or its alleged dependencies. After signing my note last night I deliv ered it to Sir Henry, and we immediately proceeded, without any further or other action, to exchange the ratifications of said treaty. [The blank in the declaration was never filled up.] The consent of the Senate to the declaration was not required and the treaty was ratified as it stood when it was made. JOHN M. CLAYTON. N. B.-The rights of no central American state have been compromised by the treaty or by any part of the negotiations. 28.-Charter granted by the State of Nicaragua to the Accessory Transit Company. The supreme government of the Republic of Nicaragua, fully authorized by legislative decree of the 13th instant, have agreed, by means of their commissioners, Don Fruto Chamorro and Don Mateo Mayorga, with the sole object of facilitating the construction of the maritime canal, and in accordance with the desires expressed by the company of the said canal, represented by Joseph L. White, esq., to divide and separate from the contract of the 22d of September, 1849, relating to the construction of the said canal through the Isthmus of Nicaragua, the part therein relating to the navigation by steam of the waters of Nicara gua, and to that effect they have agreed to the following convention: ARTICLE I. The Republic of Nicaragua authorizes the American, Atlantic, and Pacific Ship-Canal Company to divide and separate from the powers, privileges, and rights granted by the treaty, signed by said government on the 22d September, 1849, and amended the 11th of April, 1850, all the powers, privileges, rights, and duties designated in the Articles 6, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30, 32, 33, 34, and all other articles relating to the navigation of the waters of Nicaragua, not essential to the construction or use of the said ship-canal. ARTICLE II. Said company is equally authorized to form another company, distinct and separate, comprised of the same members as the former. This new company shall enjoy the powers and be subject to the duties inserted in the articles aforesaid, provided they are not in contradiction to the rights granted, and to the duties imposed upon the Ship-Canal Company. ARTICLE III. The company newly created shall proceed to execute and accomplish the objects of its incorporation, as set forth in the said articles above alluded to, and shall have a right to, and shall have the protection of the Government of Nicaragua, within the same limits and to the same *The words in brackets appear in the original in ink, but are marked out by leadpencil marks across their face. When they were so marked is not known. The blanks in the original declaration are filled up with “29th" and "June," written with a different kind of ink from the original. PANAMA CANAL. extent which have been stipulated in the primary charter of the 22d September, 1849, and its amendments of the 11th of April, 1850, relating to the construction of a ship-canal. All the acts and things which may constitute an infraction of the rights of the Ship-Canal Company, shall equally be considered an infraction of the rights of the company newly created in all that refers to the objects of its institutions. ARTICLE IV. The new company, when organized, shall be designated by the name of "The Accessory Transit Company." They shall be a body corporate and politic, with perpetual succession during the time of their legal existence, and they shall have full powers to use their rights and privileges and accomplish fully the duties designated in the present convention and in the aforesaid articles in such manner as may seem to them most convenient and proper, provided that it be not in contradiction to the privileges and duties inserted in the primary charter of the 22d of September, 1849, and amendments thereto of the 11th of April, 1850. ARTICLE V. Said company, forming a body corporate and politic, may elect and remove their officers and agents according as they may deem it for their interest; they shall have the faculty of passing and adopting such laws and regulations as they may consider conducive to the better administration of their affairs, in view of securing the enjoyment of their privileges, and for the entire fulfillment of their obligations. They may fix the amount and value of stock to be issued, and increase the same if necessary; provide the mode of transferring the same, and do all acts and things which are proper and necessary to carry out strictly the purposes of their institution, and according to the abovementioned articles. ARTICLE VI. The company, forming a body corporate and politic, shall elect a board of directors and a president, and shall fix the number of the members thereof, the majority of whom shall determine and adopt all resolutions necessary to carrying out the purposes expressed in the preceding articles, and such others as refer to the right of transit and are not inconsistent with the right of constructing and using the canal. The company may adopt a common seal, and change it if necessary. They may sue and be sued before the tribunals of the state as if they were a natural person. ARTICLE VII. All the property, choses in action, things, rights, credits, and effects of the new company shall be free from all charges and duties whatsoever during the existence of the grant, within the limits expressed in the primary charter of the 22d September, 1849, and amendments thereto of the 11th of April, 1850, conceded for the construction of a ship-canal, and for other purposes. ARTICLE VIII. This convention, and all the rights and privileges secured by it to the company and conferred by it, shall cease whenever the primary charter of the 22d of September, 1849, shall expire by its own limitation, or shall be otherwise forfeited or annulled. ARTICLE IX. It is understood and agreed by and between the contracting parties that no expression used in this convention can be or shall be construed as relieving either party from the performance of all the obligations imposed upon them respectively by the charter of the 22d of September, 1849, and amendments thereto of the 11th of April, 1850. Done and signed in duplicate in the city of Granada, of Nicaragua, the fourteenth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifty one. [SEAL.] FRUTO CHAMORRO, J. L. WHITE, Counsel to and Representative of the American 164.] 29.-Mr. Lawrence to Mr. Webster. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, February 27, 1852. (Received March 13.) SIR: The report of Colonel Childs is looked for with deep interest, and there does not appear any difficulty in associating persons of both countries able to accomplish so great a work whenever a satis factory survey shall have been completed. I have, &c., ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 168.] 30.-Mr. Lawrence to Mr. Webster. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, March 26, 1852. (Received April 9.) SIR: Since my dispatch, No. 164, relative to the proposed survey for a route for a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, I have heard nothing further from Messrs. Vanderbilt and White, nor have I received the report of Colonel Childs. As there can probably be but one canal, as that one should be constructed as well for the wants of the future as those of the present, and as it will doubtless absorb in its construction as much of the private capital of both countries as mercantile persons will desire to invest in it, I am anxious that a preliminary survey like the present should be made in such a way as to insure its completion and excite jealousy in neither country. It is equally the interest of the United States and of Great Britain to connect the two oceans at the earliest practicable period by the best route, without reference to private interests, even though at an aug mented cost of a few millions of dollars. The canal will be remunerative at any rate. But it is understood that neither government will be interested in its construction beyond the guarantee of the treaty of 1850. Yet each may assist by its advice and encouragement. The present British cabinet, following the example of the last, is, I think, inclined to give to private individuals embarking in this scheme, the aid of its countenance. I respectfully suggest that the same course may be pursued at Washington with great benefit to the country by entering into communication with capitalists and others who might be disposed to aid in completing this most important work. I have, &c., ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 31.-Arrangement for settling Central American affairs agreed upon between Mr. Crampton and Mr. Webster. WASHINGTON, April 30, 1852. The undersigned, Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the United States, and John Fiennes Crampton, Envoy Extraordinary and Minster Plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty, having taken into consideration the state of the relations between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in respect to the boundaries between those republics, and between the Republic of Nicaragua and the territory claimed by the Mosquito Indians; and being mutually desirous that all pending differences respecting those questions should be amicably, honorably, and definitely adjusted, do in behalf of their respective governments earnestly recommend to the respective governments of the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica an accommodation and settlement of these differences upon the following basis: ARTICLE I. The Mosquito Indians may reserve to themselves out of the territory heretofore claimed or occupied by them on the eastern coast of Central America, a district of country, and the jurisdiction over the same to be bounded as follows, namely: beginning on the shore of the Caribbean Sea at the mouth of the river Rama, which is (according to Bailey's map of Central America, published in London in November, 1850) in 11°34' north latitude and 83° 46' west longitude; running thence due west to the meridian 84° 30' west longitude from Greenwich; thence due north on said meridian to the river Segovia, Fantasma, or Wanx; thence down said river to the Caribbean Sea; thence southerly along the shore of said sea to the place of beginning; and all the rest and remainder of the territory and lands lying southerly or westerly of said reservation heretofore occupied or claimed by the said Mosquitos, including Greytown, they shall relinquish and cede to the Republic of Nicaragua, together with all jurisdiction over the same in consideration of the net receipts for a period of three years from all duties levied and collected at Greytown at the rate of 10 per cent. ad valorem on all goods imported into the State. The period of three years to commence on the day when Nicaragua shall formally take possession of and enter into the occupancy of said town. And the said net receipts shall be payable quarterly, or every three months, to such agent or agents as may be appointed to receive them. And the said Republic of Nicaragua hereby agrees not in any way to molest or interfere with the Mosquito Indians within the territory herein reserved by them. It is also understood that any grants of land which may have been made by the said Mosquitos since the 1st of January, 1848, in that part of the Mosquito territory hereby ceded to Nicaragua, shall not be dis turbed, provided the said grants shall not interfere with other legal grants made previously to that date by Spain, by the Central American Confederation, or by Nicaragua, or with the privileges or operations of the Atlantic Ship-Canal Company, or Accessory Transit Company, and shall not include territory desired by the Nicaraguan Government for forts, arsenals, or other public buildings. II. It is also understood that nothing in the preceding article shall preclude the conclusion of such voluntary compact and arrangements between the State of Nicaragua and the Mosquito Indians, by which the latter may be definitively incorporated and united with the State of Nicaragua, it being stipulated that in such case the said Mosquito Indians shall enjoy the same rights and be liable to the same duties as the other citizens of the said State of Nicaragua. The municipal and public authority in the town of Greytown shall be held and exercised by the Government of Nicaragua, but said government shall levy no duties of tonnage nor any duties of import on goods imported into Greytown, intended for transit across the isthmus or for consumption in any other state than that of Nicaragua, except such tonnage duty as may be nec essary for the preservation of the port and harbor, and the erection and maintenance of necessary light-houses and beacons, and no duty for this or similar purposes shall exceed say 12 cents per ton on each vessel. III. The boundary between the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica shall begin on the south bank of the Colorado at its confluence with the sea at high-water mark on said river; thence along said south bank, also at high-water mark, to the confluence of the Colorado with the river San Juan; thence, at high water mark, along the south bank of the San Juan to its source on Lake Nicaragua; thence, at high-water mark, along the south and west shore of that lake to the point nearest the mouth of the river La Flor; thence by a direct line drawn from that point to the mouth of the said river in the Pacific Ocean. It is understood, however, that Costa Rica retains the right, in common with Nicaragua, to navigate said rivers and lake by said vessels, barges, or vessels towed, but not by steam; but this right is by no means to interfere with the paramount right in Nicaragua or her grantors to appropriate the waters of said rivers and lake for a ship-canal from ocean to ocean, or from the Caribbean Sea to said lake. It is also understood that the said company entitled "The American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company" shall have the privilege of locating on the south bank of the St. Jolin River four of the eight stations or sections of land referred to in the XXVIIth article of the amended charter of said company, as ratified by the Government of Nicaragua on the 11th of April, 1850. If, however, the said company |