spondence of Mr. Wyke, Her Majesty's chargé d'affaires at Guatemala, who seemed to admit that a greater participation in the internal government might be granted to the authorities of Honduras; that I made no doubt Her Majesty's Government would entertain any reasonable suggestions which might be afforded to them in that sense. As far as I knew the discussion was not closed, and Sir William Ouseley would, probably, have power to enter upon it in a liberal spirit.

I then went on to animadvert upon the danger of some movement in the approaching Congress which would interfere with the contemporary negotiation of Sir William Ouseley, remarking that should the Presi dent in his message allude to the position of the two countries in reference to Central America, and if, in consequence of his excellency's reflections a resolution should be proposed for the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, such a step would not only frustrate the purposes of Sir William Ouseley's mission, but would have a calamitous influence on the future relations of England and America. It would, therefore, be highly gratifying to me to be enabled to assure your lordship that, pending the negotiation intrusted to Sir William Ouseley, no proposal to annul the treaty would be sanctioned or encouraged by his excellency or by the members of his government.

The President stated, in reply, that it was certainly his intention to give an account in his message of all that had passed between the two governments respecting the Dallas-Clarendon treaty. He appeared to intimate that the effect of such a narrative would be to place the conduct of Great Britain in an unfavorable light, and he added that the passage in which he commented upon these transactions was already prepared; but his excellency went on to affirm, with emphasis, that if the resolutions of Her Majesty's Government were such as I had related, if they really meant to execute the Clayton-Bulwer treaty according to the American interpretation, and would, before the meeting of Congress, make some communication to him in that sense, such as he could use, he would cancel what he had written and insert another passage referring to the mission of Sir William Ouseley, and that "nothing would give him greater pleasure than to add the expression of his sincere and ardent wish for the maintenance of friendly relations between the two countries."

His excellency also distinctly declared that, under the circumstances here described, no attempt against the Clayton-Bulwer treaty in Congress would have any countenance from him whatever. To him it was indifferent whether the concessions contemplated by Her Majesty's Government were consigned to a direct engagement between England and the United States, or to treaties between the former and the Central American republics. The latter method might, in some respects, be even more agreeable to him, and he thought it would be more convenient to Her Majesty's Government, who might, with greater facility, accede to the claims of the weaker party.

I thanked the President for his assurances, and expressed my hope that your lordship would be enabled to make a full communication of Sir William Ouseley's instructions to the American Cabinet, and even to direct that minister to visit Washington, on his way to Central America, if his excellency thought such a step would be advisable. The President replied that a written communication would be sufficient, even if it reached him a few days before the meeting of Congress.

In the course of this interview the President touched incidentally upon the Honduras Railway, which he trusted might prove a successful enterprise, although the impressions which reached him were un

favorable to its practicability, or, at least, to its profitable execution. In this sentiment I concurred with the President, and avowed my apprehension that the undertaking would be the grave of a vast amount of British capital, which had been already so extensively wasted on the American continents.

Allusion having been made to the relations of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the President asserted that the United States aimed at no exclusive privileges and at no possession in that region; their interests and those of Great Britain were identical. I answered that such had always been my persuasion and my language, and that the parties who had obtained concessions from Costa Rica for the transit or the navigation of the River San Juan, acted, in my belief, without any sanction or authority from Her Majesty's Government. The jurisdiction of the transit was vested in Nicaragua; but Her Majesty's Government, I thought, would desire to secure the beneficial use of the river to Costa Rica for the purposes of import and export trade-a claim which seemed equitable and consistent with the views of the United States with refer ence to the navigation of the Amazon.

I have the pleasure of reporting to your lordship that the President took occasion to declare his satisfaction in the sympathy which had been displayed throughout the United States towards England since the outbreak of the Indian mutiny, and his own confidence in the success of Her Majesty's arms, which was to be desired in the interest of the natives of Hindostan.

At the conclusion of the interview, as I rose to take my leave, the President resumed the subject and said:

I shall be satisfied on condition that the British Government sends a minister to Central America, instructed to settle all the questions which have been controverted between the two governments according to the American construction of the treaty, and upon receiving an official assurance to this effect I shall change the character of my message..

In affirming the present policy of Her Majesty's Government to be "the execution of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty according to the general tenor of the interpretation placed upon it by the United States," I trust that I have not misconstrued the views of Her Majesty's Government in the mission of Sir William Ouseley.

I am careful in my language on this subject to mark that I spoke on a broad impression of your lordship's intentions, and not on a particular official knowledge of the decision of Her Majesty's Government.

I need not add that the engagements of the President do not depend in any degree on what I have hazarded on my own responsibility, but are altogether contingent on the the nature of the communication which his excellency may receive before the 4th of next December, when Congress will assemble.

The EARL OF CLARENDON.

NAPIER.

50.-Cass-Yrisarri treaty, November 16, 1857.

The Republic of Nicaragua and the United States of America, being desirous to maintain with each other the most friendly relations, to promote the commercial intercourse of their respective citizens, and to make some mutual arrangement with respect to a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by the river San Juan de Nicaragua and either or both the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, or by any other

route through the territories of said Republic of Nicaragua, have deemed it expedient to conclude a treaty of friendship, commerce and naviga tion, and for this purpose have named the following plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

The Republic of Nicaragua, Antonio José de Yrisarri, her envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in the United States of America;

And the President of the United States of America, Lewis Cass, Secretary of State of the United States: who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

There shall be perpetual amity between the United States and their citizens, on the one part, and the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua and its citizens on the other.

ARTICLE II.

There shall be, between all the territories of the United States and the territories of the Republic of Nicaragua, a reciprocal freedom of commerce. The subjects and citizens of the two countries, respectively, shall have full liberty, freely and securely, to come, with their ships and cargoes, to all places, ports, and rivers, in the territories aforesaid, to which other foreigners are, or may be, permitted to come, to enter into the same, and to remain and reside in any part thereof, respectively; also, to hire and occupy houses and warehouses for the purposes of their commerce; and generally the merchants and traders of each nation, respectively, shall enjoy the most complete protection and security for their commerce, subject always to the laws and statutes of the two countries, respectively.

In like manner the respective ships of war and post office packets of the two countries shall have liberty, freely and securely, to come to all harbors, rivers, and places to which other foreign ships of war and packets are, or may be, permitted to come, to enter the same, to anchor, and to remain there and refit, subject always to the laws and statutes of the two countries, respectively.

By the right of entering places, ports, and rivers, mentioned in this article, the privilege of carrying on the coasting trade is not understood, in which trade national vessels only of the country where the trade is carried on are permitted to engage.

ARTICLE III.

It being the intention of the two high contracting parties to bind themselves, by the preceding articles, to treat each other on the footing of the most favored nation, it is hereby agreed between them that any favor, privilege, or immunity whatever, in matters of commerce and navigation, which either contracting party has actually granted, or may grant hereafter, to the subjects or citizens of any other State, shall be extended to the subjects of the other contracting party gratuitously, if the concession in favor of that other nation shall have been gratuitous, or in return for a compensation, as nearly as possible, of proportionate value and effect, to be adjusted by mutual agreement if the concession shall have been conditional.

ARTICLE IV.

No higher nor other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the territories of the United States of any article being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the Republic of Nicaragua, and no higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the territories of the Republic of Nicaragua of any articles being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the territories of the United States than are, or shall be, payable upon the like articles being the growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country; nor shall any other or higher duties or charges be imposed in the territories of either of the high contracting parties on the exportation of any articles to the territories of the other than such as are, or may be, payable on the exportation of the like articles to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed upon the exportation or importation of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the territories of the United States or the Republic of Nicaragua, to or from the said territories of the United States, or to or from the Republic of Nicaragua, which shall not equally extend to all other nations.

ARTICLE V.

No higher nor other duties or payments, on account of tonnage, of light or harbor dues, or pilotage, of salvage in case of either damage or shipwreck, or on account of any local charges, shall be imposed in any of the ports of Nicaragua on vessels of the United States than those payable by Nicaraguan vessels; nor in any of the ports of the United States on Nicaraguan vessels than shall be payable in the same ports on vessels of the United States.

ARTICLE VI.

The same duties shall be paid on the importation into the territories of the Republic of Nicaragua of any article being the growth, produce and manufacture of the territories of the United States, whether such importations shall be made in Nicaraguan vessels or in vessels of the United States; and the same duties shall be paid on the importation into the territories of the United States of any article being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the Republic of Nicaragua, whether such importation shall be made in United States or Nicaraguan vessels.

The same dues shall be paid and the bounties and drawbacks allowed on the exportation to the Republic of Nicaragua of any articles being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the territories of the United States, whether such exportations shall be made in Nicaraguan or United States vessels; and the same duties shall be paid and the same bounties and drawbacks allowed on the exportation of any article being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the Republic of Nicaragua to the territories of the United States, whether such exportation shall be made in the vessels of the United States or of Nicaragua.

ARTICLE VII.

All merchants, commanders of ships, and others, citizens of the United States, shall have full liberty in all the territories of the Republic of Nicaragua to manage their own affairs themselves, as permitted by the

laws, or to commit them to the management of whomsoever they please, as broker, factor agent, or interpreter; nor shall they be obliged to employ any other persons in those capacities than those employed by Nicaraguans, nor to pay them any other salary or remuneration than such as is paid in like cases by Nicaraguan citizens; and absolute freedom shall be allowed in all cases to the buyer and seller to bargain and fix the price of any goods, wares, or merchandise imported into, or exported from, the Republic of Nicaragua, as they shall see good, observing the laws and established customs of the country.

The same privileges shall be enjoyed in the territories of the United States by the citizens of the Republic of Nicaragua under the same conditions.

The citizens of the high contracting parties shall reciprocally receive and enjoy full and perfect protection for their persons and property, and shall have free and open access to the courts of justice in said countries, respectively, for the prosecution and defense of their just rights; and they shall be at liberty to employ, in all cases, the advocates, attorneys, or agents, of whatever description, whom they may think proper; and they shall enjoy, in this respect, the same rights and privileges therein as native citizens.

ARTICLE VIII.

In whatever relates to the police of the ports, the lading and unlading of ships, the safety of the merchandise, goods, and effects; the succession to personal estates, by will or otherwise; and the disposal of personal property of every sort and denomination, by sale, donation, exchange, testament, or any other manner whatsoever, as also the administration of justice, the citizens of the two high contracting parties shall reciprocally enjoy the same privileges, liberties, and rights as native citizens; and they shall not be charged, in any of these respects, with any higher imposts or duties than those which are, or may be, paid by native citizens, submitting, of course, to the local laws and regulations of each country, respectively.

The foregoing provisions shall be applicable to real estate situated within the States of the American Union or within the Republic of Nicaragua, in which foreigners shall be entitled to hold or inherit real estate.

But in case real estate situated within the territories of one of the contracting parties should fall to a citizen of the other party, who, on account of his being an alien, could not be permitted to hold such property in the state in which it may be situated, there shall be accorded to the said heir, or other successor, such term as the laws of the state will permit to sell such property; he shall be at liberty at all times to withdraw and export the proceeds thereof without difficulty, and without paying to the government any other charges than those which, in a similar case, would be paid by an inhabitant of the country in which the real estate may be situated.

If any citizen of either of the two high contracting parties shall die without a will or testament in any of the territories of the other, the minister or consul or other diplomatic agent of the nation to which the deceased belonged (or the representative of such minister or consul or other diplomatic agent, in case of absence), shall have the right to nominate curators to take charge of the property of the deceased, so far as the laws of the country will permit, for the benefit of the lawful heirs and creditors of the deceased, giving proper notice of such nomination to the authorities of the country.