the friendship of the fish-eating Moscoe Indians, and finally established headquarters at the mouth of the Wanks or Segovia river and in Blewfields and Pearl lagoons, making allies of the aborigines and forming illicit connections with their women. Thus occurred contemporaneously the first English occupation of Nicaraguan soil and the initial step in the evolution of the hybrid Mosquito Indian. Events which followed strengthened the bonds of union between the races. The Earl of Warwick, authorized by Charles I., seized the island of Old Providence, planted a colony upon it, and established a trading post at Cape Gracias á Dios. Settlers and Indians were soon on cordial terms, and the native king was eventually persuaded to send his son, the heir apparent, to England to be educated. Besides encroaching upon the Nicaraguan coast, the buccaneers landed at Belize and upon the Bay Islands, laying the foundation of future British claims, based, it is true, upon the unauthorized depredations of adventurers, but maintained none the less with unscrupulous diplomacy and a strong hand. Protests of the Spanish Ambassador at the Court of St. James proving ineffective, an expedition was fitted out in San Domingo in 1650 which drove the English from the Bay Islands. The latter retaliated by incursions up the San Juan River, during one of which, in 1655, they

actually succeeded in capturing and plundering the city of Granada. In the same year England secured a foothold on the island of Jamaica and in 1670 she negotiated with Spain the treaty of Madrid, which provided "that the most serene King of Great Britain, his heirs. and successors shall have, hold, keep, and enjoy forever, with plenary right of sovereignty, dominion, possession, and propriety, all those lands, regions, islands, colonies, and places whatsoever, being or situated in the West Indies, or any part of America, which the said King of Great Britain, or his subjects, do at present hold and possess." Up to this time the English Government had disclaimed responsibility for the depredations of the buccaneers, on the ground that they were outlaws, but it now became expedient to recognize them as British subjects, and they were accordingly induced to discard their piratical vocation and to become peaceful cutters of mahogany and dye-woods. Intent upon retaining their territorial acquisitions and attendant advantages, they maintained amicable relations with the Moscoes, whose Indian blood had been further diluted by amalgamation with a shipload of negro slaves wrecked upon the coast in 1650, and even induced Oldman, the prince of English education who had succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, to acknowledge

the sovereignty of Charles II. In return for his complaisance a commission purporting to come from his royal cousin was bestowed upon him and he was ceremoniously crowned with an old cocked hat. The real power over the Mosquito Coast was thus in English hands, but the arrangement had not been officially sanctioned and the attitude of the British Government in case of forcible Spanish intervention was deemed somewhat problematical. Το eliminate this uncertainty Jeremy, who succeeded Oldman on the Mosquito throne, was despatched to Jamaica in 1687 to petition the Governor that he, like his father, be taken under the protection of His Majesty's Government. His mission was unsuccessful, but a second attempt in 1720 resulted in the negotiation of a treaty whereby a virtual protectorate was established over the Mosquito Coast.

England chose to regard the Madrid treaty merely as a recognition of rights already acquired by her, and as in no wise constraining her to conform to already established territorial limits. Her woodcutters continued to extend their possessions, confident of the ultimate recognition and protection of the Home authorities, while Spain, in fancied security, watched successive encroachments without resentment. Upon the approach of war between the two countries, in 1739, the English Government

devised a plan of operations against the colonies of Spain, involving the seizure of the Mosquito Shore and the invasion of the San Juan valley. Naval operations were begun on the eastern and western coasts, and agents were sent to Belize and the Mosquito Shore to organize the English settlers and secure the co-operation of the Indians. Robert Hodgson, agent to Mosquitoland, formally proclaimed an English protectorate, raised the British flag, and procured the ratification of the compact by both parties. Forts were erected, troops were sent over from Jamaica, a colony was established at the mouth of the Black River, the island of Ruatan was seized, and finally, in 1748, the occupation of the Rio San Juan valley was attempted and would have been accomplished but for the ratification of a treaty of peace between the contending Powers. Mutual restitution of conquests was agreed to, but this seems to have had little influence upon England's subsequent policy. Hodgson remained in Mosquitoland as Superintendent of the Shore, protests from the Spanish Government being met by a statement that his presence among the Indians was necessary to prevent a general massacre of Spaniards. An unsuccessful attack by the latter upon the colonists at Belize, in 1754, was seized upon by the English as a pretext for still further extend

ing their settlements, and in 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, they were practically in possession of the entire eastern shore of Central America.

The Treaty of Paris, which put an end to this conflict in 1763, did not pretend to define the sovereign rights of either country on the Mosquito Shore, but it was agreed that England should demolish such fortifications as she had erected in disputed territory and that in return for this concession, her subjects should be allowed to cut wood unmolested anywhere along the shore. This would seem to be a virtual admission by Great Britain that her rights were of a purely usufructuary nature, but technicalities have rarely been allowed to check the growth of powerful nations, nor have considerations of equity always outweighed those of expediency in the determination of their foreign policies. Nevertheless, her actions at this time were of a conciliatory nature. An unauthorized and unsuccessful raid by Hodgson upon the San Juan in 1769 resulted in his recall, and fortifications were destroyed and garrisons removed as had been agreed. The Colonial Office did not recede from its predetermined policy, however, and in 1775 Mosquitoland was attached to Jamaica as a dependency. The settlers at Belize had meanwhile established and successfully maintained