WASHINGTON, _February 18, 1853_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, embodying the substance
of recent communications made by the minister of Her Britannic Majesty
to the Department of State on the subject of the interoceanic canal by
the Nicaragua route, which formed the chief object of the treaty between
the United States and Great Britain of the 19th April, 1850, and the
relations of Great Britain to the protectorate of Mosquito, which she
expresses herself desirous of relinquishing on terms consistent with
her honorable engagements to the Indians of that name.
In consequence of these communications and other considerations stated
in the report, it is deemed advisable by the Department that our
diplomatic relations with the States of Central America should be placed
on a higher and more efficient footing, and this measure meets my
approbation. The whole subject is one of so much delicacy and importance
that I should have preferred, so near the close of my Administration,
not to make it the subject of an Executive communication. But inasmuch
as the measure proposed can not, even if deemed expedient by my
successor, take effect for near a twelvemonth unless an appropriation is
made by this Congress, I have thought it my duty to submit the report of
the Department to the two Houses. The importance of the measure seemed
to require an exposition somewhat in detail of the grounds on which it
is recommended.