Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894

Mr. Baker to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
Managua, February 9, 1894. (Received March 5.)

Sir: I herewith transmit a petition forwarded to me by Consul S. C. Braida, of Grey Town, Nicaragua. The petition briefly sets forth the unsettled condition of affairs in the Mosquito Reservation; and the signers respectfully ask that a United States war vessel be sent to that coast for the protection of American interests. Consul Braida earnestly indorses this application.

Respectfully submitted, etc.

Lewis Baker.

[Inclosure.]

Petition addressed to Consular Agent B. B. Seat.

Bluefields, Mosquito Reservation, Nicaragua [, undated].

Dear Sir: News having reached here that Honduranean troops are at Cape Gracias á Dios, Nicaragua, and as war exists at present between the Governments of Nicaragua and Honduras, we, as citizens of the United States of America, having at stake our lives and our properties, hereby appeal through you to our Government at Washington to furnish as quickly as possible a man-of-war for our protection.

Honduras is noted for its cruel warfare, and if the Mosquito Reservation should fall into its hands, over a million dollars of property belonging to citizens of the United States would be pillaged and plundered and many lives sacrificed.

We therefore pray unusual haste be made to afford us the protection we ask for.

Please transmit this by dispatch boat leaving for Grey Town, and urge Consul Braida to cable at once to the Department of State, and should the wires to the interior be down, we authorize Consul Braida, at our expense, to charter a conveyance for Port Limon, to cable from that port.

We are, respectfully,

(Twenty-seven signatures follow.)