The British government having been furnished with the views entertained by the President in regard to the obligations imposed by that convention, he expects it will be equally explicit on its part. He does not doubt that the interest of the two countries, and the mutual desire to maintain existing amicable relations, will alike. inspire each party with a conciliatory spirit, which will enable them to overcome all obstacles to a satisfactory adjustment. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES BUCHANAN, Esq., &c., &c., &c. [No. 89.] Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Marcy. W. L. MARCY. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor of transmitting to you the copy of a note which I this day addressed to Lord Clarendon on the Central American questions, in obedience to your instructions of the 6th ultimo, (No. 104.) I shall, of course, be anxious to learn whether it has received the President's approbation. It has been prepared with much care, my purpose having been to employ conciliatory language, so far as this might be done consistently with the President's instructions and the attainment of the objects which he had in view. Yours, very respectfully, Hon. WILLIAM L. MARCY, Secretary of State. JAMES BUCHANAN. Mr. Buchanan to Lord Clarendon. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, has been instructed by the President again to call the attention of the Earl of Clarendon, her majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, to the Central American questions pending between the two governments, under the convention of April 19, 1850. The President has directed the undersigned, before retiring from his mission, to request from the British government a statement of the positions which it has determined to maintain in regard to the Bay Islands, the territory between the Sibun and the Sarstoon, as well as the Belize settlement, and to the Mosquito protectorate. The long delay in asking for this information has proceeded from the President's reluctance to manifest any impatience on this important subject whilst the attention of her majesty's government was engrossed by the war with Russia. But as more than a year has already elapsed since the termination of the discussion on these questions, and as the first session of a new Congress is rapidly approaching, the President does not feel that he would be justified in any longer delay. Whilst it is far from the purpose of the undersigned to reopen the general discussion, he has been instructed to communicate to the Earl of Clarendon the conclusions at which the President has arrived upon the whole case. After having carefully reviewed and reconsidered all the questions involved, with the light cast upon them by the Earl of Clarendon's statement of May 2, 1854, the President has expressed his unwillingness to believe that the positions which he conceives to be rather indicated therein than finally adopted will be adhered to by the British government. It was, in his opinion, the manifest intention of the convention to exclude both the contracting parties from holding or occupying, as well as from acquiring territorial possessions in Central America; and that this intention is not clothed in ambiguous language, but is set forth in explicit terms. The United States have bound themselves not to acquire any such possessions, and Great Britain has stipulated not to 66 assume or exercise any dominion over any part of Central America." Indeed, without such a reciprocal engagement, no mutuality whatever would have existed between the covenants of the contracting parties. Whilst the United States are excluded from occupying, colonizing, or exercising dominion over any part of Central America, it cannot be admitted that the same restriction, imposed in the very same language, is not equally applicable to Great Britain. The President, therefore, confidently believes that Great Britain is bound by the first article of the convention of 1850 to withdraw from the possession she now holds of Ruatan and the other Central American islands on the coast of the State of Honduras, as well as from the territory in Central America between the Sibun and the Sarstoon, which has been encroached upon by her Majesty's subjects. He is also of opinion that the possession of the British government at the Belize should be restricted to the limits and objects specified in the treaties between Great Britain and Spain of 1783 and 1786. In regard to the alleged protectorate over the so-called Mosquito kingdom, the President has instructed the undersigned to say it was his confident belief that this protectorate had been finally disposed of by the convention. It is therefore much to his regret that he finds it is still continued as the basis of British dominion over an extensive region in Central America. Even although Great Britain admits that the convention has imposed restrictions on the protectorate claimed, yet she still continues to exercise the same dominion over the Mosquito coast which she had done before its date. Indeed, at the present moment, no visible power, civil or military, exists in the Mosquito territory, except that which is exercised by British subjects, notwithstanding the convention expressly prohibits both parties from using any protection which either may afford to any State or people, for the purpose of occupying, fortifying, or colonizing, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America, or for the purpose of assuming or exercising dominion over the same. The declaration of the British government, that this protectorate is only employed for the security of the rights of the Mosquito Indians, and that it is ready to abstain from further interference in that country whenever these rights can, in a proper manner, be guaranteed to them, cannot be recognized by the United States as having any foundation in the convention. The President considers this to be a question between Nicaragua and the Indians within its territory, with which neither Great Britain nor the United States has any right to interfere, except in friendly conference with the authorities of that State. Having thus distinctly presented to the British government the views of the government of the United States, in regard to the obligations imposed by the convention of 1850, the President feels assured that the Earl of Clarendon will, with characteristic frankness, be equally explicit in presenting the views of the British government in regard to these obligations. In conclusion, the undersigned is instructed to state that the President does not doubt that the interest of the two countries, and their mutual desire to maintain existing friendly relations, will alike inspireeach party with a conciliatory spirit, and enable them to overcomeall obstacles to a satisfactory adjustment of the Central American questions. The undersigned has the honor to renew to the Earl of Clarendon the assurance of his distinguished consideration. JAMES BUCHANAN. The Right Hon. the EARL OF CLARENDON, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Buchanan to Mr Marcy. [Extract.] [No. 95.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, October 4, 1855. SIR: I have now the honor of transmitting to you a copy of the note of Lord Clarendon of the 28th, received by me on the 29th ultimo, in answer to my note of the 11th ultimo, on the Central American questions, as well as a copy of my reply dated on the 4th instant. Lord Clarendon's note is of such a character as might have been anticipated after the conversation between his lordship and myself on the 5th April last, reported in my dispatch (No. 66) of the 7th of that month. This note has been received so much sooner than I had anticipated, that if I were now in possession of my letter of recall I might return home on the 6th of October, as I had originally determined. It is impossible, however, that I should leave before this letter shall arrive, and it is certainly proper, under all the circumstances, that I should remain here no longer than may be necessary. If, therefore, it shall not have been forwarded before the arrival of this dispatch, I trust it may be sent by the next succeeding steamer. * * * Yours, very respectfully, Hon. WILLIAM L. MARCY, Secretary of State. JAMES BUCHANAN. FOREIGN OFFICE, September 28, 1855. The undersigned, her majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note which Mr. Buchanan, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States addressed to him on the 11th instant, stating that he had been directed by the President, before retiring from his mission, to request from the British government a statement of the positions which it has determined to maintain, in regard to the Bay Islands, to the territory between the Sibun and the Sarstoon, as well as the Belize settlement, and to the Mosquito protectorate, and setting forth the conclusions at which the President has arrived upon the whole case, namely, that it was the intention of the convention of the 19th of April, 1850, to exclude both the contracting parties from holding or occupying, as well as from acquiring territorial possessions in Central America, and that, consequently, Great Britain is bound to withdraw from the possession she now holds of Ruatan and other Central American islands on the coast of the State of Honduras, as well as from the territory in Central America between the Sibun and the Sarstoon; that the possession of the British government at Belize should be restricted to the limits and objects specified in the treaties between Great Britain and Spain of 1783 and 1786, and that the protectorate of the so-called Mosquito kingdom was finally disposed of by the convention. The undersigned observes with satisfaction that, while thus expressing the opinion of the President of the United States on the several points thus enumerated, Mr. Buchanan announces that it is far from his purpose to re-open the general discussion upon them. Her majesty's government had, indeed, refrained from pursuing that discussion by replying to Mr. Buchanan's note of the 22d of July, 1854, because it appeared to them that the continuation of the correspondence was not likely to lead to any satisfactory conclusion; and, as her majesty's government are still of that opinion, the undersigned will confine his answer to Mr. Buchanan's present note within the same limits as those which Mr. Buchanan has prescribed to himself. In answer, therefore, to the questions put by Mr. Buchanan, the undersigned has the honor to state to him, that her majesty's government adhere to the opinion which they have uniformly held, that the convention of April 19, 1850, was merely prospective in its operation, and did not in any way interfere with the state of things existing at the time of its conclusion. If it had been intended to do so, there can be no question but that, in conformity with what the undersigned believes to be the universal rule in regard to instruments of this nature, it would have contained, in specific terms, a renunciation, on the part of Great Britain, of the possessions and rights which, up to the conclusion of the convention, she had claimed to maintain, and such renunciation would not have been left as a mere matter of inference. Neither can her majesty's government subscribe to the position. that, if the convention did not bear the meaning attached to it by the United States, it would have imposed upon the government of the United States, a self-denying obligation which was not equally contracted by Great Britain, and that such a state of things could not have been in the intention of the contracting parties, because, if the convention did bear the meaning attached to it by the United States, it would then have imposed upon Great Britain the obligation to renounce possessions and rights without any equivalent renunciation on the part of the United States. If the government of the United States can complain, in the one case, of the convention as presenting an unilateral character unfavorable to the United States, with much greater reason might the government of Great Britain, in the other case, if the assumption of the United States were to be acted upon in the construction of the convention, complain of it as prejudicial to England. But looking to the object which the contracting parties had in view at the conclusion of the convention, namely, the security of the proposed ship canal, the British government consider that the design of the contracting parties was not to disturb any state of things then existing, but to guard against the future creation of a state of things which might by possibility interfere with the security of the proposed canal. That such was the true design of the convention is obvious from the provision in the sixth article, by which the contracting parties engaged to invite every State to enter into stipulations with them similar to those contained in the convention. But if the position of the United States government were sound, and the convention was intended to interfere with the state of things existing at the time of its conclusion, and to impose upon Great Britain to withdraw from portions of territory occupied by it, a similar obligation would be contracted by other States acceding to the convention, and the governments of the Central American States would, by the mere act of accession, sign away their rights to the territories in which they are situated. The British government share the conviction of the President of the United States that the interest of the two countries, and their mutual desire to maintain existing friendly relations, will alike inspire each party with a conciliatory spirit, and enable them to overcome all obstacles to a satisfactory adjustment of Central American questions. The British government see no reason why it should be otherwise. The British government neither have the wish to extend the limits of their possessions or the sphere of their influence in that quarter, nor would any British interest be promoted by doing so; but the British government are not prepared to contract either the one or the other, |