The English seem to have made no other demonstration on the islands during the 18th century. They remained in the undisturbed occupation of Spain."In 1821, when the Central American provinces achieved their independence, the islands were under the jurisdiction of the state of Honduras. This state of things continued until May, 1830, when the superintendent of the British establishment of Belize, as a measure of coercion against the republic, which had refused to surrender certain runaway slaves, made a descent on Roatan and seized it on behalf of the British crown. The federal authorities remonstrated, and the act was disavowed by the British government."