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New Light on the Belize Dispute

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2017

Wayne M. Clegern
Wayne M. Clegern*
Affiliation:
University of California
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Extract

British Honduras, or Belize, has a diplomatic history at once notable and obscure. Bordered by the Mexican State of Quintana Roo, the Republic of Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea, this British Colony has an area of 8,598 square miles and is thus a little larger than Wales or Massachusetts.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1958 , pp. 280 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1958

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References

1 For a recent expression of Guatemala's policy of ‘ ‘ revindication'’ see C. Castillo Armas, “Informe del Presidente de la Republica Coronel Carlos Castillo Armas al organismo legislativo al inaugurarse sus sesiones ordinarias,” in El Guatemalteco (Guatemala), No. 73, March 4, 1957, pp. 980-981; also see Guatemala, Ministerio de Eelaciones Exteriores, Decreto No. 511, ibid., No. 29, Jan. 6, 1956, p. 1, which created the Consejo Nacional de Belice, a planning, study, and consulting body to deal with the problems of regaining Belize.

2 W. H. Gallienne to C. Hall Lloreda, Guatemala, Oct. 26, 1948, in Diario de Centro américa, sección informativa, No. 76, Oct. 30, 1948, discusses the British viewpoint; Hall Lloreda to Gallienne, Guatemala, Oct. 29, 1948, ibid., No. 77, Nov. 2, 1948, gives Guatemala's objection to a strictly legal decision; for a sketchy, running account of the affair since 1948 see Hispanic American Report (Stanford, 1948—).

3 Kunz, J. L., “Guatemala vs. Great Britain: in re Belice,” 40 A.J.I.L. 383-390 (1946).Google Scholar His footnotes provide a rather thorough bibliography of the dispute through 1946.

4 See Kunz for detailed citation of the Guatemalan publications; 50 British and Foreign State Papers 126-237 (1867); E. A. Humphreys, “The Anglo-Guatemalan Dispute,” 24 International Affairs 387-404 (1948).

5 Clearly Humphreys has utilized these materials, but without citation.

6 A convincing and scholarly general treatment of Belize during the Spanish colonial period is J. A. Calderón Quijano, Belice, 1663(?)-1821, historia de los establecimientos británicos del Bio Valis hasta la independencia de Hispanoamérica (Sevilla, 1944).

7 J. B. Bergne, ‘’ Memorandum on Draft Treaty with Guatemala relative to the Boundary of British Honduras,” Foreign Office, Jan. 14, 1859, Public Records Office, Foreign Office Section 15, Vol. 114, folios 1-12 (cited hereinafter as FO followed by the appropriate section/volume, and folio number), Microfilm, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. In this paper, citation of outgoing Foreign Office correspondence is to draft copies.

8 Ibid

9 The text of this instrument has been frequently published and may be found, together with various preliminary drafts, in FO 15/114.

10 Earl of Malmesbury to C. L. Wyke, Foreign Office, Feb. 16, 1859, FO 15/114, ft. 13-19.

11 Wyke to Malmesbury, Guatemala, March 31, 1859, FO 15/106, ff. 94-97.

12 Wyke to Malmesbury, Guatemala, April 30, 1859, FO 15/114, ff. 45-49.

13 Ibid. Italics added.

14 British and Foreign State Papers, 1859-1860, pp. 243-244. This version of the dispatch omits more than three paragraphs of the original, paragraphs which tended to contradict the Foreign Office argument. At least one other dispatch from Wyke (Feb. 7, 1860) and one from Consul W. Hall (Jan. 28, 1860), published in this volume, have similar deletions.

15 Malmesbury to W. Hall, Foreign Office, June 30, 1859, FO 15/114, ft. 74-75.

16 Four dispatches from British representatives in Guatemala to Lord J. Russell in 1859, all in FO 15/114, depict this situation: from Hall, Sept. 17, ff. 78-79; from Hall, Sept. 30, ff. 90-91; from Wyke, Oct. 19, ff. 93-96; and from Wyke, Oct. 22, ff. 119-120.

17 Russell to Hall, Foreign Office, Dec. 15, 1859, FO 15/114, ff. 137-141.

18 Hall to Russell, Guatemala, Jan. 28, 1860, FO 15/114, ff. 203-208.

19 “Wyke to Russell, Managua, Feb. 7, 1860, FO 15/114, ff. 211-217.

20 lbid., ff. 218-222.

21 Hall to Russell, Guatemala, April 30, 1860, FO 15/114, ff. 263-265.

22 Captain H. Wray to Russell, Belize, Jan. 6, 1861, FO 15/115, ff. 1-43; a printed version follows, ibid., ff. 43-67.

23 Duke of Newcastle, Memorandum, London, March 6, 1861, FO 15/115, ff. 206-209.

24 Viscount H. J. T. Palmerston, Memorandum, London, March 26, 1861, F O 15/115, ff. 210-211.

25 Wyke, Memorandum [No. 1], Foreign Office, March 28, 1861, FO 15/115, ff. 188-190.

26 Ibid., [No. 2], March 29, 1861, ff. 192-193.

27 Ibid., [No. 3], March 29, 1861, ff. 194-195.

28 W. Gladstone, Memorandum, April 3, 1861, FO 15/115, ff. 200-202.

29 Russell to Newcastle, Foreign Office, Sept. 14, 1861, FO 15/143, ff. 167-168.

30 Russell to G. Mathew, Foreign Office, Nov. 26, 1861, FO 15/143, ff. 201-207.

31 Russell to Mathew, Foreign Office, Dee. 15, 1862, FO 15/143, ft. 275-277, contains the British proposal; P. de Aycinena to Mathew, Guatemala, Feb. 10, 1862, FO 15/144A, ff. 39-47, is the unfavorable Guatemalan reply.

32 Juan de Francisco Martin, ‘ ‘ Memorandum on Convention with Guatemala for the Construction of the Road to the Atlantic,” London, May 18, 1863, FO 15/144A, ff. 58- 65; the Guatemalan counter-proposal, forwarded with the memorandum, is found on ff. 89-91.

33 Wyke to Russell, Foreign Office, Aug. 6, 1863, FO 15/144A, ff. 137-138, gives notice of the signing; the text is in ibid., ff. 143-156.

34 Lord Clarendon to Treasury, Foreign Office, May 18, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 124-130.

35 Treasury to Clarendon, London, June 13, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 140-141.

36 F. Rogers to Sir E. Hammond, London, July 19, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 158-161.

37 Lord Stanley to Francisco Martín, Foreign Office, July 30, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 162-165.

38 Francisco Martín to Stanley, Paris, Aug. 14, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 166-169.

39 Stanley to Francisco Martín, Foreign Office, Aug. 29, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 174-179.

40 Francisco Martín to Stanley, Paris, Sept. 13, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 180-185.

41 Francisco Martín to Stanley, Paris, Dec. 21, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 304-308.

42 Stanley to Francisco Martín, Foreign Office, Jan. 3, 1867, FO 15/146, ff. 1-9.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid.

45 Francisco Martín to Stanley, Paris, Jan. 26, 1867, FO 15/146, ff. 10-11.

46 Hammond, Memorandum, Foreign Office, Sept. 26, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 207-209.

47 Francisco Martín to Clarendon, Paris, Sept. 24, 1869, FO 15/146, ff. 243-252; see also E. Corbett to Clarendon, Guatemala, May 31, 1869, ibid., ff. 233-236, which furnishes insight on this situation.

48 Wyke to Bergne, Copenhagen, Sept. 20, 1869, FO 15/146, ff. 239-241.

49 Clarendon to E. Palacios, Foreign Office, Nov. 15, 1869, FO 15/146, ff. 303-308.

50 See above, pp. 286-287.

51 “Previous treaties between the same parties, and treaties between one of the parties and third parties, may be referred to for the purpose of clearing up the meaning of a stipulation,” according to L. Oppenheim, International Law, A Treatise (H. Lauterpacht, editor, 7th ed., London, 1953), Vol. I, pp. 859-860.

52 E. Cardwell to Stanley, London, Jan. 30, 1866, FO 15/145, ff. 24-28.

53 1 Oppenheim 859.

54 Ibid. 860.

55 Ibid.

56 “ Memorandum by Sir Charles Wyke for Mr. Layard 's use should any debate take place in the House of Commons relative to the grant of £ 50,000 demanded for the construction of the Guatemala Road,” Foreign Office, n.d., FO 15/144A, ff. 157-161.

57 “Memorandum for the use of Lord Derby,” Foreign Office, Oct. 26, 1877, FO 15/ 207, ft. 37-38.

58 “Memorandum in reference to General Negrete,” Foreign Office, May 10, 1878, FO 15/207, ff. 37-38.

59 Ruesell, May, 1865, annotation of an information copy of a note from P. Campbell Scarlett (British Minister to Mexico) to J. F. Ramirez (Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs), Mexico, March 20, 1865, FO 15/144A, ff. 287-292. Russell's comment, f. 289, disapproves Scarlett's interpretation of the 1859 treaty as extending the boundary of British Honduras from the Sibún to the Sarstún.