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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
to ?pen said :route, and that he is impatient-as his letter writers say he 1s-to begm the work, why does he not first obtain from Nicarauua the ratification of his Contract? She is the only power that can c~m- firm him in his rights, and place him in possession of the Route. No ;-instead of this, he applies to Costa Rica, whose action or whose inaction can neither facilitate or retard him in his legitimate oper- ations. The ratification of that Contract by Costa Rica under these circumstances must unavoidably excite the suspicion that she has been influenced to the step by other considerations than those of merely promoting the execution of an enterprise which is now generally con- ceded to be impracticable in the present day. Those motives-What are they ?-If they have no practical reference to the opening of said route-if they are independent of and disconnected with that enter- prise-the mind is at once cast upon a wide ocean of speculation, and may conjecture a thousand things. The natural supposition would be that the motives were political. Who knows? There are too many unsettled affairs between the United States and those two Republics; and too many unpleasant associations connected with the Belly con- tract to allow the United States to look with i:ndifference upon any measure connected with it-and especially a measure like the present, which seems to be demanded by no exigencies; productive of no utility, and yet so hurriedly gone into without any one knowing why or where- fore. Such a transaction cannot be viewed as a mere domestic matter, in which the United States can have no concern. If it is a measure of such vast importance as to form the special object of an extra Con- gress, it is very reasonable that the United States should feel some interest in knowing what are the circumstances which have imparted to this merely domestic affair such uncommon importance. It must be remembered that this Contract was originally gone into at the sug- gestion of !11:r Belly-that it was founded upon his hostility to my Country-that he is still the enemy of the United States; and that beyond all question is at the bottom of the present movement of the Government on this subject. But for his influence-if not directly exerted, at least exerted indirectly through his agents in Paris-no call would have been made for an Extra Congress; nor would any one have thought of ratifying his Contract in the present inauspicious moment, when there are questions of conflicting rights between this Contract and others still unsettled in Nicaragua. Your Excellency, I am sure, on mature _reflection, will perceive in all these considera- tions, just grounds for the United States to look upon this measure with some distrust and apprehension. No matter how exempt Your Excellency may be from all unfriendly feelings in the matter, still the circumstances of the case are of a nature which cannot fail to impart to the ratification of that Contract, the appearance of a revival of the unkind spirit that gave it birth. The enemy who dictated its original formation, still dictates its ratification. I do not pretend to know the designs of 1\Ir Belly. If his low am- bition is merely to swindle the European public; or to extort black- mail from Costa-Rica by threatning -her with heavy reclamations-be it so; it is an affair that does not concern my government. But if he aspires to the higher aim of envolving the United States in difficulties with any portion of Central America, then will it be incumbent upon
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