No. 302.
Mr. Riotte to Mr.
Fish
No. 79.]
United States Legation, Leon,
May
22, 1871.
Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your
dispatch No. 51, of 24th ultimo.
Inclosed I have the honor of submitting to you copies and translations of
correspondence had with the Nicaragua government on two subjects, viz, the
autograph letter from President Grant to President Quadra on the latter’s
elevation to the presidency, and the maritime canal across Nicaragua. Being
persuaded that the practicability of this line and its merits, as compared
to other lines, will be investigated by the very best authorities, and the
only ones competent to decide, I cannot deem myself warranted to offer an
opinion on it. The reasons urged in Mr. Balladare’s note in behalf of the
Nicaragua line are well founded, and I do not hesitate to express the
conviction that President Quadra sincerely prefers to have the enterprise
fall into the hands of
[Page 671]
Americans
in preference to any other nation. The Franco Lefevre contract, reported on
in my dispatch No. 72, came up in the senate session of March 14, as I learn
from the proceedings published but four days ago, and that body advised the
government not to submit it to the approbation of the sovereign, (Toberano,
the modest title used for congress,) since it was onerous for the country.
Thus it will sleep along with the Chevalier and so many contracts upon the
same subject.
I have, &c.,
[Translation.]
Sir: I have received order from his excellency
the President of the republic to direct to you this dispatch, to lay
before you a subject of the highest importance, wherein the Nicaraguan
government is very much interested. His excellency the President has
learned from publications of foreign papers, and from some dispatches
you have directed to my department, that the Government of the American
Union, for some time already, is occupied with decided energy to find
out which may be the most advantageous spot for excavating a maritime
canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific, across the American isthmus.
To that important end it has sent out exploring commissions to Darien
and Tehuantepec, without till this day attaining the desired result.
It has occurred to my government that these scientific expeditions were
not from beginning sent to the territory of this republic, when
everything seems to indicate that it is here where the grand problem,
traced out since the days of the discovery of America, must receive its
practical solution.
A slight glance upon the map of this continent suffices to become assured
that Nicaragua, with her navigable rivers, her interior lakes, and the
short distance intervening between them and the Pacific, is the point
presenting the best conditions for the practicability of that work of
universal interest. These and other favorable circumstances whereof you
are well aware, as for the benignity of the climate, the proximity to
the road to the centers of the population, the abundance of provisions,
the sympathies of the Nicaraguan people for the American, &c., ought
to have induced the American Government to dispatch said expedition to
this republic, and that it did not induce the government of Nicaragua to
assume that the Washington Cabinet was not fully cognizant of said
circumstances, or that it was preoccupied by incorrect or interested
accounts, which may have originated in the desire to call the attention
of the American Government and people to localities they were referring
to. For these reasons the undersigned was ordered to forward to your
excellency, as I herewith do in a separate package, a series of
documents relative to the principal studies hitherto made upon the
Nicaraguan canal, among which are found plans and other data throwing
abundant light upon that most important subject. The undersigned hopes
that your excellency will be pleased to transmit those documents to the
government you represent, for whatever they may be worth to it, in case
it should not have had prior knowledge thereof. And, furthermore, he
hopes that you will be pleased to lay before that Government all the
information favorable to the project, derived from your acquaintance of
the country, and also to assure it that the Nicaraguan government is
fully inclined to lend to the American commission that may come for
exploring the territory of the republic all the co-operation it is
capable of.
For the government of the undersigned it would be very satisfactory if,
in consequence of that exploration, that gigantic work would be put on
the way of realization, which truly would form one of the wonders of the
age; and it is unquestionable that the initiative taken by President
Grant in the matter will secure to him a lasting fame.
Having thus complied with the order of his excellency the President, the
undersigned is happy to renew, &c., &c.
Hon. C. N. Riotte, &c., &c.
[Page 672]
[Inclosure 2.]
United States Legation, Leon, May 15, 1871.
Hon. Francisco Balladares, &c., &c.:
I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your interesting note of
the 11th instant, relating to the interoceanic canal across this
republic, and will not fail to submit it to my government by the
earliest opportunity. The “documents relative to the principal studies
had on the subject” have, as yet, not reached me.
I remain, &c.,
