APPENDIX. 
263 
lying on the commerce of the whole world ; when the advantage of giv- 
ing to this grand work all the perfection of which it is capable shall be 
duly appreciated ; and when both sides of the line of transport shall be 
dotted with rich and populous cities, as will certainly happen in a few 
years. 
Let this be enumerated among the acts of your Excellency's public 
life, and your name will not only belong to the glory of your country, 
but will be identified with the best interests of mankind, and immortal- 
ized by the most imperishable of monuments. The whole world will re- 
ceive incalculable benefits ; and what advantages will not accrue to Amer- 
ica in particular, when the accomplishment of this undertaking shall make 
her the centre of universal commerce, giving a vast impulse to the ele- 
ments of her territorial wealth and greatness, dormant as yet, and inca- 
pable of being developed from the little intercourse she at present enjoys 
with the splendor and industry of Europe ! 
I beg leave, sir, to repeat, that the mind is bewildered, and loses itself, 
when it attempts to grasp the beneficial results that must accrue to Mexi- 
co on the completion of this project, from the facility with which her na- 
tive products will be exported, and from her becoming the emporium of 
the commerce of the world, as also from the immense sums arising from 
duties and other contributions, paid, not by the inhabitants of her soil, but 
by foreigners, and from the great influx of population and capital to which 
it will inevitably lead. 
May your Excellency, therefore, become the author of these great and 
numerous benefits to your country, by adopting the articles of my memo- 
rial, and thus acquire the most memorable and well-founded of titles to an 
illustrious and patriotic career. 
Jos. de Garay. 
Mexico, February 25, 1842. 
(No. 2.) 
Decree ordering the opening of the Isthmus, with the Grants therein speci- 
fied ; and Contract between the Supreme Government and Don Jos6 de 
Garay. 
(stamp.) 
In the City of Mexico, on the second day of March, in the year one 
thousand eight hundred and forty-three, I, the undersigned Notary na- 
tional and public, being in the office of the Secretary of State for Foreign 
