110 



Doc. No. 75. 



Sjjecial convention hehveen tJm United States of America and the State of 



Nicaragua, 



The United States of America and the State of Nicaragua having in 

 view the grand design of opening and estabhshing through the territories 

 of the latter State a passage and communication between the Caribbean sea 

 and the Pacific ocean, to facihtate the commerce between the two oceans 

 and to produce othef great results, and designing to establish, regulate^ 

 and deiine the grants, rights, privileges, and immunities that shall apper- 

 tain to each other with reference to such great object by means of 

 a treaty and special convention: for the accomplishment of these desira- 

 ble purposes, the President of the United States of America ha^s conferred 

 full powers on Elijah Hise, charge d'affaires of the government of said 

 States in Central America, and the State of Nicaragua hath likewise 

 granted full powers to Sefior Licdo. Don Buenaventura Selva, charge 

 ci'allaires of the government of the said State of Nicaragua near the 

 United States legation in Central America, who, after having exchanged 

 their said full powers in due and proper form, have agreed and do agree 

 upon the follov/ing articles: 



Article 1. It is solemnly agreed between the two high contracting 

 parties that the State of Nicaragua doth grant to and confer upon the United 

 (States of America, or to a company of the citizens thereof, the exclusive 

 right and privilege to make, construct, and build wnthin the territories of 

 the said State of Nicaragua, through and by the use and means of any 

 of the streams, rivers, bays, harbors, lakes,-or lands under the jurisdic- 

 tion or VvUthin the limits of said State, a canal or canals, or road or roads, 

 either railways or turnpikes, or any other kind of roads, for the purpose 

 of opening a convenient passage and communication (either by land alone 

 or water alone, or by both land and water, and by means, if deemed 

 proper, of iodks and dams, or by any other mode of overcoming and re- 

 moving the obstructions to the navigation of the said rivers, lakes, har- 

 bors, &c.) between the Caribbean sea and the Pacific ocean for the transit 

 and passage of ships, steamers, sailing vessels, boats, and vessels of all 

 kinds, as well as vehicles of every sort, used for the transportation and 

 conveyance of persons and property, and of goods, wares, and merchan- 

 dise of every description; and the United States, or the said company 

 which may be formed by virtue of such charter as shall be made, as 

 herein provided, shall be permitted, for the construction of said works, to 

 procure, take, and obtain, within the territories of Nicaragua, all kinds of 

 materials, such as stone, timber, earth, and whatever else may be neces- 

 sary and proper for the said purposes, free of any charge, so far as the 

 said materials may be procured on the lands belonging to said State. 



Art. 2. The State of Nicaragua cedes and grants to the United States, 

 or to a chartered company of the citizens thereof, as the case may be, 

 absolutely, all the land that may be required for the location and construc- 

 tion of said canal or canals, road or roads, and which may be necessary 

 for the erection of buildings and houses of every description for the resi- 

 dence and accommodation of the engineers, superintendents, and labor- 

 ers, and all others employed in the making and construction ot the said 

 works, or in governing, managing, and controlling the same; and also 

 for the erection of all such necessary buildings as may be requisite and 



