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Doc. No. 75. 



this important business to a happy termination, I shall always remember 

 with pride and pleasure the negotiation in which we have been engaged 

 together, were it only on account of the expressions of esteem and regard 

 with which you honor me, and which faithfully represent the sentiments 

 of sincere friendship and high consideration which 1 avail myself of this 

 opportunity to offer to you. 



H. L. BULWER. 



Hon. John M. Clayton, 



Convention between the United States of America and her Britannic 



Majesty. 



The United States of America and her Britannic Majesty, being de- 

 sirous of consolidating the relations of amity which so happily subsist 

 between them, by setting forth and fixing in a convention their views and 

 intentions with reference to any means of communication by ship-canal 

 which may be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, by 

 the way of the river San Juan de Nicaragua, and either or both of the 

 lakes of Nicaragua or Managua, to any port or place on the Pacific ocean, 

 the President of the United States has conferred full powers on John M. 

 Clayton, Secretary of State of the United States, and her Britannic 

 Majesty on the Right Honorable Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, a minister of 

 her Majesty's most honorable privy council, Knight Commander of the 

 most honorable Order of the Bath, and envoy extraordinary and minister 

 plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty to the United States, for the 

 aforesaid purpose ; and the said plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their 

 full powers, which were found to be in proper form, have agreed to the 

 following articles : 



Article 1. The governments of the United States and Great Britain 

 hereby declare, that neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or main- 

 tain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship-canal ; agreeing 

 that neither will ever erect or maintain any fortifications commanding the 

 same or in the vicinity thereof, or occupy or fortify, or colonize, or assume 

 or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, 

 or any part of Central America; nor will either make use of any protection 

 which either affords or may afibrd, or any alliance which either has or 

 may have, to or with any State or people, for the purpose of erecting or 

 maintaining any such fortifications, or of occupying, fortifying, or colo- 

 nizing Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central 

 America, or of assuming or exercising dominion over the same ; nor w4ll 

 the United States or Great Britain take advantage of any intimacy, or use 

 any alliance, connexion, or influence 'that either may possess with any 

 State or government through whose terfiiory the said canal majr pass, for 

 the purpose of acquiring or holding directly or indirectly, for the citizens 

 or subjecis of the one, any rights or advantages in regard to comm.erce or 

 navigation through the said canal, which shall not be offered on the same 

 terms to the citizens or subjects of the other. 



Art. 2. Vessels of the United States 6t Great Britain, traversing the 

 said canal, shall, in case of war between the contracting parties, be ex- 



