exclusive or selfish views respecting the Central American States, all he wanted was a free and secure interoceanic communication, which could only be ensured, in the present state of those Governments, by having the power effectually to protect that route, but that it would be kept free for the use of Great Britain and other countries as much as for his own countrymen; and that it was open to me to make precisely such a Treaty with Nicaragua, or with the other Central American States, should it appear advisable." In a word, his Excellency's language on this and on other subjects of mutual interest to Great Britain and The United States, was, as on previous occasions, most friendly and satisfactory. The Earl of Clarendon. SIR, I have, &c. W. G. OUSELEY. No. 51.-The Earl of Clarendon to Sir W. G. Ouseley. Foreign Office, February 4, 1858. I HAVE to state to you that Her Majesty's Government have learned with great satisfaction the language of the President with respect to his policy in Central America, as reported in your despatch of the 16th ultimo. Sir W. G. Ouseley. I am, &c. CLARENDON. No. 52.-Lord Napier to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. March 1.) THE causes which lately threatened to embroil the affairs of Central America, and to embarrass the negotiations committed to the management of Sir William Ouseley, are no longer to be apprehended. Her Majesty's Government are not disposed to recognize, in the pending negotiation between the Cabinet of Washington and Nicaragua, any bar to the execution of the instructions given to Her Majesty's Envoy; and the attitude taken by the President, in reference to the unlawful projects of the freebooters in The United States, justifies us in believing that the peace of Central America will, for the present, remain undisturbed by piratical invasion. It has become essential to obtain from The United States' Government, without further delay, an expression of their resolution respecting overtures conveyed to them in my notes of the 30th of November last, and especially to that in which a formal proposal for arbitration was consigned. I have, consequently, addressed the accompanying official letter to General Cass, soliciting a reply to those communications; and I will endeavour by personal application to provide that, as far as is practicable, the answer shall be consonant with the wishes of Her Majesty's Government. I have, &c. The Earl of Clarendon. NAPIER. SIR, 15 (Inclosure.)-Lord Napier to General Cass. Washington, February 17, 1858. ON the 30th of November last, I had the honour to convey to you, under the instructions of Her Majesty's Government, a proposal to submit the controverted points in the Treaty of 1850, respecting Central American affairs, to the free arbitration of any European Power which the Government of The United States should prefer to select for that office. In a separate note, under the same date, I imparted to the Government of The United States an outline of the instructions under which Sir William Gore Ouseley has been charged to proceed, on a special mission, to the Central American Republics, with a view to the settlement, by direct negotiation with those States, of the questions which the correspondence of last year in London had failed to adjust. Something in the nature of an alternative was thus offered to the American Cabinet. Should the expedient of arbitration be adopted, a great portion of Sir William Ouseley's duty would be transferred to other agencies. Should arbitration be declined, it was hoped that the efforts of Her Majesty's Envoy would result in a settlement agreeable to The United States, inasmuch as in essential points it would carry the Treaty of 1850 into operation in a manner practically conformable to the American interpretation of that instruction. The note which I had the honour of addressing to you, in reference to the mission of Sir W. Ouseley, has received the official sanction of the Earl of Clarendon, and may therefore be regarded as an authoritative exposition of the intentions of Her Majesty's Government. In that communication, however, I indicated that two obstacles had arisen which might possibly modify the resolutions of Her Majesty's Government; first, the cotemporary negotiation of a Convention for the protection of the transit route between the Government of The United States and that of Nicaragua; and, secondly, the invasion of the Nicaraguan territory by a band of adventurers, who were engaged in an attempt to subvert the lawful Government recognized by Great Britain. The impediments, to which I alluded, do not now exist. In the Treaty contemplated between The United States and Nicaragua, Her Majesty's Government do not see any obstacle in the realization of their designs committed to the management of Sir William Ouseley, while the projects of Walker and his confederates have been arrested by the interposition of The United States' navy, and we may hope definitively extinguished by the reprobation expressed and the measures adopted by the President of The United States. Satisfied in respect to the relations between the Government of The United States and Nicaragua, and relieved of the apprehensions raised by the renewed disturbances of the peace of Central America, Her Majesty's Government are prepared, if necessary, to sanction the departure of Sir William Ouseley on his mission and the execution of his instructions in the most conciliatory spirit. Her Majesty's Government have, however, received no reply to their proposal for arbitration, a measure which they still regard as embodying the most unexceptionable method for the settlement of existing difficulties. In requesting to be informed of the definitive resolution of The United States' Government on this point, I am enabled to add that, if their determination should be an adverse one, Her Majesty's Government would give a friendly consideration to any observations which you may be disposed to offer on the objects of the mission entrusted to Sir William Ouseley. General Cass. I have, &c. NAPIER. No. 53.-Lord Napier to the Earl of Clarendon.—(Rec. March 10.) (Extract.) Washington, February 22, 1858. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of the 29th ultimo, in reply to my report of the 11th ultimo, referring to a conversation which had passed between General Cass and myself relative to the affairs of Central America. In that conversation I had assented to the delay of The United States' Government in transmitting a reply to the late overtures of Her Majesty's Government, and I held out the expectation of a further communication of the intentions of your Lordship with reference to the adjustment of the pending controversies. Your Lordship desires to know on what my communication to General Cass was founded; and you add, that the powers entrusted to Sir William Ouseley having been fully imparted to the American Cabinet on that matter, nothing remained behind for further communication. Your Lordship also points out that Her Majesty's Government were waiting for an answer to their proposal to refer the questions under dispute to the arbitration of a foreign Power. The motive of my language to General Cass is to be found in my despatch to your Lordship of the 13th of December. In that report, written shortly after the Presidential Message, I took the liberty of submitting to your Lordship's judgment the expediency of authorizing me to intimate to the Government of The United States that Sir William Ouseley would make the cession of the Bay Islands to Honduras his first object. I thought that, if this mission were to be instrumental in settling the questions at issue, the point on which most solicitude had been expressed should be first dealt with. At present Sir William Ouseley's instructions contemplate his proceeding, in the first instance, to Guatemala, and there negotiating a Boundary Treaty, which might engage his attention for some time. I looked forward, not to any essential alteration in the powers committed to Sir William Ouseley, but I thought they might be exerted more promptly, and might be more exactly defined, and that some communication to that effect might have been made to the Secretary of State, and would have had a useful influence in shaping the resolution and the reply of The United States' Cabinet. It certainly never occurred to me that this temporary suspension would, in the least, affect the obligation of The United States' Government to return an official answer to your Lordship's offer for arbitration. The conversation referred entirely, in my mind, to the settlement of the controversy by the instrumentality of Sir William Ouseley's mission, the method which I thought would be practically adopted. I must regret that I did not state this distinction to General Cass, and that I did not press him upon the former point; for though it may be presumed that the Government of The United States will not reconsider their decision with reference to arbitration, they are bound to give their reasons, in writing, for rejecting a proposal so natural and so just. Before receiving your Lordship's despatch, which I have before me, I had addressed an official note to General Cass asking for a reply to the overtures of Her Majesty's Government, copy of which was transmitted in my despatch of the 16th instant. To that communication I have, as yet, received no answer. The Earl of Clarendon. NAPIER. No. 54.-The Earl of Malmesbury to Lord Napier. MY LORD, Foreign Office, March 10, 1858. I HAVE to acquaint your Lordship, with reference to your des- . patch of the 22nd ultimo, that Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that until an answer is returned by the American Government to the proposal which, in obedience to the Earl of Clarendon's instructions, you have submitted to it for referring to arbitration the question respecting the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, on which the two Governments are at issue, no further step can be taken by Her Majesty's Government with that of The United States in regard to that matter. When this point is cleared up, Her Majesty's Government, supposing that the Government of The United States decline arbitration, will have to determine whether they should originate a proposal for the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, or adopt any other course which the circumstances at the moment may seem to recommend. I am, &c. Lord Napier. MALMESBURY. No. 55.-Lord Napier to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. March 30.) (Extract.) Washington, March 9, 1858. GENERAL CASS stated to me yesterday, for the information of your Lordship, that if some delay had occurred in returning an answer to our overtures for the adjustment of the pending controversies in Central America, it was not owing to any indifference on the subject, or to any want of respect to Her Majesty's Government. The matter has been unavoidably deferred since the receipt of my last note, in consequence of the pressure of other business which occupied the attention of the President. The Earl of Clarendon. NAPIER. No. 56.-Lord Napier to the Earl of Malmesbury.—(Rec. April 5.) THE Overtures made by Her Majesty's late Cabinet to the Government of The United States for the adjustment of pending controversies in Central America, are known to your Lordship from the correspondence between the Foreign Office and Her Majesty's Legation on this subject. Those proposals comprise an alternative submitted to the selection of the American Government. Her Majesty's Government have offered to refer all the controverted points in the Treaty of 1850, to the free arbitration of any European Power, or, if more agreeable to The United States, they design to adjust the matters under discussion by negotiation with the Isthmus Republics, to which, through the medium of Sir William Ouseley's mission, they are prepared to make such concessions as would carry the Treaty of 1850 into operation in the most important particulars, according to the construction placed upon that instrument by the Cabinet of Washington. These modes of settlement both involve the maintenance of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in its essential principle, viz., the neutrality of the Central American region, the exclusion of the Contracting Parties from territorial acquisition in a country which, from its configuration and position, possesses a common and momentous interest to the Maritime Powers. The conciliatory inclinations of Her Majesty's Government have, however, not stopped here. Prompted by an impression, derived from many sources, that the obligations of the ClaytonBulwer Treaty were repugnant to the people of The United States, and influenced no doubt by the declaration of the President in his late Message to Congress, in which he intimates a desire for the amicable dissolution of that Convention, the Earl of Clarendon authorized me to inform General Cass that Her Majesty's Government would not decline the consideration of a proposal for the |