especially to the interoceanic communications, should the same prove to be practicable, whether by canal or railway, which are now proposed to be established by the way of Tehuantepec or Panama. In granting, however, their joint protection to any such canals or railways as are by this article specified, it is always understood by the United States and Great Britain that the parties constructing or owning the same shall impose no other charges or conditions of traffic thereupon than the aforesaid Governments shall approve of as just and equitable; and that the same canals or railways, being open to the citizens and subjects of the United States and Great Britain on equal terms, shall also be open on like terms to the citizens and subjects of every other state which is willing to grant thereto such protection as the United States and Great Britain engage to afford."

At the time of the execution of this treaty the British Government claimed dominion over the (1) Bay Islands, including the island of Ruatan, and other islands on the ocean adjoining Honduras; (2) the Mosquito coast; and (3) the Belize, or British Honduras. This dominion the British Government continued after the execution of the treaty to exercise in defiance of the renunciation contained in the first article of the treaty as above given. An attempt was made to remove the collision which was thus provoked by a new treaty (Clarendon-Dallas), which, however, failed from the non-acceptance by Great Britain of the amendments introduced into the treaty by the Senate of the United States. Great Britain, on her side, undertook to at least lessen the cause of offense by negotiating, in November, 1859, a treaty with Honduras, in which she stipulated to surrender to that Republic her claim to Ruatan and the Bay Islands; and in the same year she executed a treaty with Guatemala for the defining the boundaries of British Honduras, or the Belize, as it is more properly to be called. In January, 1860, she emered into a treaty with Nicaragua by which she with some qualifications withdrew from the protectorate over the Mosquito country. These treaties having been, in 1860, communicated officially to President Buchanan, be stated, as will be seen in his last annual message (Dec., 1860), that "the discordant constructions of the Clayton Bulwer treaty between the two Governments, which at different periods of the discussion bore a threatening aspect, have resulted in a final settlement entirely satisfactory to this Government." (See supra, § 145). But this statement of President Buchanan, as will be seen at the close of this section, is based on the assumption that Great Britain had withdrawn not merely from the technical but from the actual protectorate of the Mosquito country, and had absolutely ceased, as the first article of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty requires, to "take advantage of any intimacy, or use any alliance, connection, or influence" she "might 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 her subjects, "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 of the United States. Whether Great Britain retains, indirectly or directly, her influence over the Mosquito territory, and whether she continues to use her "influence" in Central America in a manner prohibited by the treaty, are questions of fact for subsequent discussion. (See remarks at close of this section, and also infra, §§ 287 ff.)

The following documents explain the position of the executive department of the Government as to the questions which, under the above circumstances, arose on the construction of the treaty.

"In my previous dispatch of this day I have informed your lordship of my having concluded a treaty with Mr. Clayton respecting the construction of a ship communication between the two oceans of the Atlantic and Pacific, and I have there stated to your lordship that there are some slight differences between the original project transmitted home on the 3d of February and the treaty now concluded.

"I have thought it better to explain the nature of these changes, and my reasons for adopting them, in a separate dispatch; and I shall do so, rather according to the manner and time in which they were made than according to the place in the convention in which they occur.

"The first, therefore, I shall refer to is in Article VI, to which are added the words:

"And should any differences arise as to right or property over the territory through which the said canal shall pass between the States or Governments of Central America, and such differences should in any way impede or obstruct the execution of the said canal, the Governments of Great Britain and the United States will use their good offices to settle such differences in the manner best suited to promote the interests of the said canal, and to strengthen the bonds of friendship and alliance which exist between the contracting parties.'

"This addition, in reconsidering the matter, was deemed, both by myself and Mr. Clayton an advantage to the treaty, and a sort of guarantee against future unfriendly disputes between the two Governments as to the subject referred to.

"The second addition agreed to is in Article VII, to which has been added:

"And if any persons or company should already have, with any State through which the proposed ship-canal may pass, a contract for the construction of such a canal as that specified in the convention, to the stipulations of which contract neither of the contracting parties in this convention have any just cause to object, and the said persons or company shall, moreover, have made preparations and expended time, money, and trouble on the faith of such contract, it is hereby agreed that such persons or company shall have a priority of claim over every other person, persons, or company, to the protection of the Governments of Great Britain and the United States, and be allowed a year from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this convention for concluding their arrangements, and presenting evidence of sufficient capital subscribed to accomplish the contemplated undertaking, it being understood that if, at the expiration of the aforesaid period, such persons or company be not able to commence and carry out the proposed enterprise, then the Governments of Great Britain and the United States shall be free to afford their protection to any other persons or company that shall be prepared to commence and proceed with the construction of the canal in question.'

"I should here state to your lordship that when the treaty was placed under the notice of the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate, a gentleman of great weight, and of the more importance since he belongs to the dominant party in the chamber of which he is a member, he considered that it would only be fair that the two Governments should give an open and avowed preference by name to an American company which had first conceived and taken steps to carry out the proposed undertaking. This I objected to; but I deemed there could be no objection to giving to any company, under certain fair conditions, such as are specified, the preference that was sought, although those

conditions applied to a company that was American. In this manner a sort of compromise was effected.

"The third alteration adopted is in Article VIII, the whole of which article is remodeled.

"This alteration, I must say, was the effect of the joint opinion of Mr. Clayton and myself, both thinking that the article as amended, was better and more clear, referring especially to two lines of communication which seem the most likely to be adopted, and securing thereby a considerable support to the convention in general, many persons being interested in the Panama and Tehauntepec projects.

"The only other change which it is worth while remarking upon occurs first in the body of the treaty, but was the last mooted or adopted. Your lordship will perceive it by casting your eye over Article I, in which a passage is inserted between the words 'Central America,' which close the second line in the page, down to, 'nor will Great Britain or the United States take advantage of any,' &c., which occurs in the third line from the bottom of the said page, some few words having been left out to admit of the aforesaid passage. The manner in which this change was effected was as follows:

"It struck me that the declaration or note mentioned by your lordship bound our Government as to its protection over the Mosquitoes, but did not bind the United States Government as to its protection over such other States, even Nicaragua, as it might hereafter form an especial alliance with. Moreover, the pledge that we would not do covertly what we had declared we would not do directly seemed to me a pledge that it would be more suitable and becoming that both parties should take than that one alone should take.

"With these views, instead of presenting the note, I embodied in the treaty the substance of the declaration given by your lordship to Mr. Lawrence, constituting that declaration so as to apply to any Government or people we do or may protect, and also to any Government or people that the United States Government do or may protect. Some discussion took place on this matter, but finally it was so arranged.

"As the case now stands it is clearly understood that Her Majesty's Government holds by its own opinions already expressed as to Mosquito, and that the United States does not depart from its opinion also already expressed as to the same subject; but the main question of the canal being settled on an amicable basis, and the future relations of the United States and Great Britain being regulated in all other parts of Central America, the discussion of this difference, which has lost its great prac tical importance, is avoided in an arrangement meant to be as much as possible of a perfectly friendly character.

"I need not say that should your lordship wish to make any further statement as to the views of Her Majesty's Government with respect to the protectorate of Mosquito, that statement can still be made; nothing in the present convention is affirmed thereupon, but nothing is abandoned.

"I trust that after this statement your lordship will approve of the course I have pursued.

"There are various small and verbal differences between the original project and treaty which I have not enumerated, because they leave the general sense the same, and have only been adopted to express that sense more clearly. The word 'fortify' is inserted between 'occupy and colonize' in the second line from the bottom of the page in Article I, but this word had been used in your lordship's note to Mr. Lawrence, and

only imposes in that place an obligation which had already been agreed to and stated elsewhere. The word 'blockade' is inserted before the words 'detention or capture' in Article II, at the request of several influential persons, but only signifies what detention and capture had already expressed."

Sir H. L. Bulwer to Lord Palmerston, Apr. 28, 1850.

Declaration made by Sir Henry Bulwer at the Department of State, June 29, 1850, prior to the exchange of the ratifications of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.

"In proceeding to the exchange of the ratifications of the convention, signed at Washington on the 19th of April, 1850, between Her Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, relative to the establishment of a communication by ship-canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans:

"The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty's plenipotentiary, has received Her Majesty's instructions to declare that Her Majesty does not understand the engagements of that convention to apply to Her Majes ty's settlement at Honduras, or to its dependencies.

"Her Majesty's ratification of the said convention is exchanged under the explicit declaration above mentioned.

"Done at Washington, the 29th day of June, 1850.

"H. L. BULWER."

Memorandum touching Sir Henry Bulwer's declaration filed by Mr. Clayton in the Department of State at Washington, July 5, 1850.

"The within declaration of Sir H. L. Bulwer was received by me on the 29th day of June, 1850. In reply I wrote him my note of the 4th of July, acknowledging that I understood British Honduras was not embraced in the treaty of the 19th day of April last, but at the same time carefully declining to affirm or deny the British title in their settlement or its alleged dependencies. After signing my note last night I deliv ered it to Sir Henry, and we immediately proceeded, without any further or other action, to exchange the ratifications of said treaty. The blank in the declaration was never filled up. The consent of the Senate to the declaration was not required, and the treaty was ratified as it stood when it was made.

"JOHN M. CLAYTON.

"N. B. The rights of no Central American State have been compromised by the treaty or by any part of the negotiations."

"I believe Great Britain has never defined the character of her claim to possess what is called 'the Colony of the Bay Islands.' It does not appear to be one of her organized colonies. She has not, in explicit language, claimed sovereignty over it, though her acts have indicated such a purpose. Whatever may have been her rights or pretension to rights over this colony, they were all given up, according to the view here taken of the subject, by the Clayton and Bulwer treaty.

"It is presumed that the only part of that colony to which England will be disposed to attach much value, or have any inducement to retain, is the island of Ruatan. From an intimation made to me it may

be that she will take the position that this island does not belong to any of the Central American States, but is to be regarded in the same condition as one of the West India Islands. By reference to the treaties between Great Britain and Spain, you will find this island clearly recognized as a Spanish possession and a part of the old viceroyalty of Guatemala."

Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Buchanan, Sept. 12, 1853. MSS. Inst., Gr. Brit.

"In relation to the Clayton and Bulwer treaty, about which so much is said in your dispatches, I have only to remark that this Government considers it a subsisting contract, and feels bound to observe its stipulations so far as by fair construction they impose obligations upon it. "If Great Britain has failed, or shall fail, on her part to fulfill the obligations she has therein assumed, or if she attempts to evade them by a misconstruction of that instrument, the discussions that may arise on these subjects must necessarily take place between the parties to it. The views taken of that treaty by the United States, and your course in relation to it, pointed out in your first instructions, will be observed until you receive notice of their modification. In these instructions you were furnished with the views of one of the contracting parties (Great Britain), but at the same time you were informed that the United States did not concur in them. In the negotiations at London, in regard to the affairs of Central America, the meaning of that instrument will come directly under discussion. So far as respects your mission, you will regard it as meaning that the American negotiator intended when he entered into it, and what the Senate must have understood it to mean when it was ratified, viz, that by it Great Britain came under engagements to the United States to recede from her asserted protectorate of the Mosquito Indians, and to cease to exercise dominion or control in any part of Central America. If she had any colonial possessions therein at the date of the treaty, she was bound to abandon them, and equally bound to abstain from colonial acquisitions in that region. In your official intercourse with the States of Central America, you will present this construction of the treaty as the one given to it by your Government.

"It is believed that Great Britain has a qualified right over a tract of country called the Belize, from which she is not ousted by this treaty, because no part of that tract, when restricted to its proper limits, is within the boundaries of Central America."

Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Borland, Dec. 30, 1853. MSS. Inst., Am. St.

Statement of Mr. Buchanan for Lord Clarendon.

"LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

"London, January 6, 1854.

"Mr. Monroe, one of our wisest and most discreet Presidents, announced in a public message to Congress in December, 1823, that the