RK F»LY TO THE ARGUMENT OF NICARAGUA QUESTION OF THE VALIDITY OR NULLITY OF T TREATY OF LIMITS OF APRIL 15, 1858. ^^ TO BE DECIDED BY The President of the United States of Americ AS ARBITRATOR. FILED ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMEXT OF COSTA RICA BY F>EDRO PKREZ ZELEIDON, ITS ENVOY i;XTR.\ORniN.\RV AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY IX THE LMTICD STATES. (TnASi-LATED INTO English by J. I. Rodriguez.) WASHINGTON' : Gibson Bbos., Primters and Bookbinders. 1887. ^ liJs^L/^^ R E FV ARGUMENT OF NICARAGUA QUESTION OF THE VALIDITY OR NULLITY OF THE TREATY OF LIMITS OF APRIL 15, 18^8, TO BE DECIDED BY The President of the United States of America. AS ARBITWATOR, FILED ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT OF COSTA RIGA r PEIDRO F»EREZ ZELEOON, ITS ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY IN THE UNITED STATES. ( Tkanslatei) into English by J. I. Kodriguez.) WASHINGTON : GiHSON Bkos.. Printei s and Bookbinders 1887. 67 Pf LIBRARY XJNTVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA v1 CONTENTS INTKODUCTION, :i PART FIRST. — Historical Antecedents. Chapter I. Limits of the ancient Province of Nicaragua, .... 9 Chapter II. Limits of Costa Rica, ......... 30 PART SECOND. — Elucidation of the Principal Point. Chapter I. Arguments of Nicaragua against the validity of the treaty of April 15, 1858, 39 Chapter II. The Treaty of Limits was made in strict jjursuance of the funda- mental law in force in Nicaragua at the time of its conclusion, 41 Chapter III. Demarcation of the territory' of Nicaragua according to her first Constitution, promulgated April 8, 1826. — Nicoya, . . .48 Chapter IV. Demarcation of the territory of Nicaragua according to her first Constitution. — Southern bank of the San Juan river, . . 5fi Chapter V. The Convention of Limits of 1858 is an international treaty like any other, and not an unfinished amendment to the Nicaraguan Constitution, .......... 59 Chapter VI. Even granting that the treaty of 18.")8 involved a cession of terri- tory, this cession could be made by only one Legislature, ac- cording to the Constitution of 1838, . . . . .62 Chapter VII. Whether the treaty of 1858 was exchanged before it was ratified, 64 Chapter VIII. Whether the treaty of 1858 was rather imposed upon Nicaragua than accepted by her. ........ 68 Chapter IX. Whether the Treaty of Limits is null for want of ratification by the Government of Salvador, . . . . . .71 76 IV Chapter X. NVhether Nicaragua can repudiate the Treatj- of Limits for being pernicious, ......... Chapter XI. Constant recognition by Nicaragua, until 1872, of the validity of the Treaty of Limits. 79 Chapter XII. Importance of the documents referred to in this chapter for de- stroying the effect of the persistence with which Nicarngua has maintained, ever since 1872, the non-validity of the Treaty of Limits, ......... .83 CONCLUSION, 89 DOCU:HENTS. No. 1. Royal Ordinance of February 10, 1576, for the reduction of the Province of Tausgalpa, situated to the north of the San Juan river, ............ 101 No. 2. The President of the Koyal Audieucia of Guatemala transmits to the Governor and to the Most Noble Corporation of the City of Cartago a resolution bj' which the election of members of the Spanish Cortes for Costa Rica and Nicoya was ordered to be made at that city. — It appears, from this Document, that the District of Nicoya had actually been annexed to Costa Rica ever since May, 1813. about eight years before the independence from the mother country, 103 No. 3. Tkfc first Constituent Congress of Costa Rica directs that the Dis- tricts of Nicoya and Santa Cruz should be considered as tempo- rarily annexed to the State, and protected as such, . . 105 No. 4. Measures taken by the Constitutional Assembly of Costa Rica to carry into e^ecution the Federal Decree which annexed the Dis- trict of Nicoya to her own territory, ..... 106 No. 5. Extracts from tlie Constitution of the State of Nicaragua of April 8, 1H26, showing that at that time the District of Guanacaste or Nicoya was not an integral part of the State, but had been, by its own will, and with the sanction of the Federal Power, an- nexed to th(^ biirdcriiig State of Costa llica, .... 107 No. C. Scbi-dulf sliowing tin- way in which the districts of the State of Costtt Rica should elect their deputies, ..... 110 No. 7. The District of Nicoya culled to take part in the election of the Supreme Federal authorities, by order of the Congress of Costa Rica, and as an integral part of the latter State, . . .111 No. 8. Nicoya is granted the right to take part in the election of the Su- preme authorities of the State of Costa Rica according to the Constitution thereof, 113 No. 9. The Nicaraguau territory ends at the La Flor river, . . . 115 No. 10. The Constitutional Assembly of Costa Rica enacts several meas- ures for the cultivation of certain lands belonging to the State, situated on the right bank of the San Juan del Norte river, . 116 No. 11. The village of Guaiiacaste is raised by the Government of Costa Rica to the category of a town, ...... 119 No. 12. The town of Santa Cruz (iu the District of Nicoya) has a Repre- sentative in the Assembly of the State of Costa Rica, . . 120 No. 13. Instructions given to the Special Commissioner of the Govern- ment of Costa Rica to visit the Districts of Nicoya and Bagaces, 121 No. 14. Classification of the towns of Costa Rica in reference to home government and Treasury matters, ...... 124 No. 15. Guanacaste is declared to be one of the five judicial districts of Costa Rica, 126 No. 10. The faithfulness of the District of Nicoya, and its services subse- quent to its incorporation to Costa Rica, are recognized and rewarded, ........... 127 No. 17. The rank and title of City is given to the town of Guanacaste in recognition of the servi('es rendered by it to the State by resist- ing the invasion of Manuel Quijano, 129 No. 18. Schedule for the election of deputies to the Constituent Assembly of the State, at the rate of one deputy for each 5.000 souls, and fractious of that unit to the number of 3.000. — The letter A. means the jjlace where the parochial electors must meet, and the letter B. shows the place where the district electors must meet 131 Tl No. 19. The Constituent Assembly of Nicaragua of 1838 gives power to the Executive to enter into a treaty with the Envoy of Costa Kica, .... - 132 No. 20. Law enacted by the Constituent Assembly of Nicaragua on De- cember 21. 1838. to carry into efifect Article II of the Constitu- tion of the same year, ........ 133 No. 21. Provisions of the Decree of Bases and Guarantees of March 8, 1841. in regard to Costa Rican Territory 135 No. 22. The Constituent Assembly of Costa Rica of 18-12 declared that the Province of Guanacaste is an iutegral part of the national territory, and that it is incumbent upon the honor of the na- tion to repel the aggression attempted by Nicaragua, . .137 No. 23. Revenue posts are established on the Sarapiqui and La Flor rivers, 130 No. 24. The Congress of Costa Rica ai^proves the Executive Decree which establishes military revenue posts on the Sarapiqui river and the western frontier of Nicaragua, ...... 141 No. 25. The road which leads to the La Flor river, the frontier of the States of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, is ordered to be repaired, 142 No. 20. Bases for the formation of a Company, named the Sarapiqui Com- pany, for the opening of a road from San Jose to the Sarapiqui river, and for thi' navigation of the said river, in order that the exportations of Costa Rica may be made through the Shu Juan river. ... ......... 144 No. 27. Costa Rica prohibits the navigation of the San Cdrlos river, an afllucut of the San Juan, ami prt^scribcs penalties for the trans- gressors, ........... 147 No. 28. Costa Rica grants to the firm of Kirkland A: Goering the jirivilege of steam navigation on the Siipo.-i river, and of establishing a route of transit from the BolaHos Bay to the Lake of Nicara- gua ; the grantees being authorized to use the waters of the r..ake and of tiic San Juan and ('olorado rivers, in so far as they bclouf.' to Costii I{i(ii. 148 Til No. 29. The Government of Costa Rica accei^ts the apology made by the Government of Nicaragua for having trespassed with its forces upon the dividing line between the two States, that is, the La Flor river, boundary of the Costa Rican Province of Guana- caste, 1.50 No. 30. Congratulation of the peoijle of Leon to the Costa Rican Army upon the seizure of the steamers and its control of the river and Lake, 153 No. 31. Seizure of the steamers of the San Juan river and the Lake of Nicaragua.— Official news from the Army. — Another triumph. — Go ahead I — The war nearly at an end, ... . 154 No. 32. Proclamation of the President of Costa Rica upon the seizure of the steamers and the control of the San Juan river and the Lake of Nicaragua, ......... 156 No. 33. Opinion of the Government of Guatemala in regard to the action of Costa Rica during the war against Walker, and especially in the affair of the seizure of the steamers, ..... 158 No. 34. What happened in Nicaragua after the seizure of the steamers by the Costa Rican forces . . 159 No. 35. What, in 1857, was thought in Nicaragua in regard to the blow inflicted by Costa Rica upon Walker on the San Juan river and the Lake of Nicaragua, 161 No. 36. The public opinion of Nicaragua in regard to Costa Rica in 1857, 163 No. 37. Gratuitous grant of lands along the course of the Sarapiqui river down to its confluence with the San Juan river, for agricultural purposes. ........... 164 No. 38. Provisions of the Niearaguan Constitution of August 19, 1858, in regard to limits and the division of the National territory, . 167 No. 39. Schedule of the Judicial Division of the territory of the Republic of Nicaragua, 170 •vui No. 40. A road is ordered to be opened from the Capital to the Sarapiqui river. ............ 173 No. 41. Concessions made by Costa Kica for steam uavigation upon the Sarapiqui and San C.irlos rivers, and for carrying the mail from the wharf on the Sarapiqui river to San Juan del Norte and pice tersa, ............ 174 No. 42. Costa Kica is recognized as a party to the canal grant made to Mr. Belly 175 No. 43. A tax for the benefit of the public instruction of the Province of Guanacaste is levied upon the exportation of wood shipped on the Pacific coast between Cape Blanco and the Gulf of Salinas, 17(5 No. 44. New rules enacted in regard to timber within the zone of the Sara- piqui and other rivers of the Republic on the .\tlantic side, . 178 No. 45. Costa Rica approves the contract of interoceanic canal entered into with Mr. Felix Belly, of Paris 181 No. 40. Territorial Division of the Republic of Costa Rica for Electoral purposes, after the treaty of limits of April 15, 1858, . . 182 No. 47. The Custom authorities of Costa Rica exercising jurisdiction on the frontier established by the treaty of 1858, .... 183 No. 48. Concessions made bj' Costa Rica for Steam Navigation on the Sarajiiqui, San Cdrlos, and other rivers tributaries of the San Juau river, and the Lake of Nicaragua, and for the building of a road from the interior of Costa Rica to the Sarapiqui river. or to any other river affluent to the San Juan, ... 185 No. 49. Municipal territorial division of Costa Rica subseciueut to the treaty of limits of lH.58, 187 No. 50. Grant miidt- in favor of ])tni Jost? .\utonio Chamorro for the build- ing of a road t(» tlie ImiikH of the San Juau river. . IHH No. 51. Measures taken in regard to the (Juatuso [ndians, occupying the plains of the Haiiio name in the Rio Trio river in the territorial iurisdiction of the Province of Alajuola, south of the Lake of Nicaragua and the Sun Juan river, IHi) IX No. 52. Dr. Don Eiiamiuoudas Uribe, Commissioner of the Government of Costa Kica, visits the San Juan and San Carlos rivers, and suggests some measures for the foundation of two Costa Rican towns — one at Punta de Castilla and another at the confluence of the San Carlos and the Peflas Blancas rivers, . . . 192 No. 53. The official organ of Nicaragua publishes the estimate of the work to be done on the river and port of San Juan according to sur- veys made by a mixed commission agreed upon between the Governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, .... 197 No. 54. Editorial of the " Gaceta Oficial " of Nicaragua on the reception in Costa Rica of the Nicaraguan Minister, Don Mariano Mon- tealegre. — Costa Rica is recognized as bordering upon the San Juan river, as joint possessor of the navigation of the same, and as much interested as Nicaragua in the Interoceanic Canal en- terprise, 198 No. 55. The exportation through San Juan de Nicaragua of the natural products of the public lands of Costa Rica, such as timber, sar- saparilla, rubber, balsams, resin, &c., is prohibited, in order to prevent the natural wealth of the northern section of the Re- public from being destroyed, ....... 201 No. 56. The territorial jurisdiction of the " Comarca " (district) of Limon is created. — The limits given to it are from Punta de Castilla, frontier of Nicaragua, to the United States of Colombia, . . 203 No. 57. Origin of the Martinez-Jerez Duumvirate. (From Memorias para la historia de la camjiana nacional contra el filibusterismo — 1856 y '57 por Jer6nimo Perez). Masaya. 1873, . . .205 Chronological epitome of historical facts connected with THE territorial DEMARCATION OF CoSTA KiCA AND / Nicaragua, 206 INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. Two are the questions submitted to the arbitration of the President of the United States of America under the treaty of Guatemala of December 24, 1886. One, which is the princi- pal, refers to the treaty of limits between Costa E-ica and Nic- aragua, which was concluded on April 15, 1858, and to its validity or nullity. The other, which is supplementary, or secondary, refers to the interpretation to be given to certain points in the said treaty alleged to be doubtful. It was stipulated in the treaty of arbitration that both ques- tions should be simultaneously discussed and decided, upon such proceedings, and within such periods of time, as follows : 1st. Within ninet}'' days, subsequent to the acceptance of the Arbitrator, the arguments and documents of the two parties should be filed. 2d. Within eight days^ subsequent to the above, the argu- ments and documents of each party should l)e communicated to the other, 3d. Within thirty days, subsequent to the above, the reply of each party to the argument and documents of the other, should be submitted. 4th. Within a period of six months, and by onl}'^ one and the same award, all the questions should be decided. In spite of this, which under the provisions of the treaty of Guatemala is plain, the Ilepul)!ic of Nicaragua has reserved for some future time her argument upon the second supple- mentary question, and comes and says that she holds herself in readiness to submit that argument, when the principal ques- tion is decided, or when the Arbitrator declares that the oppor- tunity to do so has arrived, by signifying his intention of en- tering upon the interpretation of doubtful points. The defense of !N^icaraoi:ua ought to have understood, from the unity of proceedings wliich, under the express provisions of the treaty of Guatemala, characterizes the present arbitra- tion, that the periods of time granted to both parties for the tiling and answering the arguments on the two questions were not double, but simple ; and that the two questions should be discussed together and decided at the same time l»y one and the same award. The text of the treaty of arbitration is so extreme!}' plain in this respect that the division attempted by Nicaragua can- not be satisfactorily explained. But, whether explained or not, the fact is that it cannot be allowed, because Nicaragua Mnxild then enjoy, in the present discussion, an undue advantage over Costa Rica, by being permitted to make her argument and exhibit her documents, at such time before tlie detiision as might be suitable to lier purposes, while Costa Rica would be deprived of the right of reading and refuting, at the time provided for by the treaty, the arguments and proofs of her opponent. The treaty of arl)itration plainly states that the tirst period of the del)ate, and no other, is the one wherein the briefs and evidence of either party should l)e tiled. Neither of them can pretend to enjoy other and different opportunities, in regard to time, or otherwise, as are granted l)y the treaty. The Government of Costa Rica has never enicrtaincd any doubt as to the constru<-tion to be [)la('f <1 upon the treaty of limits, the language of which seems to I. and to everybody else not prejudiced, to be perfectly phiin. And yet, acting with that sincerity which becomes a controversy of this kind, it has not hesitated \<< frankly expi-ess its own o|>iiii(in upon all the rpu'stions whi(;li tlie Government of Nicaragua propounded. l>ut the Nicaraguan (Tovernment, after pi-esenting the strange lislied solidly without a previous and thorough knowl- edge of tlic ancient limits, would be to answer in advance a question wliich has not been submitted, nor presented or de- bated. It would be to prejudge tiie question without sutti- cient knowledge of the subject. It would be to involve, at the risk of nullity, things which the parties to the arbitra- tion themselves distinctly separated in the treaty signed by them at Guatemala. The Government of Costa Rica entertains the firm confi- dence that neitlier the tendency shown by the argument of Nicaragua to involve and confuse those questions will find any encouragement in tlie i-ighteous and enlightened mind t)f the Arbitrator, nor that Costa llica will be refused full defense of her rights, and absolute and strict equality with Nicaragua. PART FIRST." PART FIRST. HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS. Chaptek I. LIMITS OF THE ANCIENT PROVINCE OF NICAEAGUA. The present chapter, as well as the one following, in hoth of which the frontiers of Costa Rica and Nicaragna, prior to the treaty of April 15, 1858, are defined, might, without any impropriety, he eliminated from the present reply, hecanse, as it has l)een said in the introduction, such is not the suhject of this controversy. But wishing, on the one hand, not to leave any portion of the argument of Nicaragua unanswered, and thinking, on the other hand, that it is in tlie interest of Costa Rica to show that the treaty of 1858, far from enlarging her territorial rights, actually abridged them, it has been deemed necessary to devote a portion of this paper, as was done in the former one, to some historical considerations, which, although relatmg to matters not the subject of the arbitration, are, nev- ertheless, conducive, as it cannot be doubted, to the illustration of the question at issue. The defense of Nicaragua has confused two questions which the treaty of arbitration distinguished with particular clear- ness, and the interrogatory, " which were the ancient limits of the Province of Nicaragua ? " constitutes a cardinal basis of her argument. In answer to that interrogatory she has confiiied herself to simple assertions, supported only by incom- plete and extremely compendious quotations fi-om several Royal Ordinances and from different writers; l)ut no document em- anating from the sovereign has been filed which shows what the limits were during the Spanish rule. 10 It is asserted by the defense of Nicaragua that the Desa- guadero or San Jnun river belonged ab initio to that Eepnblic : but this assertion is not correct, either legally or historically. Before refuting it, I must, however, be allowed to call attention to the change of basis which is noticed in that defense. When Senores Don Tomas Ayon and Don Anselrao H. Rivas, Ex-Secretaries of Foreign Relations of Nicaragua, spoke for that Republic and defended her, the Desaguadero and the San Juan river were not oni' and the same thing; and the San Juan river had no more than one mouth ; and the Desaguadero was situated in the Matina valley far south of the Colorado river. ^ Now that the defense of Nicaragua is entrusted to other hands, the Desaguadero is the same as the San Juan river ; it has not one but three mouths ; and the frontier of Costa Rica is not to be found in the Matina valley, l)ut on tlie right bank of the moutli of the Colorado river.- Such variety and indecision in regard to such a capital point plainly reveal that Costa Rica has alwa^'s had reason on her side ; and tliat Nicaragua, ranch against her will, sees herself com- pelled now to acknowledge it, at least, by plainly confessing that their Secretaries of State who shouldered the burden and re- sponsil)ility of e.\pt)unding and defending her rights, commit- ted an ei'ivtr. The truth is that the Desaguadero is the same as the San Juan i-iver, and that, although the waters of this stream have several outlets into the Atlantic, the historical and commer- cial mouth pai' excellence^ the one recognized by the discover- ers of the river, fortified during the colonial regime, the thoroughfare of trallic; in the last years of that period, the vehicle of (Central American conunerce from the Independence up to some years sul»se(pient to the treaty of 1858, when the pf)rt of San Juan became deteriorated, was always the mouth ' Suo paj^cs 40 ftnd 41, ArRUinenl of Costa Rica. '■■Argutufnt of Nicurugua. 11 of the northei'u branch of the river, the one properly named San Jnan or Desagnadero, denominations which were never given either to the Tani-e or the Colorado rivers, known, both of them, in tliis ccntnry, as they were in the two preceding, by their own special names. The San Juan rii'er helonged ab initio to Yeragua and not to Nicaragua, hut afterwards it was common to loth Prov- inces. Had tlie King of Spain wished that Costa Rica should en- joy the San Jnan I'iver, he would have forbidden her to navi- gate it in the navigable portion thereof, would have eliminated it from her jui-isdi(;tion, and would have adjudicated it to Nic- aragua to the exclusion of Costa Kica. But he did exactly the contrary, and the title in wliich Charles Y mentioned the De- sagnadero as being within the limits of Cartago, or Costa Kica, is precisely tlie one in wliicli, for the first time, Nicaragua was given a right in the upper part of that sti-eam. So it is, that closely following the language of the laws, or Royal Ordi- nances, of Emperor Chai'les V, and placing upon them the right construction, the territory of the lower part of the San Juan i-iver belonged to Costa Rica, and tlie navigation of it and of the Lake was common to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. That community existed in law and in fact under the Govern- ment of the Federal Republic of Central America, and subse- quent to it, also, when Nicaragua and Costa Rica organized themselves as independent Republics. It lasted until April 15, 1858, in which Costa Rica deemed it advisable to renounce a portion of her rights in favor of Nicaragua. In proof of these assertions Costa Rica exhibits the statutes which fixed her territorial demarcation, and are clear and pre- cise and emanate from the sovereign power. She also cites authorities of other kinds, as geographers and historians, but only when they corroborate or illustrate tiic legal provisions, not when they are in opposition to them, or contradict them without foundation, or err to the extreme of assertino- one thins in one page and denj'ing it in another. Costa Rica rejects the 12 authority of the celebrated historian Antonio de Ilerrera, when that writer is found in palpable and nnjustitial>le contradiction with a Royal Ordinance. With much more reason she refuses to grive credit to the assertions of Senor Don Tomas Avon when they are not duly backed by authentic documents of as high authority as is required, for Senor Ayon's citations are incomplete, and his historical work abounds in material errors and inexplicable oversights. Costa Rica pays respect to the law, to the law alone, and exhibits the text thereof, which is her title; while Nicaragua exhibits no title, and confines herself in her argument to cite such fragments from the titles of Costa Rica as she deems favorable to her pretension. No one knows, therefore, what are the titles which Nicaragua has invoked for more than half a century ; and we are forced to fill, to a certain extent, the void which she has left in her argument. Gil Gimzalez Davila discovered Nicaragua and made his first exploration between January, 1522, and May, 1523. lie started from Panam;i on January 15, 1522, and returned in June, 1523. But as soon as Pedrarias Davila knew of his dis- covery he wanted to appropriate to himself the fruits thereof, and began to persecute Gil Gonzalez, who succeeded, however, in plairing himself in safety i>y sailing to San Domingo. Pedrarias commissioned Francisco Hernandez de Cc^rdoba, the (Ja])tain of his Guard, f(.>r the concpiest of the country discovered by Gil Gonzalez to ike loest of Paihaiiii nji the Southern Se truth is simple. Twenty years be- fore the discovery of Nicaragua those coasts were known by the name of Veragua, from Cape Camaron to the Gulf of Darien or Uraba. When, in 1509, the Catholic King gave the'Government of Veragua to Diego de Nicuesa, the limits assigned to that com- mand were from Cape Gracias ;i Dios to the Gulf of Ural)a, com- prising all the present coasts of Nittaragua, Costa Rica, and Pan- am;'i. The Mosquito coast was, therefore, a part of Veragua; and the San .luan river or Desaguadero ran unknown through the middle of that Province of Verairna.-' 'In his history of the Jesuits in New (Jranathi (Ili'sloria dr los JcituitaH ett, Suent (tritiiii(lii), chiip. I, the C<>loiiil)ian vvrilcr, Don Jose Jonqiiin IJonla, says that Coiumhiis (liscovorcil New (Jianaila wIkmi lie saw Cape Gracias a Dios at a tlistanee. Sifior Ayiui is liislorically wronir in saying lliat ('nlvun- bus (liseovered Ni(;araj^ua, altiion^'li (;ai)e (Jracias a Dios is now a part of that Ilopiihlic. ^ Navahkktk. Colircimi ■!<• Iok \iiijrs, dr,. TollUKH DK MkNDOZA. VIiC all pnt . 15 On Dec. 24, 1534, seven years after Nicaragua was raised to tlie rank of a Governorship and Captaincy-General, Em- peror Charles V appointed Felipe Gutierrez to be Governor of Veragiia, and the limits of his teri'itorial jurisdiction were from Cape Gracias a Dios to the boundary of Castilla del Oro. In 1534 the Desaguadero was known to exist ; but neither it, nor the territory through which it flowed, were reserved for Nic- aragua, that river continuing, therefore, to run entirely in the Province of Veragua. In 1539 Captains Calero and Machuca explored its course and passed out through it to the Northern Sea ; and, although the}'^ fitted out their expedition at Granada under the auspices of Rodrigo de Contreras, they did not think to have discovered any unexplored part of the Government of Nicaragua, but an entirely new province, the Governorship of which they proposed to ask for Machuca. But before thej' had an opportunity to ad- dress the King, Doctor Robles, a justice of the recently estab- lished Audiencia of Panama, under whose jurisdiction Nicara- gua fell, gave commission to his son-in-law, Hernan Sanchez de Badajoz, to conquer Costa Rica, //'o;/i the lindts of the Duke- dom of Yerayua uj) to Honduras, thus including El Desagua- dero, in the Province of Costa Rica. The Audiencia directed the Governor of Nicaragua to abstain from interfering in any manner with the said Province of Costa Rica, which was un- der another name, the same Government of Yeragua^ vacant by the failure of the expedition of Felipe Gutierrez and his flight into Peru. The Governor of Nicaragua, feigning to be ignorant that the coast of the Caribbean Sea did not fall under his jurisdiction, paid no attention to the injunction of the Audiencia of Panama, and, fitting out an expedition under his own command against Washington Irving. Companions of Columbus. Sir Arthur Helps. The Spanish Conquest of America, vol. I, page 398 (with a map). Justin Winsor. A Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. H (with maps), ifcc, Ac. Boston. 188(5. 'Peralta. Costa Mica, Nicaragua, &c., pp. 89, 725, 747. 16 Hernan Sanchez de Badajoz, descended the Desagnadero and landed at Tariaca, now Talainanca (Costa Rica), where he arrested Badajoz and sent him as a prisoner to Spain, In the eyes of the King, both Badajoz and Governor Con- treras were guilty of usurpation, because neitlier of tliein had a direct connnission from His Majesty to interfere with tlie gov- ernment of Yeragua, the appointment of whose superior au- thority depended exclusively upon the Crown, " because this is a matter which has to be treated only with our Royal Per- son and in our Council for the Indies.""' The King disapproved the appointnient of Badajoz, made by the Audiencia of Panama, and, by articles of agreement with Diego Gutierrez, of November 29, 1540, entrusted to the lat- ter the government of Veragua on the same terms as it had been done with his brother and predecessor, Felipe Gutierrez. Veragua was given new limits, and named Cartago. Those limits were fi-om Rio Grande (River Aguan) and Cape Caniaron to the Zaral)aro Bay, comprising the Mosquito coast and the interior land, including the Desaguadcro, to within fifteen leagues of the Lake of Nicaragua. The King, by ordinance dated at Talavera on January 11, 1541, directed the Governor of Nicaragua, and all other au- thorities of the Indies, " not to meddle or intrude in the lim- its of the Government of Cartago ;''- but Rodrigo de Contre- ras did not give up, and l)rought suit against Diego Gutierrez before the Council of the Indies, asking for liimself alone the territory of El Desaguadero. The Council decreed, in the last resort, what has been said, that is, that Gutierrez, by virtue of tlie agreement entered into with liim, had tlic I'ight truarj 22, 1549, obtained Royal letters investing liim with the same riglit that Gutierrez had. Cabrera could not, however, owing to the opposition of the Audiencia of Los Confines, accomplish the conquest of Car- tago ; and in 1552 he obtained, in compensation thereof, the Government of Honduras. During the time intervening between the death of Gutierrez and the expedition of Licentiate Cavallon to Costa Rica, in 1560, grave events took place in the other provinces of the Audiencia of Los Confines. The tyranny of Rodrigo de Contreras was repressed in part by the Audiencia. He was put on trial and compelled to go to the 'Royal Letter of the Prince Governor (Philip II) to Diego Gutierrez. Peralta. Costa Rica, Nicaragua, &c., page 185. Benzoni: History of the New World, Hakluyt Society, London, page 140. 2 18 Court to answer the grave charges preferred against him. The King heard the petitions of the Audiencia and Bishop Valdi- vieso, and the earnest request of Las Casas, and snatt-hed the Province of Nicoya from the rapacity of the successors of Pe- drarias Davila, who had kept it as a personal " encomienda." Nicoya was made a Corregidorship (Corregimiento), to he pro- vided for by the royal crown ; and the Audiencia of Los Confines, or Guatemala, appointed the Corregidor thereof only temporarily until the King should act. The reforms introduced by the Audiencia met with such a bad reception on the part of the Contreras. and so great was the anger caused on them by the loss of such a profitable " enco- mienda " as that of Nicoya, that they raised up in ai-ms against the authority of the King. Hernando de Contreras, the son of the Governor of Nicaragua, killed, with his own hands. Bishop Yaldivieso ; and his partisans, after this crime was ac- complished, cried aloud in the streets, lAherty ! hng live Prince ContreraK ! The Contreras, iiowever, expiated their folly witli their lives. The Governorship and Captaincy-General of Nicaragua was abolished, and Nicaragua became reduced to the rank of an "Alcaldia ^fayor,'' whose head was sometimes appointed by the crown but oftcner by the Audiencia of Guatemala. The creation of Nicoya as a " Corregimiento " was contemporary with the aliove said reduction of Nicai-agua. Nicaragua had to suffer again by a new i-evolt in 1554, niid for eight years she bore tlie burden of ten "Alcaldes Mayores." In the meantime the Province of Cartago remained without a -Governor ; and the King, u]>on information of this fact, issued at Toledo the ordinances of December Ki, 1559, and February 215, 15G0, autliori/ing and instructing Licentiate Alonso Ortiz de Elgueta to concjucr atid peojile New Cartago, or Cobta Kica, situated witliiii the limits murkcd in the com- rnihsion of hicgo (iuticnc/ l)et\veen iloiiduras and Nicaragiia, roiiipri-iiig tlic Desaguadcro and the whole l;md from sea to 19 sea, as far as tlie jurisdiction of Tierra Firme on the side of Notnl)re de Dios and Panama. The King revoked the antliority given Ortiz on Februarys, 15fil, before the latter left Spain, and directed the Audiencia of Guatemala to entrust the conquest of Cartago to Licentiate Cavallon, with the same powers as had been given to Ortiz. To facilitate his action Licentiate Cavallon had to l)e appointed Alcalde Major of Nicaragua. (Argument of Costa Rica, page 33). Juan Vazquez de Coronado succeeded Licentiate Cavallon as Alcalde Mayor of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. He made a general exploration of the country east of the Gulf of Nicoya and sent Captain Francisco de Marmolejo to tiie southern shores of the Lake of Ni(;aragua and of the Desaguadero, in- habited by the Catapas, Tices, and Votos Indians, shores whicji Vazquez included in the Province of Costa Rica, although he was the Alcalde Mayor of Nicaragua. The successors of Vazquez de Coronado, down to Diego de Artieda, exercised jui'isdiction over the same territorj', according to the Royal Ordinances and letters-patent of November 29, 1540, May 6, 15-41, February 22, 154-9, December 13, 1559, January 30, February 23, and July 18, 1560, February 5 and May 17, 1561, April 2, 1562, April 8 and August 7, 1565. i These oi-dinances, enacted by the King of Spain upon con- sultation with the Council of the Indies, were tiie supreme law of the Monarchy in America ; they all refer to one and the same territory ; tliey all include the Desaguadero, as well as the bordering land, within the jurisdiction of Costa Rica, sul)ject, however, to the limitations established b}^ the artic-les of agree- ment of November 29, 1540, and the sentence of the Council of the Indies of May 6, 1541, and they are the earliest authentic titles 'Peralta. Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Panama, dr., pp. 101, 113, 157, 175, 179, 181, 182, 194, 204, 378, 387. Leon Fernandez. Coleccioii de Doeuvientos, &c., vol. iv, pp. 143 aud 164. ToRKES DE Mendoza. Coleccion de Docximentos Iniditos, vols, xi, xiv, and xxiii. 20 which the aucient Provinces of Costa Rica and Nicaragua can invoke in support of their respective territorial rights in the region (if El Desaguadero. A perfect knowledge of these titles is indispensable to in- terpret correctly the articles of agreement signed at El Pardo on December 1, 1573, by King Philip II and Diego de Ar- tieda, an instrument which might be called the territorial con- stitution of the Province of Costa Rica. (Argument of Costa Rica, p. 32). There the limits of Costa Rica are marked, in the follow- ing laniruage : " The Province of Costa Rica and the other lands and provinces included therein, that is to say, from the North Sea as far as the South Sea in latitude, and in longitude from the confines of Nicaragua towards Nicoy a, straight through the val- leys of Chiriqni, as far as the Province of Veragua, on the south ; and on tlie north, from the mouths of the Desaguadero, towards Nicaragua, the whole territory down to tlie Province of Veragua."* This demarcation reduced the jurisdiction of Costa Rica- Cliarles Y had extended it as far as the 10th degree of north latitude, and Philip II reduced it to the 11th degree. Under the former its northern extremity was Cape Camaron ; under the latter it was Punta de Castilla, as it is now. It is evident that, in mentioning the mouths of the Desagua- ilero^ the instrument does not simply allude to the place wiiere tlic waters of tiic San Juan river enn)ty into the sea, from where the (!oast shoidd be followed in an imaginary line as far as Veragua. This would simply be to describe the length of the Atlantic littoral of ('osta Rica. But the articles of agree- ment also speak of extent from the Northern to the Southern Sea, and refer to all the land that is included between the nudiths of the Desaguadero and the Soutlici-n Sea. To go ir tho.-c mouths tow;irds the interior and liiid the Southern Sea, it is nccessai-y to ast-cnd the San .luan river until Hnding .some place " (ilre.ddy tuki it " by the Province of Nicaragua, •A> Article 5 of the iu-tninienl literalh read^. 21 It is known that the Nicara^iian limit, on the east of tlie Lake, was within tifteen leagues of the latter, and did not comprise the Mosquito coast or the mouths of the Desaguadero ; and no one has ever said, as the argument of Nicaragua pretends, that under tlie Artieda title, the Desaguadero is entirely within the limits of Nicaragua. Costa Rica maintains precisely the con- trar3\ Nor has any one said, except Nicaragua, that El De- saguadero belongs to Nicaragua in the lohole of its course, a proposition which is in flagrant contradiction of the literal lan- guage of the Royal Ordinances cited in the former argument of Costa Rica, and in the present reply, which cannot admit of the peculiar construction placed upon them by the argument of Nicaragua, unless by doing the greatest violence to gram- mar. The Spanish expression, " a las partes de Nicaragua," does not mean " within the jurisdiction of Nicaragua,"' but " in the vicinity of Nicaragua," or " towards Nicaragua," or " on the side of Nicaragua." A las partes, hdcia, del lado, of those Provinces, is not in Spanish to be in them, or within them, or within their territory. " The mouths of the outlet, or Desaguadero, which is to- wards Nicaragua," does not mean that the Desaguadero is in. Nicaragua, or icithin Nicaragua, but merely near, or on the side of, or in the direction of, or tovmrds Nicaragua.^ This has been properly translated into English, in the argu- ment of Costa Rica, '"'■ toioards Nicaragna^'' or as the Depart- ment of State did in Executive Document of the Senate, No. 50, 49th Congress, 2d session, " near Nicai^aguaP And it may be translated also to Nicaragua, or in the direction of Nic- ' In reference to this point which, on the other hand is perfectly plain, see Syntactic Dictionary of the Spanish language {Dicciouario de Construc- cion y Regimen de la Lengua Castellana), by R. J. Cuervo, in verbo "A," § 12, letter "A." " Ensename, Aurelio, a que parte le dejaste." Cervantes. Galatea (Show me, Aurelius, xohere you left him). "^ todas paries ve un ancho calabozo. Jovellanos. (He sees everywhere a broad calabose)." " Tus abuelos d esta parte habitaban. Reinoso (Your grandparents lived on this side). 22 aragua ; but never /", or inside, or icithin Nicaragua, mean- ing inclusion in her territory. That such an idea of inclusion is untenable is shown in two ways : First, because the boundary, or terminal line, of Nicaragua to- wards the east, never reached, before 1573, the mouths of El De- saguadero ; and Artieda had authority under his title to tal'e posses^iioi in t/te name of the King of whatever was not al- ready taken hetween said mouths and the frontiers of Nicoya and the Southern Sea. Second, because the same text of the Royal Grant in favor of Artieda, wherein the Spanish adverbial phrase a la parte occurs — once in singular with reference to the frontier between Nicaragua and Nicoya, and onco in plural with reference to the location of El Desaguadero — sliows that the construction placed upon it by Nicaragua, in the sense of inclusion, is ab- surd, bectause the boundary between Ni(;aragua and Nicoya could not be inside of or within Nicaragua. The most that can be said is, that it was near her, or on her side ; and in the same way, where it is said that El Desaguadero is a, las partes de Nicaragua, that means only towards or in the direction of Nicaragua, but not icithi/i her territory. Tlie frontier of Nicoya, as recognized l)y the argnnient of Nicaragua, was the Del Salto rivor ; and not the mouth, or a single point thereof, but the stream itself, which separated Nicoya from the territory of the Chomes Indians. Tlie Artieda agreement does not mention the Del Salto river; but, while it is true that this i-iver was one of the boundaries of the tcn'itoi'v of the new J*rovince, still there is no reason for saying that the Lake shore and the baidrders on the Province of Nicoya, where we have always a Corregidor. * * * J^^'oi- tlie purpose of i)eopIing Nicoya and her neighboring c<»untry we liave already instructed Licentiate Ortiz, our Alcalde Mayor 25 of the Province of Nicaragua, and given him tlie proper au- thority." It is evident that, if Nicoya should have been witliin tlie jurisdiction of the Alcalde Mayor of Ni(;ai-agua, no such special authoi'ity, as the one given Licentiate Ortiz, would have been required to govern it. When Licentiate Cavallon came to re- place Ortiz, the former had not under his charge the Cor- resiniiento of Nicoya which tlie x\udieiicia of Los Confines entrusted U> Juan Rt)mo. Vazquez de Coronado, the successor of Cavallon, in addressing the Corregidor of Nicoya, does not speak to him as to a sul)ordinate, but as to an equal. ^ The argument of Nicaragua states affirmatively that Seuor l^ralta has virtually admitted that Nicoya l)elunged to Nica- ragua, because, in a note made by him in the text of the Artieda agreement, lie says: "The Province of Nicoya was finally aggregated to Costa Eica in the year 1825.'^ But this phrase only means that the aggregation then made, had taken place other times before, and was then made for the last time. And so it is that Seiior Peralta, in another note made by him in the agreement with Don Fernando de la Cueva (Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Panama, p. 14:8), uses the following words : " Let it be noticed tliat by this agreement, as by the one with Diego de Artieda, Nicoya was subject to the Governors of Costa Rica, and that her dependency from Nicaragua was scarcely anything else than nominal. When it was not governed by ' Corregidores' or 'Alcaldes May ores' directly dependent upon the Crown, it was rather submitted to Costa Rica." The Artieda agreement reads as follows : '' 14. And, whereas, between the Province of Nicoya and the quarters which you are going to people, and where you will reside in the said Province of Costa Rica there must be a 'Pekalta. Costa Eicn, Nicaragua, cfcc, pp. 178, 313, 221 to 224. Letters uf the Alcalde Ma} or of Nicaragua to Juan Romo, Corregidor of Nicoya. 26 great distance, and it is advisable that some person be ap pointed there to administer our justice and assist you in every- thing necessary or advisable, we do hereby give 3'ou the neces- sary antliority to send a competent person to the said Province, who will be there your Lieutenant, at tlie salary of as man}' maravedises a year as have been paid to the former ' Corregi- dores' and ' Alcaldes Mayores' of the said Province," tfec. The agreement with Don Fernando de la Cueva, dated at Madrid on the 29th of December, 1593, is no less explicit. It reads as follows : " Firstly. It is my will that you shall liave tlie Governorship of tlie said Province of Costa Rica and the xVlcaldia Mayor of Nicoya — the said Governorship for twelve years, and thK Alcaldia Mayor foi- eight, as it was with Diego de Artieda Cherino," &c.i If the Honorable Minister of Nicaragua would have fixetl his attention on all the articles of tlie Artieda and Don Fer- nando de la Cueva agreements, especially Article li of the formei', he would have convinced himself of the fact that Ni- coya and Nicaragua were not one and the same political body — one and the same Province — but two independent entireties, ae independent as they could he, under the same Sovereign and the same laws. Some i)i'anches <»f their government — -.is, for instance, the ecclesiastic and financial branches — were always conuiKtu, and the superior chief was c-ummon to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Nicoya. The argument of Nicaragua also says that, "according to the Ai'tieda agreement, the Desaguadero completely falls within the limits of Nicaragua." 'J'liat was n(»t tlie opinion of the legislator, riiilii) 11 bc- lie\ed to lijive given ( 'o>ta Rica as its limits the iiionf/ta ui the Desaguadero, and not the most suuthei-n one. Artieda had authoi-ity fo occupy the three mouthsj and keep them under the jurisdiction id' Costa Kica. ' Pekalta. Uhi Hvprii, pugos 50;i and Ul'J. 27 The proof that none of tlie three mouths of the Dcsagiiadero beh:)iiged to ]Sicarag;ua is furnished l>y tlie Royal Orciinauce of Philip II of Feliruary 10, 1576, directing the Audiencia of Guatemala to enter into an agreement with Captain Diego Lopez to conquer and people the Province of Taguzgalpa, that is to say, the part of the old Government of Cartago which was not included within the limits given to Artieda. The Audiencia entrusted Licentiate Diego Garcia de Palacio, oue of its justices to enter into an agreemeut in the luime of His Majesty with Diego Lopez. Article 1st of that agree- ment reads as follows: " Firstly. His Majesty will appoint him his Governor and Gaptain-General for the said Province, which is all the land in- cluded between the mouth of the Desaguadero and the Camaron Point on the northern side, where the Province of Honduras begins ; and from there towards the interior, the whole terri- tor}' ending at what is now the limit of the jurisdiction of the Province of Nicai-agua and Xueva Segovia, and also of Hon- duras." ^ From the documents and facts above alluded to it appears to be evident that in 1576 the Province of Nicaragua did not exercise any jurisdictional rights over the mouths of the Desagiuidero, or over the coasts on the Atlantic side ; and that consequently the interpretation given by Nicaragua to the Artieda agreement is erroneous. Nicaragua never established any colony on the southern bank of the San Juan river which was never occupied by her. On the northern bank she founded Jaen, on the outlet of the Lake, at the place where Fort San Carlos now stands. The southern bank was considered to belong to Costa Rica, and when the fortress, which is now called Castillo Viejo, was " See Document No. — . ToRKES DE Mendoza. Colec/iidn. Vol. xiv, p. 528, where the document in extenso is found. Peralta. El Rio Srtn .fiian de Nicaragua in E.\eculive Document of the Senate, No. 50, -iOlh Congress, 2d Session, page 38. 28 built on the Costa Rican bank of the San Juan river, the one who ordered the work to be done and superintended it was not the Governor of Nicaragua, but the Captain-General of Guate- mala, who exercised high jurisdictional rights over Costa Rica. The wt)i'k was done at the expense of the Treasury of the Royal Audiencia, and under the technical inspection of the " Adelantado " of Costa Rica, Don Juan Fernandez de Salinas. In the time of tlie Spanish Government tlie San Juan river behtugcd as much to Costa Rica as to Nicaragua; and the in- nocent use and defense thereof against any foreign enemy were, respectively, a right and a duty of the two provinces. The free navigation and commerce through that river was not an exclusive favor granted to Nicaragua, but a benetit bestowed upon the two riparian provinces, in ordf-r not to compel them to export their products hy the far distant ports of Omoa and Trujilk) in Honduras. The same status of coinnumity of use and nationality of the San Juan river was retained during the Government of the Fedoral Republic of Central America ; and the illustrious President ]\I(>razan was the one who, in the name of tlie connnon country, and not of Nicaragua alone, or of Costa Rica, wanted to niake it serve the pi'ogress of the world and tlie common good of Centi'al America, by directing, in 1887, John Baily, an English engineer, to make that exploration of the San Juan river, the Lake, and the Rivas Isthmus for the purposes of an interoceanic canal, which became famous. The Federal Republic of Central America, not the State of Nicaragua, took stej)S ill ib:it tlircclion and entered into a favorable contract with the iving of llollantl for the opening of that canal. It was Costa Rica who, in later times, gave the mortal blow to Williaui Walker, by occupying with her f(»rces the river banks, anoundary, by charter of 1574, cunnnenced at the mouth of the river San Juan, and extended up that stream within fifteen leagues of the Lake, whence a line was drawn diu' wcr,t to the head-waters of tlie Rio Salto and down that stream to the Pacific. To the north and west of that bound- ary line lies the District of (Tuanacaste, which was annexed to Costa Rica after the indepcndeiu'e l)y flic fi-ee-will of the in- habitants in 1824, and their action was approved l)y the Fed- eral Congress of Central America in 1825. Guanacaste has since tlien been in actual possession of Costa Rica, and its northern boundaries wouM, tlu'refore, be those of Costa Rica, viz., th(! icmaiiiing fifteen hiagues of the Rio San Juan, and now the (Mitiic length of that stream, thence along the borders 'SciiKHZKU. Ti'dPch in the Free Stules of Centrnl Ainerirn. 2 vols. Lon- don, IH,")?. CliaplLT ii, puge 25. of the Lake to the Rio Sapojl, and from the source of that stream to the beautiful harbor of Salinas Bay, on the Pacific."' The quotations couki be multiplied ad libitum to show what, in fact, needs no demonstration ; that is, that the limits of Costa Rica, if those of the treatj' of 1858 are rejected, are dejure and de facto those of the ^Ui possidetis of 1826. But as Nicaragua, in her argument, has quoted from Squier and copied his map, Costa Rica has deemed it advisable to show that the opinions of Mr. Squier are not " the law and the prophets '' among the authors. Costa Rica, on the other hand, has shown that, l)esides the" authority of the travellers and writers above cited, she has on her side the superior authority of both the laws and the geo- graphic facts. It is a self-evident geographical fact that the principal sup- ply of the San Juan river does not come from the Lake of Nic- aragua, although it is its outlet, but from the Costa Rican rivers, some of which are navigable, as the Frio, the San Carlos, and the Sarapiqui rivers. The importance of the latter is such that Monsieur Paul Levy, a French engineer in the service of the Government of Nicaragua, in an otHcial publication made by order and at the expense of that Government, and dedicated to Don Fernando Guzman and Don Vicente Quadra, two ex-Presidents of that Roputtlii;, says "that the San Juan river is no more than a tributary of the Sarapiqui." - Mr. Thos. Rej'nolds, in a report addressed to President Cleveland and transmitted by him to Congress with his Mes- sage of the 5th of January last, corroborates the same remark in the following words: " The great river of the central interoceanic valley of Cen- tral America is the Sarapiqui, and the Upper San Juan and 'Bedford Pim, R. N. The Gate of the Pacific, p. 24. London, 1863. 'Levy. Notan Geogrdfica^ y E'coniunicds sabre la Republlca do Nicaragua. Paris, 1873, wiih a good map of Kicaragua. 34 the San Carlos rivers are affluents to it, somewhat as the upper Mississippi is an affluent of the Missouri ; hut in the former case as in the hitter the name of the less important of the two streams has heen given to that formed l>y their junction. But even at the junction of the Upper San Juan with the San Car- los the latter dominates in given characteristics to their com- bined waters, and where these fall into the still greater Sara- piqui those characteristics are intensified.''^ The Sarapiqui river, as is well known, is exclusivel}' Costa Rican, and it being the principal artery of the hydrographic system of the region of the San Juan river, it is just and logi- cal to recognize that Costa Rica has the same rights of naviga- tion as far as the sea, which the Government of Canada has in the St. Lawrence river. The Sarapiqui is navigable for about fifty miles, and between its c(»nfluence with the San .luan and the l>ifui'cation of tlie latter to form the Colorado river, there are only thirteen. The San Carlos river is also exclusively Costa Rican, and in the rainy season is navigable for 60 miles. From its mouth on the San Juan river to the mouth of the Sarapiqui there are 25 miles, and to the bifurcation of the Colorado there are 38. The Colorado river supplied more by the Pocosol, the San Carlos and tlie Sarapi(|in' I'ivers, than by the scanty auu)unt of water wliicli flows from the Lake, runs exclusively through Costa Rican territory, in an extent of 20 miles to the Caril)- bean Sea, and is navigable for vessels drawing a large amount of water. From the mouth of the Colorado river to the San Carlos pier there are 118 miles navigable, 80 within the Costa Rican teri-itory, and 38 on tjic San Juan river, on the part thereof whose right bmik always belonged to Costa Rica. Ky the following considerations. For the conclusion of the treaty of 1858, all the formalities requii-ed by the public law of Nicaragua, in force at that time, without the omission of a single one, were faithfully complied with. Tiie regime which existed at that tiuie in Nicaragua was not the regular constitutional one which preceded the revolu- tion initiated on May 5, ISSl, aud followed the Constitution of August 19, 1858. It was one, in every respect, exceptional and transitory, de- voted above all to the political reorganization of the country. Hence it was that the Executive concluded the treaty upon bases given to it by the National Constituent Assembly, and ratified it in use of faculties for that purpose delegated to it by the Assemldy ; that the treaty was exchanged and promul- gated as law of the Republic by virtue of the said ratification ; and that, in fine, it was not approved by the Assembly until after the exchange of the ratifications. All of this might, perhaps, have been done differently under circumstances of a regular regime, not constituent but constitutional. The defense of Nicaragua has forgotten completely what was the political condition of its own country at the time in 4:2 which the treaty was initiated, negotiated, ratified, exchanged, promulgated, and carried into execution; and so it is no won- der that it reaches conchisions which it itself would have re- jected if it had placed the question on its proper grounds. To maintain that the condition of Nicaragua from May, 1854-, to August, 1S58, was a regular constitutional one, is tan- tamount to tearing from the history of that country, and of Central America in general, some of its most interesting pages, where the recoi-d has been preserved of the Nicaraguaii civil sti-uggles, the overthi-ow of the legitimate government, the usurpation of William Walker, the war waged by the five Central American States, at the head of which Costa Rica had the glory to present herself to snatch from the hands of the usurper his prey, and secure the common independence, and, finally, the advent of the dictatorial duumvirate, which, "in spite of all prctlictions to the contrary, not only saved the country fi-oni the new struggle which threatened it, but wisely con ducted it to its constitutional organization."* The constitutional legality was represented in Nicaragua at the beginning of the revolution l)y the Government of Gen- eral Chamorro and by the Constitution of 1854; but neither this Constitution nor the legitimate successor of General Cha- morro's Government ever appeared again on the political stage of the country after peace was re-established. The administration of General Martinez was simply an ex- tra(»rdinary one, which, although beneficial to the country which it helped to organize, had been born out of the revt)lution. The Constituent Assembly, also, was an extraordinai-y national rep- resentation, convoked by the dictatorial duumvirate to recon- struct the country. The Exe(Mitive over wliich (icneral Martinez presided and the National Constituent Assenil»ly held in their hands, at the time when the treaty was nuide, all the powers required for the conclusion of the latter and for its perfection. ' Qeronimo Pbhrz. MemoridH sa/tre In rewlncum de Nicaragua. Vol. ii, p. 215. Bee Document No. 52. 43 All that was enacted hy the Constituent Assembl}'', and sancticjncd and promulgated by the Executive, was law of Nic- aragua. So it is witnessed by the statute-books of that coun- try, where several enactments of this kind, respected and obeyed, both then, and now, as national laws, can be found without dithculty.i To such an extent was the regime existing in Nicaragua at the time of tiia treaty of 1858 extraordinary, that the Constituent Asseml)ly, by decree of Doceml^er 10, 1857, decided to sanc- tion and enforce in advance one chapter of the new Constitu- tion (Chapter xvii), which detinud the powers of the Execu- tive. And this whs done for the purpose that the Executive could enter at once, without waiting for the Constitution, which was not approved until August 19, 1858. and without finding obstacles of any kind, into negotiations with Costa Hica for tiie tiuil adjustment of all differences in regard to limits, and thus secure that peace which was so desirable under those circumstances.^ Tlie defense of Nicaragua has also for- gotten this fact. The Constituent Assemldy, besides acting in this way for the purpose that the differences with Costa Rica should be speed- ily and finally settled, enacted also a decree directing the Ex- ecutive to continue the interrupted negotiations, and furnished it with certain bases for the conclusion of the treaty ^>i limits, approving thus ljef^>reiiand what might be done in accordance therewith. 3 This is another most essential fact whicli the defense of Nicaragua lias not been pleased to remember. The Executive carried out the instructions given by the Constituent Assembly, and as soon as it negotiated the treaty of 1858, in strict conformity to tiie bases suggested by that body, ratified, exchanged, and executed it, in use of its facul- ties. 'The files of the Oaceta of 1858 show no less than 103 laws passed by the Assembly, many of which were of fundamental character. " See pages 71 aad 72 of the Argument of Costa Rica of October 27, 1887. ' See page 73, Argumeut of Costa Rica of October 27, 1887. 4:4 The Constituent Assembly, having full knowledge of the facts wliic-h had been published in the olKe.ial organ, and which the Executive had, furthermore, reported to it minutely, clothed the treaty with its approval. This approval, sanctioned likewise bv the Executive, was also published as law of the Republic.^ The exceptional circumstances of political reconstruction, un- der which Nicaragua was, when the treaty of limits was made, satisfactorily explain why it was that the ratification of the treatv was made by the Executive, as delegate of the Constitu- ent Power, and wliy the act of excliange followed, and did not precede, the approval by the Assembly. But the defense of Nicaragua, besides ignoring all these circumstances, and avoiding to enter into any consideration thereof, has not hesitated to change their character l)y giving tlie name of "Constitutional Congress, or Assembly" to the Constituent body above mentioned. No law ever passed by that body fails to read in its heading, as can be seen in the statute-books, "The Constituent Assembly," ^tc. So great is the desire siiown by the defense of Nicaragua of avoiding to give the Constituent Assembly which approved the treaty its proper name, that even in the literal translation of the decrees of that body,^ it has found it advisable to chaniro that name into the one of " Constitutional Assembly," as if the English language had not the word " constituent," conveying the same idea as tiie Spanish word " constituyente," used in the Spanish text. When the Asseml)ly gave its approval to the treaty, the latter was already a Nicaraguan law. But that approval, although not intended principally to perfect it, because it was already j)erfcct, added to its strength. Its principal object was to re- lieve the Executive from whatever responsibility that might arise out of the exercise of the faculties delegated to it for the (• MU'lusion and i-atification of the compact. ' See page rtr>, Argument of Costn Uicti of October 27, 1887. 'See Argument of Nicaragua of October, 1887, page 45 The approval, therefore, was notliing else than one of those corroborative acts which in the course of business often occur, and rest upon the well known and salutary pi-iuciple quod ahundat non nocet. If that approval had never been given, the validity of the treaty would not have been affected in the least. The delegation of legislative powers, made in favor of the Executive, was not an act contrary to the pul)lic law of Nic- aragua. Even undei' conditions of rci^ular constitutional regime such a thing is perfectly legitimate in that Republic. (Article 42, section 25, Nicaraguan Constitution of 1858). The public law of Nicaragua, applicable to the case, and in force at the time of the conclusion of the treaty of limits, was not, as claimed in the argument to which I now reply, the Con- stitution of 1838 ; but, on the one hand, Chapter XYI of the Constitution of 1858, promulgated in advance l)y special de- cree of December 10, 1857, and, on the other hand, the decree of the Constituent Assembly of February 5, 1858, providing for both the form and the substance of the treaty whiuh was to be adjusted. 1 No allegation has ever been made that the said laws, wliose existence not even has l)een mentioned in the argument of Nicaragua, were violated. And if the ti-eaty was made, as it was, in strict compliance with their provisions, nothing else is required to cause Nicaragua to respect it as one of her laws, as she did from 1858 to 1872, through her Legislative Con- gresses, her Executive Cabinets, and her officials of all kinds. What was done l)y the President of Nicaragua, Don Tomas Martinez, within the legality of the circumstances, and by virtue of the faculties delegated to him i)y the Constituent Assembly, was entirely constitutional and lawful^ and binding upon the nation. Vattel says : " If the nation has transferred the plenitude of sovereignty 'See page 73, Argument of Costa Rica of October 27th, 1887. 46 to its ruler, if it has trusted to liim the care and vested in hira tlie right, without reserve, of treating and conti-actingwith the other States, it is deemed that it has vested it with all the powers necessary to i-ender his contracts valid. The Prince (or the ruler) is tiien the organ of the nation ; what he does is reputed to be done by it ; and although he is not the owner of the pul)lic propert}' he can alienate it validly."^ And that great luniinar}' of the American law. Chancellor Kent, in discussing this subject, expresses himself as follows : " If a nation has conferred upon its Executive Department, without reserve, the right of treating and contracting with other States, it is considered as having vested it with all the power necessary to make a valid treat}'," ^ Atjd if the circumstance that the formalities of Article 194 of the Constitutit)n of 1838 were not ol)served should ever produce as its result the nullification of the treaty, the in- evitable conclusion to be reached therefrom would be tliat the Nicaraguan Constitution of August 19, 1858, is also void. And tlie reason is because neither the duumvirate which con- voked the Assembly, nor the Assembly itself, nor any act done by the one, or the otlier, did exactly fall under the strict legality of the Constitution of 1838. Out of the many fundamental laws which the regime afore- said nullified, one of paramount importance can be cited. This is the satne Article 194- of the Constitution of 1838, which the defense of Nicaragua invokes in support of her claim that the treaty of limits is null. Art. 196 said as follows: "Art. 19G. The present Constitution shall not be revised in its totality until after four years have elapsed, and then, ■iipon thf pr()f)er declaration (tccordhig to the rules of Article 194, th(d the reuiitio/i nhould tctke j)l(/ce, a Con.stitnoU Asfn\ the Central American (Congress did not deem it advisable to accede to her petition. That was exactly the state of things when tiie C(»n8titution of Nicaragua of November 12, 1838, was promulgated. 'i'he desired reincorpor:ition of Nicoya had not taken place; 51 and evidently the new Constitution could not declare that the sovereignty of Nicaragua extended in the southeast, bordering upon Costa liica, to a territcjry much more extensive than that on which it had been estal)lished and organized in 1828. Chapter I of the Constitution of 1838 defines the State and its Territory as follows : "Article 1st. The State shall retain the name of State of Nicaragua; it consists of all its inhabitants, and it shall be- long, by means of a compact, to the Federation of Central America," " Article 2nd. The territory of the State is the same which was before comprised in the Trovince of Nicaragua ; its limits are: on the east and northeast, the State of Honduras ; on the west and south, the Pacific (Jcean ; and on the southeast, the State of Costa liiea. The boundaries with the borderino; States shall be marked out by a law which sliall be made a part of the Constitution." Article 1 st plainly establi.^hes the identity of the State, so that the one organized in 1838 and the one constituted in 1826 were one and the same, both having the same territory and both bor- dering on the southeast with the free State of Costa Rica. That identity was not destroyed by the insertion in Article 2nd of the phrase, " Province of Nicaragua," bec-ause in the ancient documents Nicoya and Nicaragua are often mentioned as dif- ferent provinces, independent of each other ; and therefore the expression, "Province of Nicaragua," does not necessarily im- ply that the District of Nicoya was included.^ In the new Constitution, the districts which formed the State were not mentioned. But this omission was cured by the de- cree of December 2d of the same year, 1838, ^ issued by the same Constituent Assembly, dividing the territory of the State into four departments, namely, east, west, north, and south. ' See the Report of Bishop Morrell, 1752, pages 24 and 25 of the Argument of Costa Rica. ^ Rtcopilacion de leyes, cfcc, por el Doctor de la Rocha, p. 401. 52 Article 15th of the said decree reads as follows: '* The Southern Department shall comprise no more than ONis District, named the Rivas Dis prict, until the question be- tween THIS Government and that of Costa Rica about the reincorporation of the District of Guanacaste is settled." The Constituent Legislature of Nicaragua of 1838 declared therefore, in the most solemn possible manner, that the South- ern Department of the State had onl}' one District (Rivas), and that this had to he so until the question pending with Costa Rica should he settled and the District of Guana- caste should be reincorporated into Nicaragua. To reincorporate means in Spanish, according to the Dic- tionary of the language:^ "To incorporate again, to aggregate, or unite, to a political or moral body something which had been separated from it." If, according to the Decree of December 21, 1838, issued by the Constituent Legislator, the District of Guanacaste could not he counted among tlie districts of the southei'U Oe- partinent until it was rciiux)rporated into Nicaragua, there is no doubt that the Constitution of 1838 did not declare, nor could it do 60, that Guanacaste was an integral part of the Nicaraguan territory. The reincorporation nuiv have been (strongly desired ; but it was not accomplisliod. The truth is, indeed, that tlie question pending between Costa Rica and Nicaragua upon this sulqect did not reacli a settlement until the treaty of 1858 was made; and by it Costa Rica ceded to Nictaragua not (»nly a portion of Guanacaste, but also a portion of the Costa Rican territory wliich had never l)elonged t(j the ancient District of Nicoya. Those ceded territories became Nicaraguan on and after tlie date of ' Dkcionariodelalengua OnHU'UaiKi jxtr In Acddeiniit ruptnloht. Madrid, 1884. Iin|>rentiidc Don (iiej^orio Ileraiuuh'/,. Tliii siinie definition is^'veii by Wobs'cr (An Anicricun DictiDnary of the HngllHli I.iinj^uiisjo, 1881), by Worcester (A Dictionary of tlie Eonlisii Ijnn- f(U)i{;e, Boston, IS'K)), by Lirousse CGr**"*! Diclionnaire Universe! du XIX nif'^elc, I'aris, 1875) and l)y Calvo (Diclloonuire do Droit Interntitional Pub- lic el Priv,-, PariH, IMH-I). 53 the treaty, but the rest of the Costa Rican territory, Guana- caste inchided, remained as foreign to Nicaragua as it had been prior to the foumlation of the two States. After the Nicaraguan Constitution of 1826 eliminated, un- conditionally and without reserve, from the Nicaragnan terri- tory tiie District of Nicoya, and after the bond which formerly had united it to Nicaragua was thereby severed, all declara- tions made in subsequent Constitutions, no matter how express, in regard to sovereignty over Nicoya, if ever made, which I deny upon the evidence above given, can have no other char- acter tiian that of mere claims or pretensions, as far distant from truth and perfect right, as simple thoughts or wishes are from actual reality. x\s the fortune of a merchant is not increased because he recoi-ds in his books future and eventual profits, likewise the dominioi\s of a sovereign are not enlarged because he writes on a Constitution the names of provinces not actually subject to his rule. And what cannot be obtained by means of express and known declarations, which may, in time, be refuted and blotted out, much less can be obtained by mystic phrases of hidden meaning, written a long time ago, when no one dreamt that such a construction could be ever placed on them. To suppose under this singular course of reasoning, that Nicoya was an integral part of Nicaragua is to ignore the fact that, during more than half a century after the Independence and organization of the Central x\.merican States, that Dis- trict, actually and legally was separated from Nicaragua and incorporated into Costa Rica, and that, during the whole of that period, it kept so separated, and formed a part of one of the five provinces of Costa Rica, with whom it has identified itself absolutely in interests, customs, and institutions, to such an extent that citizens of Nicoya have exercised the supreme power, the command of the Army, the Presidency of the Na- tional Contrress, and filled the positions of Secretary of State, Diplomatic Ministers, Justices of the Supreme Court, &c., a niattei' of liistory that sinc-e 1824-, wirnoirr intiok- lu TiioN, the Province of (iiianacahte formed an integral part of the Kepiiblic of Costa Itica. Nothing has more embittered 55 the feeling in Costa Rica than this etenial harping for the ' lost brethren ' by the Nicaragnans, keeping up in the minds of the inhabitants of that Province an insecurity and uneasiness, the principal cause of its miserable condition. It is really too bad that these people, barely al)lc to exercise its authority on one- third of its undisputed territory, and incapable of making it felt over two-thirds thereof, should run riot after a distant, wretched province, separated from the bulk of the Kepubli(; by higii mountain ranges, inaccessible for six months in the year, and heedlessly provoke the enmity of a comparatively powerful neighbor." 1 And as the District of Nicoya or (luanacaste was not, accord- ing to the declarations of the Nicaraguan Constitutions of 1826 and 1838, an integral part of the State of Nicaragua, as has been proved above, it is a grave error to maintain that the treaty of 1858 amended the Constitution of Nicaragua, and that it has no value because the amendment made by it was not in accordance with the forms and solemnities prescribed for such cases by the Constitution of that State. ' Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States in 1873, page 738. Chapter IV, DEMARCATION OF THE TERRITORY OF NICARAGUA ACrORDIXG TO ITS FIRST CONSTITUTION— SOUTHERN BANK OF THE SAN JUAN RIVER. Besides the claim tliat licr sovereignty extends according to her Constitution of 1S3S to the territory of Guanacaste, Nic- aragua set forth tiiat she is entitled under the same Constitu- tion to all the land adjoining the San Juan river down to the mouth of the Colorado i-iver. It is easy to show that that pretension is groundless. If the text of the Constitution of Nicaragua of 1826, which has heen copied in the preceding chapter is examined, it will be found that not a woring the same as in 1820, the Constitution j)ronndgated on the former date could not eidarge the territory of the State and carry the frontier beyond the San Juan river. 57 But even supposing that snch a thing happened, which never did, snch a declaration, in conflict with the first Costa Rican Constitution which had been accepted and recognized, never could prevail against it; and the result would be tiiat the Nicaraguan declaration was of no more value than a simple claim or pretension, made still less meritorious l)y the fact that Costa Rica found herself in actual and immemorial pos- session of the territory, and Nicaragua never possessed it, nor exercised over it any a(;t of domain. In the first part of this rejily the possession of Costa Rica of the southern bank of the San Juan river, before the Inde- pendence and sincte, up to the date of the treaty, in which her rights of bordering nation were somewhat restricted, has been proved. All the legislative collectif)ns of Nicaragua since the 10th of April, 1825, in which her first Constituent Congress met, can be perused, and no act will be found which supports or authorizes the claim that she exercised sovereign rights over the zone above mentioned. Political constitutions, on the other hand, are not the places where questions of limits between the States are to be defined. Otherwise such questions would never be settled without a general upsetting of the State being caused by tlie variation of its organic law. Almost every country, especially in America, has luul ques- tions of territorial limits with its neighbors, and they have been settled by public treaties, which had never been given the character of constitutional amendments. And this beiu": the case, all the said treaties, without exception, could be held void, as made in violation of the respective natioiuil Constitu- tions. This irremedial nullity would l)e incurred, among many others, by the treaty by which Loui^iana was ceded tt) the United States; by the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, by which Mexico renounced her sovereignty over the territories of Up- per California, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico ; by the 58 treaty between Spain and France of 1856, which settled a question of limits standing for centuries ; by the treaty be- tween France and Italy, by which Savoy and Nice were an- nexed to France, to the detriment of Italy ; by the treaty of 1806, l)y which Cliili ceded to Bolivia a portion of the Ata- cania Desert; by the treaty of 1876, by which the Argentine Repul)lic ceded a portion of territory to that of Paraguay ; by the treaty of 1883, by which the annexation of Chiapas and Soconusco to Mexico was finally recognized, &c., &c. Xo one of these treaties has ever been considered as an amendment to the Constitutions of the countries which entered into them. And if the course of reasoning of Nicaragua is accepted, the conclusion cannot be avoided that they all are in- valid. A doctrine which leads to such conclusions needs not to Ite refuted. To show its logical consequences is sufficient to reject it. Chapter V. THE CONVENTION OF LIMITS OF 1858 IS AN INTERNATIONAL TREATY LIKE ANY OTHER, AND NOT AN UNFINISHED AMENDMENT TO THE NICARAGUAN CONSTITUTION. Oke of the erroneous ideas on which the arj^ument of Nic- aragua rests, consists in considering the compact of 1858, not as a piil)lic international convention like any other, but as an amendment to, or a reform of, the Nicaragaan Constitution. It has been already shown, in Chapters III and IV, how groundless this assertion is in matter of fact, since the Con- stitutions of Nicaragua could not comprise, nor did tlie^y com- prise under her sovereignty, the territory of Nicoya, now Province of Guanacaste, and much less the lands adjoining tlie San Juan river on its southern baid-c. Now I shall proceed to show the incorrectness of the same idea from another standpoint. By means of conjectures and interpretations, more or less strained, Nicaragua tries to persuade that the treaty of limits modified or amended Article 2d of the Constituti(jn of 1838. But this pretension has been beforehand rejected and refuted b}^ Nicaragua herself, through the organ of her Constituent Asseml)ly of 1858, which by positive and express action, ad- mitting of no contradiction, declared and proclaimed the con- trary. If, as it is claimed, the treaty of limits would have in- volved or implied, in the mind of the Constituent Legislator of Nicaragua, a constitutional reform or amendment, no doubt can be entertained, that for concluding and perfecting it the Constituent Assembly would have proceeded in the same way, as it diti, for the special constitutional amendments which it de- creed, in all of which it took pains to express by a final article the constituent or organic character of its action. If this was not done, if the Constituent Assembly did not 60 subject the treaty to the rules of proceedings and to the forms which correspond to a constitntional amendment, if no one said, or thought, at that time, tliat the treaty implied such an amendment, it is plain, as well as indisputable, that the As- scniltly did not give the treaty a different ciiaracter than that whii-h I-elongs to any other public treaties whatsoever ; and this opinion of the Assembly, certainly one in conformity with truth and principle, this authentic interpretation made by the Nicaraguan Constituent Legislator himself, is the most eloquent negative answer that can be given to the allegations of the latter Governments of Nicaragua which attempt to attribute to the treaty of liu)fts a character which does not belong to it. If the Constituent Assembly of 1858 would have had in its mind that when approving the treaty it was merely approving it for the first time, subject to tiie action of a subsecpient leg- islature, which might sanction or reject it, it would not have eliminated from the law of territorial division of the Republic which it enacted on August 30, 1858, ^ the reservation clause in regard to Guanacaste, which the Constiiuent Assembly of 1838 had written in its own law of territorial division of De- cember 21st of that year.- It is plain that if such had been the case the Constituent Assemldy would have postponed the elimination until the moment in which the subsequent legisla- ture should give its approval. But no sucii thing happened, and the new territorial divi- sion was made by law as follows : "Aktk'lk 1. The Republic is divided for electoral jiurposes irjto seven dcjjartments, to wit: Chinandega, Leon, Nueva Se- govia, Matagalpa, Chontales, Rivas, and Granada.'' "AitTi(;M': 8. The District of Rivas (bordering with Guana- caste) consists of the city of this name, the town of San Jorge, 'Sei- Giicclii (Ic Ni()ir)i>,'iiii. No. HI). Nov. !20, 185(5. ^Hrropilttrii')/! di /an hi/tMSic. (k NirnriKjun, por il Dr. Lii Rocliu, Managua, 1807, i)ugc401. 61 Buenos Ajres, Potosi, Obrage, Ometcpe, Moyagalpa, Pine(3a, La Yirgen, and Tonugal." No reservation of any kind is made here in regard to Gua- nacaste or Nicoya, because the question wliich had been pend- ing i)etween the two Republics al)out that territory was then finally settled by the treaty of limits. The Constituent ^Assembly of 1S5S gave to the treaty its true character, and all the Executives and all the Legislatures subsequent to that year, up to 1871, always agreed in regard to this point. Nothing will be found, whether in the statute books of Nicaragua, nor in the action of her administration, nor in the decrees of the Nicaraguan courts from 1858 to 1871, which involves the idea tiiat the treaty of limits was an inper- fect and unfinished amendment to the Constitution of the country; while, on the contrary, the proofs are abundant that the said treaty was always recognized and considered, not as something incomplete and still pending, but as a convention finally concluded and sanctioned. The reasons now alleged to give to the convention of limits of 1858 no more character than that of a projected constitu- tional reform never consummated, must be exceedingly weak when they never occurred to the mind of any of the Supreme Powers of Nicaragua from 1858 to 1871. They must be very weak, indeed, when they were never used before the downfall of the Ayon-Chevalier conti-act, or under the event- ful circumstances of 1864, when Nicaragua suspended her re- lations with Costa Rica, because of the hospitality which, ac- cording to her laws, she could not refuse, and whii-h she ex- tended to the ex-President of Salvador, General Don Gei-ardo Barrios. Chapter VI. EVEN GRANTING THAT THE TREATY OF 1858 INVOLVED A CESSION OF TERRI- TORY, THIS CESSION COULD BE MADE BY ONLY ONE LEGISLATURE ACCORD- ING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF 1838. If the Constitutions of Nicaragua prior' to 1858 are con- sulted nothing will be found in tliem clearly and directl}' ex- plaining which are the authorities or officers of the State, in whom the power of validly contracting in the name of the nation is vested. For tliis reason it is necessary for us to turn to tlie general principles which in countries under democratic institutions ve.-^t tliat ]X)wer jointly in the Chief Magistrate of the State and the national representation. But the national representation and the supreme Chief Magistrate of Nicaragua were precisely the ones who made the treaty of 1858 ; and, therefore, the conclusion cannot be avoided that the treaty is valid and perfect under tlie most strict principles of international law. Perhaps the vcr}^ circumstance that the Constitution of 1838 was so silent in regard to the ti-caty-making power induced the Constituent Asseml)ly to ena(;t special laws for the conclusion, ratification, and exchange of the treaty of limits of 1858, That treaty was not, as it is supposed, the work of the Ex- ecutive, simply approved but iKjt sanctioned by the Constituent Assembly, l)ut a legislative act, perfected and consunmiated, in wliich the Executive a(^tcd not only in its capacity as such, but as delegate of the ('onstitucnt As.vciiibly, under instructions and upon bases fni-nisiicd liy tlic said Ass^cnibly, to wliicb it strictly adhered. It is claimed in the argument of Nicaragua that the treaty of 1858 involved a cession or alienation of the national territory, and that, under tiiis circumstance, wbich dismembered the State, the treaty could have iu> value without the recjuisites pres<*ribc(l foi* (;oii^litiitional amcnihncnts being first complied with. 63 There is error in believing that the treaty liad the effect of transferring to Costa Rica a portion of the territory of Nicara- gua. This lias already been proved. But, even supposing that such a transfer was made, the treat}' would, nevertlieloss, be valid, because the Nicaraguan Legislative Power, according to Article 109 of the Constitution of 1838, had authority to alienate the national territory witliout needing foi- tliat purpose to amend the Constitution. And if a simple, ordinary legisla- ture had that power, the Constituent Assembly of 1858, which represented the nation without any of the limitations of an ordi- nary Congress, must also have had it with still more reason. See what tlie above-said Article 109 of the Constitution of 1838 says in this respect : " It belongs to the legislative power of the State — " 1st. To enact, interpret, and abrogate the laws when neces- sary. "9th. To resolve what may be advisable about the adminis- tration, preservation, and alienation of all pkoperty of the State." The defense of Costa Rica tries to disguise as much as it can the constituent character of the Assembly of 1858 which approved the treaty ; but, even supposing that it had been a mere ordinary Congress, or Legislature, bound to act necessarily within the limits of the Constitution of 1838, and also that the treaty involved an alienation of State property, that ordinary Congress had, however, full power to give its approval to the treaty without transgressing tlie Constitutional rules. It is well, therefore, for Vattel to say that the Chief of the State cannot alienate its territory, and that the nation itself must do it. This principle was precisely the one which was applied to the present case. The nation itself, by means of a Constituent Assembly, approved the treaty, and nothing else can be demanded. Chapter VII. WHETHER THE TREATV OF 1858 WAS EXCHAN3ED BEFORE IT WAS RATIFIED. Thk title of this chapter indicates the assertion of one of the three reasons ^^iven l)y the representative of Nicarao;na in sup- port of the chiini that the treaty of 1858 is null and void. It is alleged that, under Article XII of that instrument, it had to he ratified, and the ratifications exchanged within forty days after its conclusion ; that the exchange was made on April 26th of the same year hy the Presidents of Costa liica and Nicaragua, before tiie treaty was approved hy the Assembly ; that the treaty was approved, not ratified, on June 4 subse- (jucnt, when thirty-eight days had already elapsed since the date of the exchange ; and, lastly, that the day on which the Assembly gave its approval, the period of 40 days fixed l)y the treaty for the exchange had expired. This new argument of Kicarngua is as weak and untenable as all others set forth by her. It would 1)6 necessary that neither the Presidents of Costa Pica and Nicaragua, nor their respective Cabinets, nor the Chaml)ers of either Republic, nor, in one word, any person whatsoever in the two countries, knew at the time of the cele- bration (»f the treaty the meaning of the w^rd ratification used therein, nor the importance and transcendency of the act ex- pressed by it, nor its indispcnsalile prioi-ity to the exchange, to bup])ose that, notwithstanding the express provision of the trcatv, they decided to make the exchange without, a j)rcvi()U8 ratification, and without being fully ]>ersuaded that the form in which the said ratification had been imparted was sutlicient and valid. It can never l»e admitted that serious men could have com promiseii in such an inconsiderate way the acts of two Gov- ernments, and the tianscendency of a compact of such impor- 65 tance as the one fixing the limits l)etween the two countries, purporting to he a settlement of protracted questions, and a happy termination of an unpleasant state of things, vviiich, con- sequently, was received hy the people of both countries with signs of jubilation, more so, perhaps, by Nicaragua herself, who went so far as to confer the rank of a general in her army on the Salvadorian mediator. According to the decree, to be found elsewhere in this reply? the Constituent Assembly of Nicaragua, in use of the full power vested in it, delegated to the Chief Magistrate of the nation for the sake of l^revity, and owing to the importance of the matter, the faculty to ratify the treaty, |)rovided that it was in accordance with the bases that had been communicated to him for his guidance. In this there was no irregularity of any kind, because the people tiiemselves, by means of their representatives entrusted with framing the organic law, had a perfect right to delegate their faculties to whomsoever they pleased ; and there was no harm either, whatever the gravity of the subject might have been, because, as long as the act was performed in strict accord- ance with tiie insti'uctions and bases given l)y the Assembly, the Assembly itself was in reality the party which concluded the treaty, and the ratification became unnecessary, or, better to say, it was given beforehand. That the treaty of limits of 1858 did not go a single point beyond the instructions given by the Asseujbly is clearly proved b}" the fact of the approval which that body imparted to it, and furthermore by the unanimous and warm acceptance which it received by the public press of Nicaragua and b}' the whole nation, as well as by the immediate execution of its provisions and its enforcement during a long period of time. The very fact of the approval of the treaty by the Assembly, which is invoked as an argument in support of the alleged want of ratification, proves a posteriori that that body con- sidered both the treaty and the exchange, in the form in which they were made, and the time thereof, as perfectly valid acts ; 5 66 because, otherwise, if the Assembly had thought that the requi- site of ratilication was wanting, it either would have ratified it, if so deemed advisable, or would have withheld its sanction ex- pressly, whether on the ground that the treaty did not -suit its ideas, or because the forty days agreed upon fory the ratifica- tion or exchange had elapsed. Therefore if the Assembly, with full knowledge of the manner in which the treaty was celebrated and of the way and date in which the exchange was made, and of the fact th;it the period agreed upon for the ratification had passed, approved the treaty, it is evident that it judged, as was the truth, that the treaty had been legally and in due time ratified by the President, in use of the special faculties which had been vested in him for that purpose. To think (otherwise would be equivalent to saying that the most eminent men of Nicaragua, who formed the Constituent Assembly of 1858, were incapalde of seeing such palpable de- fects as those which are now alleged, and that that incapacity was carried to the extreme, because it was exhibited in regard to a(!ts of their own, just publicly accomplished. The very same words of President Martinez and the Assem- bly in regard to the treaty clearly slit)W what their intention was, and what was tlie esjjecial course which, according to the abnormal condition of the Republic and the peculiar chai'acter of the subject, they had intended to pursue. Those words also show that they had a clear insight into what they were doing. The President, contrary to the general custom, because the Executive, as a genei'al rule, confines its action only to the approral of the treaties, ratified the one of 1858 ; and the Assembly, difi'ei'cntly, also, from the usual custom of those bodies which wxv. called to kapifv the international Conven- tion, (•(Uilined itself ro aim'ko\ lo the one herein ivferred to. The President ratified, bet^ause he had delegated authority to do so ; and the Assembly approved, be(tause what is already ratified needs no further rati(i(;ation. The ti-caty of 1858 was, fherc^foi-e, ratiliepositions which I have just transcribed are in opposition to hi>fiti-ic;il truth. Costa iiica and the otiier States of Central America, except Nicaragua, enjoyed in ISf)*') the bcnclits of peatu^ ; but tlie civil .struggles between (iranaijine.s juitl Leonesc furnished oc- casion and reason for the war wliieh (^osta Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Salvador were eomj)clled, in sj)ite of them- selves, in union with :i |ioition of the people (»f Nicaragua, to wage against General \\'illi:ini ^Valker, the ursurper of the [)ub- lic power in the latter eounli-y. 69 All the allied nations remained more or less prostrated on account of that war, and none certainly more so than Costa Kica and Nicaragua, which hure the greatest part of its bur- den. Tlie differences concerning territorial limits were ahsolutely forgotten under tho.apj)car without affecting in the least the ])rincipal obligation. I). — If the consent ol all the jiartics is wanting, and one of the ^tipnIalionsof the treaty falls thereby, the whole treaty must also fall, because *' any special advantage conceded by a party 73 under any one article of the compact is in consideration of all the advantages enjoyed by the same party under tliat and all other articles of the ti-outy. To support tliis coiiclusion a passage of an opinion of Mr. Cushing, Attorney-General of tlie United States, has been quoted. If Nicaragua pretends by this argument that tlie guarantee in favor of the stipulation of Article X of the treaty oifered by the Minister of Salvador in the name of his Government is one of those special advantages conceded to one party by the other in exchange and in compensation of all the other advantages that the granting party enjoys under the whole compact, the structure of her argument proves to be faulty. The guarantee spoken of was not a special advantage for Nicaragua, nor was it conceded by Costa Rica, but it was, as plainly expressed by the language of the Article, a mutual ad- vantage stipulated in favor of the two contracting nations without difference or preference of any kind between them, and in consideration of nothing else than a mere general Cen- tral American interest felt by a third party, which was the Government of Salvador. So that, even following the course of reasoning of the de- fense of Nicaragua in regard to this point, and even admitting, what cannot be admitted without doing extreme violence to the doctrine of contracts, that the promise or guarantee with- out sufficient consideration was not a simple nudus pactus, having no more value tlian that of the paper upon which it was written, the result would always bo that the said doctrine has no application in this case. If the party who "conceded,"' or offered to concede, that "advantage " had been Costa Rica, the application of the doc- trine might take place, because, in that case, the advantage, whether special or not, conceded by her might be claimed to be in consideration of all the other advantages which the whole of the treaty secured for her. But, as the alleged " ad- vantage " is nothing which one of the parties offered to the 74 other, but soraetliing that was offered to the two equally aud at the same time by a third party, who acted as a mediator, it is plain that it could not form part of the consideration of the treaty. The advantage was not granted by Costa Rica, and, therefore, it cannot be understood to be a consideration for the " advantages '' which the whole treaty stipulated in her favor. The opponent has tried to dazzle the upright and impartial criterion of tlie Arl)itrator by referring to a passage, both in- complete and inapplicable, of an opinion of Mr. Cushing. True it is that on October 14, 1853, that disthiguished jurist was called upon by the Secretary of State of tlie United States, Mr. Marcy, to give his opinion upon a certain preten- sion of the Charge d'Affaires of Denmark in this country, to tlie effect that certain seamen who had deserted a Danish ves- sel should be surrendered to him on the ground that the United States, by treaty with the Government of Sweden, had bound themselves to do so when the deserting seamen were Swedish, and that Denmark under the clause " of most favored nation," stipulated in the treaty celebrated with her, was entitled to enjoy the same advantage. Mr. Cushing maintained that if the grant made in favor of Sweden had been gratuitous, Denmark might have the right, under her own treaty, to share like benefits. But that, whereas the " advantage " conceded to Sweden was something inti- mately connected with all the other " advantages " granted by her, it was not possible to extend it to Demnark under the clause " of most favoretaiiy the same Republic. It is for that reason that I have mentioned the three facts above stated. On the other hand, it is worth wiiile to notice here that the eagerness with which, subsequent to 1872, the validity of the treaty of limits has been denied in Nicaragua, says nothing in favor of the pretensions of that Government, nor weakens in the least the force of its previous contrary action. Admis- sions cannot be retracted. And as the defense of Nicaragua wishes to tind in the al- ways firm and never contradictory action of the Government of Costa Rica some support of tiie conclusions adverse to the treaty wliich it formulates, it alleges the fact that Costa Rica acceded in good-will, and on several occasions, to give an amicable solution to tiie annoying question debated between the two countries ever since 1872, and cites especially the con- ference held at Managua, and the treaty made at that city on July 26th instant, where an indirect acknowledgment of the imperfection of the treaty of limits is alleged to be found. The Treaty of Managua reads as follows : " Article 1. Tlie Government of Nicaragua loithdraics the objections made to the validity of the treaty of limits with the Govermnent of Costa Rica, signed on April 15, 1858, since it will obtain from Congress on its p.vrt (the part of the Gov- ernment oTf Nicaragua) the second ratification which it (the Government of Nicaragua) has maintained to be indispensable. 6 82 The substance of tliis Article recognizes and proclaims, in a solemn and categorical manner, the justice of the cause wliicli, during so man}' years, Costa Rica luid been defending. No other meaning can he given to the icithdrawal made by the Government of Nicaragua of the objections it had niade against the treaty. And, as after so many years of Nicaragua's having main- tained that a second ratification of the treaty was necessary in order to cause her to consider herself bound by it, it was not possible that she should herself retract this point of mere form, nor was it advisable for Costa llica that any formality which Nicaragua, whether right or wrong, thouglit necessary to protect the treaty against new objections, should be omitted, it is not to be wondered at that the said ratification should have been mentioned in the final part of Article I of the treaty' of Man- agua ; but this ratification was spoken of not as being a nec- essary formality asked for by Costa Rica, but as one considered by Nicaragua to be indispensalde, although, in point of fact, it was not. The treaty of Managua could refer not to one or two ratifications of the treat}' of 1858, I)ut to as many as Nicara- gua should like to consider necessary to acknowledge herself bound without danger of new retractations. This did not im- ply that Costa Rica accepted the necessity of such formalities. If the treaty of Managua liad reached its consummation, Nicaragua would liave liad the satisfaction to ratify for the sixth time, if I am not mistaken, tbe treaty of 1858, while Costa Rica, on bci* part, would have experienced tlie one of seeing, finally and forever, settled her difference with Nicara- gua, througli the withdrawal, by the lattei', of the objections made l>y lier to the treaty of limits. It is, therefore, iiicoiiccivuliU! how the treaty of Managua could liavc l»ccn spoken of in the defense of Nicaragua. If that instiMiment e.\)>resses tlio i-ight criterion of the Nicaraguan (ioscrumciil, it furni>bcs the most ebxjucnt testimony to the fact that, sub^tantially, and laying aside this or that formality, tlie treaty of limits is valid, Jind not only valid but useful and profitable for Nicaragua. Chapter XII. IMPORTANCE OF THE DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THIS CHAPTER FOR DE- STROYING THE EFFECT OF THE PERSISTENCE WITH WHICH NICARAGUA HAS MAINTAINED, EVER SINCE 1872, THE NON- VALIDITY OF THE TREATY OF LIMITS. The Government of Nicaragua having hoasted of its persist- ence, ever since 1872, in maintaining that the treaty of limits of 1858 is not binding upon it, and it having formulated, also, the charge of inconsistency against the Government of Costa Rica, it does not seem inopportune to set fortli here, as briefly as possible, the substance of certain documents which I ap- pended to my Argument, and of others which I append to the present Reply, and show plainly thereby the trutli of the facts. Documents Nos. 23, 24, and 20, dated the flrst on May 16, 1858, the second and third on June 27 of the same year, and the fourth on January 25, 1861 ; and those marked 31, 34, and 35, dated, respectively, on April 1, May 26, and July 5, 1863, appended to the Argument of Costa Rica, will show to the Arbitrator that Costa Rica exercised during that exten- sive period of time, not only without opposition, but at the request of Nicaragua, the rights recognized to her by Article VIII of the treaty in regard to intervention in grants of transit and canal. Documents Nos. 43 and 45 of the same Argument, dated, respectively. May 26 and July 31, 1864, will also show to him that Costa Rica, six years after the date of the treaty, was ex- ercising sovereign rights over the territory of the right bank of the San Juan river, and making explorations therein in order to build a better and shorter road from the interior of the country to the river bank. Those marked Nos. 37, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, and 55 in the Appendix to the present Reply, equally show the exercise by Costa Rica of her sovereign 84: ricrlits over the territorv which, according to the treaty of 1858, belongs to her. Document No. 47, of June 26,1866, will show specially how emjihatic was the protest of the Government of Costa Rica, which the Government of Nicaragua accepted as just, against the attempt to increase the volume of the waters of the lower part of the San Juan river at the expense of the Colorado river, which belongs to Costa Rica. Document No. 50, dated January 25, 1867, will show also that Costa Rica, nine years after the conclusion of the treaty, carried it into execution, with the consent of Nicaragua, by es- talilishing a sanitary cordon at a place of the frontier which the said treaty had marked out. Document No. 51 of November 25, 1868, will show in the same manner that Costa Rica, ten years after the treaty, was exercising the rights which the said treaty recognized to her over the San Juan river. Document No. 56 of July 22, 1872, will give testimony of the most eloquent character to the manner with which the Costa Rican Government listened to the so-called "doubts," which, then, for the first time, after 14 years of uninterrupted ol)servance, arose in Nicaragua as to the validity of the treaty. Document No. 58, dated December 3, 1875, will give an instance of the manner in which Costa Rica, seventeen years subsecpient to tlie date of the ti-eaty, contiinied to exercise her rights over the whole territory which that convention had given her. And finally, documents Nos. 59 and 60, respectively dated on June 26, 1880, and Septenii)er 10, 1886, will show, the for- mer, how Costa Rica, twenty-two years after the date of the treaty, protested against the noii ns of Ai'tick! N'ill of the same treaty, in the matter (if the company organized in New York under the title of '' Provi>ional Company of lutcroccaiiic Canal," and the latter, the acnreptance Ity C/osta Rica of the ex|)lanations made by the (lovernmont of Ni(;aragua For the non-compliance with Buid provisiouti. 85 It is seen, therefore, from all of this, that since the month of May, 1858, to the month of September, ISSG, Costa Rica has not receded one jot from her })ositi(»n in maintainiiii^ the etiiciencj and validity of the treaty to which she signed her name, and wliich on her part she always complied with faith- fully and religiously. CONCLUSION. CONCLUSION. Before closing the present reply, the defense of Costa Rica deems it advisal)le to present a general summing np of its con- tents, which it submits as follows : Under the arbitration treaty made at Guatemala, no possi- bility exists for the making of two awards, one deciding the principal question, and another, subsequent in date, on supple- mentary or secondary points suggested by Nicaragua. Both subjects must be the matter of one and the same decision. The time for presentation of doubtful points, granted by the treaty of Guatemala, having been allowed by Nicaragua to pass unavailed, she cannot now be permitted to present those points, nor is Costa Rica l>ound to accept them as forming a part of the question submitted to arbitration. All Royal Ordinances and Letters-Patent issued by the Spanish Kings, as well as all opinions of writers on the his- tor}'^ of the Indies, are not, nor can they be, admitted in the present controversy, except as simply illustrating the historical precedents of the question, because the original rights of the parties were actually modified by subsequent transactions, as, for instance, the annexation of Guanacaste to Costa Rica, which took place, as all others, after tlie independence from Spain had been secured. This is neither the proper time nor the proper place to make any declaration whatsoever, affecting questions not at issue, and 90 neitlier debated nor submitted, as for instance the one referring to the determination of the limits I)etween Costa Rica and Nic- aragua, should the treaty of April 15, 1S5S, be adjudged void. The uti possidetis of 1821 has notliing to do with the present question, because the subject under discussion is not the terri- torial extent of either Costa Kica or Nicaragua, independently of the treaty of April 15, 1858. And notice must be taken of the fact that, although the doctrine of the uti possidefhs of 1821 is in general correct, it is not so always in all cases and under all circmnstances, but admits of modification under other rights of possession. Had that doctrine been absolute and indisputable, Chiapas and Soconusco would have belonged to Guatemala until 1883, Sonsonate would belong to-day to the same Republic, &c., &c. The I'cal and true uti possidetis is the one of 1838, when the federal bond was dissolved. The status whicth, as far as pos- session was concerned, existed at tluit time, and not the one existHig in 1821, served as basis for the organization of the five Sovereign Republics of Central America. The defense of Nicaragua considers tliat the treaty of limits of 1858 is a special one ; but mtticc nnist l)e taken that, as far as re<|uisites and formalities in i-cgard to tlie manner of its con- cluhioii arc concerned, there is no difference at all that can be admitted between it and any other ti'caty whatsoevei", since it was, as all others are, negotiated and concluded l)y plenipo- tentiaries ai)pointcd l)y the Executive, approved 1)}' the Ex- ecutive, ratified by tlie Legislative, and exchanged and pro- mulgafcd by the K\C('Uli\e. This is tlie reguhir ordei" of pri)C(!ediiigs in use in all nations in regard to treaties ; and the assertion can be made conlidently 91 that there is not a single precedent autliorizing the course of proceedings, which according to tlie defense of Nicaragua tlie treaty of 1858 ought to have gone tln-ough, and which is, no doubt, a novelty in the Law of Nations. If the treaty of limits is in any way special, it is so only in one respect, to wit : that while all public treaties are by their own nature permanent, for it is upon them that the peace of the nations therein concerned rest, and while all of tliem when once concluded cannot l)e allowed to fall, easily, or on light reasons, and much less for alleged informalities, never spoken of until after both contracting parties have been for years ex- ecuting it, such a fate has not befallen, however, the treaty of limits. The treaty of limits of 1858 was not concluded, approved, ratified, exchanged, and carried into effect under tlie sway of the Constitution of 1S38, but under the sway of a traUv^itory exceptional dictatorial regime, in which the National Consti- tutional Assembly excercised without limitation all the- pow- ers of the nation. The laws under whose empire the treaty was made were the decrees of December 1, 1857, and February 5, 1858, the pr6- visions of which were literally compile J with. There is no conflict between the treaty of limits and the Constitution of 1838. (a.) Because the Constitution of 1838 did not include the District of Nicoya within the territory of Nicaragua, since, as stated by the former Nicaraguan Constitution of April 8, 1826, the said District did not belong to her. 92 (h.) Because tlie Constitntion of 183S did not cither include the territory suuth of tlie San Juan river, hecause said river was the limit clearly defined bv the plain provisions of the Costa Rican Constitution of 1S25 for the sovereignty of Costa Rica. (c.) Because the settlement of 1858 had l)een foreseen by the said Constitution of 1838, wherein it was provided that as soon as such settlement should be reached it was to be under- stood as being embodied in the Constitution itself. (d.) Because the Constitution of 1838 was not the funda- mental law by which the perfection of the treaty should be governed. Costa Rica maintains that the treaty of 1858 is as much an international convention as any other whatsoever; and as Nic- aragua maintains that it is an amendment of the Constitution the burden of proof falls upon her. She has not produced it, nor can she do so, since the very first of all her laws on the matter, the founchition and source of them all, which is the Constitution of 1826, declares that the District of Nicoya does not form part of Nicaragua. Supposing that the Nicaraguan Constitution of 1838 should have declared that the District of Guanacaste and the territory Routh of the San Juan river belonged to that Republic, a declaration whicli was never made, the effect thereof could never prevail against the fundamental laws of Costa Ri(\a, wliich were ]>revious — one of Januai-y 21, 1825, and the other the amiexation of Nicoya of December !Hh of the same year. Ever since April 8, 1820, the date of the first Constitution of Nicaragua, that State may have had more or less reas(m upon which to set forth a claim to sovereignty over Guana- 93 caste; but she had no reason whatever to declare that tlie said District was included in her territory. If the doctrines maintained by Nicai-agna in her Arai V. It also iiolds at the disposal of the Ari)iti"ator all the books that it has cited. In conclii>ion, j)erhaps it may not be out of place to re- fer to the opinion of oiw. of the most conspicuous men of Ni(^aragua, General M.-iximo Jerez, who, when the (]uestion about tli(! trcMty of limits began to bi^ agitated in that country, exj)re^se(l hini>t'lf in tbe Xicaraguaii Scitiatc in the following language : 97 " From the beginning of this question on the validity or nullity of the treaty of limits of 1858, I always thought that we are on the wrong side. It always seemed to me that the reasons now alleged against the construction which we place upon the Nicaraguan laws at the time of the treaty are good at the most, and this is granting too much, to render that con- struction doubtful; and, under these cii-cumstances, I never shall deem it proper for tlie pul)li(* authorities of Nicaragua to declare, in the face of the world, and foi- the purpose of nullifying that treaty, that they, like children, did not under- stand their own laws, nor were Ixmnd to know what tliey meant. " It is perhaps tlirough a feeling analogous to the one I have just expressed that, although the Executive a long time ago submitted to the consideration of Congress the unfortunate question of the nullity of the treaty of limits. Congress has re- mained silent, and allowed the treaty exchanged in 1858, and executed iistgood faith during fifteen years, to continue in ob- servance."^ The defense of Costa Rica has nothing to add to the pre- ceding words of the Nicaraguan Senator, General Jerez, and confines itself to respectfully await such uecision as the learned and upright Arbitrator shall be pleased to pass on the question. PEDRO PEREZ ZELEDON, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Costa Rica. "Washington, D. C, December 2, 188T. ' Apuntamientos Geograficos, Estadisticos e Historicos por Joaquin Ber- nardo Calvo. San Jose de Costa Rica, 188G. Imprenta Nacional 18»7, page 18. 7 DOCUMENTS. DOCUMENTS. No. 1. Royal Ordinance of February 10, 1576,^/>>?' the rednrfio-n of the Province of 2\i(juzgal2)a, situated to the north of the Sa7i Juan de Nicaragua river. "^ The King, To the President, and the Judges of our Rojal Audien- cia, sitting at the city of Santiago, of tlie Province of Gua- temala : It has been represented to us on the part of Captain Diego Lopez, a resident of the city of Truxillo, of the Province of Honduras, that it is advisable and very necessary for the ser- vice of God our Lord, and that of ourselves, that the Province of Taguzgalpa, also called New Cartago, which is in tlie said Province, should be conquered and peopled ly Spaniards; that many years ago ^e city named Elgueta was founded there and peopled, but had to be abandoned owing to the ina- bility of its inhabitants to resist the strong attacks of the natives ; and that he, the said Diego Lopez, would undertake, if we were pleased to accede to it, the said conquest and peopling, within four years, and at his own expense, provided that he would l)e gi'anted the same favors that were granted to Captain Diego de Artieda, to whom we enti'usted the discovery and settle- ment of the Province of Costa Rica ; and whereas all of this has been heard and considered in our Council of the Lidies, and the said Council resolved that we miglit issue this, our 'From Coleccion de Documentos iiieditos relativos al descubriniicnto, conquista y organizacion de las antiguas posesiones espanolas de Aiiu'rica y Oceania, sacadas de los Arcliivos del Reyno y niuy especialmeute del de Tndias. Couipetentemente autorizada. Vol. xiv, pages 528 to 537. T TRRARY 102 present ordinance, to which we have been pleased to accede : "We do, therefore, command you to enter, as soon as this ordi- nance reaches yon, into an agreement with the said Diego Lopez for the aforesaid purposes, observing the requisites pro- vided for in the " Instructions " and ordinances in force relat- iuij to new settlements. And as soon as the said agreement is entered into, and before it is carried into execution, you shall sul^nit it to us, togetlier with your opinion about it, addressed to our Council aforesaid, to provide and decide as advisable. Given at Madrid on February 10, 1576. I, THE KING. By command of His Majesty. ^ ANTONIO DE ERASSO. By virtue of the foregoing ordinance, an agreement for the conquest of Taguzgalpa was made in Guatemahi, l)etween Li- centiate Palacio, an Associate Justice of the Audiencia, com- missioned to that effect, and the said Diego Lopez ; and tlie limits of the Province were marked as follows : Firstly. His Majesty will ap]K>int him his Governor and Captain-General of the said Province, which is the whole land in(!luded between the mouth of El Desaguadero, from its northern hank, and Cape Camaron, at the point where the Pr(»vince of Honduras begins, witli all the country included therein, until reaching the boundary and jurisdiction of the Province of Nicaragua and Nueva Segovia, and what is that of ibinihnas; and the said Captain Diego Lopez si lall have the said GoveriKjrshi]) dui'ing his lifetime, with the salary of two thousand ducats, to be paid from the Treasury or revenues belonging to His Majesty in the said Province; but if lU) su(Oi funtls should exist, His Majesty shall not be bound to j)ay any- thing on account of that salaiT ; and after the death of said Diego Lopez, his eldest son or son-in-law, as his heir, shall succeed him in tins grant, |»ro\ idtnl that he is a ])erson having tl>e ne<;essary <|UMlilicatioris and hoing His Maj(!sty pleased to accept. 103 No. 2. The Pt'esident of the Royal Audlencia of Guatemala trans- mits to the Governor^ ann ask for instructions as to what must be done with the District of Nicoya, resolved at the meeting held yesterday, as follows : That the Districts of Ni- coya and Santa Cruz must be considered annexed to this State ad interim, until otherwise decided finally by the High Powers, and that therefore the said districts must be 'protected and taken care of with as much circumspection, prudence, and earnestness as might be granted to any other integral part of the Costa Rican State. And by order of Congress, and returning to you the papers of the case, we transmit the above to you for your information and the proper effects. God, Union, and Liberty. San Jose, January 29, 1825. MANUEL FERNANDEZ, Secretary. MANUEL ALYARADO, Secretary. To The Citizen Secretary-General j^ro tern. 106 No. 4. Measures taken by the Constitutional Assembly of Costa Rica to carry into executio?i the Federal Decree xohich annexed the District of Nicoya to her own Territory. Okdek. Office of the Secretaries OF THE Constitutional Assembly. To The Citizen Minister-General : The Assembly having been made acquainted witli the terms of the Federal Decree, declaring that the District of Nicoya BE annexed to this State — jResolved, That the Executive, in compliance therewith, shall cause the said District to be furnished, as soon as possible, with all the necessary officers ; that the different branches of the administration of its Government shall be organized there in the proper manner ; that the Constitution and the Laws of THE State shall be communicated to it and enforced ; and that a census, as approximate as possil)le, of tlic population of the said District shall be nuide and sent to the Assembly in order that it may resolve about the representation to l)e given the District in that l^ody, and the manner of election. And by order of the Assembly we transmit the above to you foi- the iiiforiiKitioii of the Chief Magistrate, (-luil, L'nioii, and Liberty. San Jose, April 14, 182(>. VFA)RO ZELED()N, /SeERNAiiDo Calvo. 119 No. 11. Tlie village of Guanacaste is raised hy the Governrneni of Costa Rica to the CAitegory of a tovm. The Supreme Chief Magistrate of the free State of Costa Rica, Whereas the Assetnl)ly has decreed ;infl the Council smiic- tioned what follows : The Extraordinary Assembly of the free State of Costa Rica, considering the meritorious circumstancres of the village of Guanacaste, its progress, and the increase of its population, lias been pleased to decree, and does herein- decree, as follows : Article I. The village of Guanacaste is raised to the (;at- egory of a town. Article II. The Executive shall issue the proper credential on stamped paper of tiie 2d class of seal No. 1. Let it l)e transmitted to the Representative Council. Given at San Jose on July 18, 1831. JOSE GABRIEL del CAMPO, President. MANUEL ALVARADO, Secretary. RAFAEL OSEJO, Secretary. Hall of the Council, San Jose, July 23, 1881, Let it be transmitted to the Executive. BASILIC CARRILLO, President. JOSE ANSELMO SANCHO, Sec7'etary. Therefore let it be executed. San Jos^, Julv 23, 1831. JUAN MORA. To the Citizen Joaquin Bernardo Calvo. 120 No. 12. The town of Santa Cruz (i/i the District of Xi coy a) has a Representative in the Assembly of the State of Costa Rica. The Supreme Chief Magistrate of the free State of Costa Rica, in pursuance of the provisions of Articles 51, 56, and 80 of the Constitution of the State, for the renovation in the coming year 1833, of the supreme legishitive, executive, and conservative powers, has been pleased to decree, and does hereby decree, as foHows : The District Electoral College, to l)e appointed in Janu- ary of next year (1833), for the renovation of members of the supreme powers of the State, shall act as follows : * * 7th. Santa Cruz shall retain the representation which, under the law of May 30, last year, it ouglit to have had. ■K- * * -Jr * * Let it be transmitted to the Execuitive. Given in San Jose on the 15th of May, 1832. JOAQUIN DE IGLESIAS, President. NICOLAS ULLOA, Sec7'etai'y. JOS£ MARIA ARIAS, Secretary. Tiierefore let it be executed. San Jose, May 18, 1832. JUAN MORA. To Citizen .Ioaqi^in Bkrnakdo Calvo. 121 No. 13. histrncUo)is given to the Special (Jominissioner of the Gov- errment of Costa Rica to visit the Districts of Nicoya and . Bagaces. The Supreme Cliief Mfigistrate of the free State of Costa Kica : Whereas one of the first duties of tlie Executive power is to keep order and preserve the tranquillity of the State, taking for that effect such measures as may be deemed advisal)le ; and whereas an official communication, dated on the tiitii ultimo, from the Superior Court of Justice, and also several reports of the political authorities and of the Intendente, as well as reports from several trustworthy persons, have been re- ceived, all to the effect that the Districts of Nicoya and Ba- gaces are becoming deuKiralized, either for want of energy on the part of the local authorities and their failure to enforce the laws and superior orders, or owing .to the insubordination which several emigrants from the State of Nicaragua have in- culcated in their inhabitants ; and whereas, if the proper measure is not taken in time to preserve order in that precious part of the State, the result will be to endanger public safety and tranquillity, to cause all the eleuients of prosperity to re- main stationery, if not to decline, and to subject the individual rights to the attacks of malice and lawlessness, and render the police either faulty or useless ; and whereas the lack of prompt knowledge on the part of the superior authority of what occurs in those districts renders it difficult for the Govern- ment to devise the proper means for . enforcing the law and securing the happiness and welfare of the people ; and whereas, in consequence of the disorder therein prevalent, the public Treasury of that locality cannot get the means neces- sary for the support of the Govermnent and the promotion of works of general interest, in spite of the meritorious circum- 122 stances as well as righteousness of the Intendente General of the State, Citizen Joaquin Rivas, I have tlierefore decided, in pursuance of Section 2d, Article LXXXIl of the Organic Law, and of Articles XIII and XXXVII of the Rules and Regulations of September 28, 1831, to decree, and I do lierebj decree, as follows : 1st. Citizen Joaquin Rivas, the Intendente General, is hereby appointed Connnissioner, for the Executive, and in representa- tion thereof, to go personally and as soon as possible to the Dis- tricts of Nicoya and Bagaces, and visit there with the zeal and activity cliaracterizing him, all the villages and towns of both Districts, and do there and perform all that is provided for in this Decree and in the instructions which separately siuill be given to him. 2d. The said Commissioner shall do and perform what Article 4-1 of the law of June 13, 1828, orders the superior political chief to do, and shall cause the municipal authorities to comply witli all the laws (;onnnunicated to them for the best order in the public administration, especially in matters of po- lice, education, increase of the municipal revenue, honest col- lection and disbursement of the public funds, the public health, the protection of the social guarantees, and the preservation of the archives. 3d. The Commissioner shall also cause the Government's Decree of August 31, 1832, ab(»ut vagrants and foreigners, to be strictly enforced ; and he shall not leave the town which he may be visiting witliout having caused all that has l)een pro- vided foi-, to be put in practice and without having established in it prinuiry schools. 4th. The Commissioner shall also, in pursiumce of the laws in torce, inspectt the ofH(;es in charge of the sale of stamj^ed j»aj)('r ; and Im sbull also inloiMii hiniscU of the condition of the j)ul)lic revenue, and cause the laws establishing taxes of Jill kinds to Ite enforced, giving for that j)urpose to each sub- ordinatf >ucli ordci's and instructions as may be r»'([iiired. 5111. Tlu; ('ouunissi(»ner shall report to the (iovernment the 123 result of his action, for which purpose he shall keep such reg- isters or journals as may he necessary; and, whenever he inay deem it advisable, he shall communicate directly with the Gov- ernment from the place where he might happen to be. 6tli. The civil, military, and ecclesiastical authorities of the said Districts, and tlieir towns and cities, sliall receive and rec- ognize the aforesaid Intendente as Connnissioner of the Gov- ernment for the purposes aforesaid, and shall pay him such respect and consideration as is due to his character. 7th. The salary of $30 per month shall l)e paid the said Commissioner, in addition to the one he receives under the law as Intendente General ; and he shall be attended by two mounted orderlies. 8th. The present Decree shall be printed, published, and circulated for its due execution. Given at the city of San Jose this 7th day of February, 1834. JOSJi: RAFAEL de GALLEGOS. To The Secretary-General of the Government. 124 No. 14. Ciassiji cation of the ioicus of Costa Rica in reference to home government and Treasury matters. The Vice-President acting as the Supreme Chief Executive Magistrate of the free State of Costa Rica. Whereas the A.ssembly has decreed and the Council sanc- tioned tlie following : " The Conj-titutional Assembly of the free State of Costa Rica, desiring to make the transaction of Government business expeditious and efficient, and also to improve the organization of the Treasury, by appointing three high officers, who shall exercise superior authority, with functions equal to those of the sub-delegates of the Intendencia General, in their respective districts, has decreed, and does hereby decree : — Article I. In order to facilitate the administration of the Government, in matters of Police, antl the Treasury, three high officers shall be stationed, one at Cartago, aiu)ther at Alajuela, and the third at the town of G uanacaste ; they shall have, in their respective districts, the same duties as the Political Chief had under the law of June 13, 1828 ; and they must have the qualifications required l)y the said law, which is hereby amended so as to be made applicable to tliem. ******* Akticlk VI, Tlic Departments or districts shall be named Eastern, Western, and (4 uanacaste : the first comprising the cities of San Jos('' and Cartago, the towns of Paraiso and Es- casii and the villages of Curridal)at, Aserri, Union, (^uircot, Tobosi, ( /O('), ( )ro!ri', Tncurrique, Tcrral)a, Boruca and the val- leys of 'i'unialba anarba and the villages of Pacaca, the Aguucate Mine, Esparzaanlis]ied, and circulated. Given at Leon, on November 8, 1838. BENITO ROSALEZ, . President. SEBASTIAN SALINAS, Secretary. FAUSTO CHAMORRO, Secretary. 'rhcr''foi"c let it be executed. ]>eon, Decendter 1, 1838. JOSI'] NUNEZ. To ThK Sl<;(JKKTAKV-(iK.\i:iiAI.. ' Til is decree wiis isHUcil when Ddd Francisco Maria Orcamuiio, Uosta Hiciiri Hiivoy, prcHcritcd liiinHclf to the Cabinet of Nicarajtua for the purpose tlial lliat State sliould linally givM up iicr claim to the District of Guanacaste. 133 No. 20. Law enacted by the Constituent Asseinhly of Nicaragua on December 21, 1838, to carry into effect Article II of the Constitution of the same year. The Chief Magistrate of the State of Kicaragiia, Whereas the Constituent Asseinltly has decreed what fol- lows : # The Constituent Assembly of the State of Nicaragua, desir- ing to establish and regulate the method of election of the Su- preme authorities of the State in conformity with tiie rules prescribed by the organic law, has been pleaded to decree and decrees : Chapter I. Article I. The State is dicided into four Departments, namely, East, West, North, and South. Article II. The DepartuKiut of the East embraces three Dis- tricts, namely Granada, Masaya, Xinotepet. Article III. The Department of the West embraces two, namely Leon and Chinandega. Article IV. The Department of the North embraces two Districts, namely Segovia and Matagalpa. Article V. The Department of the South shall em- brace ONLY ONE, namely RiyAS, UNTIL THE QUESTION PENDING BETWEEN THIS GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT (>F CoSTA E.ICA FOR THE REINCORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF GuANA- OASTE IS SETTLED. Article VI. The Disti-ict of Granada consists of the city of the same name, the town of Acoyapa, and the villages of Boaco, Camoapa, Lustepet, Comalapa, Juigalpa, Lovago and Lovi- guisca. Article VII. The District of Masaya consists of the city of this name and those of Managua and Tipitapa, and the towns of Nindiri and Mateare. 134 Article VIII. The District of Jinotepet consists of the village of this name and those of San Juan, Nandaimes, Santa Catarina, Nicjuinohouio, Masatepe, Diria, Dii-iomo, Diriamba, Nandasmo, San Marcos, San Rafael and Santa Teresa. The District of Leon consists of the city of this name and the towns Snbtiaba. Pueblo Nnevo, and Nagarote. Article X. The Disti-ir.t of Chinandega consists of this town and those of Realejo and Villa Nueva, and the villages • of El Viejo, Chichigalpa, Guadalupe, Posoltega, Posolteguilla, Telica, Quezalquaque, Somotillo, El Sauce and Santa Rosa. Article XL The District of Segovia consists of the vil- lages of Somoto, Totogalpa, Ocotal, Mosoute, Macuelizo, Nueva Segovia, Jicaro, Jalapa, Telpaneca, Palacaguina, Ja- lagt'iina, Pueblo Nuevo, Condega, San Juan do Leinay, Estile and La Trinidad. Article XII. The District of Matagalpa consists of the village of the same name and those of San Rafael, Jinotega, Scbaco, Metapa, Tierra Bona, San Dionisio, Esquipulas, Min- mui, and San Ramon. Article XIII. The District of Rivas consists of the city of the same name and the villages of San Gorge, Pueblo Viejo, Buenos Ayres, Potosi, Obrage, Puel)lo Nuevo, Tola, Ometepe and Moyogalpa, Article XIV. Each District above named shall elect one deputy, l)ut the District of Leon and the District of Rivaa shall elect two each. The numl)er of the primary electors wlii{;h coiTcsponds to each town or village above luimed shall appear from the schedule, which is appended to this decree. Article XV. Those towns, where more than ten electors are to be chosen, shall be divided in as many cantons as are des- ignafeil in the schedules appended to this decree, and the limits of these crantons shall be fixed by tlie respective municipal au- thorities ac«*ordiiig to the basis of their ])opulution and the number of the electors to lie chosen. The same numicipal au- thoiitics shall also designate the place at each canton where the popular meetings nmst lie held. 135 No. 21. Prooislons of the Decree of Bases and Gudvantees of March 8, 1841, in regard to Costa Rieaii Territory. Article 1. Of the State. 9 § 1. The State consists of all its inhabitants whether native or naturalized. It is sovereign and independent both in its internal administration and its foreign relations. The sov- ereignty essentially resides in the whole of the State ; and no section theyeof, whether large or small, nor any person ex- ercising the supreme power, shall assume the title of sovereign. § 2. The territory of the State is comprised within THE following LIMITS : On THE WEST THE La FlOR RIVER, AND THE CONTINUATION OF THE LINE THEREOF, AND ALONG THE SHORE OF THE LaKE OF NICARAGUA AND THE 8aN JuAN RIVER TO THE MOUTH OF THE LAi'TER ON THE ATLANTIC ; ON THE NORTH THE ATLANTIC OcEAN FROM THE MOUTH OF THE San Juan river to the Escudo de Veragua ; on the east from the latter place to the Chiriqui river ; and on the SOUTH FROM THE LATTER RIVER AND ALL ALONG THE COAST OF THE Pacific Ocean to the La Flor River. § 3. The territory of the State is divided into live Depart- ments, the capitals of which shall be, respectively, Cartago, San Jose, Heredia, Alajuela, and Guanacaste. The first will con- sist of all the towns between Matina and the E\ Fierro river ; the second will be comprised between the latter river and the Virilla river, including the towns of Terral)a and Boruca. The third department will be comprised between the Virilla and the Segundo rivers. The fourth will l^e comprised between the Segundo and the Chomes rivers ; and the fifth will be comprised between the Chomes and the La Flor rivers. The Departments are subdivided into towns, and the towns 136 into wards and sections, but the titles so far obtained of cities and towns shall be preserved ; but in the future no such titles shall be granted, except for great services rendered to the State. Wlien the increase of the population may demand another dis- tribution of the Departments, all new arrangements shall be based upon the rate of 30,000 inhabitants for each one. 137 No. 22. The ConstHuent Assemhly of Costa Rica of 1842 declared that the Province of (ruaiKicaste is an integral j!>^ublishcd. Government House, San Jose, August 27, 1842. FRANCESCO MORAZAN. To General -losE Miguel Sara via. 139 No. 23. Revenue posts are estahJished on the Sarapiqui and La 1'lor rivers. The President of the State of Costa Rica, Upon information that foreign goods, as well as those articles the traffic of which the Government has reserved for itself, are frequently smuggled into this State through the northern coast, the Sarapiqui river, and the western frontier ; and considering that it is the duty of the Executive to prevent this trade from he- ing carried on, to the detriment both of lawful commerce and the public Treasury ; in use of the faculties vested in him by sec- tions 22 and 26 of Article 110 of the Constitution, and by the law of December 31, 1845, decrees : Article I. A revenue military post is established on the northern coast, on the banks of the Sakapiqci river ; and another of the same kind upon the banks of thk La Flor RIVER, ^ in the western part of the State; and both of them will be stationed at the places which the Government may designate. Article II. Each one of these posts will be in charge of a commandant, subject to the orders of the Intendente-General ; and this commander shall have under him such troops as ac- cording to the circnimstances may be determined. Article III. It will be the duty of those posts to seize the merchandise and goods unlawfully introduced into the State, and also to prevent all persons from going out of the State without exhibiting their proper passports ; ^and after six months subsequent to the date of this decree it shall be also their duty to take to the interior any person who does not come provided with that document. Article IV. The said posts shall be entitled to that share ' This was the boundary of Costa Rica after the annexation of Guanacaste. 140 of the articles seized which is allowed by law in recompense of this service. Given at the citv of San Jose, on May 10^ 1847. JOSE ilAEIA CASTKO. To Senor Juan de Dios Zespedes, Chief of Bureau^ hi charge pro tern. of the Departments of War and Treasury. 141 No. 24. ^ 7Aject has not been realized ; and also considering that the residents and land-own- ers of the Province of Guanacaste, upon whom the said tax was especially laid, demand that this money be used iur the aforesaid purposes ; and considering that it is of tlie highest importance to the commerce and industry of the country, that the means of (•.ommuiii(tation l)etween this Repul)lic and the neighboring State should be facilitated, has been pleased to decree, and decrees : Article I. Out of the amount realized from tlic tax imposed upon cattle l)y the law of August 7, 1847, tliere shall be placed at the disposition of the Goverimr of the Province of Guaiuicaste tlx- sum of SHOO, to be used in the opening of the road which leads from the Pakranc:a to tuk La Flor I'iver,^ the said tax being devoted in the future to the repaii- and im- provomcnt of the saitl road. To tbe Kxccufive Power. 'Boundary of Ihc l\v« Slulcs ullhcdiilc of this decree. 143 Given at the Palace of the Supreme Powers in San Joe^, on the 11th day of July, 1851. FKANCISCO MARIA OREAMUNO, President. MODESTO GUEVARA, Secretai'y. MIGUEL MORA, Seo'etary. Therefore let it be executed. National Palace, San Jose, July 28. 1851. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. MANUEL JOSE CARAZO. To The Secretary of War and of the Treasuby. 144 No. 26. Bases for the formation of a Company^ named the Sarapiqxii ComjKiny^for the upening of a road from San Jose to the Sarapiqai river^ and for the navigation of the said river, in order that the exportations of Costa Rica may he made through the San Juan river. Juan Rafael Mora, President of the Republic of Costa Rica : Takino; into consideration : 1st, tliat the pi-ospei-ity of the country l)cing based upon ag- riculture and commerce, it is of the highest importance to im- pi-ove those two great fountains of wealth in order that they may improve day t>y day and reach perfection. 2d. Tliat one of the best means of reachiiiir the end indi- cated is to lay out convenient and short I'oads leading to the ports on both oceans. ;>d. That at present the Republic owns a very good road on the Pacilic that can bo impi-oved ; and that there is none on the side of the Atlantic, although such a one has been demanded for a lung time by the urgent interest of the Costa Rican people. 4th. That several schemes, surveys, and examinations have been undertaken for the last 30 years at different times by sevei'al c-itizens of tlie nation in ordei' to ac('(^mplish such a de- bii'e the discovery was made of the means of biiihiing a road giving easy access to the SARAPiyuf kivkk, wmicm is navioahle, and empties into the San Juan kivkk, whkii in its turn emftiks into the Northern Sea, wlicrc there is a good port known and fre- quented by all commci-cial nations. 0th. That the (irttvernment, yichling to the general clamor, and taking athanhigc of llial (lisc()very, gave th(; proper au- thority, for a formal survey, and foi' the lu ii.dinc; of tue koad, and ap])ro])riateui"pose a portion of the revenue de- 145 voted to roads; and that the said formal survey proved to be successful, and also that the work began, but could not be com- pleted, for want of means. 7th. Tiiat if the necessitv of such an easy way of communi- cation to the Atlantic has heretofore been imperious, now it is still more urgent, owing to the increase of the population and industry of the country, as shown bj' statistics. 8th. And, finally, that the frequency of relations of tliis country with foreign States, is conducive to immense benefit for its wealth and civilization, and anticipates a great and flat- tering future for the Republic, I have been pleased to decree, and do herebj' decree, as follows : Article I. Due authority is given for the organization in this country of a Costa Rican Company, to l)e known as the Sarapiqui Company, consisting of twenty responsible members, and having a capital of $60,000, divided into shares of $3,000 for each partner : the said capital to be increased hereafter, if necessary. Article II. This company shall iiave for its object the build- ing of a substantial carriage road, within the period of five years, to l)e counted from January 1, 1852, starting from this city, and ending on the wharf of the Sarapiqui river. The width of this road shall be 40 ^-ards, whenever the topographic conditions of the locality' permits it ; and it shall be provided with such bridges and other appurtenances as are necessary for its use and preservation. Article III. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preced- ing Article, the company shall begin b^- l)uilding, as soon as possil)le, a good road for mules, whi(rh shall be finished within eighteen months, to be counted from the same day, January 1, 1852. Article IX. It is hereby granted in favor of the said Com- pany that it shall collect during the period of twenty-tive years toll tax of two reals (25 cents) for each one hundred- weight of all domestic merchandise that may be carrieil over the whole of the said road, or a part thereof, and four reals 10 146 (50 cents) for each one hundredweight of foreign merchan- dise, of whatever nature, imported tlirough it. Article XYIII. The Company shall have the right for the period of iive years of establishing, if suitable to its interests, STEAM NAVIGATION OX THE Sakapiqui kivek, either by itself or by agreement with other companies ; and, in either event, the Government grants to it, for tiie wliole period of the con- tract for tlie roa'],the right to collect a navigation duty of one real (12^ cents) on each one hundredweight of merchandise exported, and two reals (25 cents) for each one hundredweight of merchandise imported. Given at the JStitional Palace, at San Jose, on October 27, 1851. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. JOAQUIN BERNARDO CALVO, Secretary of the Interior. 147 No. 27. Costa Rica prohibits the Navigation of the San Carlos river, an affluent of the San Jaan, and prescribes penalties for the transgressors. Juan Rafael Mora, President of tlie Eepnljlic of Costa Rica : Whereas I have been informed tliat foreign niercliandise, and also those articles, the trade of which the Government has re- served for itself, are frequently smuggled through the San Car- los river, therefore I do hereby' decree — Article 1. Navigation on the San Carlos river is hereby PROHIBITED, until Said river Is declared, with the proper for- malities, to Ije a port of the Republic. Article 2. Every boat or vessel wiiich may be found navi- gating ON the San Carlos river shall be seized and forfeited, together with everything on board, whether it is foreign mer- chandise, or not ; and the owner, or master, and the sailors thereof, shall be arrested and placed at the disposal of the judge of the Treasury, to be tried according to law. Article 3. A perambulating revenue post subordinate to the Rio Grande Custom House, and consisting of one corporal and three revenue guards, is hereby established, and it shall be its duty to watch over the roads leading to the San Carlos river, and guard the banks of the same. Article 4. Such foreign merchandise, or articles whose trade belongs to the Government, as mav be seized by this revenue post, shall be delivered, together with the prisoner, or prisoners, to the Collector of the Custom House al)ove-named, and said collector sliall distribute the captured propert}', according to the laws and deci-ees in force. Given at the Palace of the Government in San Jose, on No- vember 14, 1853. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. MANUEL JOSE CARAZO, Secretary of the Treasury. 148 No. 28. Costa Rica grants to the jinn of Kirkland tf* Geenng the privilege of dearn navigation on the Sapod river, and of establishing a route of transit from the BoUmos Bay to the Lale of Nicaragua ; the grantees being authorized to use the waters of the Lake and i'uary 25th instant, between the Republic and William P. Kirkland, William B. Geering, and their associates is hereby approved with the amendments set forth in the following article : Article II. The amendments spoken of in the foregoing- Article ai'e the following: 1st. The Article of the contract will read as f»)llows : " The Govei-nment of Costa Rica grants to Messrs. William F*. Kii'kland, William B. Geering, and their associates, the ex- clusive ])rivilege (»f steam navigation on J'he Sapo.a river for thepui'pose of establishing a lineof transit from thk Gulf OK Las Salinas i>e Bolanos to the Lake of Nicaragua, for the period of Iwcnty ycai's, to l»e couiiU'd IVoiu the date of this decree ; iiiid the said Messrs. William P. l\irlut we had courage, self-denial, patriot- ism, that union of niiiid jx'culiar to Costa llica, and tiie decision ((» con(juci" or to die. And Providence has blessed OJH- soldiers, and condiu;ted them from victory to vi(;tory. We ;ir(! masters of the I'ivcr and the Great Lake, and arc in itommunication with our allies, while Walker, who is (tonflned to liiviis and its neighboring teri'ittu'y, i> going to be attacked 157 and conquered and annihilated, too-etlier with the city, if such iis necessary. T have offered pardon U) all those who i)lindly follow him, if they should abandon his cause. We shall know how to conquer and foi-give. But will this be the end i No, fellow-citizens. The work commenced must be terminated. It is necessary for us not to be subject any more to the danger that a new AValker comes to distuib our peace, and >tru';i;de to reduce us to slavery. It is necessary that so many ()l)stacles overconje, so many sacri- fices made, shall not become fruitless. They have to i)e con- tinued. Let us, therefore, raise upon that very river, and with our own hands, a pow'erful barrier which may now and forever stop that torrent of usurpation. Nothing would have been gained by only obtaining a precarious peace. Let us conquer a solid, lasting peace, honorable, and producive of fruitfid results to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Cential American States. Costa Ricans, I rely upon you for all of this. With 3'onr assistance and Divine protection, there will be nothing to stop me. Let us bless Providence which shelters us, and let us march united, at the cry of Long live Costa Rica ! with un- disturbed faith and perseverance towards the future which is before us. JUAN R. MORA. San Jose, January 11, 1857. 158 No. 33. Opi?iio7i of the Government of Chiatemala in regard to the action of Costa Rica during the war againd Walker, and especially in the affair of the seizure of the steamers. Costa Rica has again gallantly undertaken a campaign against the invaders of Nicaragua. She understood the im- portance of occupying certain places on the San Juan river to prevent the adventurers from being reinforced i)y way of the Korthcrn Sea, and her troops have succeeded in accomplishing this purpose l)y seizing the steamers which Walker had on the river, occupying the San Carlos fortress, which is upon the very same entrance to the Lake, and by taking possession also, as is said, of one of the two steamers that the enemy had on the Lake. * * * It is certainly sad, and causes the soul of any person who is friendly to the independence of the country to grieve, that while Costa Rica is making new and sti'enuous efforts to save Nic- aragua, and while the other Central American Republics are preparing themselves to send troops to replace the losses sus- tained in their ranks, there seems to be nothing, even the im- minence of danger, capable of terminating the unhappy dis- cord which has brought unfortunate Nicaragua to the condi- tion in which she now finds herself. ["Giiceta de Giialenmla," .hiuuaiy 22, 18r)7.] 159 No. 34. What happened in Nicaragua after the seizure of the ateainers hy the Costa Rican forces. San Jose, February 4, 1857. News from the Ar.mv. [Extracts from officihl clesi)atcbe8 aud documents]. After twenty days of Bilence and anxiety, we have at last received the news from the army which we pulilisiied in the extra editions of the " Boletin " issued on the 2d and 3d instant. What is the reason of snch great calm, of snch an incompre- hensible inaction, before an enemy who, although con(|uered, is so active, astute, and bold ? We do not believe in concealing the truth, hut, on the con- trary, in proclaiming it aloud, and making it serve us as an ex- ample, to avoid disuiuon and internal discord, which inevitably produce the ruin of all nations. Nicaragua is unfortunately the living, bloody, smoky, example, which Costa Rica must have before her eyes to confirm her in her love of peace, and of her modest and industrious existence, free from the accur&ed rancor of parties, and to make her preserve, above all things, the most vigorous union among her children. The field of the Central American allies has been about to offer the image of another "Agramante's field." Partisan spirit, lamentable preferences, repeated disagreements, and lastly a fatal division, caused the armies, already decdmated by sick- ness and war, to be disbanded. AVlien Gen. Canas arrived^ there, he did all that he could to re-establish indispensable unity among the leaders and the troops ; and considering the state of irritation, and the almost irreconcilable difterences which he ' Gen. Don Jose Maria Canas, a Costa Rican officer, who afterwards gave his name to the treaty of 1858. 160 found there, what he succeeded in accomplishing cannot be deemed small. The triumphs obtained by Costa Rica on the San Juan river caused a rcanimation of the spirits of Nicaragua, the concen- tration of her thoughts, the oblivion of her petty differenc-es, and the prevaleiice of the nol)le idea of saving the country from traitorous and foreign enemies. As soon as General Mora^ reached the fortress of San Carlos, he devoted himself with characteristic activity, as well as decision and tact, to accomplish a powerful harmonization of all conflicting elements, and by calling together the Central Ainerican leaders, and writing to the Generals of the armies, and to every one who could exercise any influence in that direc- tion, he prepared the way to give the couj) de grace to the usurpers. All of this has fortunately succeeded. All the leaders have responded with patriotism and dignity to the appeal of the Costa Rican Generals, who, being exempted from partisan spirit, have no other feeling than the desire to fulfll their duty towards their conniion c-onuti'v, and to fortify the Central American independence by expelling from the Central Ameri- can soil the last one of its enemies. Under such circumstances nothing exists now which pre- vents military operations from being cai-ried on ; and it may be that, at the time of writing this, a terrilde end has been reached by the enemy to the benefit and prosperity of Centi-al America. 'Don Jo86 Joaquin Mora, a brother of Dcjii .luaii Kafad Mora, President of Costa Kica. 161 No. 35. What, in 1857, ivaa i/wug/U in Nicaragua in regard to the blow injiicted by Costa Rica upon Walker on the San Juan river and the Lake of Nicaragua. [From the " Boletin Oficial " ot Leon.l The Vanguard of Central America. Three hundred years ago a clever Minister of the English Government, placing his finger upon the map of the New World, recently discovered, pointed at the Istlmius of Nicara- gua as the great door through which Europe should place iier- self in rapid communication with China, Japan, and the Indian Archipelago. At the end of last century a Spanish Minis- ter saw in the same Isthmus the proper place for the opening of ai) interoceanic canal ; and at the heginning of the present century a scientific commission of the Spanish Government made the proper surveys. Lately, on Septeml)er 22, 1849, and August 19, 185 J, a passage from San Juan del Sur, the Lake^ and the river of San Juan del Nurte, until the port of the same name on the Atlantic was successfully made ; and the door was thrown open through which our independence can be threatened at any moment, as it has l)ccii now threatened, with the knowledge and acquiescence of the nation which seems to show the greatest interest for the non-alienation of the said transit. The Republic of Costa Rica, surrounded by the waters and territory of Nicaragua on her northern side, from east to west, finds herself much more in contact with the said line than all the other States, and it is for this reason that she is called l>y nature to be the sentry and the " Vanguard of Central America.'' Costa Rica, indeed, has understood very well her own mis- sion in the present struggle against the filibusters ; she was the first to take the field on April 11 last, and defeated the encniy, rendering it incapable to follow the rapid march which it 11 162 intended. She could then measure the strength of the enemy, and, casting her inquiring look upon the battle-tield, she saw through tlie smoke ot gunpowder and the. noise of the struggle, that the vital point of Walker laid on the extremity of the transit line, as the strength of Sampson was in his hair. At once, and witliout hesitating one single moment, she left Rivas to engage in new strategic operations which she car- ried on with great success by marching her victorious armies from the San Carlos river to Funta de Castilla in the port of San Juan del Norte, and from Castillo Viejo to the fort and Lake of Nicaragua, depriving filibusters of their steamers, their rities, their cannons, their ammunition of war, and closing the door through which the}' could escape or receive reinforce- ments. All of this was done while the allied forces, abandon- ing Kivas to the enemy, compelled the invaders to concentrate themselves in a small place without any possibility to pay at- tention to the movements of that tormidable vanguard. Costa Rica, which scarcely lias a population of 100,000 in- habitants, has put on the field more than 5,000 men. She has opened her treasures, free < f cost, to all those who, whether through need or deceit, followed Walker. She has fitted out natittnal men-of-war and chartered others which will very soon efficiently blockade the southern port ; and in this way she has raised so high the national flag that it can be seen from every distance, and show that Costa Rica is indeed the Vanguard of Central America. G.J. 163 No. 36. The public opinioyi of N'tcaraywL /;/ regard to Costa Rica in 1857. — Nicaragua. — Tke United States of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. This would he the name of the Repnhlic formed hy the union of tlie two countries, and this is the destiny to which they are called by their past, present, and future conditions. If the States of Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras were, during the colonial rule, three entities actually different from each other, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were considered as only one Province, notwithstanding their nominal separation. There was not l)etween them an absolute independence. Each had a Governor, but one of these governors was a sub- delegate of the other. There was only one political chief, and l^oth Territories constituted but one diocese. The Costa llican people got from Nicaragua their wives, their learning, and their fortune ; and their children, Nicaragnans by nature, re- turned to Costa Rica to recognize the land of their parents and strengthen still nK)re the bonds of consanguinity, wealth, and intelligence which connected them to each other. At present both Repul)lics need union as a means to preserve their independence, dangerously compromised by the impetuous tor- rent of the immense commercial movement of the whole world, cai-ried from one ocean to the other tlirough their respective territories. Union alone can make them strong enough to oppose this inevitable movement. Only a condition of union in which all their interests are founded may render them respectal.le, and only in this way they will be able to cultivate the science of foreign politics with advantages that cannot be found under a separate system. 164 No. 37. Gh'atuitons grant of lands along the course of the Sa7'aj)iq^n river doion to its confluence icith the San Juan river, for agricultural purposes. Kafael G. Escalante, Vice-President of the Bepuhlic of Costa Pica, acting as Supreme Chief Executive Magistrate of the same : Moved hv the desire of favorinii: the poor people of Costa Rica by granting them gratuitously such tracts of lands as are capable of giving support to their families, and having in view at the same time the advisalnlity of promoting and facilitating foreign immigration by making grants of the lands more fer- tile and better situated for commerce, I do hereby decree : Article 1. A strip of vacant land 500 3'ards wide is appro- priated on the TWO banks of the Sarapiqi'i river, and all ALONG its COURSK UNTIL ITS CONFLUENCE WITH THE SaN JuaN RIVER, for the exclusive purpose of being given to poor Costa Ricans and to the industrious people of any nationality who may be willing to settle there and cultivate the land under the rules established by this decree. Article 2. Each settler shall be given a square area em- bracing five manzanas, or 50,000 square yanis, with a river front of 100 yards and a deptli of 500 ; and between one piece of property antillo Villa Nuevft District of Corinto. Corinto. Department of Leon. District of Leon. Leon San Felipe Subtiaba Camoapa Telica Quesalguaque Souse District of La Libertad. Libertad. 172 Department of Nueta Segoyia District of Nueva Segovia. Somotogrande Ocotal Masonte Ciiidad Antigua Jalapa J icaro Telpaneca Condega Totogalpa Maeualizo Santa Maria Dipilto Limay Estill Palacaguina Jalagnina Niigarote Puel)lo Nuevo Trinidad Pueblo Nuevo San Buenaventura Santo Rosa Department of Matagalpa. District of Matagalpa. Matagalpa Jiuotega San Kafael La Concordia Metopa Sebace Tierra Bona Esquipulas Muimese San Dionisio San Ramon Department of IIivas. Disti^t of Divas. Kivas San Gorge Buenos Ayree Potosi Oltratre Oraetepe Moyogalpa Pineda La Virgcn 'i'oltU'Til 173 No. 40. A road is ordered to he opened from the Capital to the Sarapujui river. Juan Rafael Mora, President of the Repvhlic of Costa Rica. Whereas the Congress has decreed the following : The Constitutional Congress of the Ilepal)lic of Costa Rica, having seen and examined the contract made on July 8th of the present year between the Supreme Goverinuent and the Messrs. Canty foe thk purpose of building a road from this Capital to the Sarapiqui river, has been pleased to decree, and decrees : Sole Article. Let the 12 articles contained in the above- named contract be approved, as well as the additional article proposed by the Supreme Executive Power on July 9th of the present yeai', inserted in the same. To the Supreme Executive Power. Given in the Hall of Sessions, in San Jose, the 23d day of September, 1858. RAFAEL G. ESCALANTE, President. JESUS JIMENEZ, Secretary. MANUEL CASTRO, Secretary. Therefore let it be executed. National Palace, San Jose, September 27. 1858. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. JUAN BERNARDO CALYO, Minister of the Interior and the Treasury. 174 No. 41. Concessions made hy Costa Rica for steam navigation upon the Sa?'apiqui and San Carlos rivers, and for carrying the mail from the wharf on the Sarapiqui river to San Juan del Norte and vice versa. Juan Rafael Mora, President of the Repnhlic of Costa Rica. Whereas tlie Congress has decreed the following : The ConstitutiiMial Congress of the Kepul^lic 'of Costa Kica having considered the contract for steam navigation on the " Sarapiqui and San Cfirlos rivers,'' made bj the Supreme Government with the Messrs. Cant}' on July 8 instant, decrees : Sole Article. The contract for steam navigation upon the Sarapiqui and San Carlos rivers made l»y the Supreme Gov- ernment witli the Messrs. Canty is approved, with the excep- tion of Ai'ticles Yl and VII, which shall read in said contract as follows : "Article VI. The Government also grants to the Messrs. Canty a monthly subsidy of sl50, in compensation for their services in carrying and ])ringing the mail, twice a month, be- tween the Sarapiqui wharf and San Juan del Norte." " Article VII. Lastly, the Government grants to the Messrs. Canty exemption from taxes on their steamboats, and the protection of the same by the authorities of all ports, as far as is possible." To the Supreme Executive power. Given in the Hall of Sessions, in San Jose, September 23, 1858. RAFAEL G. ESCALANTE, J^'esident. JESUS JIMENEZ, Secretary. Therefore let it be executed. National Palace, San Jose, September 27, 1858. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. JOAQUI^s' liERNAKDO CALV(J, Minister of the Interior^ 'Treasury^ and War. 175 No. 42. Costa Rica is recognized as a painty to the canal grant made to Mr. Belly. Juan Rafael Mora, President of the Repxiblic of Costa Rica. Whereas the Constitutional Congress of tlie Republic hav- ing taken into consideration the 28 articles comprised in the In- teroceanic Convention, celebrated by the Governments of the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, with Messrs. Felix Belly and P. M. Millaud & Company, of Paris, and considering at the same time the additional article to said convention, has decreed, as follows: Article 1. The Interoceanic Convention celebrated between the Governments of the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicara- gua and Messrs. Felix Belly and P. M. Millaud & Company, of Paris, is approved in all its parts ; but with tlie understand- ing that the responsibility spoken of in Article 10 shall only apply when the foreign attack or invasion may be lawful. Article 2. The present decree shall only have effect after the Congress of the Republic of Nicaragua shall have ratified the Convention, of which reference is made above. To the Supreuje Executive Power. Given in the Hall of Sessions, in San Jose, on the 16th day of December, 1858. RAFAEL G. ESCALANTE, President. JESUS JIMENEZ, Secretary. MANUEL CASTRO, Secretary. Therefore let it be executed. National Palace, San Jose, December 16, 1858. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. NAZARIO TOLEDO, Minister of foreign Relations. 176 No. 43. A tax for the henejit of the pvhlic instruction of the Provitice of Guanacaste is levied upon the exportation of wood shipped on the Pacific coast hetween Cape Blanco and the Gulf of Salinas. Juan Rafael Mora, President of the Pepuhlic of Costa Pica : With the view of enlarging the export commerce with the products OF THE IMMENSE FORESTS WHICH THE REPUBLIC POS- SESSES IN THE WESTERN PART OF HEK TERRITORY, and of provid- ing by this means the Province of Moracia^ with funds for public instruction, 1 do hereby decree : Article 1. The exportation of crude lumber, of an}' quality or size, is permitted for the term of live years on any part of the Pacitic coast between Cape Blanco and the Gulf of Salinas, without any other duties than those imposed by the present deci'ee. Article 2. For each log of wood which, by virtue of the preceding Article, will be shipped from any place on the coast situated in the jurisdiction of the Province of Moracia, the sum of two reals (25 cents) shall be collected, whatever the dimension of the log may l)e ; and the payment shall be made pi'cviously to the shipping. § 1. The amount of this tax shall be turned over to the fund for pul)lic insti'uction in the Province above nameib §2. The (Tovernoi- of the said Province shall make the col- lection of this tax by (;ommissioners, whom he shMll !i])point for that purpose. Article 3. Whoever shall shiji, or attempt to ship, timber from the places aforesaid, without jii-eviously paying the duty prescribed liy Article 2(1, ^hall l>c i)onnd ipso facto to pay double. 'fJuanacaste. 177 Article 4. The duty of five cents per cubic foot shall con- tinue to be paid for the timber felled in the littoral of the Gulf of Puntarenas, if the thickness or horizontal section of the log exceeds 12 square inches. Article 5. All previous provisions relative to the exporta- tion of timber are hereby repealed. Given at the National Palace of San Jose on January 13, 1859. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. JOSt MARIA CASAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 12 178 No 44. New rules enacted in regard to timber 'with in the /.one of the Sarapiqui and other rivers of the Eepuhlic on the Atlantic side. Juan Rafael Mora, President of the Republic of Costa Rica : Whereas I have been informed that timber is cut down with- out permission (^i the Government on the banks of the Sara- piqui AND ELSEWHERE IN THE TERRITORY OF THE REPUBLIC ON THE Atlantic side, and that in spite of tlie measures taken by the Frontier authorities,' the said unlawful trade continues, I do hereby decree : Article 1. On and after the 1st day of April next it siiall be unlawful for any one to cMit timber in the territory of the Republic on the Atlantic side, for exportation purposes, with- out permission of the P]xecutive. ? 1. In consequence of this provision any one who wishes to engage in this trade, in that section of the country, shall apply to the Executive for a permit, and shall specify in his applica- tion the place where he wishes to cut. § 2. Before granting the said permit tlu' interested party shall give security foi- the payment of the duties hereafter to be provided for. Article 2. Each log, of whatever tliicUness, shall be charged the duty of one-half real (♦>;{: cents) for each yard. Article 8. The MiLriAKV Commandant of Pinta de Castilla,- either by himself, or by menns of commissioners, shall attend to the collection of this duty, and shall keep for that purj)ose such books as may Itc i'ci|uii'cd to show tlu; amount derived from that source. Article 4. Whoever, in ])Ui'suan(;e of tiie provisions of this Tlie new fmnlicr CHlulilishcd liy Iht; trciily ( Lake of Nicaragua, entered into between the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica and Messrs. Felix Belly & Co., of Paris, decrees : Sole Aritole. All the amendments made by the Charal)ers of the Republic of Ni(!aragua to the Convention aljove named are hereby approved. To the Supreme Executive. Given at the Hall of Sessions at San Jose, on Jane 22, 1859. RAFAEL G. ESCALANTE, President. MANUEL CASTRO, Secretary. JACINTO TREJOS, Secretary. Therefore let it be executed. National Palace, San Jose, June 27, 1849. JUAN RAFAEL MORA. By sickness of the Hon. Secretary of Foreign Relations^ SALVADOR GONZALEZ, Assistant Secretary. 182 No. 46. Territorial Division of the liepuhlic of Costa Rica for Elec- toral Purposes, after the treaty of limits of April 15, 1858. The Senate and tlie House of Representatives of Costa Rica in Congress assemhled, considering- that the elections of tlie supreme officers, and also of the municipal authorities and the juries for press trials, are to he made in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, have enacted the following law : Title 1. — Sole Chapter. Of the Territorial Dirision. Article 1. The territory of the Repuhlic is divided for electoi-al purposes into live provinces and one district (co- marca), which, in their turn, shall he divided into cantons, and the cantons into districts. Article 2. The provinces shall he named San Jose, Car- tago, Heredla, Alajuela and Gianacaste. * ~ -X- * * -X- * Article T. The Province of Guanacaste consists of the city of Liheria (its (capital), and of tlic towns of Niooya, Santa Cruz, J^agaces, and Canas. It is divided into four can- tons, which shall have the same names as the cities and towns above-mentioned, which shall l)e the chief towns of the can- tons ; and the tifth town ah(»ve-nained shall l»e iiududed in the canton of which the other city immediately preceding it in order is the c-apital. Each canton shall have two districts. No. 47. The Cii.sf.om Authorities of Costa Rica e.reriulos- ophcr's stone, because I know very well that a matter of such great iin]»ort.'incc as this cannot be decided authoritatively, ex- <'ci)t by one who, besides being competent on the subject, would have time and money, neither of whicii 1 unfortunately have. In K?:GAK1) to TIIK obstacles APPKHUKNOEn GKNKKAI-LY ON ACCOUNT OF THE COMMON RIGHTS OF NICARAGUA AND CoSTA RiCA IN THE TOWN OF San Juan, ()wing to the laiter being built ON Nk.'ARAGUAN TERRrroRV, I BELIEVE THAT THKV WOULD BE OB- VIATKI) SIKMIJ) NOT IIIK TWO IvKlMIBLICS REACH A SETfLEMENT UPON SOLU) GROUNDS, BY PKOl'LING PuNTA DE CasTILLA,^ WHICH 'Costa Hiciin territory. 195 AFFORDS SUFFICIENT EXTENT AND FACILITY, AS WELL AS GOOD SANITARY CONDITIONS, FOR A VERY GOOD TOWN. TJPON THIS SUB- JECT I AM AUTHORIZED BY SEVERAL MERCHANTS AMONG THE RICH- EST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL OF SaN JuAN TO SUGGEST TO THE Government that, if no arrangement can be reached with Nicaragua, they will move to that place (Punta de Castilla), provided that certain concessions are made to them. As to the point, whether the month of the Colorado river is accessible or not, all that 1 can say is that, dnring the twenty- two days I spent in San Juan, the steamer " Activo " entered the port on four different occasions, and brought passengers and cargoes which were transferred to the river boats " Kivas " and " Panalaya,'" and carried through the Colorado river with- out any obstacle to Nicaragua. Owing to the fact that the Ti-ansit Company has suspended its work 1 could not obtain a steamboat to ascend the San Carlos river; but the Captain of the boat " El Cora," who made that trip last year and went up as far as El Arenal, and four merchants of respectability, have requested me to petition the legislative body^ for the estal>lishment of a line of steam- boats in the said river as soon as possible. Nevertheless, in order to form a correct opinion, even approximately, of what can be done in this river, I ascended it in a launch of 15 tons burden, which was laden with a cargo of about 4 tons, and without having encountered any obstacle I spent four and a half days in going from the mouth of tlie San Carlos river to the wharf. I examined with care the banks of the San Carlos river be- tween the old wharf and Penas Blancas, and I think that the harbor must be located at the confluence, and that the town must be built upon the angular space formed by the two rivers, because the ground there is high, level, and extensive enouffh. The one of Costa Rica. 196 I ENDEAVORED AS EARNESTLY AS I COULD TO INVESTIGATE THE PART TAKEN BY THE NiCARAGUAN AUTHORITIES IN THE OUTRAGES COMMITTED BY THE CITIZENS OF THAT REPUBLIC AGAINST THE GUATUSO InDIANS/ AND I WAS INFORMED BY TRUSTWORTHY PERSONS THAT THE SAID AUTHORITIES, INSTEAD OF FAVORING THE WRONGDOERS, MADE AN EFFORT TO PUNISH THEM. All that I have said in this report is the result of my own personal observation, and if I succeed in obtaining that my humble work be of any service to the country and satisfactory to tlie Government you may rest assured that my aspirations will be thoroughly fulfilled. I liave the honor to subscribe myself, 3'our attentive servant, E. URIBE. [" Gaceta de Nicaragua," 6th year, No. 31, Managua, Saturday, August 1, 1868.] * Costa Rican Indians. 1^7 No. 53. The official organ of Nicaragua jpuijliahes the estimate of tfie work to he done on the river and port of San Juan ac- cording to surveys made hy a mixed commission agreed upon hetween the Governnients of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The present step is a forward one made by us on the road of progress. The present administration, following its ad- vanced ideas, directed that a survey of the river and port of San Jnan del Norte should be made, in harmony with the Government of Costa Rica, for the purpose of making such improvements as required by the necessities of the commerce of both Republics and the free communication with foreign countries through the Atlantic. In our preceding issue we published the report of Civil En- gineer Don Maximiliano Sonnenstern ; and now we print the estimate of the expenses which will be incurred in the work of repairs on the river, port and bay of San Juan, and the meas- ures which are to be taken to render it again freely navigable by steamboats with all safety. The above-named report makes us entertain the hope that the said work so beneficial for the two Republics, necessitating no more expense than $76,000.00, will be easily carried out, and that a new and flattering futui'e will be promised to both countries. [" Qaceta de Nicaragua " 6th jear, No. 46, Managua, November 14, 1868.] 198 No. 54. Editorial of the " Oaceta Oficial " of Nicaragua on the re- cepiion in Cost", llica of the, Nicaragaan Minister^ Don Mariano Montealegre. — Costa Rica is recognized as horder- ing upon the San Juan river ^ as joint possessor of the navi- gation of the same, and as imich interested as Nicaragua in the Jnteroi-eanic Canal enterprise. OuK Legation in Costa Rica. On the lOtli instant, Don Mariano Montealegre, Envoy Ex- traordinan' and Minister Plenipotentiarj' of Nicaragua, near the Republic of Costa Rica, was officially received by Presi- dent Jimenez. On that occasion the customary speeches were made, the text of which we print elsewhere. From the concise and expressive answer of President Jimenez it is to be concluded that his Government feels well disposed in regard to tlie important mission entrusted l)y Senor Guzman to Don Mariano Montealegre. Evidence to the same effect is found in the conrteons manner with which the Costa Rican Government received our Minister Plenipotentiary. He was not only given the warm- est recej)ti()n, l)ut was admitted in the diplomatic body, before being ollicially presented to the President, in order that he could attend tlie ceremonies of the inauguration of Senor Jimenez as Chief Magistrate of that Republic. Nothing else could have been expected, and so we said in one of our previous mnnbers (No, 17), from a Magistrate as the one who now rules the destinies of Costa Ric^a, and from the circumstances attending the proclamation of a constitution as liberal as the one which is now in force in that Republic. " Ni(;akaoua and Costa Rica," Pkk8U)Knt Jimknkz bays, 199 " ARE INDEED CALLED BY NATURE TO SHARE RECIPROCALLY THE SAME FATE, AND THEREFORE THEY OUGHT TO STRENGTHEN THEIR FRIENDSHIP, PRESERVE PERFECT HARMONY AND UNITE THEIR EF- FORTS TO OPEN FOR THEMSELVES THE PATHS OF COMMON PRO- GRESS. "1 These words are indicative of tlie line of conduct which the Government now established in Costa Rica intends to follow witli the rest of the Central American Republics, a line of con- duct which is to be hoped will be invariably observed by all the Central American States among themselves, ^ because they all need to preserve their friendship and j)erfect harmony since their welfare and progress is common. But Nicaragua and Costa Rica, more p:specially still, FIND THEMSELVFS IN POSITIONS TO STRENGTHEN MORE AND MORE these bonds, and OF WORKING WITH THE GREATEST EARNESTNESS for the unity of their interests in deference to human pro- gress, because they are topographically situated in the best manner possible to accomplish that purpose. The San Juan river, besides dividing the territory of THE two States,^ causes the commercial interests of both NATIONS TO INTERMIX IN SUCH A WAY THAT NEITHER CAN BE INDIFFERENT TO WHAT HAPPENS IN THAT STREAM. It has been proved by the most competent experts on the subject, that if ever a port can I)e opened in this hemisphere to the commerce of tlie world, by means of a canal uniting the Atlantic wdtli the Pacilic Ocean, the only place through which that work can be accomplished is the San Juan river. And this is the reason why our neighbor must not allow the oppor- tunity to pass unnoticed of co-operating in the happiness and progress of Nicaragua by accepting the Ay(5n-Chevaliercon- 'In expressing himself in this waj' the meritorious Don Jesus Jimenez was certainly far from thinking that shortly afterwards his sentiments would tind no better return than the denunciation of the treaty of 1858. "The same remark is applicable to these words of the "Gaceta." ^ Certainly these words are not confirmed b}' the map appended to the Argument of Nicaragua to which the present is a reply. 200 TRACT IN THE PART THEREOF WHICH CORRESPONDS TO HER, sinCG in that way she will contribute also to her own happiness and progress. [" Gaceta de Nicaragua," 7th year, No. 21. Managua, Saturday, May 22, 1869]. 201 No. 55. The exportafAon through San Juan da Nicaragua of the nat- ural products of the priM'iG lands of Costa Rica, such as timber^ sarsajxirilla, rubher, balsams^ resin, dec, is pro- hibited, in order to jyrevent the natural wealth of the north- ern section of the Ihp)uhlic from being destroyed. ^ Jesus Jimenez, Provisional President of the Itepnhlic of Costa Rica : In order to prevent the valuable natural productions of the public lands on the Atlantic side from being destroyed, and also to repress smuggling and protect lawful commerce, I do hereby decree : Article 1. The exportation through SA^f Juan de Nicar- agua OF TIMBER, SARSAPARILLA, RUBBER, BALSAMS, RESINS, AND ALL OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS CUT, OR EXTRACTED, OR COLLECTED, *IN THE FORESTS SITUATED ON THE PUBLIC LANDS OF THE KePUBLIC BETWEEN THE Andes AND THE ATLANTIC, is hereby prohibited, unless under previous authority given by the Judge of the Treasury and by virtue of a contract entered into with the Government by proposals and bids. All works undertaken in tlie said locality fortlie purpose of exporting the said products in the manner aforesaid are also prohibited. Article 2. Whoever shall violate the provisions of the foregoing Article shall lose the cargo so attempted to be carried and shall be fined one hundred dollars, or, in default of pay- ment, if the person has not sufficient property within the Re- public to pay that amount, lie shall suffer three months of im- prisonment at hard labor. Article 3. Revenue posts shall be established in evert PLACE OF CONFLUENCE OF THE SaN CaRLOS AND SaRAPIQUI rivers with the San Juan. Each one of these posts shall be commanded l)y a corporal, who shall have three privates under him; but tlie number of the latter shall l>e increased if the ' This decree was the first germ ot the idea of repudiating the treat}- of 1851. 202 necessities of the service require it. The corporals sliall be paid fifty dollars and the guards thirty-five dollars per month each. Article -i. It shall be the duty of these posts, 1st. To pre- vent the exportation of the natural products of the public lands of the Republic, and their being worked or obtained for that purpose. 2d. To seize those products already cut down, collected or extracted, and send thera whenever possible and convenient, together with the arrested transgressors, to the nearest authority in order that the latter may cause the pre- liminary investigation to be made and submit the record thereof, together with the prisoners, to the court which must pass sentence. 3d. To seize every article the trade of which the Government has reserved iov itself and tliose wliose im- portation is forbidden, if attempted to be intro(hiced into the Republic, and send them, together with the prisoners, to the near- est authority, in the manner and for the purposes above named.* And 4th. To watch that no articles of lawful commerce are introduced into the country without tiie formalities prescribed by tills decree; to detain those which may be attempted to be introduced clandestinely and fi-audulently ; and tt) report with- out loss of time to the proper otiicer, who must declare them forfeited. Article H). Whoever shall l)e ai-i-csted while making or assisting in the exportation of tlie natural products aforesaid without the pi'opcr authority and without paying the duties established, shall l)e punished accoixiing t<» the provisions of Article 2 of tiie present decree; l)ut if it should be found out that he has already made the exportation ilicn be shall have to pay a double tine or to undei'go double time in prison at luird laboi-, whatever the nature and of tlli^ Province, as follows: 209 In latitude, from sea to sea ; and in longitude on the Caril)bean Sea, from the San Jnan river, the main outlet ur Desaguadero of Lake Nicai-agua, to the confines of Yeragua (the Escudo de Veragua), and on the Southern Sea, from the limits of Nicoya to the valleys of Chiriqui (River Chiriqui Viejo). 1573. — Diego de Artieda is appointed Governor o^ Nicoya. 1576. — The early Province of Nuevo Cartago or Costa Rica reduced to the boundaries marked l)y Philip II in 1573. A new province was created to the north of the Desaguadert), called the Province of Taguzgalpa. Its limits were from the northern mouth of the San Juan river alongside the coast to Cape Camaron, and all the land between the sea and the boundary line of Nicaragua, Nueva Segovia, and Honduras. The jurisdiction of Nicaragua did not go beyond fifteen leagues from the lake shore to the east. It is plain by the demarcation of Costa Rica in 1573, and by that of Taguz- galpa in 1576, giving to these Provinces the full jurisdiction on the Desaguadero from its mouths to fifteen leagues from the lake, that Nicaragua did not possess an inch of territory on the Caribbean Sea, at the end of the XVIth century, when the territorial status of the Audiencia of Guatemala was finally regulated. The Taguzgalpa or Mosquito coast, from 1509 to 1573, a part of Veragua, Nuevo Cartago, or Costa Rica, remained unsettled and open to piratical invasions during the XVlIth century. Tiie English settled at Rio Tinto (Black River), Cape Gracias a Dios and Bluefields, or afforded protection to the Mosquito Indians. By the treaty of Versailles of 1783 between Spain and Eng- land, this latti r Power agreed to evacuate the settlements aforesaid. A more comprehensive and precise engagement was entered into by the additional treaty of London of 1786 between the same parties. England was compelled to evacuate the Mosquito coast ; but she did not give up the hope of having 14 210 a permanent footing there, and, though apparently complying with her treaty ol)ligations, she devised means to elude them practically, and encouraged some private individuals to submit to the Spanish law, to become Spanish subjects, and to ask grants of lands, &c. Tliis was the case with Col. Robert Hodg- son, to whose endeavors the Mosquito protectorate of modern times owes ^lial regard. Spain, however, recovered the control of the Mosquito coast whicli was placed directly under the mili- tary supervision of the Captain-General of Guatemala. EKRATA, Page. Line. Eeads Should Bead iv 16 Tausgalpa Taguzgalpa 27 29 San Cdrlos San Carlos And wherever else fouud. 51 4 1828 1826 66 5 fory for 97 4 place placed 103 8 May, 1813 1812 110 27 (1 Escacii Escasii " 31 Cucurrique Tucurriqiie 117 17 the an " 25 Fkaejanes Fraijanes (( 27 Blasco Blanco 119 25 1881 1831 134 12 Totogalpa Tologalpa " 21 Gorge Jorge 164 2 Sarapiqui Sarapiqui 167 8 1858 1838 171 9 Posaltega Posoltega " 10 Posalteguilla Posolteguilla 172 25 San Gorge San Jorge 181 26 1849 1859 F THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. 20m-8,'61 (0208484)476 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FA^^^^^^^^^^ AA 000 936 235 i