APPENDIX. 
295 
decrees of Salas as a part of the fundamental law of Mexico ; nay, it 
will scarcely be credited, that the very Congress which declared that 
Salas had no power to pass a decree in favor of the Tehuantepec grant, 
annulled a law of the State of Sonora on the ground that it violated the 
decree of Salas on the subject of colonization. 
Comment on facts like these could not aid in a proper appreciation of 
them. Six successive Mexican administrations have, directly or indirectly, 
declared the validity of the grant now held by the citizens of the United 
States. Three different administrations, in negotiating with this Govern- 
ment, have, in the most solemn manner, recognized its binding force. 
Whence now springs the difficulty or the doubt ? There can be but one 
answer. Mexico had avowedly no control over this concession, when it 
belonged to English subjects. Her views of her rights were only changed 
when a transfer had been made to citizens of the United States. 
That this is not a gratuitous assertion is apparent from the report 
of the committee of the Mexican Senate, of the 22d March last, in 
which it is asserted that " the fact has now become apparent which 
was before only suspected, and had been the object of serious fears — 
the enterprise has taken root in the United States, and the privilege is 
now, as has been announced in public documents, in the hands of inhab- 
itants of that nation, who are using every effort to obtain the protection 
of- their Government, in order to secure the success of the work and the 
removal of all obstacles to its completion." 
It is in this same spirit that the officers engaged in the survey, whose 
conduct, in conformity with the instructions of the company, has been 
such as to secure the friendship and sympathy of the entire population 
of the Isthmus, have been exposed to wanton insults and outrages from 
the very Government which had promised them aid and hospitality, and 
invited their presence by its passports ; that, in fine, a proclamation has 
been published directing their expulsion from the country, and ordering 
troops to be sent to the Isthmus for the enforcement of this decree. 
There is, however, yet reason to hope that better and wiser counsels 
will prevail in that unhappy country, and that a returning sense of justice 
will induce such action as is due to the plighted faith of the nation. 
J. P. Benjamin, 
Chairman of the Tehuantepec Railroad Company. 
ERRATA. 
Pago 9, (Illustrations,) for " maps," read mat. 
Page 77, line 16 from bottom, for " $954,165 78," read $5,954,165 78. 
Page 126, line 20 from bottom, for ''work," read business. 
Page 198, Table III., for "Bejuco marillo," read Bejuco amarillo. 
