operations were at this point cut short by England's coming to final terms with Spain in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which brought the more general war of the Austrian Succession to a close, as well as this more special maritime struggle between Spain and England. This treaty was signed on the basis of a mutual restitution of conquests, but it in no way undertook to define the respective rights of the two parties in Central America, and so, though Hodgson was at once given notice to desist from further warlike movements along the San Juan, he was still allowed by the English authorities to remain in Mosquitoland, as Superintendent of the shore, under orders from the Governor of Jamaica. Spain, it is true, entered protest after protest to the English government against Hodgson's continued presence among the Indians, but, instead of sending a force to dislodge him, she contented herself, as before, by requesting a Franciscan missionary to go down to the shore and try by religious means to neutralize English influence among the Mosquitos. In reply to their protests, the English government assured the Spanish authorities that Hodgson was only kept there now to restrain the Indians from attacking the Spanish colonists and interfering with their trade with the mother country. Acting under orders from Gover nor Trelawney, Hodgson then arrested the poor Franciscan as an impostor, and bundled him off to Jamaica. This aroused the Spanish colonists at last, and they prepared for an attack. The English in Mosquitoland called upon Jamaica for re-enforcements, and war again seemed imminent. At this juncture (1752), Governor Knowles succeeded the more enthusiastic Trelawney in Jamaica, and the English policy toward the settlers on the shore was, for the time at least, radically changed. Governor Knowles, in short, looked upon the whole Mosquito settlement as a "job," and not worth a quarrel with Spain. So the missionary was sent back, and the eager Hodgson kept in close check during the new Governor's brief incumbency in office. The Spanish now thought the opportunity favorable to rid the isthmian colonies entirely of English interference. To this end an attack was begun, in 1754, upon the woodcutters of Belize, the idea being to push south and drive the settlers also from the Bay islands and the Mosquito shore. This attempt was a dismal failure, however, and Spain having thus taken the initiative and attacked them in times of peace, the English settlers after this felt no longer any scruples in extending their settlements as they would. Governor Knowles was then recalled from Jamaica, and under his successor's rule the old vigorous policy of encroachment was again supported from headquarters. The Spanish authorities then seemed to resign themselves, for the time, to the inevitable, and so from the Rio Hondo in the north to the Bluefields lagoon in the south, the entire eastern coast of Central America, including its littoral islands, continued under English supremacy. In the opinion of His Majesty's Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, whose report had since been handed in, these claims were not, however, to be regarded in the light of regular English settlements, but simply as including limited usufructuary rights to cut timber along the shore.1 the Seven Years' War Such was the rather doubtful condition of affairs in 1756, at the outbreak of the Seven Years' war in $ 41. The Europe. Seeing that England would of Effect of necessity be led into the general continental struggle, William Pitt, the elder, then Secretary of State in the Newcastle government, which he had just brought into power, endeavored by diplomatic means to league Spain on his side against France, who was already assuming the offensive again in America. To sooth Spain's anger and win her over to the English cause, Pitt magnanimously offered to evacuate all the settlements along the mainland of Central America, and leave ments in Central America. 1 British Accounts and Papers, doc. cit., Vol. LXV., "Mosquito Correspondence," App. A. U. S. Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 194, loc. cit., pp. 73 ff. Reports of Lords of Trade on the Mosquito Shore, Dec. 2, 1763. Plant. Gen. M., p. 311. De Kalb, loc. cit. Engineering Magazine, loc. cit., March 3, 1893. Vernon Wager MSS., as follows: Sir Charles Wager to Admiral Vernon, May 23 and August 18, 1741; Sir William Pultney to Admiral Vernon, August 17, 1740; Governor Knowles to Secy. of State of English Govt., March 26, 1753. Bancroft, loc. cit., "History of Central America," Vol. II., pp. 602, 628-29, and 648. Squier, loc. cit., pp. 576–615, 636–638, and App. D. the Spanish colonists free once more to extend their control to the eastern coast as they desired. Spain would not listen to these proposals, but ranged her self instead on the side of France, in the vain hopes of dislodging England entirely from her possessions in the New World. Great Britain's naval forces, and the indomitable energy of her North American colonists, proved too strong for this Franco-Spanish alliance, however, and, in the end, Spain was even forced to give up Florida to England for the part she had chosen to play in the struggle. As North America had been the scene of the American phase of this continental struggle, the respective claims of England and Spain on the isthmus were in consequence but little affected thereby. Still, by the treaty of Paris,-which in 1763 put an end to the French and Indian wars,-it was provided that, in return for Florida, Havana should be restored to the Spanish, and it was further agreed that: "His Britannic Majesty shall cause to be demolished all fortifications which his subjects shall have erected in the Bay of Honduras and other places in the territory of Spain in that part of the world.” 1 1 With this nominal concession, England then took pains to re-establish her former rights by the addition of another clause in the treaty, allowing her subjects to cut wood henceforth unmolested any where along the eastern shore. 1 Treaty of Paris, Art. XVII.,-signed February 10, 1763. Now that a peace had been secured, in general so advantageous to British claims, the English government was ready to adopt a more regular and peaceful régime in Central America. Not so Hodgson and his followers, however; for, seeing Spain thus humbled, they thought the opportunity ripe to seize upon the San Juan. An expedition was accordingly organized in an irregular sort of a way and the attack was made in 1769. The Spanish Governor, Herrera, learned of Hodgson's plans, however, and his secret attack met with a resistance which he was utterly unable to overcome. This war-like spirit was no longer in keeping with British plans, so, having played his part and outlived his usefulness, Hodgson was immediately recalled after this last escapade, and the English authorities, with scrupulous exactness, straightway caused the temporary fortifications along the shore to be demolished, and the garrisons to be withdrawn. Mosquitoland had by this time grown to be a settlement of considerable size. The English, of pure and mixed origin, now numbered some four hundred or more souls, and under them worked about nine hundred slaves in the cotton, indigo, and cocoa fields which they had lately planted along the shore. It was high time, therefore, since military operations were suspended, that some more regu lar administration should be introduced in their midst. Accordingly, in 1775, Lord Dartmouth, of the Colonial Office, drew up a system of government for the settlement, and attached it to Jamaica as a |