Doc. No. 75. 



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ceire this island in whole or part payment of their debts; but in case 

 llie proposition is not accepted, they have intimated their purpose to seize 

 upon the island by way of indemnity. England is never in want of pre- 

 texts for any act which may promote her interests^ real or fancied. Wit- 

 ness the seizure of the island of Raatan, on the Atlantic coast of Hon- 

 duras, and of the port of San Juan, on the same coast of Nicaragua! 

 The contemplated acquisition of the key to the Gulf of Conchagua is 

 but another step of the same policy, and has for its principal and ultimate 

 object the prevention of American preponderance in the Pacific. Our 

 vessels and merchandise £ind citizens passing round Cape Horn, across 

 the isthmus of Panama, through the proposed ship canal in Nicaragua, 

 would be comxpieteiy within the power of Great Britain, and might easily 

 be intercepted from her commanding position, should she obtain posses- 

 sion of it. Besides, the three States of San Salvador, Honduras, and 

 Nicaragua, with their great mineral wealth and unlimited agricultural 

 productiveness, would soon be reduced to the condition of dependencies 

 of Great Britain, and ultimately be absorbed by her. 



Into the southern extremity of the Gulf of Conchagua empties a con- 

 siderable stream, or estuary, called the Estero Real, up which the tide 

 iiows for many miles. Its course, for a considerable distance, is near the 

 base of the volcanic range which I have mentioned, and in ascending it the 

 voyager takes a direct course towards the northern and deepest bay of Lake 

 Managua. There is a sand-bar at the entrance of the Estero, upon which, 

 at low tide, there is but two and a half or three fathoms of water. The 

 tide rises about ten feet, and, with some artificial improvements, it is said 

 the bar could be made passable at all times. The bar passed, the Estero 

 deepens to six and ten fathoms, and preserves a uniform width of from 

 three hundred to four hundred yards. It is one of the most beautiful 

 natural canals that can be imagined; the banks are lined with mangroves, 

 and it has a dense background of other trees. Sir Edward Belcher, who 

 was here in 1838, went thirty miles up the Estero in a vessel drawing 

 ten feet of water. He says: To-day we started with the Starling and 

 other boats to explore the Estero Real, which I had been given to under- 

 stand was navigable for sixty miles; in which case, from what I saw of 

 its course in my visit to the Viejo, it must nearly communicate with the 

 lake of Managua. After considerable labor we succeeded in carrying the 

 Starling thirty miles from its mouth, and might easily have gone further 

 had the wind permitted, but the prevailing strong winds rendered the toil 

 of towing too heavy. We ascended a small hill about a mile belo\\ our 

 extreme position, from which angles were taken to all the commanding 

 peaks. From that survey, added to what I remarked from the summit of 

 the Viejo, I am satisfied that the stream could be followed many miles 

 further, and, 1 have not the slightest doubt, is fed very near the lake Man- 

 agua. I saw the mountains beyond the lake on its eastern side, and no 

 land higher than the intervening trees o curred. This, therefore, would 

 be the most advantageous line for a canal, which, by entire lake naviga- 

 tion, might be connected with the interior of the States of San Salvador, 

 Honduras, Nicaragua, and extend to the Atlantic. Thirty navigable 

 miles for vessels drawing ten feet we can vouch for, and the natives and 

 residents assert sixty (30?) more! " From the course of the Estero, and 

 the distance it is known to extend, it probably would not require a canal of 

 more than twenty or twenty-five miles in length; to connect its navigable 



