pursue in regard to the enproduced by the sagacity and courage of this Ad- croachments of the British Government." So ministration, and the one which immediately pre-instructed, Mr. Hise, not perhaps pursuant to ceded, may be stated in a few words. The terri- instructions, but under the impulse of genuine torial rights of the republic of Nicaragua are in American feelings, and impressed with the danfact sacrificed by the construction of the treaty gerous character of the intrigues of the agents and made to protect those very rights, and this Ad- representatives of Great Britain, particularly at ministration has become a party to the dismem- and about San Juan, concluded a convention with berment of that republic. The aboriginal tribe Commissioners of Nicaragua, with the following of Mosquitos are recognized as having the sov- provisions: ereignty over an indefinite extent of territory which has belonged to Spain since the discovery of the continent, or to the States which have been formed from her colonies. Islands in the Bay of Honduras, which belonged to that republic, have passed, without protest or objection, into the absolute possession of Great Britain, in direct violabinds us to the protection from European aggrestion of treaty stipulations, and the principle which sion of all the independent States of this continent. All this has happened, too, in violation of repeated pledges made by this Government. It is not necessary to trace minutely the history of our relations with Central America-political Central America-before the year 1848. In that year, the subject of inter-oceanic communication became of vital and immediate importance; and from that time the series of measures which have terminated in the disgrace of the American name began. Much earlier, however, as early as 1825, the subject was agitated, and correspondence was had between the governments of Central America and the United States on the subject, which is instructive. The Minister of that Government wrote to Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, asking the cooperation of the United States in a treaty for the secure establishment of a transit route, and giving the United States preference over other Powers, on the ground that its "noble conduct had been a model and protection to all the Americas." Instructions were accordingly given to our Charge d'Affaires to assure the Government of our deep interest in the subject, and to investigate the matter and report upon it. This was not done; but the same efforts were renewed in many instances by Central America, and afterwards by the separate States which had composed it. I shall pass, however, over all that, and come as hastily as possible to the negotiations which immediately preceded the Clayton and Bulwer treaty, and which are necessary to a full comprehension of the present established policy. In 1847, the republic of Nicaragua, feeling itself endangered by the aggressions of the British, and alarmed at the fatal doctrines asserted by that Government in regard to the rights of the Mosquito kingdom, appealed to the United States for protection, on these grounds: 3d. That the United States should have the right to erect such forts on the line or at the extremities of the proposed work as might be deemed necessary or proper for its protection. 4th. That the vessels and citizens of all nations at peace with both contracting Powers might pass freely through the canal. 5th. That a section of land two leagues square at either termination should be set apart to serve as the sites of two free cities under the protection of both Governments, the inhabitants of which should enjoy complete municipal and religious freedom, trial by jury, exemption from all military duty, and from taxation, &c., &c. In consideration of these privileges the United States were to be bound to defend and protect the territorial rights of Nicaragua, to preserve the peace and neutrality of her coasts, and some other provisions not relevant to the matter in hand. Before Mr. Hise had concluded this convention the Administration which sent him had gone out, and General Taylor was inaugurated. Mr. Hise was recalled, and Mr. Squier sent in his stead, with instructions from Mr. Clayton, which I shall lay before the committee. This treaty of Mr. Hise, ation, was suppressed by the Taylor administrawhich certainly contains matter worth considertion, on the ground that it was completed after the date of his letter of recall, and that it exceeded his instructions. The very truth is, it was suppressed because it took the American ground, and would have brought us by possibility in contact with England, which was then asserting new and most extraordinary propositions. We will see what those propositions were, and how they were met Mr. Manby Mr. Clayton, and by his successor. ning, Vice Consul at Nicaragua, writes to Lord Palmerston in April, 1849: 32D CONG....2D SESS. "My opinion, if your lordship will allow me to express it, as regards this country, for the present is, that it will be overrun by American adventurers, and consequently bring on her Majesty's Government disagreeable communications with the United States, which possibly might be avoided by an immediate negotiation with Mr. Castellon for a protectorate and transit favorable to British interests. The welfare of my country, and the desire of its obtaining the control of so desirable a spot in the commercial world, and free it from the competition of so adventurous a race as the North Americans, induce me to address your lordship with such freedom." ་ Foreign Policy-Cuba-Mr. Marshall. Upon the ratification of the treaty, (the Clayton and Bul And Lord Palmerston, in a letter addressed to all the British agents in Central America, asking information as to the boundaries of the Mosquito kingdom, says: "You will also report what in two oceans. your opinion is the line of boundary which her Majesty's Government should insist upon as absolutely essential for the security and well-being of 'the Mosquito shore;" and without waiting for a reply, says, in a circular letter to the representatives of his Government, that "the right of the King of Mosquito should be maintained as extending from Cape Honduras down to the mouth of the river San Juan." The answer of Chatfield, the English factotum in Central America, improves on Lord Palmerston's exaggerated claim, and says that the Mosquito boundary should pass the river San Juan and reach even to Chagres; because, he says, "looking to the probable desti'nies of these countries, considerable advantages 'might accrue in after times by reserving the rights 'of Mosquito beyond the river San Juan," and suggests, as Manning had done, an "early assertion" of these claims. The actual seizure with armed force of the port of San Juan, the only terminus of the inter-oceanic communication on the Atlantic side, under pretext of the right of the Mosquito King, and the knowledge of the schemes and designs revealed by the above extracts, prompted Mr. Hise to make the effort to conclude his proposed treaty. In the fear of England, but under the pretexts of want of authority, the administration of General Taylor would not even submit the convention to the Senate, and withheld it from the Senate on a call for it, as appears from Senate Journal, February 13th, 1850. However, General Taylor did what Mr. Buchanan had so singularly omitted to do. He answered to the applications which the Nicaraguan republic had addressed to this for protection against English encroachment, and says, after a recognition of the correctness of the positions taken by the Nicaraguan government, that "the representations of Nicaragua had been received with lively and painful interest," and that the United States would cooperate to " vindicate her just territorial rights, and secure her peace and prosperity.' Assurances to the same purpose were made by Mr. Clayton. How have they been redeemed by him or his successor? Mr. Squier received instructions from Mr. Clayton, from which may be gathered his intention to make a treaty with Nicaragua, not wholly inconsistent with our interests and the promises we had made. Unfortunately, however, the treaty made pursuant to those instructions was suppressed by Mr. Webster. And more unfortunately still, Mr. Clayton made a treaty with England, which, under the construction given by his successor, surrendered the very rights it was intended to protect, and was fatal to the treaty negotiated by his own agent, under his own instructions. Mr. Clayton says, after a masterly and conclusive argument against the right of the English under the Mosquito King: "It is manifest, indeed, that the rights claimed by Great Britain nominally in behalf of the Mosquito King, but really as her own, are founded in repeated usurpations, which usurpations were repeatedly and solemnly acknowledged and relinquished by her during the domination of Spain on the American continent. Since that domination has ceased, those claims could have had no other foundation for renewal than the supposed weakness or indifference of the governments invested with the rights of Spain in that quarter."Instructions of John M. Clayton, Secretary of State, to Mr. Squier, Er. Doc. 75, 31st Cong., 1st Sess. And again, giving his own views of the Clayton and Bulwer treaty: "We have never acknowledged, AND NEVER CAN ACKNOWLEDGE the existence of any claim of sovereignty in the Mosquito King, or any other Indian in America. To do so would be to deny the title of the United States to her own territory. Having always regarded the Indian title as a mere right of occupancy, we can never agree that such a title should ever be treated otherwise than as a thing to be extinguished at the will of the discoverer of the country. And yet again Mr. Clayton says as to boundaries-and in utter exclusion of the English Mosquito claim: firmly struggled and protested without ceasing, and the "Against the aggressions on her territory, Nicaragua has feelings of her people may be judged from the impassioned language of the proclamation of her Supreme Dictator, November 12th, 1848. The moment [says he] has arrived for losing a country with ignominy, or for sacrificing the dearest treasures to preserve it. As regards myself, if the power which menaces sets aside justice, I am firmly resolved to be entombed in the remains of Nicaragua, rather than survive its ruin." The eloquent appeal of the Minister of Nicaragua to his government, is evidence not less striking than impressive of the disposition of an injustice and oppression. Will other nations interjured people to resist what they believe to be inested in a free passage to and from the Pacific ocean by the way of the river San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, tamely allow that interest to be thwarted by such pretensions? Meaning of the Mosquito protectorate of Great Britain! "As it regards the United States, this question may be confidently answered in the negative. HO. OF REPS. wise have had, to turn against us those very acts of Mr. Clayton, which, if unwise in the last degree, wanted yet the action of Mr. Fillmore and his Cabinet, to become altogether disgraceful. Mr. Clayton, pending the negotiations above alluded to with Nicaragua, and no doubt, as he has often declared, for the purpose of concluding forever the British claims, of whatever character, which came in conflict with the rights of Nicaragua, committed the fatal error of treating with England in an affair in which she had no right. He intended, by the very terms of the treaty, to declare that she had no rights. Why, then, in the name of common sense, should he have treated about those rights as if they existed? But here is the article of the treaty on which all the outrageous claims of England are based, and by which, under the construction of this Administration, we are made to yield the whole question originally in dispute, and to stultify ourselves before the world: "ART. 1. The Governments of the United States and Great Britain hereby declare that neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship canal; agreeing that neither will ever erect or maintain any fortifications commanding the same, or in the vicinity thereof, or occupy or fortify, or colonize, or assume, or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America; nor will either make use of any protection which either affords, or may afford, or any alliance which either has, or may have, to or with any State or people, for the purpose of maintaining or erecting any such fortifications, or of occupying, fortifying, or colonizing Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America, or of assuming or exercising dominion over the same; nor will the United States or Great Britain take advantage of any intimacy, or use any alliance, connection, or influence that either may possess with any State or Government through whose territory the said canal may pass, for the purpose of acquiring or holding, directly or indirectly, for the citizens or the subjects of the one, any rights or advantages in regard to commerce or navigation through the said canal, which shall not be offered on the same terms to the citizens or the subjects of the other." Now, no doubt this appeared clear to Mr. Clayton, and no doubt he thought that by no greater sacrifice than the great principle of "non intervention by the Powers of Europe in the domestic Now, if all this means anything, it means to say that Nicaragua has a right to the line of pro-affairs of the independent States of this continent," posed inter-oceanic communication, including the port of San Juan; and that we will protect this right, if she gives us the right of way-every line. The mere fact of treating with her about the matter, acknowledges her right. The instructions to Mr. Squier, provide that Nicaragua shall only "enter into treaty stipulations with other nations that may claim to enjoy the same benefit, and will agree to be bound by the same conditions. This very condition of the treaty with Nicaragua, forces England either "to be bound by the same conditions," an acknowledgment of the right of Nicaragua to the port of San Juan, or it cuts her off from the equal enjoyment "of the same benefits" of the transit route. Pursuant to these instructions, Mr. Squier made a treaty with Nicaragua, carrying out their spirit and intention, fully and fairly. I cannot give the treaty in full, but the following clause shows its character: ART. 36. "It is expressly stipulated that the citizens, vessels, products, and manufactures of all nations, shall be permitted to pass upon the proposed canal, through the terri tories of Nicaragua, subject to no other, nor higher duties, charges or taxes, than shall be imposed upon those of the United States: Provided always, That such nations shall first enter into the same treaty stipulations and guarantees respecting said canal, as may be entered into between the State of Nicaragua and the United States." The same provision is made in the treaty of commerce, negotiated at the same time. The right of way was granted by Nicaragua to American citizens; and this treaty, as is obvious, would bring all nations into league against England, if she refused to make the same. Had this treaty been adopted, Nicaragua would have been secured according to her prayer to us, and our solemn pledges to her, against the encroachments of England. he had attained his object and avoided any collision with England. On the contrary, England has so edgment of all her most extravagant demands. construed the treaty as to make it an acknowlMr. Bulwer says, in a letter to Mr. Webster, that the agreement was not designed to affect the position of Great Britain as to the Mosquito kingdom--and argues that the mere reference to protection contained in the treaty recognizes the right and the fact, and that England only meant to say that she would not exercise this protectorate so as to interfere with the proposed canal. Under this construction, England now occupies San Juan-now oppresses Nicaragua, and now sustains the very protectorate under which she had perpetrated all the wrongs we have pledged ourselves to redress. In further evidence of the construction put on this treaty by England, and also her mode of dealing with refractory republics, see this letter from the representative of England in Central America to the government of Nicaragua, 15th August, 1850: "Instead of insisting on its supposed right to the Mosquito shore, Nicaragua would best consult her interest by at once making good terms with England-for resistance in this matter will be of no further avail. It is impossible that Nicaragua should be ignorant of her Britannic Majesty's relation to the Mosquito question, as it has before it the letter of Viscount Palmerston, of the date 15th April last, in which he declares, in the most clear and direct terms, the utter impossibility of acceding to the pretensions of Nicaragua. On the other hand, the treaty of Messrs. Clayton and Bulwer, about which you have so much to say, and in which you express so much confidence, expressly recognizes the Mosquito kingdom, and sets aside the rights which you pretend Nicaragua has on that coast. The true policy is for Nicaragua to undeceive herself in this respect, and to put no further confidence in the protestations and assurances of pretended friends, (viz. Americans.) It will be far better for her to come to an understanding, without delay, with Great Britain, on which nation depends not only the welfare and commerce of the State, but also the probability of accomplishing anything positive concerning inter-oceanic communication through her territories, because it is only in London that the necessary capital for such an enterprise can be found." Of course England opposed this treaty in Nicaragua, by every art, which I have not space here to expose. She failed; and as far as Nicaragua was concerned, the treaty was made 23d September, 1849. It was sent home, approved by General I will not now argue the question if this be the Taylor, and submitted to the Senate. It was true construction; it is or it is not. If it is, we never acted upon. The death of General Taylor have surrendered the Monroe doctrine wholly; we placed our foreign relations in other hands than have violated our pledged word willfully, and we those of Mr. Clayton, and gave the English Gov- have, by acknowledging the Mosquito king, subernment the power it would probably not other-verted the very principle on which all territorial 32D CONG.....2D SESS. right in the New World rests, viz: that the aborigines had only a possessory right, and no sovereignty or eminent domain over any part of it. If it is not the true construction, we are permitting England to violate her treaty obligations with us most injuriously every day, and by this same violation of faith with us, to inflict the deepest wrong on the sister republic which had claimed, and to which we had promised our protection. Foreign Policy-Cuba-Mr. Marshall. into the State-the period of three years to commence on the day when Nicaragua shall formally take possession of and enter into the occupancy of said town. The said net receipts to be payable quarterly to such agent as may be appointed to receive them. Nicaragua is required not to molest or interfere with the Mosquito Indians within the territory reserved to them. The first thing which strikes one on examining this projet is the recognition of the Mosquito kingdom. This it not only does expressly by setting forth its boundaries, but by stipulating for the cession (" ceded" is the term used) of the port of San Juan on certain oppressive conditions, by the Mosquitoes to Nicaragua. Now, as to this Mosquito kingdom, in the extracts already made from Mr. Clayton's instructions to Mr. Squier, the argument against any title in them is complete. But I will add a few considerations and author This would be our position if no further action had been taken by this Administration after Mr. Clayton left the Department of State. But, sir, I grieve to say that the most intolerable part of the record remains to be completed. And here, sir, I wish to bring a most significant fact before the committee and the country. On the 26th of February, 1851, the following letter was addressed by the Minister of Nicaragua to the Secretary of State,ities to the same purpose: (Mr. Webster.) I give a translation as literal as possible: WASHINGTON, February 24, 1851. The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the republic of Nicaragua, has the honor to address Mr. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the American Union, to submit to him a few remarks concerning the interpretation that Great Britain has believed necessary to give to the treaty concluded between this last Power and the Government of the United States, the 19th April, 1850. It is notorious to all that the said treaty has for object to give the most complete security for the execution of the maritime canal through the Isthmus of Nicaragua and to guaranty the neutrality of this important way of inter oceanic communication. Without any doubt to attain this object, and in order to avoid difficulties of any kind to the lawful execution of said treaty, both Governments have thought necessary to insert in the articles, the nomenclature of the States, districts, and localities adjoining the place through which the canal is going to run, among others the coast and the Mosquito country which form and constitute, and that have constitu ted and formed an essential and integral part always of the republic of Nicaragua. Hence arose that Great Britain, wishing to take advan tage of the same test and the clauses of the treaty, has di rected all her agents in Central America, and principally in Nicaragua, new instructions and communications in which expressly is stated that the Government of the American Union recognizes the existence of the pretended Mosquito kingdom, and the usurpation of the port of San Juan, and that, far from debilitating the rights of the savage chief, the treaty confirms them in full. The undersigned, although fully persuaded of the error of the British Government, cannot help, on this account, to address Mr. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, with the view of ascertaining if the Government of the Union really intends to recognize the existence of a territory separated, covering, and independent of the republic of Nicaragua, generally known under the name of the coast and Mosquito kingdom, and if the actual Administration which directs the destinies of the American people so wisely and pru dently, abounds in the ideas and principles expressed in the dispatch of his honorable antecessor of the 7th of May, 1850, directed to the Chargé d'Affaires of the republic of Nicaragua. The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity, &c., &c. To which letter no answer has yet been returned. Perhaps this silence, apparently unaccountable, will be made intelligible by considering carefully the projet of a convention signed by the Secretary of State for the United States, and the British Minister, (Mr. Crampton,) and presented to the government of Nicaragua. The projet should be inserted entire, but its length forbids. I give its substance, under all the responsibilities for any misrepresentation: I. That the entire southern bank of the river San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, including the department of Nicoya, or Guanucaste, on the Pacific, shall be definitely conceded to Costa Rica. II. That the Mosquito kingdom shall comprise the territory lying between the mouths of the rivers Rama and Segovia, on the eastern coast of Central America, and shall extend inward to the meridian of 83° 30 west longitude. III. That the port of San Juan de Nicaragua shall be "ceded" to Nicaragua by his august Majesty, subject to a variety of conditions, amongst which is a recognition of all Mosquito grants, and the surrender, for three years, of all duties collected there, at a rate of ten per cent. annually, to this august potentate. The Mosquito Indians do reserve to themselves, out of the territory heretofore claimed and occupied, on the eastern coast of Central America, a district of country to be bounded as follows: Beginning on the shore of the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the river Rama, which is 11° 34' north latitude, and 83° 46' west longitude, running thence due west to the meridian of 84° 30 west longitude from Greenwich, thence due north on said meridian to the river Segovia, thence down said river to the Caribbean Sea, thence southerly along the shore of said sea to the place of beginning, and all the rest and remainder of the territory and lands lying southerly and westerly of said reservation, heretofore occupied or claimed by the said Mosquitoes, including Greytown, they shall relinquish and cede to the republic of Nicaragua, together with the jurisdiction over the same, in consideration of the net receipts for three years from all duties levied and collected at Greytown, at the rate of ten per cent. ad valorem on all goods imported "The Mosquito Indians are sunk in the lowest state of ignorance and barbarism. Their number (including the Woolwas, Ramas, Towkas, and others not recognizing the sovereignty of the Moscos) does not exceed five thousand." -Mr. Hise, United States Chargé d'Affaires, to Mr. Buchanan, February, 1849. "The Mosquitos are inferior to the Indians of the United States in personal appearance, and infinitely below them in the mental scale. They are squalid and miserable beyond description. From the best of my information the nation' does not exceed one thousand or fifteen hundred, and it is not probable that one tenth of those have any idea of a national character. It should be understood that a number of Indian tribes in the interior are claimed by the English to be under Mosquito jurisdiction, but I cannot learn that they admit any such authority. On the contrary, they actually prohibit, under penalty of death, any intermixture with the Mosquitos."-Mr. Squier, United States Chargé d'Affaires, to Mr. Clayton, June, 1849. "They do not appear to have any idea of a Supreme Being."-Young's Mosquito Shore, p. 72. Chastity is not considered a vírtue; polygamy is common amongst them."-Ib. p. 73. "A plurality of mistresses is no disgrace, and it is not uncommon for a British subject to have one or more of these native women at different parts of the coast. They have acquired great influence through them."-Macgregor's Report to British Parliament. "I have never known a marriage celebrated amongst them. The children are, in general, baptized by the cap. tains of trading vessels from Jamaica, who perform the ceremony with anything but reverence on all who have been born during their absence. Many of them are indebted to them for more than baptism. I could enumerate more than a dozen children of two of these captains. By this licentious and immoral conduct, they have identified themselves with the natives. Their arrival is hailed with joy, as the season of festivity, revelry, christening, and debauchery." -Robert's Mosquito Shore, p. 109. And the Secretary of State of Nicaragua to Lord Palmerston, says: "You know, sir, very well, that the established practice for a society which considers itself capable of assuming the rank of a nation, to obtain its recognition as such, is, to solicit through its chief, his ministers, or direct accredited agents, the recognition of established States. But this rule of international law has in no way been complied with by the pretended King of Mosquito, who, it is alleged, now as sumes to raise the question of boundary with Nicaragua. This government has not recognized, and will never recognize such a kingdom as 'Mosquito,' much less the territorial pretensions of which you speak. No such king has existed, or now exists. It is preposterous, sir, that a few savages, wandering in the forests and wastes on the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua, living by the chase and fishing, without houses, without a known language, without written characters, arts, laws, or religion, without any of the elements which, according to received principles, are necessary to a national existence-that such a horde of savages should profess to constitute a regular society, or what is more, a kingdom!" Chief Justice Marshall says-and the opinion has never been contradicted or questioned-in regard to all Indian title: "While the different nations of Europe respected the rights of the natives as occupants, they asserted the ultimate dominion to be in themselves." And again: "The United States maintain, as all others have maintained, that discovery gave the exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title to occupancy, either by purchase or conquest, and also gave a right to such a degree of sovereignty, as the circumstances of the people would allow them to exercise." But, sir, not only are the Mosquitos incapable of the rights asserted for them in this treaty, but the republic of Nicaragua has a title to the port of San Juan and the whole of the territory to be "ceded" by this projet as clear and indisputable as the United States to the District of Columbia. In 1502, Columbus sailed from Cape Honduras to the Isthmus of Panama, and took possession in the name of Spain. There are grants made in close and constant succession of different parts of this coast by Spain down to 1786. England had, HO. OF REPS. however, attempted to exercise sovereignty over part of the Mosquito shore in the mean time; but by a treaty of the above date she recognizes the ' title of Spain, and withdraws her protection from such of her subjects as may "be so daring" as to settle on the territory belonging to Spain. The terms of this treaty are recognized and renewed by the treaty of Madrid, dated August 28th, 1814. The history of the time from 1814 to 1824 exhibits abundant proof of occupancy by Spain of this coast; and when the confederation of Central America declared its independence, England herself recognized it with the boundaries settled in the constitution as reaching from "sea to sea." And on the dissolution of that confederation England also recognized the boundary of the State of Nicaragua, which was declared to run from sea to sea. By two treaties with Spain, one in 1836, the other in 1850, the title of Nicaragua is recognized over the Mosquito coast and "from sea to sea." The port of San Juan, which this projet would make Nicaragua purchase from the Mosquitos, was fortified by Spain as early as 1665, and the defenses renewed in 1727, and her occupation of it uninterrupted till 1824, when the troops of Nicaragua expelled the Spanish garrison. In 1842, and also in 1844, San Juan was blockaded by England as a port of Nicaragua, to recover claims brought against Nicaragua. And England never in any way, till 1847, disputed the title of Nicaragua, at least to this point; and never in any manner asserted the Mosquito title south of Blewfield's Bay before that year, when, as I have before shown, she determined to control the terminus of the inter-oceanic communication, and under this ambulatory Mosquito claim seized with an armed force the port of San Juan, driving out the troops of Nicaragua, and holding it herself, as she still holds it, under the affectation of a Mosquito pro tectorate. The projet also contemplates a robbery of Nicaragua in favor of Costa Rica, which is so clearly and concisely exposed in the following extract, that with it I may finish this part of the subject: "Upon the independence of Central America, the various provinces of the old Captain Generalcy, corresponding to our thirteen colonies, took the rank of independent States, and, as such, subsequently entered into the confederation of Central America. Each State assumed the boundaries which it had possessed as a province. From this arrangement there was no dissent. As provinces, the boundary between Costa Rica and Nicaragua had been repeatedly defined by royal decrees, by the historians of the country, and by the official maps. This was a right line, running from the lower or Colorado mouth of the San Juan river, to the mouth of the Rio Salto de Nicoya, or Alvarado, on the Pacific. All the Spanish maps, from the earliest periods to that of the disruption of the Spanish Empire in America, all lay down this line as a boundary. But upon this point the best evidence is that furnished by Costa Rica herself. In her first constitution, (art. 15, chap. ii,) dated January, 1825, she defines her boundary on the north to be precisely what we have stated, i. e., the mouth of the San Juan on the Atlantic, and that of the Alvarado on the Pacific. Were any further evidence necessary, it is afforded by the map attached to Thompson's Guatemala, which was furnished to the author of that work, officially, by the Government of the republic of Central America, of which Costa Rica formed a part. There was neither misunderstanding nor dispute upon the subject." "So things remained up to the 9th of December, 1826, when the Federal Congress, from causes in no way connected with any question of territorial right, passed a decree as follows: For the present, and until the boundaries of 'the several States shall be fixed in accordance with act 'seven of the constitution, the department of Nicoya (or 'Guanucaste) shall be separated from Nicaragua and at'tached to Costa Rica.' Although this decree was provisional, Nicaragua did not submit to it without an earnest protest, in which the inhabitants of the district also joined. The Congress, however, never proceeded to define the limits of the respective States, and in 1838, the confederation was dissolved. By the dissolution, the original rights of the States, territorial as well as all others, reverted to them again in their sovereign capacity. The temporary alienation of Nicoya ceased, and it reverted to its true proprietor, whose rights, at the most, had only been suspended. Yet, it is upon this temporary concession of the Federal Congress that any claim of Costa Rica must rest; but no claim thus founded can for a moment receive the sanction of reason. "Still, admitting it to its full extent, and admitting that Congress not only had the right of separating Nicoya from Nicaragua, and supposing that it had exercised the power with a view to permanency, and that the whole transaction had been concurred in by Nicaragua, yet, even then, Costa Rica could not claim a foot beyond the actual limit of the department of Nicoya, which constitutes less than one third of the vast territory which Mr. Webster proposes to surrender to her! Nicoya is comprised between the southwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, and embraces no portion of the territory south of Lake Nicaragua, and below the San Juan river, a territory over which Nicaragua has always maintained jurisdiction, where she 32D CONG.....2D Sess. APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. has had forts for centuries, and which she still occupies. This plan for the partition of Nicaragua was The Senate and Chamber of Representatives of the State DECREES: ART. 1. The State of Nicaragua does not accept the project of convention or recommendatory basis, adjusted on the 30th of April last, between his Excellency Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the United States, and his Excellency J. F. Crampton, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty, in respect to the territorial boundaries between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and the separation of the Mosquito coast. ART. 2. The State of Nicaragua is disposed to have the question started, in connection with the points mentioned, discussed before imperial arbitrators. ART. 3. The State of Nicaragua protests solemnly against Given in the Hall of Sessions of the House of Represent- JOAQUIN CUADRA, MARIANI BOLANOS, Rep. Sects. In the Executive Hall of the Senate, Managua, July 16, 1852. MIGUEL R. MORALES, Senate Pres't. J. DE J. ROBLETO, T. GUERRA, Senate Sects. J. L. PINEDA, Therefore, let it be executed. Supreme Director of the Government of Nicaragua. MANAGUA, July 19, 1852. A true copy: CASTILLON, Secretary of Foreign Affairs. The following decree had been passed before (viz: in October, 1849) by the same authority: "The Legislative Chambers of the Republic of Nicaragua, in view of past events and existing circumstances, in conformity with the settled sentiments of the people which it represents, solemnly declare: "1. Their adhesion to the principle of the total exclusion of European interference from the domestic and international affairs of the republican American States, as necessary to their peace and independence. 2. That the extension of monarchical institutions by conquest, colonization, or by a support of savage chiefs to sovereignty, or savage tribes to national existence, or by other means upon the American continent, is in opposition to the interests of the republican American States, dangerous to their peace and safety, and an encroachment upon their individual and collective rights." Acquisition of Cuba-Mr. Howard. one that these islands were only held by the Eng- Under these treaties, the Balize itself belongs to The English did demolish some of their forts, "His Britannic Majesty's subjects, and the other colonist, "The English line, beginning from the sea, shall take the center of the river Libun, or Jabou, and continue up to the source of said river; from thence it shall cross in a straight line the intermediate land till it intersects the river Wallace, (Balize,) and by the center of the same river the line shall descend to a point where it will meet the line already settled and marked out by the commissaries of the two Crowns in 1783." The third article provides that the English may cut certain woods, and "gather such fruits of the earth as are purely natural or uncultivated." And further: "But it is expressly agreed that this stipulation is never to be used as a pretext for establishing in that country any plantation of sugar, coffee, cocoa, or other like articles, or any fabric or manufacture by means of inills, or other machines whatsover, (this restriction, however, does not regard the use of saw mills for cutting or otherwise preparing the wood,) since all the lands in question being indisputably acknowledged to belong to the Crown of Spain, no settlement of that kind, or the population which would follow, could be allowed." And thus the affair was suspended; and nothing but the firmness and decision of the Nicaraguan government has saved us from the deep guilt involved in the projet just discussed. When it was discovered that this plan would be opposed by the Minister of Nicaragua, application was made to his government for his recall; this was refused, as he was a long-tried and trusted representative, and the reasons of the demand were asked for; they were not given, but after the death of the then Secretary of State, as lately as the 30th of December, 1852, only the other day, the present Secretary of State addressed a note to the Minister of Nicaragua, refusing to recognize him in his official character; thus proving the persist-served that no islands are included; but as if to ence of this Administration in the same policy which had dictated the refusal to answer the inquiry contained in the letter to Mr. Webster, inserted above, and making the present Secretary of State a sort of administrator, de bonis non, of the unexecuted vengeance of his predecessor. The last point to which I shall ask the attention of the committee, is the seizure by England of the islands of Roatan, Bonacca, &c., &c., in the Bay of Honduras. This has been completed in two acts; on the 10th of August, 1851, the superintendent of the Balize took possession of, and attached these islands as a dependency of the Balize. In July, 1852, they were regularly organized under the name of the "Colony of the Bay of Islands." That this is a manifest violation of the Clayton and Bulwer treaty, in the sense which it bears on its face, does not admit of contradiction. But it is contended by the agents of England, that under the explanations and exceptions and conditions between Mr. Clayton and Mr. Bulwer, that British Honduras was not within the scope of that treaty, or its dependencies. Now, admitting this proposition, it is a fact known to every exclude all doubt upon that subject, the fourth ar- ་་ HO OF REPS. 79 to the State of Honduras, and were acknowledged as her territory by Great Britain herself in 1830, when England disavowed in plain terms the act of the superintendent of the Balize in seizing the and rights which it contained, and that treaty is island of Roatan. The treaty of 1814 refers to and revives the treaty of 1786 with all the boundaries England has so recognized it to be by acts of Parthe law of the case at the present day. And liament as late as 1819, and now in force, which amends an act passed in 1817, in which these words occur: "Whereas, grievous murders and manslaughters have been committed at the settlement in the Bay of Honduras, the same being a settlement for certain purposes in the possession, and under the protection of his Majesty, but not within the territory and dominions of his Majesty," &c. As to the part we should take in any dispute between Guatemala and Great Britain, in regard tion arising from the seizure of these islands, which to the Balize, I have said enough before to indicate my opinion; but upon the much clearer queswere not dependencies of the Balize, but of the State of Honduras, and which were not claimed as dependencies of Balize for a year after the Clayton made by Messrs. Clayton and Bulwer explanaand Bulwer treaty, and which therefore could not come within the doubtful reservations, secretly Bulwer treaty is as openly broken in the clause tory, I do not see how Americans can differ. The which provides, "that neither Great Britain nor treaty of 1814 is plainly violated; the Clayton and America." the United States shall occupy, fortify, or assume, nor exercise dominion over any part of Central We should take such action as would enforce the treaty, let the result be what it may. It would placing us in our natural position, as the protector be no war for conquest, but for the maintenance of national honor and good faith. It would result in of those republics which have been created by the force of our example, and which have a right to look to us for aid in those emergencies in which we are as deeply compromised as they. I believe such a war-even if there should be a war from the assertion of our manifest rights-would terminate with extended territory, augmented power, and increased influence in the world. If, in its results, the ties which would exist between ourselves and the States of Central America, as guardian and ward-if the sympathy of a common republicanism should be drawn yet closer even to a political union-I can see nothing of evil augury in the prospect. Not that I would desire to see war for this or any other purpose, but to avert injury and disgrace; but I believe that such a war, and for such a purpose, is as sound in policy as right in morals. ACQUISITION OF CUBA. SPEECH OF HON. V. E. HOWARD, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, In the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Mr. CHAIRMAN: I have risen to address some by and recognized by Spain, as belonging to Gua-sible for the States bordering on the Gulf of Mex- commercial cities. It is, therefore, a subject to |