§ THE EARL OF ELGINsaid, there had appeared in the newspapers of this country a letter, copied from the American journals, purporting to bear the signature of Mr. Hammond, the under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and to be addressed to the representative of the Government of Costa Rica in this country, in reply to an application for a supply of arms. As considerable importance attached at the present moment to any proceedings on the part of the Government of this country with regard to Central America, he wished to ask the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether that letter was a genuine document, and, if his reply should be in the affirmative, whether he had any intention to lay on the table of the House the letter of the 12th of January, to which it purported to be a reply?
§ THE EARL OF CLARENDONsaid, he had no hesitation, in answer to the question of the noble Earl, in stating that the letter of Mr. Hammond published in the papers was a genuine letter, and that it arose from the following circumstances:—The agent of the Costa Rican Government in this country, and the agents of other South American States, ever since the attack made by Walker on the Government of Nicaragua, have applied to this country to assist them to defend themselves. A great variety of proposals had been laid before the British Government for accepting the protectorate of these countries, and for giving them assistance. To all those proposals the British Government had invariably replied in the negative. The British Government said that they had nothing to do with the affairs of Central America, though they were sorry for the attacks made on Nicaragua. They also said that they had the more reason to deplore those attacks because the property of British subjects had been not only endangered but sacrificed by Walker, and therefore, they should be very glad that his bucaneering enterprise should not be carried further; but with respect to any interference with the affairs of Central 311 America they were determined to have nothing whatever to do, and that all their action would be limited to sending just such a naval force to the coast of South America as would be sufficient to protect British interests and British property. The representative of Costa Rica in this country, Mr. Wallerstein was greatly disappointed at the view taken by Her Majesty's Government on this question. Allusion was also made to the interest shown by the British Government for Central America, and the bad return made by the Governments there for what had been done for them. An exception, however, must be made in this respect in favour of the Government at Costa Rica, which was a regular Government, and had always kept its engagements with the British Government. Mr. Wallerstein then replied that there was a great quantity of British property accumulated in Costa Rica, which might be protected by a naval force, and added that the Costa Ricans were determined to make a stand against the invasion of their country by Walker; but he said that they had not the means of repelling the aggression they apprehended, and inquired whether the British War Department would not give them a few arms for the purpose. He (the Earl of Clarendon) stated that he could not give an answer until inquiries were made of the War Department, and when the answer was received the substance was communicated in Mr. Hammond's letter. The fact was, however, that Mr. Wallerstein did not consider himself entitled to accept the offer, and he had since died; so that no interference, even in that indirect way, had taken place in the affairs of Costa Rica. Some time since Walker took possession of Nicaragua and British property there; he (the Earl of Clarendon) communicated with the Government of the United States, and Mr. Crampton, in a despatch, reported a conversation he had on the 15th of March with Mr. Marcy, there being no disguise with the Government of the United States as to what the British Government were doing, their only wish being to protect British property. Mr. Marcy then said that the Government of the United States entirely disapproved and regretted the existing state of things in Nicaragua, which they thought dangerous and calculated to cast a shade on the reputation of the United States; that they were as anxious as the British Government 312 to see the Government of Walker rooted up, and were determined to take measures for the redress of injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States. Under these circumstances, he (the Earl of Clarendon) intimated that there could be no better plan than for the Government of the United States and the British Government to combine together for the protection of the property of the citizens of both countries. There could be no objection to lay the correspondence referred to on the table.