WASHINGTON, _April 22, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I herewith transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
ratification, a convention between the United States and Great Britain,
concluded at Washington on the 19th instant by John M. Clayton,
Secretary of State, on the part of the United States, and by the Right
Hon. Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, on the part of Great Britain.
This treaty has been negotiated in accordance with the general views
expressed in my message to Congress in December last. Its object is to
establish a commercial alliance with all great maritime states for the
protection of a contemplated ship canal through the territory of
Nicaragua to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and at the same
time to insure the same protection to the contemplated railways or
canals by the Tehuantepec and Panama routes, as well as to every other
interoceanic communication which may be adopted to shorten the transit
to or from our territories on the Pacific.
It will be seen that this treaty does not propose to take money from the
public Treasury to effect any object contemplated by it. It yields
protection to the capitalists who may undertake to construct any canal
or railway across the Isthmus, commencing in the southern part of Mexico
and terminating in the territory of New Granada. It gives no preference
to any one route over another, but proposes the same measure of
protection for all which ingenuity and enterprise can construct. Should
this treaty be ratified, it will secure in future the liberation of all
Central America from any kind of foreign aggression.
At the time negotiations were opened with Nicaragua for the construction
of a canal through her territory I found Great Britain in possession of
nearly half of Central America, as the ally and protector of the
Mosquito King. It has been my object in negotiating this treaty not only
to secure the passage across the Isthmus to the Government and citizens
of the United States by the construction of a great highway dedicated to
the use of all nations on equal terms, but to maintain the independence
and sovereignty of all the Central American Republics. The Senate will
judge how far these objects have been effected.
If there be any who would desire to seize and annex any portion of the
territories of these weak sister republics to the American Union, or to
extend our dominion over them, I do not concur in their policy; and I
wish it to be understood in reference to that subject that I adopt the
views entertained, so far as I know, by all my predecessors.
The principles by which I have been regulated in the negotiation of this
treaty are in accordance with the sentiments well expressed by my
immediate predecessor on the 10th of February, 1847, when he
communicated to the Senate the treaty with New Granada for the
protection of the railroad at Panama. It is in accordance with the whole
spirit of the resolution of the Senate of the 3d of March, 1835,
referred to by President Polk, and with the policy adopted by President
Jackson immediately after the passage of that resolution, who dispatched
an agent to Central America and New Granada "to open negotiations with
those Governments for the purpose of effectually protecting, by suitable
treaty stipulations with them, such individuals or companies as might
undertake to open a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans by the construction of a ship canal across the isthmus which
connects North and South America, and of securing forever by such
stipulations the free and equal right of navigating such canal to all
such nations on the payment of such reasonable tolls as might be
established to compensate the capitalists who should engage in such
undertaking and complete the work."
I also communicate herewith a copy of the correspondence between the
American Secretary of State and the British plenipotentiary at the time
of concluding the treaty. Whatever honor may be due to the party first
proposing such a treaty justly belongs to the United States. My
predecessor, in his message of the 10th of February, 1847, referring to
the treaty with New Granada for the protection of the Panama Railroad,
observes that--
Should the proposition thus tendered be rejected we may deprive the
United States of the just influence which its acceptance might secure to
them, and confer the glory and benefits of being the first among the
nations in concluding such an arrangement upon the Government either of
Great Britain or France. That either of these Governments would embrace
the offer can not be doubted, because there does not appear to be any
other effectual means of securing to all nations the advantages of this
important passage but the guaranty of great commercial powers that the
Isthmus shall be neutral territory. The interests of the world at stake
are so important that the security of this passage between the two
oceans can not be suffered to depend upon the wars and revolutions which
may arise among different nations.
Should the Senate in its wisdom see fit to confirm this treaty, and the
treaty heretofore submitted by me for their advice in regard to its
ratification, negotiated with the State of Nicaragua on the 3d day of
September last, it will be necessary to amend one or both of them, so
that both treaties may stand in conformity with each other in their
spirit and intention. The Senate will discover by examining them both
that this is a task of no great difficulty.
I have good reason to believe that France and Russia stand ready to
accede to this treaty, and that no other great maritime state will
refuse its accession to an arrangement so well calculated to diffuse the
blessings of peace, commerce, and civilization, and so honorable to all
nations which may enter into the engagement.