[XII-45] This settlement was called Fort Wellington, and was brought to ruin by a succession of calamities, including shipwrecks. Mosq.-Küste und Texas, 29-33; Young's Mosq. Shore, 53-9, 65-71.
[XII-46] It has an abundance of mahogany, rosewood, caoutchouc, and other valuable trees, and is capable of producing cotton, sugar, rice, indigo, and most of the tropical staples.
[XII-47] Slavery was abolished in 1841. Nic., Gaceta, Feb. 10, 1866.
[XII-48] There was neither church nor pastor in the place. S. Juan, Ocup., 13-15; Squier's Cent. Am., 661-2.
[XII-49] Macdonald answered Aug. 13th that the object of his visit to the coast had been to convey a message of H. B. M. to her ally the sovereign of the Mosquito nation, and to ascertain by his own observation the true boundaries of the Mosquito dominions, upon which point he wished to be enlightened by Quijano. He made further demands for a recognition of his demand, but the Nicaraguan official invariably returned a refusal. Mosquitoland, 29, 223-5; Niles' Reg., lxi. 98; lxii. 64, 275; lxiii. 19, 194; U. S. Govt Doc., H. Ex. Doc. 75, vol. x., 31st cong. 1st sess.; Young's Mosq. Shore, 33-4.
[XII-50] An English writer says: 'This farce hardly seemed consistent with the dignity of a British officer, gov. of a settlement.' Dunlop's Trav., 215-16. Crowe, also an Englishman, declares it to have been an infamous act. Gospel, 212. It was not disavowed by the Brit. govt. Squier's Travels, ii. 449; Nouv. Annales Voy., xciv. 251-2.
[XII-51] He was left on a desert island on the coast. Marure, Efem., 54; Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iii. 612. Macdonald himself on the 15th made his acts known to the govt of Nic., alleging that he had been specially requested by many persons of San Juan to remove Quijano. The latter was undoubtedly a bad man, but no foreign authority had any right to interfere with him.
[XII-52] Consul Chatfield claimed that Quijano was removed from Mosq. and not Nic. territory; that he had himself notified the govt of Cent. Am. of the existence of the Mosq. nation, and that Great Britain would not look with indifference upon any usurpation of the territory of a monarch with whom she had close relations; that Spain had recognized the Mosq. nation when Prince Stephen visited San Salvador and Guatemala. His letter was dated Oct. 24, 1842. Further correspondence followed between Nic. and Chatfield without the former giving way to his pretensions. The whole correspond. may be seen in Mosq. Doc., 5-23; Nic., Cor. Ist., Sept. 26, 1850; Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iv. 98-111.
[XII-53] In a treaty with Thomas Lowry Robinson, signed in Comayagua Dec. 16, 1843. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iv. 112-14. The aristocrats of Guat. wanted a protectorate of Great Britain over Cent. Am., and it was believed in Nic. for a while that Costa R. had given way to the influence of Pavon, Chatfield, and J. J. Flores of Ecuador, and had accepted the scheme. Chatfield having concluded, on the 26th of Nov., 1849, a treaty with Costa R., attempted on the strength of it, on the 1st of Dec., to dictate to Nic. He said that differences between Nic. and Costa R. must be amicably arranged in the understanding, that other means would not be looked on with indifference by Great Britain.
[XII-54] That was pursuant to orders from Lord Palmerston, in which for the first time a protectorate over the Mosquito shore was asserted by Great Britain. Chatfield and Walker had claimed rights over the entire eastern coast, from Cape Honduras to Chiriquí Lagoon, an extent of 700 miles, but Palmerston set the limits 'from Cape Honduras down to the mouth of the river San Juan.' Meantime the Nicaraguan authorities had obtained, Oct. 28, 1847, from the Princess Inez, believing her the heir of Robert Charles Frederick, a full recognition of the authority of Nic. over the shore of Mosq., and her command to all interloping foreigners to leave the country. The British officials of course paid no heed to this arrangement. Squier's Cent. Am., 644-6; Salv., Gaceta, March 15, 1850.