PAPERS OF MIRABEAU 'BUONAPARTE LAMAR 401 which I cannot believe- still the ratification of the Contract by this Republic does not in .the least promote or facilitate the end. Nothing can be done-without the action of Nicaragua. Then why not wait her action? Her breath is essential to the vitality of that contract; with- out it-it is dead matter. The Congress of your Country may possibly so galvanize it, as to enable Mr Belly to pass it off in Europe as a living thing; but this is all that can be done here; and in doing this, the gov- ernment necessarily exposes itself to the reclamations of that gentle- man for guarantees and pledges unredeemed.- It will be impossible for Costa Rica to convince the world of the necessity, or utility, of a measure which stands so unsustained by any rational considerations, and is so obviously opposed by all the dictate~ of prudence and propriety. 'fhen why is it gone into? The answer is at hand. It , is to all appearances gone into at the suggestion of Mr Belly. It seems to _be done only to gratify him. There may be great kindness in this; but certainly there is neither wisdom or safety in it. I am aware that letters have been written from Paris to citi- zens in the capital magnifying the importance and brilliancy of this enterprise, and stating that the capital has been raised-that the en- gineers are engaged-and that all things are in readiness to begin the glorious work. Nothing is wanting but the ratification of the Co:ra.tract by Costa-Rica. I hear nothing of its ratification by Nicaragua, the party mostly, if not solely interested in the matter, and without whose approval Mr Belly's contract is but waste paper. Out of this waste paper, however, Mr Belly hopes to construct a balloon which shall bear . him aloft) inflated by the rarified breath of Costa Rica. Until the reception of those letters, I had never heard a sylable about the ratifi- cation of the Contract; but immediately after their contents became publicly known it was rumored through the City that Congress .was about to be convened for that purpose; and the Government paper has ever since been teeming .with speculations on the subject- I do not know that Mr Belly has written anything directly to this Government himself upon the subject of his Contract; but I think there-can be no doubt that the letters and publications which have been received here in relation to the matter, and which are now f:!Up- posed to be influencing the policy of the Government were written at his instigation and forwarded by his order. If. his object is no other than to entrap Costa-Rica into an endorsement of his Humbug, in order that he may be enabled thereby to practise fraud upon the ignorant and unwary of his own countrymen, then it is a matter in which I can have no concern beyond a natural regret that the Govern- ment to which I haye the honor of being accredited, and cannot avoid liking, should become the unconscious instrument of his imposition. But if his purpose is still-as it has heretofore been-to sow the seeds of his disconfidence and discord between the United States and Costa Rica, I am constrained to say that no circum 9 tance in relation to this country could afflict me more than to see it controlled and misguided by the machinations of a man so superficial and little worthy of respect- ful consideration.- And who is Mr Felix Belly? I know nothing of his antecedents. . I only know that he came to this country for purposes undefined, and left it in a worse condition than he found it- involved in error and
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