356 



RESUME. 



the running of the steamers on the corresponding waters of Peru, and 

 assign them points where they may touch, until the establishment of an 

 arrangement to which this navigation is to be definitely subjected, by 

 means of a contract which this government is bound to make for five 

 years according to stipulation, and which it hopes your Excellency will 

 deign to cause to be offered for its free acceptance by the associates of 

 the company created under the authority of his Majesty, the Emperor. 

 " With sentiments, &o, &c. 



JOSE MANUEL TIRADO. 

 " To his Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil." 



But whilst Tirado is penning this courtly caveat in Lima, Gomez 

 Sanchez, in" Rio Janeiro, is giving his assent to the De Souza contract, 

 extending it in all its force to Peru, and entering into an agreement 

 with De Souza by which he gives him the right of exploring the Ucay- 

 ali, and other rivers of the west, from Rio, besides other privileges, 

 which, if acceded to by the Peruvian government, would give Brazil all 

 power over the navigation of those rivers, as well as over that of the 

 main stream. 



Fortunately for the interests of commerce in general, and for the 

 more speedy development of the great resources that lie hid in the val- 

 ley of the Amazon, Tirado practically disavows the fiction of Gomez 

 Sanchez, and obtains from the Council of State of Peru its assent (sub- 

 ject, of course, to the approval of the legislative power) to the appro- 

 priation of $200,000 towards the exploration by steamboat of the Peru- 

 vian tributaries of the Amazon, and the colonization and settlement of 

 their fertile lands. He has already appropriated $V5,000 of this sum 

 for the purchase of two small steamers, which are now in the course of 

 construction in the United States, and which will be delivered at Loreto 

 ♦(the frontier port of Peru on the Amazon) by the 1st of January, 1854. 



The enlightened and patriotic President of Peru, Don Jose Rufino 

 Echenique, approving and adopting the policy of Tirado, goes further, 

 and issues a decree relative to the opening and settlement of the Ama- 

 zon. It is dated April 5, 1853. I give a translation of some of its 

 more important articles : 



Article 1. 



In accordance with the treaty concluded with the empire of Brazil, 

 on the 23d of October, 1851, navigation, trade, and commerce, on the 

 part of Brazilian vessels and subjects, is allowed upon the waters of the 



