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Doc. No. 75. 



would never be approved by the capitalists of the United States or Europe, 

 and all such schemes in future, as heretofore, would fall to the ground 

 for want of money. The truth is, the right of way necessarily involves 

 and includes, as a consequence, the protection by our government of the 

 country through which it passes. Of what value is the right without the i 

 power to insure its continued exercise and enjoyment, and to remove and j 

 punish all obstructions or infractions of such right? If the right obtained 

 is useful, valuable, and necessary, why, the, government ol the United 

 States would, to make such right available, have to protect the work, the 

 company, and the country whose prosperous and peaceful condition, and 

 whose continued neutrality, would be necessary to be promoted and main- 

 tained, in order that the usefulness and value of such right of way might 

 not be obstructed and impaired; and this, although the United States might 

 come under no treaty obligation to extend such protection. And of what 

 value to the United Slates is such right of way as is secured in this treaty, 

 unless the contemplated ship canal is actually made? And it never can 

 or will be made, under our auspices at least, unless with the pledge of the 

 powerful protection of our government to the enterprise itself, as well as to 

 the government of the little weak State of Nicaragua. 



I was induced with all possible despatch to conclude this treaty*, because 

 I had information from authentic sources that English companies were en- 

 deavoring to ptocure for themselves the privileges which I have thus 

 secured, and that the British government, by encroachments and aggres- 

 sions at the mouth and on the borders of the Rio San Juan de Nicaragua, 

 designed, no doubt, so to embarrass the subject, and to present such ob- 

 stacles in the way, as to defeat altogether the project of making a ship 

 canal between the two oceans. In the State of Nicaragua, I learned, also, 

 that this subject was exciting great attention and much interest amongst 

 the mercantile community and the commercial classes in the United States, 

 and that agents had been sent from New York and New Orleans to Nica- 

 ragua to secure by contract the exclusive privilege of building and owning 

 such works in that State; and one contract was made with the said State 

 by David J. Brov/n, as the agent of an American company, a certified copy 

 of which is herewith submitted. Upon inspectic?!i, it will be seen that 

 this contract is wholly worthless, because of the hard terms imposed on 

 the con;pany, and because of the undue advantages therein attempted to 

 be retained for the benefit of the government of the State. Why was this? 

 The answer is, that Nicaragua by that contract obtained no equivalent (for 

 the privileges conferred) in the form of governmental protection from the 

 United States; and therefore she requires in said contract that she shall 

 have ten per cent, of the profits of the enterprise, and that the entire right 

 and property therein shall vest in the State at the end of years. Con- 

 sequently, this contract will never be executed; and I have lately been in- 

 formed that it has not been, and will not be, accepted by the company. 



The question arises, Will Nicaragua ratiiy this treaty? I answer. Yes, 

 undoubtedly, to procure the protection of the United States, as provided in 

 the twelfth article thereof. This treaty will be ratified, unless terms more 

 favorable to that State, and less favorable to the United States and to the 

 company, are afforded before its ratification takes place. It is true that, if 

 they can make a more advantageous treaty for themselves with the minis- 

 ter lately sent to Leon than the one herewith submitted, they will do so, 

 and in such case fail to ratify this. For example, in this treaty Nicaragua 



