by the Mosquito Indians, with British support, aroused great excitement in the United States, and even involved the risk of war. But by the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 both powers pledged themselves not to fortify, colonize or exercise dominion over any part of Central America; and in November 1859 Great Britain delegated its protectorate to Honduras. This caused great dissatisfaction among the Indians, who shortly afterwards revolted; and on the 28th of January 1860 Great Britain and Nicaragua concluded the treaty of Managua, which transferred to Nicaragua the suzerainty over the entire Caribbean coast from Cape Gracias à Dios to Greytown, but granted autonomy to the Indians in the more limited Mosquito Reserve (the area described above). The local chief accepted this change on condition that he should retain his local authority, and receive a yearly subvention of £1000 until 1870. But on his death in 1864 Nicaragua refused to recognize his successor. The reserve nevertheless continued to be governed by an elected chief, aided by an administrative council, which met in Bluefields; and the Indians denied that the suzerainty of Nicaragua connoted any right of interference with their internal affairs. The question was referred for arbitration to the emperor of Austria, whose award published in 1880, upheld the contention of the Indians, and affirmed that the suzerainty of Nicaragua was limited by their right of self-government. After enjoying almost complete autonomy for fourteen years, the Indians voluntarily surrendered their privileged position, and on the 20th of November 1894 their territory was formally incorporated in that of the republic of Nicaragua, as the department of Zelaya.
Bibliography.—See “A Bibliography of the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua,” by Courtney de Kalb, in Bulletin of the American Geog. Soc., vol. xxvi. (1894); and “Studies of the Mosquito Shore in 1892,” by the same author, and in the same publication, vol. xxv. (1893). “A Forgotten Puritan Colony,” in No. 165 of Blackwood’s Magazine (Edinburgh, 1898), described the attempt at colonization made in 1630. See also “Die Streit um die Mosquito-Küste,” by J. Richter, in Zeitschr. f. Gesellschaft d. Erdkunde, No. 30 (Berlin, 1895).
MOSS, a seaport of Norway, in Smaalenene amt (county), on
the east shore of Christiania Fjord, 37 m. S. of Christiania by
the Gothenburg railway. Pop. (1900), 8941. Here was signed,
on the 14th of August 1814, the convention which united Norway
to Sweden. Timber and wood pulp are chief exports, grain and
coal are imported. The port affords 13 to 22 ft. of water beside
the quays.
MOSSAMEDES, a town of Portuguese West Africa, capital of
the district of Mossamedes, on the south side of Little Fish Bay
(Bay of Mossamedes or Angra do Negro). Pop. about 5000.
The harbour affords excellent anchorage. A railway (over
100 m. long) starts from the harbour and crosses the semi-desert
coast region to the fertile Chella plateau. Mossamedes is the
headquarters of an important fishing industry (see La Géographie,
March 1908).
MOSSEL BAY, the name of a bay, town and division of the
Cape province, South Africa. The bay lies midway between
Table Bay (Cape Town) and Port Elizabeth roadstead. Like
most of the South African bays it does not afford good anchorage.
Westward, however, it is sheltered by Cape St Blaize, on which
is a lighthouse. The town lies on the west side of the bay,
Cape St Blaize stretching beyond to the S.E. Mossel Bay is
250 m. by sea and 312 m. by rail E. by S. of Cape Town. Pop.
(1904), 4500. The port ranks fourth in importance among the
seaports of the Cape and does a large forwarding trade. Vessels
load and discharge by means of lighters. Mossel Bay is a
station on the direct Cape Town–Port Elizabeth railway. The
Mossel Bay division of the province has an area of 707 sq. m.,
and a population (1904) of 10,700, of whom 49% were whites.
MOSSLEY, a market town and municipal borough in the
Prestwich parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 1012 m.
E.N.E. from Manchester, by the London & North-Western
railway. Pop. (1901), 13,452. It lies in the valley of the Tame,
close to the junction of the boundaries of Lancashire, Cheshire
and Yorkshire, and is surrounded by sharply-rising high ground,
especially eastward. The Huddersfield canal passes it. Across
the river from the town ancient earthworks (Bucton Castle), of
British origin, are seen, and a Roman road passing them, and
running north and south is also traceable. Mossley has foundries,
mill-works, woollen factories, and large cotton-spinning mills.
It was incorporated in 1885, and the corporation consists of a
mayor, 6 aldermen, and 16 councillors. Area, 3622 acres.
MOSSOP, HENRY (1729–1774), Irish actor, was born in
Dublin, and made his first stage appearance there, at the Smock
Alley Theatre, as Zanga in Young’s tragedy, The Revenge, in
1749. His first London appearance was made in 1751 under
Garrick’s management, as Richard III. He returned to Ireland
in 1759, and, playing with Barry, added to his laurels, but when
he attempted management on his own account, he ruined Barry
and went bankrupt himself, dying in poverty on the 27th of
December 1774.
MOST, JOHN [JOSEPH] (1846–1906), German-American
anarchist, was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, on the 5th of February
1846. He was apprenticed to a bookbinder, worked at this
trade in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland in 1863–1868,
and then became a writer of Socialist pamphlets and paragraphs,
and editor of Socialist sheets in Chemnitz and Vienna, both
suppressed by the authorities, and of the Freie Presse in Berlin,
being repeatedly arrested for his violent and cynical attacks
on patriotism and conventional religion and ethics, and for his
gospel of terrorism, preached in prose and in many songs such
as those in his Proletarier-Liederbuch (5th ed., 1875). Some of his
experiences in gaol were recounted in
Die Bastille am Plötzensee: Blätter aus meinem Gefängniss-Tagebuch
(1876). In 1874–1878
he was a member of the German Reichstag, but he
failed to be re-elected, was expelled by the Socialist organization,
went to France but was forced to leave in 1879, and then settled
in London. There he founded the “red” organ—it was printed
in red—Die Freiheit, in which he expressed his delight in June
1881 over the assassination of Alexander II. of Russia and for
this was imprisoned for a year and a half. He then resumed
the publication of Die Freiheit in New York. He was imprisoned
in 1886, again in 1887, and in 1902, the last time for
two months for publishing after the assassination of President
McKinley an editorial in which he argued that it was no crime
to kill a ruler. He died in Cincinnati on the 17th of April 1906.
See his Memoiren (New York, 1903).
MOSTAGANEM, chief town of an arrondissement in the
department of Oran, Algeria, 44 m. E.N.E. of Oran, on a plateau
278 ft. high, half a mile from the Mediterranean coast. The
town is separated into European and native quarters by a deep
ravine, the Ain Sefra, through which passes a considerable
stream. The native quarter, called Tijit, occupies the eastern
slopes of the ravine and the level ground above, and is dominated
by the kubbas of two marabouts. A railway line, completed in
1889, 122 m. long, connects Mostaganem with Tiaret, the most
convenient place for visiting the Jedars monuments. (See
Algeria.)
Mostaganem occupies the site of a Roman town. The ancient harbour was destroyed by earthquake in the reign of the emperor Gallien. The present port is entirely artificial. The existing town appears to date from the time of the Almoravides, who built the citadel, now turned into a prison. It passed into the possession of the rulers of Tlemçen and was captured by Arouj Barbarossa in 1516, and became part of his brother Khair-ed-Din’s kingdom. In the 16th century the town enjoyed a period of great commercial prosperity, and its population rose to 40,000. The re-awakening of the town dates from the French occupation in 1833. Pop. (1906) of the town, 19,528, of the commune 22,011, of the arrondissement, comprising 27 communes, 332,684.
In the vicinity of Mostaganem are the Dahra mountains, honeycombed with caves. In 1845, in one of these caves, a French force, commanded by Colonel Pélissier, afterwards commander-in-chief of the French army in the Crimea, destroyed over 800 Arabs—men, women and children—by suffocation, by filling the mouths of the cave with faggots and then setting them on fire.
MOSTAR the capital of Herzegovina, situated 81 m. S.W. of
Serajevo, on the river Narenta, and on the railway from Serajevo
