Why was the road not built and who was responsible? (Part 1)

The Controversial Article 7:

This article was introduced by Wyke – without the knowledge and approval of the British Government. Wyke framed it in such an ambiguous way that it has been the subject of argument ever since. This article proposed that the two contracting parties should arrange for a road to be built between the Atlantic coast near the settlement of Belize and Guatemala City. This road would add to the prosperity of both England and Guatemala by increasing trade, and, since it would divert some trade from the Pacific ports, it would also restore some of the former prosperity of the Belize settlement.

Here are the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ that obstructed the construction of the road:

Lenox Wyke is on record as stating, “We have no legal right beyond that of actual possession to the tract of country between the rivers Sibun and Sarstoon which formerly belonged to the ancient kingdom of Guatemala; this position was the more difficult to overcome, without agreeing to give them some compensation.”

The Colonial Office was extremely skeptical about the value of the proposed road and was of the opinion that since the road would not pass through British territory, it was no concern of the Colonial Office.

Lenox Wyke wrote to the Foreign Secretary, Lord John Russell stating, “It is impossible to help smiling at the naivete of this declaration which expresses in set phrases the desire of ‘eating the kernel of the nut’ without taking the trouble to break the shell which contains it.” He added that it is permissible to suggest that had there been more cooperation the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office the long drawn out dispute with Guatemala might have been avoided all together.

In December, 1859, Lord John Russell informed Hall, the acting Consul-General at Guatemala that Captain Wray of the Royal Engineers had been sent to mark out the boundary line between British Honduras and Guatemala and to survey the proposed route for the road.

Hall was told to make certain that the Guatemalan Government did not expect Her Majesty Government to incur any expense whatever in the actual construction of the road. Hall received the letter as the treaty was being debated and both he and Wyke feared that if its contents were made known Britain might be accused of lack of good faith and the treaty might be cancelled.

Wyke informed Russell that his understanding had involved more than paying for a survey. Wyke thought that Great Britain and Guatemala would construct a roughly made and practical cart road with both governments working together, Guatemala furnishing the materials, The British the scientific direction of the works with both parties equally paying the labour force to build it.

Charles Lenox Wyke

Wyke and Guatemala’s Foreign Minister, Pedro de Aycinena had estimated the total cost to be at approximately £100,000. Wyke had also informed the Foreign Office that the British Engineer’s estimates were far too high and were based on proposals for a much more elaborate road than he and Aycinena had envisaged.

Lord John Russell informed Hall that the clause (or Article 7) was an unusual one and furthermore the Treaty had been ratified and the British Government would fulfill its obligations.

Captain Wray arrived in Guatemala to carry out the survey for the road. The survey was completed in 1860, one year after the 1859 Treaty was ratified. Engineer Wray had worked out a route from Guatemala City to the Port of Izabal. The road was to be 157 miles and would take four years to build at a cost of £145,000. However in his report, Wray stated that the road would be of no benefit to the British Settlement of Honduras. Wray also felt that the Guatemalan Government could not be relied on to carry out their obligations and should not be entrusted with the monies for the construction of the road. By the time the British Foreign Office received Wray’s discouraging report, it had already become aware of the ‘disadvantages’ in Article 7.

The British Foreign Office felt that it had been deceived as to the whereabouts of the proposed road, about its costs, and about its value to British Honduras. Lord Russell also raised the question as to whether the Government could discharge its obligations by the payment of a lump sum. The Colonial Office under the Duke of Newcastle was convinced of the futility of the road and even suggested that the trade through Belize might be hurt by it.

The Colonial Office further stated that there was no advantage in the 1859 Treaty and was prepared to see it cancelled but this idea was seen as a most inadvisable by Russell. In 1863, Aycinena formally stated that by signing the Convention of 1859, Guatemala had made a definite sacrifice of ‘the rights which it had reserved to the territory of Belize’. Aycinena also argued that it was clear from the wording of the original Article that Britain was to pay a greater share of the cost than Guatemala. He also stated that Article 7 was included by Lennox Wyke as compensation by Britain to Guatemala.

The wording had been deliberately vague in order to prevent any challenge by the United States on the grounds that Britain had acquired new territory and thereby infringed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.

The weakness of this argument lay in the fact that British Honduras had been specifically excluded from the terms of the 1850 Treaty. Although the Dallas-Clarendon Treaty of 1856 remained unratifed, the United States had already recognized the southern boundary of the British Settlement as the River Sarstoon.

It becomes much clearer that Great Britain which was a super power displayed such poor wisdom in finding a solution to end the dispute over the construction of a road that would have ended the Anglo-Guatemalan Dispute over a century ago.

Part 2