aty; that she has to this day
continued her protectorate, as she calls it, of the Mosquito Coast, and
that within six days after the Treaty of California, which secured to us
that "pearl of the occident," she seized San Juan and occasioned a brief
naval excitement at Greytown, the port of the San Juan river. This last
kick by Great Britain at the treaty she had so solemnly promised to
abide by was the most barefaced and impudent of all; for it was at that
time supposed by every body who had considered the question of an
inter-oceanic canal, that if built at all it would be by way of the San
Juan river, Lake Nicaragua, and across Nicaragua to the Pacific; thus
making Greytown the important port of said canal, and the key to the
control of the entire commerce thereon.

The diplomatic correspondence which followed this high-handed outrage,
like all the diplomatic (?) correspondence concerning Central America,
while firm and bold on the part of this government, yet lacked that
moral force, national importance, and perfect fearlessness, which the
fetters imposed by the treaty prevented us from using or exhibiting.

With the treaty out of the way, and the principles of the "Monroe
Doctrine" imprinted as a legend upon our banners, we should have stood
on unassailable ground; have exhibited a national importance and
vitality--an uncompromising firmness, courage and dignity that would
have carried conviction, achieved immediate and honorable success, and
commanded the respect of the civilized world. But fettered, tantalized,
and weakened, by the ambiguities and inconsistencies of this
co-partnership treaty, the United States government was compelled to
temporize, argue, and explain, and finally compromise with her
co-partner, and graciously allow the disgraceful fetters to remain.

Did Great Britain withdraw her protectorate? No. Did she withdraw her
colonies from the Bay Islands? No. Did she give up her new geography of
Central America, and restore Balize to its original territory? No. Did
she yield a single point in the controversy, except to give up and
repudiate as unauthorized the seizure of San Juan? No. Not in a single
instance when the territory of Central America was at stake, and the
provisions of the treaty were concerned, did she yield a single point;
but she has even claimed and argued, that under the proper
interpretation of the terms of that treaty she may hold all that she
then enjoyed, and all that she can sei