REVENUE AND INCOME. 
135 
a treaty, was authorized by Mr. Buchanan, then Secretary of 
State, in the following words : 
"Instead of $15,000,000 stipulated to be paid by the fifth article, for the 
extension of our boundary over New Mexico and Upper and Lower California, 
you may increase the amount to any sum, not exceeding $30,000,000, payable 
by instalments of $3,000,000 per annum, provided the right of passage and 
transit across the Isthmus of Teliuantepec, secured to the United States by the 
eighth article of the projet, shall form a part of the treaty." 
This offer (sufficient to build two such railroads as the Tehuan- 
tepec company propose), it must be remembered, was made 
before the acquisition of California, or the discovery of its gold. 
How much greater is the value of the right of way now, when 
we consider the immense concession of lands embraced in the 
grant, and the magnificent empire which has so suddenly sprung 
into existence amid the wilds of the Pacific coast ! 
In the opening of the Tehuantepec route the United States 
government would realize the most incalculable advantages. 
Within a single week an army of 50,000 men might be landed 
on the shores of the Pacific, with all their munitions and 
appointments, without exposing them in the slightest degree to 
the incursions of a West Indian fleet. Our naval force in the 
Pacific and Indian seas would be permanent establishments 
there, drawing their supplies from the United States in one-tenth 
of the time now occupied for their transportation, while our 
immense whaling fleet, already referred to, would become the 
nursery of the noblest seamen in the universe. The world of 
the West would be born again ; and the commerce, wealth, and 
power of our country increased, diffused, and strengthened, in 
such a manner as to distance all competition and to make rivalry 
a preposterous idea. 
Thus far no especial reference has been made to the American 
trade with foreign countries on the west coast of America. In 
the recent report of the Hon. Secretary of Treasury, we find the 
following statement, which, while it exhibits the extent and 
value of that trade, indirectly indicates the influence which 
California has already exercised over our commercial des- 
tinies : 
