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P.\PEHS OF ~InuBE.\U BeoxAP.\HTE LDL\R
sustain and enrich many millions of people; and yet, because she has not the talents, energy and industry to deYelop these resources herself, she is not only umvilli11g that others shoul<l do it, hut vainly deems that she has the indubitable right of interdicting its being done. - And more than this. The people of Nicaragua bcliere that they are under no social obligations to the world - that they have a perfect right to live within them~eh-es, as the Chinese have hitherto done, to the total exclusion of the inhabitants and even to the comrnerce of other nations, if they choose to do so. Their mode of reasoning is this. They say - "The transit route belongs to us; and so do all the territorial wilds ex- tending from de! Norte to Segoria; and why may not a nation be left to enjoy its own property in its own way? By what authority or right urn a foreign people, with mnHner,-, habit;:, ta;:tes and mode,; of thinkiHg different from our o,rn, intrude themsehes into our Country, against our well known wi~hes, and cultirntc our soil, establish high-ways and iHtrndnce a new orclcr of things inco11genial to our <lispo,-ition and mi- desired hy UR?"'- ,\llmr me to say in reply, that there is no priHeiplc of modern times more rnln<'d and better c;:tahli~hetl than the right of free intcrcour;;e arnl liht•ral <·ommen:e \\'ith all w1tions. This is the law of the ei,·ilized ,rorltl. The door of e\'Cr\' eHli:.d1tened nation is thro\\'n \\'itle opl'll tu the ac1mi~,-ion of all ,;ho cl1oose to entl'r a;; friends; all(l all ,rho enter as :rn<·h, are eutith•1l to the sarn~ proteetion of person :rnd property as the uatire inhabitants. T"poH what grouHd, then, can Xiearagua claim for !teri'l'lf an Pxemption of this unirnrsal priHci pie? Jf she cannot conform herseH to the usages all(l comities of enligh 1 eued tommuHitie:; ;- if she per~ists in opposing herself to the spirit or prci.~-ress - to the great animating aHrl ameliorating prin- ciples that control aml <lircct tlw affairs of the pr1•s1•nt age, she must nece,:;;arily expect tu be rnled out o[ the family of cnltirnted nation;,, and be placed in the Catagory of her first inhabitants. - She ought to know this herself, and shape her course a<'con]ingly. - The transit question will serrn as an illus- tration of this prirwipk-. - The progress of the age has rem1ere1l a rou•e through this lstmns a necessity for the world; and perhaps a matter of more importance to the l" nited States than to any other nation. To close that route against the unirnrsal demands of com- merce, would be reganletl as a general wrong, anrl a just cause of complaint. - It would 11ot only manifest a clceicle1l want of frienclly feelings to\\'arcls the nations i11trre,;tetl: but a most contemptous in- difference to their ,nrnl:; aut1 welfare. This woul1l necessarily engender in them a reciprocal spirit; aud rrerimination arnl retaliation, as a mat'er of course, woul1l be the eonser1uc1we. There ean he no peaec \\'here there is 110 reeiprocal confidenee au1l fric]1(bhip. ;\[utnal <le><ire for mutual go·ocl, is the ouly bases of harmonious relatious, :rn1l the· true fouudation of internatioHal prosperity. - It is true that the route is the pro1wrty of .:\icaragna. It rightfully belougs to her; but like all th<' gifts of pro,·i<lr•uet>, it i~ only hrr,: for utility arnl good - ll<'YPr for evil. There is a limit to all hnrnan ri\!hts. They termi11ate with their abuse an<l di,-11:<e. - The scrrnnt ii~ the parai)le 11·as <l<'priYerl of his talent, h<'<:a11~e he burrie1l it, in~h•:ul of 11"i1w: it. - The a:<sum1)- tion, th<'refore, by Xitaragua of the unlimited rigl;t of op<'ning or clo 0 ~- ing ihe Tra11sit route at her 01·.-i1 <li;;<·rdion, upon the plea that the laurl
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