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umpire, another person or other persons shall be named as aforesaid to act in his or their place or stead, and shall make and subscribe such declaration as aforesaid.

Her Britannic Majesty and the Republic of Nicaragua shall engage to consider the decision of the two Commissioners conjointly, or of the arbitrator or umpire, as the case may be, as final and conclusive on the matters to be respectively referred to their decision, and forthwith to give full effect to the same.

VIII. The Commissioners and the arbitrators or umpires shall keep accurate records and correct minutes or notes of all their proceedings, with the dates thereof, and shall appoint and employ such clerk or clerks or other persons as they shall find necessary to assist them in the transaction of the business which may come before them.

The salaries of the Commissioners shall be paid by their respective Governments. The contingent expenses of the Commissioners, including the salary of the arbitrators or umpires, and of the clerk or clerks, shall be defrayed in equal moieties by the two Governments.

IX. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America bind themselves, in case the Republics of Nicaragua and of Costa Rica, or either of them, should refuse to accept the arrangements contained in the preceding Articles, not to propose nor consent to any other arrangements more favourable to the refusing party or parties.

X. The present Treaty shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty and by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at

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as soon as possible within

SEPARATE ARTICLES.

ART. I. WHEREAS the arrangements set forth in the Treaty of this date are provided as an adequate substitute for the protection heretofore extended by Great Britain to the Mosquito Indians, and, whereas, one or the other, or both, of the Contracting Parties may find in the condition of their political relations with the Republic of Nicaragua, obstacles to prevent an immediate execution of the said. arrangements; now, therefore, it is agreed and understood as follows:

1. That any delay in carrying out the said arrangements, arising from the circumstances or relations of the Republic of Nicaragua, shall in no respect impair the validity or force of the Treaty as between the Contracting Parties; but the same shall remain obli

gatory upon, and to be executed by, them as early as may be practicable.

2. That whichever of the two Contracting Parties may soonest find itself in such political relations with the Republic of Nicaragua as enable it so to do, shall first propose singly to that Republic the arrangements contained in this Treaty, and shall obtain by means of a separate Treaty its assent to those arrangements; the other Contracting Party engaging, and reserving to itself the right also to conclude with the said Republic, at the earliest fitting moment, a Treaty containing the said arrangements.

II. And, whereas the relations of amity between the Contracting Parties, and the neutrality of any and every communication by land or railway across the Isthmus which connects North and South America, and to which communication by canal or railway their protection has been or shall be extended, may be further assured by some definite arrangement on two other questions which have come into discussion; now it is mutually agreed and understood:

1. That Her Britannic Majesty's Settlement called the Belize or British Honduras, on the shores of the Bay of Honduras, bounded on the north by the Mexican province of Yucatan, and on the south by the River Sarstoon, was not and is not embraced in the Treaty entered into between the Contracting Parties on the 19th day of April, 1850, and that the limits of the said Belize, on the west, as they existed on the said 19th of April, 1850, shall, if possible, be settled and fixed by Treaty between Her Britannic Majesty and the Republic of Guatemala, within two years from the exchange of the ratifications of this instrument; which said boundaries and limits shall not at any time hereafter be extended;

2. That the islands and their inhabitants, of Ruatan, Bonaca, Utila, Barbaretta, Helena, and Morat, situated in the Bay of Honduras, and known as the Bay Islands, having been, by a Convention bearing date the 27th day of August, 1856, between Her Britannic Majesty and the Republic of Honduras constituted and declared a free territory under the sovereignty of the said Republic of Honduras, the two Contracting Parties do hereby mutually engage to recognize and respect in all future time the independence and rights of the said free territory, as a part of the republic of Honduras.

III. The present Separate Articles shall have the same force and validity as if they had been inserted, word for word, in the Treaty between Her Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, signed this day. They shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty and by the President of The United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at the same time as those of the Treaty.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed

the present Separate Articles, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.

No. 2.-Extract of Despatch respecting Draft Articles of Treaty, Central America.-(Communicated to the Earl of Clarendon by Mr. Dallas, October 13, 1856.)

Reasons for the proposed Modification of Boundary in the Reservation for the Mosquitos.

THE United States are only concerned indirectly in this and the other questions involved, which deeply regard the States which constituted the Republic of Central America.

In this relation, the proposed Treaty is to be tendered by the present Contracting Parties to the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, as being what these Republics ought to adopt, and is to be urged upon them for acceptance by the Parties. It must, of course, contain no conditions which the President cannot cordially recommend to each of those Republics. In other words, the stipulations must be such, in the President's view of them, as would be just and fair towards those Republics. Their interest is quite as much to be respected as that of The United States or of Great Britain. He cannot, as a friend, request or desire them to do anything which he would not himself do in their place.

Regarding the subject from this point of view, the President asks your attention to the limits of the country set apart for the Mosquitos.

On a rough calculation the reservation proposed is found to consist of about 14,000 square miles, or more than 5,500,000 acres, which seems to the President much more than is requisite for 2,000 or, at most, 3,000 Indians, whose numbers have been for years constantly decreasing.

No objection is made to the Western line; but the extension north is deemed very exceptionable, and may seriously embarrass the acceptance of the arrangement by Nicaragua. It carries the Mosquito reservation up to the south bank of the large River Segovia and to the line of Honduras. No sufficient reason exists for according so extensive a territory to this handful of Indians. But the more serious objection is that Nicaragua would thus be deprived of the safe use of the largest river of the Republic, and of the control of her frontier on the side of Honduras.

It is proposed to substitute either the line of the Brachma or that of the Prinzapulca, as the northern boundary instead of the Wanx or Segovia. The Mosquitos will then have possession of a country enormous relatively to their numbers, actual or possible.

Besides, the less their reservation, the larger will probably be the annuity provided for them, and that they would probably prefer.

No. 3.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Napier.

MY LORD, Foreign Office, February 16, 1857. I INCLOSE herewith, for your Lordship's information, a copy of a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between Her Majesty and the Republic of Honduras, which I signed, on the 27th of August last, with Señor Herran, the Plenipotentiary from Honduras; and also copies of two Conventions which I signed on the same day with M. Herran, the first of which relates to the Mosquito Indians and the rights and claims of British subjects, and the other to the Bay Islands. I am, &c. Lord Napier.

CLARENDON.

(Inclosure 1.)-Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation, between Her Majesty and the Republic of Honduras, with an Additional Article thereunto annexed.-Signed at London, August 27, 1856.

[Vol. XLVI. Page 158.]

(Inclosure 2.)-Convention between Her Majesty and the Republic of Honduras, relative to the Mosquito Indians, and to the Rights and Claims of British Subjects.-Signed at London, August 27, 1856.*

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Republic of Honduras, being desirous to settle, by means of a Convention, certain points resulting from the territorial arrangements which form the subject of another Convention concluded between them on this day, have named as their Plenipotentiaries for that purpose, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable George William Frederick, Earl of Clarendon, Baron Hyde of Hindon, a Peer

Su Magestad la Reina del Reino Unido de la Gran Bretaña é Irlanda, y la República de Honduras, deseosos de arreglar por medio de una Convencion ciertos puntos resultivos de los arreglos territoriales que forman el objeto de otra Convencion concluida hoy entre ellas, han nombrado con tal objeto sus Plenipotenciarios, á saber:

Su Magestad la Reina del Reino Unido de la Gran Bretaña é Irlanda, al muy Honorable George Guillermo Frederico, Conde de Clarendon, Baron Hyde de Hindon, Par del Reino *Not ratified.

of the United Kingdom, a Member of Her Britannic Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;

And his Excellency the Presi dent of the Republic of Honduras, Señor Doctor Juan Victor Herran, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic to Her Britannic Majesty ;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

ART. I. The Republic of Honduras engages not to disturb the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty in the enjoyment of any property of which they may be in possession in the Islands of Ruatan, Bonaco, Elena, Utile, Barbarete, and Morat, situated in the Bay of Honduras.

II. Her Britannic Majesty agrees to recognize the midchannel of the River Wanx or Segovia, which falls into the Caribbean Sea at Cape Gracias á Dios, as the boundary between the Republic of Honduras and the territory of the Mosquito Indians, without prejudice, however, to any question of boundary between the Republics of Honduras and of Nicaragua.

And whereas the Mosquito Indians have heretofore possessed and exercised rights in and

Unido, Miembro del muy Honorable Consejo Privado de Su Magestad Británica, Caballero de la muy Noble Orden de la Jarretera, Gran Cruz de le muy Honorable Orden del Baño, Secretario Principal de Estado de Su Magestad Británica para los Negocios Estrangeros;

Y su Excellencia el Presidente de la República de Honduras, al Señor Doctor Juan Victor Herran, Ministro Plenipotenciario de la República cerca de Su Magestad Británica ;

Quienes, despues de haber examinado sus respectivos poderes, y encontradolos en buena y debida forma, han convenido y concluido los Articulos sigui

entes:

ART. I. La República de Honduras conviene en no inquietar á los súbditos de Su Magestad Británica en el goce de toda propiedad de que ésten en posesion en las Islas de Roatan, Bonaca, Elena, Utila, Barbareta, y Morat, situadas en la Bahia de Honduras.

II. Su Magestad Británica conviene en reconocer el medio del Rio Wans ó Segovia, que desemboca en el Mar Caribe, en Cabo Gracias á Dios, como limite entre la República de Honduras y el territorio de los Indios Mosquitos, sin perjudicio de cualquiera cuestion de limites entre la Re

pública de Honduras y la de Nicaragua.

Y en atencion á que los Indios Mosquitos han poseido antes y ejercido derechos en y sobre los

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