168 Doc. No. 76. 



with SO much urgency if my information upon this point was not concki- 

 sive and authentic. 



I shall despatch this letter by special courier^ whose return with your 

 reply I shall await with the utmost impatience. 



Meantime, begging your excellency to accept the assurances of my 

 highest consideration and regard,, 

 I am, sir, (fcc, 



E. GEO. SQUIER, 

 To the Director of the State of Honduras. 



K. 



Legation of the United States, 

 Leon, August 15, 1849. 



Sir : The probable speedy opening of a canal or other communication 

 across the isthmus of Nicaragua will, without doubt, bring before the 

 government of Nicaragua a swarm of adventurers with applications for 

 exclusive grants and special privileges for this, that, and the other pur- 

 poses. It may be laid down as an axiom of sound policy that no exclu- 

 sive grants should be made for any purpose, except in cases where the 

 magnitude of the thing undertaken requires some such encouragement, 

 in order to its execution ; or, when its probable general advantages will 

 more than compensate for the sacrifice of individual rights which are in- 

 volved in every exclusive grant. In case the projected canal is com- 

 menced, enterprising men and capitalists will not fail to take advantage of 

 the circumstance to engage in those branches of industry which may be 

 prosecuted here with profit, and nothing would tend more to retard 

 their enterprise and the prosperity of the country than the fact of 

 their exclusion in any department of trade or industry. No legitimate 

 field of enterprise (such is the mental and physical activity of the world 

 at this time) will long be neglected, and the benefits which follow from 

 free competition must accrue to the public at large. If it is the desire of 

 a government to establish manufactures, let it invite their commencement 

 by bounties; and, once established, let them be protected by discrimi- 

 nating duties. We have, in the unparalleled success of the United States^ 

 the amplest evidence" of the soundness of this policy. 



I hope, for the common interests of the citizens of this, as of my own 

 country, that the government of Nicaragua will adopt in this, as in other 

 matters, that liberal policy which is demanded by the spirit of the age in 

 which we live. 



I am, sir, &c., 



E. G. SUUIER. 

 To the Director of the Republic of Nicaragua. 



Mr. Squier to Mr. Clayton. 



[Extract.] 



[No. 4.] Legation of the United States, 



Leon de Nicaragua , September 10, 1849. 

 Sir: I have the satisfaction of informing the department that I have 

 succeeded in accomplishing the objects of my mission to this republic. 



