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TEXAS ST.ATE LIBRARY
superfluity which could impart no additional validity to the transaction, nor greater security_to Mr Belly in the e[n]joyi;nent of his rights..:_ It was the same as if Your Excellency, in contracting for the sale of your magnificent Hacienda, were to invite some Salvadorian, who had no shadow of right, title or interest in said estate, to unite with your Excellency in the transfer of it. A transaction so out of the ordinary mode of doing business-so unnecessary-and so inconsistent with the dignity of the soul and bona-fide owner of the property, would cer- tainly be liable to various constructions, and would unquestionably ex- pose the actors to unfavorable suspicions. It would be impossible to consider it as a mere act of folly; and in the absence of all reasonable motives for it, bad ones would necessarily be imputed.- And so with respect to the Belly Contract. The joining of Costa Rica in that contract was an act so obviously superfluous-so utterly void of utility as connected with the enterprise-that it could not fail to in- vite speculation with respect to the real and secret motives which could have influenced the parties to an union so unprecedented. Nicaragua was fully competent within herself-and was indeed the only competent power-to grant said Route; and of consequence could not require the intervention of another power to legalize her acts. When she granted transit-privileges to the Old Ship Canal Company, she did not call upon Costa Rica, to unite with her in making the necessary concessions, which could in reallity be made only by herself; nor did that Company deem such association at all necessary to the Security of their rights. Mr Belly, however, seems to have required both Republics to sign his Con- tract. Why did he not also require Guatemala and the other States to do the same. In my opinion Nicaragua wofully forgot on that occasion what was clue to her own dignity and self-respect as a Sovereign and Independent power-provided that transaction was what it ostensibly professed .to be,-nothing more than a simple, civil contract.- There was, however, in all this transaction something so uncalled for, and out of the ordinary .way of conducting such affairs, as to impress a strong conviction on the minds of many that something more was meant than met the public eye. The magnitude of the enterprise, so dispropor- tionate to any necessity for it, combined with its apparent impractica- bility, excited the suspicion that the execution of the work was really never contemplated, and caused the Contract to be regarded rather as a disguised alliance for some hostile purpose, than as a mere business operation. Now, if there were any just foundation for such suspiciones- if indeed, that Contract was associated with , any unkind sentiments towards another nation-if it was intended to serve as a mere pre- text or apology for a hostile interference of other powers. in the affairs of this Continent, then I hardly need remind Your Excellency of the great impolicy of calling into life again those unsocial sentiments which I had hoped were buried in a Saducean grave-never to resurrect. Let no one roll away the stone of the Supulcher unless he wishes the Lion of Judea to to fsic] arise instead of the Lamb of Peace.- If these ~uspicious, however, were unjust; and the Contract with Mr Belly was entered into on the part of those Republics for the sole purpose of promoting peaceful inprovement in Nicaragua-if no hos- tile intention was contemplated; and if it is still the desire and pur-
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