I congratulate you cordially, and I trust that the Supreme Legislator may bestow His blessing on your resolutions, in order that the results of your deliberations may be in accordance with the general wishes.

I feel a redoubled pleasure in being able to tell you that the Republic is in perfect peace, and that liberty and order go hand in hand, in the midst of general confidence. Under the evident direction of Providence, I attribute the actual state of things to the peaceful and conciliatory programme that I have constantly followed.

If peace be a great boon for all nations, Gentlemen, it is a vast and inestimable one for Nicaragua, as our enemies are constantly on the watch in order to seize every opportunity of turning our dissensions to their own advantage.

Under the beneficent influence of peace, the country has improved as much as has been possible after its almost complete annihilation.

The Government, I have the honour to state, does all in its power to promote progress everywhere, for in the state of misery and distrust in which we found ourselves, after the late war, it was not enough that the Government should be on the watch, it became necessary both by direct and indirect means to give impulse to the useful undertakings of the country. One example of this is the valuable plant, coffee, which is now cultivated in abundance, owing to the privileges you conceded to it, and also owing to the exemptions which have been granted to the cultivators. Thus it is in other matters; but I do not mean to say that the people are doing nothing of themselves, far from it, for if the situation of Nicaragua when the war terminated, be called to mind, and compared with what it is at present, all must be convinced that our population is laborious in an eminent degree.

The formation of roads was commenced last year, with the difficulties that great undertakings always encounter at first. One of these difficulties is, that in some quarters, the annual contribution of 3 days' labour is regarded with ill will. I am of opinion that it is expedient to diminish it, and to prosecute the undertaking with constancy, with the assistance of the whole power of the Government. We are giving a wretched idea to foreigners who pass from one to another of our principal cities, and neither progress nor civilization will ever penetrate as they ought to do through our dangerous pathways: facilities of communication are the channels of life for all communities, like unto the arteries of the human body. Fix, therefore, your attention on this interesting subject, and do not omit to facilitate the undertaking.

Primary instruction, one of the greatest necessities for all

societies, especially Republics, is not developed with us, as we could wish. The funds destined for this object are very small in amount, and consequently the schools, being badly endowed, are not furnished in all places with competent masters. Hence the instruction is imperfect and the progress slow, whilst those individuals who possess the means, resort rather to private instruction. The movement of civilization of the present age is too rapid for us to be able to resist it; it behoves us to move forward also, and it belongs to you to facilitate the impulse.

Our bodies of militia owing to immense efforts are formed, and we can state for the first time that the Government of Nicaragua can reckon upon an army of 7,000 soldiers.

The formation of battalions was not concluded when Walker invaded Honduras, and Nicaragua, without causing alarm, raised the present militia in a very few days, and prepared for the defence of our nationality. My desire now is to complete the work by disciplining the force, and as we have made a beginning with so good a result, I flatter myself that in a short time we shall have accomplished that desirable object.

The public finances go on improving from day to day, for, being convinced that these form the vital principle of the State, I have devoted my constant attention to them. The enormous debt which presses on them, and the firm intention of maintaining our credit, which is the basis of national wealth, have nullified the Customs, and even other branches of Revenue, so that we have been passing through a long and protracted crisis. Notwithstanding this, there has been no necessity for decreeing loans excepting an exceedingly moderate one to contribute to the expenses of the war when forces were raised against the last attempt of Walker. So far from this, all arrears due to the troops during the national campaign have been paid in hard cash, and the day has been fixed for paying the first dividend to the officers, so that I trust that in a very short time our financial position will be a more favourable one. But the progress of this department will always be imperfect, so long as we have no mint, for we are subject to continual losses by the introduction of moneys, and our mineral riches now go to be fabricated abroad. A nation can hardly be said to be worthy of that name, when she has no currency to represent her in commerce, and, therefore, I implore you to give this object your attention, as one of those that tend most to our aggrandizement.

In proportion as peace has been secured in the interior, our credit has been increasing in foreign countries. We preserve our good relations with all the Powers, and with several of them we have Treaties of Amity and Commerce. Already those we have concluded with France and England have been ratified, as also a Convention with the last

named country relative to the question of Mosquito. In virtue thereof, a Commissioner was named on our part to receive the Port of San Juan del Norte, and the territory formerly disputed, and at the same time he carries instructions to ascertain and indicate the best method of governing the inhabitants of the port, because as the greater part of them are foreigners, it becomes expedient to preserve their usages and customs.

I am sorry to have to announce to you that the Treaty with the Government of The United States has not been concluded, for the Senate of that nation would not accept it without modifying one of its Articles. As by reason of that modification it had to be again submitted to your consideration, the Senate fixed a new term for the exchange, which expired before the day appointed by law for your re-assembling. To meet this difficulty and being desirous of connecting our country with all the Powers, there was an intention of convoking you extraordinarily, but the invasion of Honduras by the Filibusters, which Nicaragua had good reason to suppose was directed towards her, quite dispelled the idea, as it would have been impossible to carry it out when we were about to devote ourselves to the defence of the nation. Such being the case, it was deemed expedient to instruct our Minister in The United States to explain the matter, and to show the necessity of proroguing the term fixed on, but I have learnt with great regret that the reply given thereto is that the President of that Republic does not possess the power of making such a stipulation. Much as it is to be regretted that 5 Treaties concluded at different periods and ratified by Nicaragua, have not been passed in the Senate of The United States, it would be still more so, if this were to share the same fate, for our commerce and industry are now more than ever in want of Treaties with maritime nations.

Our relations with the Central American Governments excepting one alone, are as cordial as they naturally ought to be between members of the same family, a family divided, it is true, either from inexperience or fatality, but one day to be reunited, for all things are in common to it, and the family itself feels and wishes it to be so, trusting that the inevitable current of events will lead to that consummation.

On receiving the intelligence that Honduras was invaded by the Filibusters, Nicaragua considered herself invaded also, and we Nicaraguans were ready to share the danger with our brethren, had it not been that the first efforts of Honduras and Guatemala, supported by the authorities of Belize, and by the naval force of Her Britannic Majesty on those coasts, were quite sufficient to annihilate the invader.

About the same time, Costa Rica was the theatre of terrible [1861-62. LIT.] 4 G

events, in consequence of an invasion headed by Generals Don Juan R. Mora and Don J. Maria Cañas, which events, lamented as they are by every Central American, induced me to implore mercy in favour of the vanquished, and of the families of those who perished in the expedition. I had the satisfaction to learn that the Supreme Chief of that Republic had acted with generosity even before receiving my interposition, thus giving a proof of the high opinion I had formed of his character.

I have previously stated that it is only with one Government that we do not maintain relations: it is that of Salvador, which, without any just motive, closed them so definitively that when Central America was invaded, and our Government invited that of Salvador to prepare for defence, only an indirect reply was given that the relations with us had been closed beforehand. The President of Salvador, doubtless ill-informed, thought that some of his political enemies, who had sought an asylum in this country, were plotting a revolution against him on the western frontier, which belief induced him to address several reclamations, notwithstanding that this Government had directed the emigrants to retire to the interior, and the exercise of proper vigilance, so that our neutrality should not be infringed.

Subsequently certain papers, offensive to the same President, have been published, and they are attributed to those emigrants; for which reason he demanded that such publications should be prohibited, and as his demand was not complied with, because it could not be complied with, that delegate had recourse to the extreme measure already referred to.

On our part we would not have denied anything possible to the ruler of a Republic, sister to our own; but he asked from us an impossibility, in asking us to suppress the liberty of the press, hence his request could not be complied with.

The respective Ministers will furnish you with a detailed account of all the departments of the administration, as I have scarcely contributed one stroke of the pen thereto.

Sovereign Congress,-you represent a nation small in extent, but great by its position, great by its misfortunes, and one which will be very great hereafter. The illustrious members of whom Enter you are composed are a guarantee for your enactments. calmly then upon your important labours, in order that from this day you may begin to remove the obstacles that have impeded the progressive march of the country.

TOMAS MARTINEZ.

MESSAGE of the President of Guatemala, on the Opening of the Chamber of Representatives.-Guatemala, November 25, 1861.

GENTLEMEN REPRESENTATIVES,

(Translation.)

I CONGRATULATE you sincerely on seeing you assembled for the purpose of giving your attention to the important objects of your annual session, an incident ever grateful to me, and which encourages and gives me strength to meet the difficulties of Government, because I always rely on the support which I have constantly met with from this respectable Chamber.

Since your last meeting no remarkable event has occurred; our people feel every day more security in the well-being which they derive from a state of internal tranquillity. Our foreign relations have been maintained on the best footing, and the Government frequently receives from friendly nations testimonies of consideration and esteem.

It has recently been communicated to me that Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain has been pleased to confer on her representative in this Republic, a more elevated diplomatic character than that which he had hitherto held, a measure dictated by a feeling of friendship and consideration which I fully appreciate.

The only disagreeable incident which has occurred as regards our foreign relations, has been occasioned by an event that took place in the Mexican Republic at the beginning of the present year, and which it is my duty to communicate to you. As a proof of friendship and consideration towards that neighbouring country, and also with the desire of taking advantage of any interval of peace, in order to discuss and arrange the claims, which have been pending during so many years, arising from the annexation of Chiapas and Soconusco to that Republic, a representative from Guatemala has resided for a long time in Mexico with the character of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. At the beginning of the present year a notification was made to him that he must leave the Republic; the reason given for that resolution being, that due neutrality had not been observed in acknowledging the Government which exercised power in the capital, after the changes which took place in the year 1858, and which originated the civil war which has lasted up to the present time. That event which was communicated officially to our Minister in The United States by the representative of the Mexican Republic, was not communicated to this Government until two months had elapsed. Our Minister continued his relations with the existing Government in Mexico, as had always been done during the frequent changes which have taken place in that Republic; and in the act