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APPENDIX. 
DOCUMENTS. 
(No. 1.) 
Memorial of Don Jose de Garay, soliciting of his Excellency, the Presi- 
dent of the Mexican Republic, the Privilege of opening a Communica- 
tion between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec, and Decree granting the same. 
Sir — Your Excellency has caused the Mexican public to look forward 
to the present epoch as one of improvement and gigantic advancement in 
the career of national aggrandizement. 
No measure can be more fruitful in prosperous results, none more mem- 
orable or more glorious, than that which shall form a junction between t 
the two oceans, without the necessity of doubling that stormy cape which 
forms the southernmost extremity of the American Continent. 
Thousands of ships yearly perform this difficult and tedious voyage, 
passing twice through the tropics, in the midst of innumerable and immi- 
nent dangers. 
The mind is bewildered with the difficulty of embracing, in one com- 
prehensive view, the astonishing consequences that would result from a 
communication between the two oceans, by means of which ships sailing 
from Europe will save two thousand leagues, and those from North Amer- 
ica three thousand one hundred leagues, in their voyages to the coasts of 
China. What an economy of time and money ! And how far will these 
advantages extend, now that the lines of steamboats established upon the 
high seas have so prodigiously shortened distances ! 
A great revolution will take place in the commercial, and even in the 
political affairs of all nations, the instant America shall open the passage 
through any of her isthmuses. The epoch which shall see this effected 
will be more memorable than that of the discovery of this Continent, and 
the name of him to whom the world shall owe this event will be at least 
as glorious as that of Columbus. 
If your Excellency is ambitious of this glory for yourself and your 
country, you should now dedicate your attention, and the powerful mind 
