Doc. No. 75. 



6S 



that of New Grenada entered into a contract with Baron ThieiTy, on the 

 29th of May of last year, for building a canal at Panama. This contract^ 

 although far more advantageous to the parties holding it than that entered 

 into with Beneski, in our own country, was never executed, owing to 

 M. Thierry's utter inability to find capitalists in Europe willing to join 

 him in forming a company. As one of the articles of agi'eement stipu- 

 lates for a certain period of time, which has not yet expired, the Grena- 

 dian government finds itself so firmly bound as yet by it^ pledges, that it 

 has no power either to enter into another contract, or to undertake the 

 work on its own account; but as this stipulated period of time will elapse 

 within a year, it behooves our government to improve the opportunity 

 while it can do so on its own account, and without fear of opposition. 

 If this chance is allowed to pass, through indolence or apathy, New Gre- 

 nada, whose credit is much better than ours, owing to the regularity 

 with which the administr;:ition of her affairs has been conducted for ihe 

 last four years, and the important payments she has made to her old 

 creditors^ will find it very easy to compete with us in raising a loan, and 

 to obtain the requisite funds for the construction of the Panama canal^ 

 leaving us to envy her good fortune. It is incumbent upon our govern- 

 ment to act with decision, energy, and promptitude, and to waste no 

 time in idle dallyings, after the fashion of the Spaniards! It is time that 

 we should follow the example of Englishmen and their descendants in 

 North America, who, when once convinced of the importance, usefulness 

 and practicability of an enterprise, never pause until they have raised ^ 

 either by loan or by means of association, the sum required to carry it 

 into efifect. 



There are not wanting bigoted and shallow-minded politicians, who, 

 destitute alike of discernment and foresight, denounce the system of 

 loans as ruinous to the people, and, without drawing any distinction be- 

 tween cases and objects, launch out into general propositions. It cannot 

 be denied that with some nations tVie system of loans has been productive 

 of incalculable mischief, particularly when the object has been to keep up 

 large standing armies, to maintain official hirelings, or perchance to up- 

 hold the luxury of a corrupt and prodigal government. Mexico presents 

 a striking illustration of this fact; for in that country successive loans have 

 been raised, and as frequently disposed of for corrupt objects, without the 

 smallest portion of the sums thus borrowed ever having been applied to 

 the construction of a single canal or railroad, or for the improvement of a 

 solitary port of the country. The loans that have been raised for the 

 purpose of building canals and railways have been attended with results 

 of a very different character. Witness, for instance, the immense bene- 

 fits that have accrued to the States of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, 

 as well as those private companies whose operations have been based 

 upon this principle I The funds that have been invested in enterprises 

 of this kind have given a prodigious impulse to agriculture and industry, 

 when agricultural pursuits had not hitherto been followed, or been but 

 imperfectly understood. They have enriched the country as if by magic, 

 increasing everywhere the rate of produce, and the value of manual labor 

 and of property both in town and country. As Clinton had calculated in 

 his original scheme, they have laid the foundation of highly lucrative 

 works, which have since become a source of benefit to the country, add- 

 ing fresh resources to the public revenue and exonerating the people 



