In truth the action of the British government at this time admits of little excuse so far as it concerns the Spanish possessions in the Indies. The governors of Jamaica connived at the raids of the buccaneers, and as we have seen, Sir Henry Morgan, the titled buccaneer, held high office in that island; although when he became rich by swindling his fellow-cut-throats, he punished those who did not bribe him with a share of their spoils. The governors were frequently changed in order that Great Britain might remain on friendly terms with Spain, but this measure did not prevent the outrages which have been described in previous chapters.
After the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick in 1697 we hear no more of piratical raids, and in that year the island of San Cristóbal was restored to Spain. Treaties were signed between Great Britain and Spain in 1713, 1715, and 1721, in the last of which it was stipulated that commerce and navigation should be left free to the Spaniards in the West Indies, and that the limits of New World possessions should remain as they were in the days of Cárlos II. of Spain.
In 1720 a treaty was concluded between Sir Nicholas Lawes, then governor of Jamaica, and Jeremy, then king of the sambos, whereby the latter agreed to assist the English planters in capturing runaway slaves, the Mosquitos being provided with boats, arms, and ammunition, and receiving pay for their services.[XXXII‑7] But the natives thus armed and equipped took advantage of their opportunity to make raids on the neighboring Spanish settlements.
AN ALCALDE MAYOR'S REPORT.
The archives of Guatemala contain the report of an alcalde mayor of Tegucigalpa, then resident in that province, and made by order of the president in obedience to a royal cédula previously issued. "The sambos," says the alcalde, "have plenty of vessels, provisions, arms, and ammunition, for they are supplied by the English of Jamaica, who egg them on to hostilities against the Spaniards. Their country is also a place of refuge for the mulattoes, negroes, and other evil-doers who flee from justice in the Spanish settlements, and who give them information of the Spanish plans, as well as join them in the execution of their own. They have had the effrontery to call their chief 'Jeremías, Rey del Mosquito.' This man gives letters of marque to his so-called vassals, who ravage the coast from Belize to Portobello, keeping the subjects of Spain, who traffic in those seas, in constant alarm—some of whom have lost their lives, others their liberty, and others their property. These people inhabit the region from the jurisdiction of Comayagua to that of Costa Rica, always near the coast. Between them and the Spanish settlements is a cordillera, for which reasons they make their incursions by ascending the rivers. Their country has a width of some six leagues between the mountains and the sea, the half nearest the sea being where they have their cultivated lands and their cattle, the other portion being useless. They live in rancherías, or in scattered houses—even in the rancherías the houses never being one near the other—so that if one house be attacked, the people of the others may have time for defence or flight. Their principal settlement is about the centre of this coast line. It is in a lagoon, and here dwell their so-called king and his principal men. The settlement is surrounded by a wall, a moat, broad and deep, and covered in such a way that the apparently solid earth gives way under the tread of the unwary stranger seeking to enter the town. There are but two entrances into the town, and these are known only to these people, to Spaniards who have been prisoners, and to the refugees."[XXXII‑8]
In this report further depredations of the natives are mentioned; and it is recommended that expeditions be sent against them by land and sea to exterminate the guilty persons. In 1740, England and Spain being then at war, the governor of Jamaica, in a letter to the duke of Newcastle, states that there were then about a hundred English in the territory and suggests that they might be used to incite the sambos to a general uprising against the Spaniards. Colonel Robert Hodgson was sent to that coast during the same year on a special mission, and winning over the sambo king and the leading men obtained from them a cession of their territory and hoisted the English flag on the shore of Mosquitia; but the failure of Anson's and Vernon's expeditions, which have already been described, and the refractory spirit of most of the natives prevented any invasion of the Spanish provinces. In 1744 Hodgson was appointed superintendent of the Mosquito shore, subject to the governor of Jamaica, and troops were forwarded, forts were erected and mounted with ordnance, the British thus taking possession of the country. The Spaniards never ceased their remonstrances against these encroachments, and in 1750 threatened to expel the intruders by force. Hodgson was then instructed to represent that his presence was merely for the purpose of restraining the natives from committing depredations on Spanish settlements. This explanation was accepted at the time, through motives of policy, but still the depredations continued, and the disputes arising in connection with England's policy in this matter helped to bring about the rupture ended by the treaty of Paris in 1763, wherein it was stipulated that Great Britain should destroy all forts that she had caused to be erected in the Spanish provinces, including the Mosquito Coast.
When England withdrew from the military occupation of Mosquitia most of the settlers still remained; and believing that Great Britain would ere long establish a provisional government on the coast, some of them purchased lands from the natives suitable for the cultivation of sugar-cane, cotton, and cacao. In 1771 eight persons joined in the purchase of a large tract on the Polloy River, said to contain gold, and extending thirty miles on either bank. Two years later a number of miners were set to work, but through their misconduct, as it is alleged, the venture met with poor success.
Mosquito Coast.
A new system of administration for the British settlements in Mosquitia was framed by Lord Dartmouth in 1775, and put in execution by Sir Basil Keith, then governor of Jamaica.[XXXII‑9] Hodgson was ordered home, and in 1776 Colonel Lawrie took his place. The new superintendent found the natives and settlers greatly agitated on account of the seizure by Spaniards of an English vessel on the Black River,[XXXII‑10] and the attitude of the latter toward the sambos and their allies. The colonists were in a dilemma, for the Spaniards hated them, and the English government gave them little encouragement.[XXXII‑11]