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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1457: DISPUTES WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

DISPUTES WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

During the year 1855 disputes existed with the North American republic, which were happily brought to a termination in 1856. The differences between that power and Great Britain referred to two subjects—the enlistment of recruits by British officers, and “the Clayton-Bulwer treaty” concerning Central America. England withdrew her recruiting agents, and made reparation for her conduct. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty was not so easily adjusted. It was a dispute between the two great American powers—England and the United States—for influence in Central America. It was supposed that the convention completed between the two ministers (Bulwer and Clayton) had put an end to the hostile feeling which had arisen. The Americans were not, however, satisfied with the arrangement, and put an interpretation upon the treaty opposed to that which England acknowledged. The British government, by going to the verge of pusillanimity, averted war, but the adjustment made was only temporary; the Americans virtually ignored the treaty, and England, while virtually submitting, still preserved an ostensible recognition of her rights. These events gave rise to fierce debates in the American congress and the British parliament, but an open rupture between the two countries, which appeared imminent, did not take place. The subject of Central America became a generic question, including various specific grounds of quarrel. A question arose as to the British protectorate of Mosquito. The English government issued a proclamation, declaring the Bay Islands a British colony. This offended the United States, and an angry, though courteous, correspondence ensued between Mr. Buchanan and the Earl of Clarendon. The English were anxious to refer the question to the decision of a third power, to which the Americans would not consent. A convention was formed with the republic of Honduras on the 27th of August, which vested in the latter power certain disputed territory which had given rise to much heat and dispute between England and the United States.