But the Costa Rican colony had since proved a disastrous failure, and Palmerston deemed it imprudent to found any governmental claims on the rights thus originally acquired. So he decided to disregard New Granada's protests, and substantiate British rights indirectly by supporting the Mosquitos in their demands. He therefore instructed the agents to inform the Central American states that "the right of the King of the Mosquitos should be maintained as extending from Cape Honduras down to the mouth of the San Juan," and that this Mosquito kingdom be henceforth recognized as an independent power under the protection of Great Britain, who would not look with indifference upon any encroachments on the rights as thus defined. Chatfield, in carrying out these instructions, took pains to add, on his own account, that the boundaries so laid out were announced "without prejudice to any rights of the Mosquito King south of the San Juan," and thus all the preliminaries were completed for the final descent upon the Atlantic outlet of the proposed canal. As might have been expected, the states of Central America raised a great hue and cry against this sweeping British claim, and, naturally enough, Nicaragua was loudest in her protests. This was precisely what Lord Palmerston had looked for, and indeed what he most desired. An informal campaign was thereupon decided on to enforce Great Britain's rights; Governor Sir Charles Grey of Jamaica was duly instructed by the Home government to execute the plans, and war-ships were detailed by the Admiralty to act in conjunction with the Jamaican authorities. According to orders the vessels arrived off the Mosquito shore on October 23, 1847, and, in accordance with the decision of a formal council of the Mosquito nation held at Bluefields under English auspices, Nicaragua was then informed that on January 1, 1848, the Mosquito King intended, with Great Britain's assistance, to re-assume his lawful control over the San Juan. At the same time Walker took his charge, the Mosquito monarch, with him on the British warship, Alarm, to the port itself, and again informed the Nicaraguan commandant that His Royal Highness, the Mosquito King, was on board, and that the Mosquito emblem must therefore be run up instead of Nicaragua's flag, and that His Majesty must be saluted. Once more the Nicaraguan officer refused to comply with this request, so the English landed a small force and performed the proper offices themselves. After this preliminary feint, another council of the Mosquito nation was held, on the 8th of December, and resolutions were adopted ordering Nicaragua to evacuate the port at once. Chatfield carried these orders to the proper authorities in the interior, and refused from the outset to listen to any offers of arbitration proposed by Nicaragua and Guatemala. Driven thus to extremities, Nicaragua hastily mobilized her little military force and prepared to defend the port. But the British were there before them, and when the troops saw three / formidable war-ships in the harbor,—the Alarm, the Vixen, and the Mosquito sloop,-they retreated up the stream again to Serapiqui. True to their word, on the first day of January, 1848, English marines were landed, and the port invested. The Mosquito flag was first raised and duly saluted. The Nicaraguan officials of the port were then driven out, and an Anglo-Mosquito administration installed in their places. At a banquet held in the evening by the victors, to which the vanquished were cordially invited, the name of the port was formally re-christened “Greytown," in honor of His Excellency the Governor, whose plans had now been so auspi ciously carried out. The victory was as yet but an empty one, however, and the English were not perfectly satisfied. Force was necessary to clinch their claim. Leaving but a meagre guard behind, the war-ships, therefore, sailed away. The Nicaraguan forces could not resist the temptation thus prepared for them, and as soon as the vessels were out of gunshot range, they came down the stream and drove the Anglo-Mosquito officials and their guard from the town. On January 10th, the Nicaraguans then re-assumed control of the port and ran up their flag once more. This flagrant violation of Great Britain's rights was of course reported at once to the Home government, and Lord Palmerston, now acting in the defence of English subjects, was able to be much more peremptory in his demands. The war-ships were ordered to invest the port again, and Chatfield was now instructed to inform the Central American states “that Her Majesty's government considers that the claim of the Mosquito nation extends as far as the southern branch of the St. John, which bears the name of the Colorado, but which is just as much a portion of the St. John as either of the other two outlets of that river." The Vixen and the Alarm reappeared in the harbor of Greytown on February 8th, and the English again took possession of the port. Captain Loch of the Alarm, with a force of two hundred and sixty marines, then fol lowed the fleeing Nicaraguan troops up the stream in the ship's boats, and captured their stronghold at Serapiqui.1 The English then followed the Nicaraguans to Granada and besieged the town. Unable to offer further resistance the Nicaraguan government was there forced at the point of the bayonet to agree to the terms of peace submitted by Captain Loch. Hostilities thereupon ceased, and on March 7th a treaty was concluded whereby Nicaragua relinquished to the Mosquito King forever, all the rights she had heretofore claimed over Greytown and the custom house there. An English commandant was thereupon installed in the port, and the war-ships sailed away. On receipt of the news in London of the favor 1 Walker was unfortunately drowned at this point in the campaign, and, after this, Captain Loch was obliged to assume diplomatic, as well as military, duties. able outcome of the campaign, Captain Loch was highly complimented by the Right Hon. E. J. Stanley, Secretary of the Admiralty, on the important part he had played in the conclusion of the affair, and Lord Palmerston then made haste to assure Nicaragua of Great Britain's future good will, offering now, under the changed conditions, to receive her accredited minister. In this way the English Secretary having demonstrated his force, now hoped to secure the desired right of way through Nicaragua's territory by peaceful nego tiation.1 New Granada's feeble claim to the eastern seaboard was then summarily dismissed, and plans were laid at once by the English Foreign Office to secure control of the Pacific outlet of the proposed canal as well. This last scheme involved dealings with Nicaragua's northern neighbor, Honduras, as, according to Napoleon's plans, on which the English were then relying, the canal was to debouch into the Bay of Fonseca which was practically en 'British Accts. and Papers, loc. cit., Vol. LXV., "Mosquito Correspondence," Docs. 1-14 with enclosures. U. S. Ex. Doc., No. 75, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. X., pp. 1–118. U. S. Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 194, 47th Cong., 1st Sess., p. III. Young, Narrative of a Residence on the Mosquito Shore," p. 147. New York. E. Bedford Pim, "Dottings in Panama, Nicaragua and Mosquito." London, 1868. Squier, loc. cit., Nicaragua," Ch. III., p. 679. "Central American States," pp. 621, 641–647. Bancroft, loc. cit., "History of Central America," Vol. III., pp. 314 |