P .APERS OF MIRABEAU BUON.AP.ARTE LAMAR
155
it proper or dignified to collect the remarks of foreign Ministers in conversation, and gravely report them to the world as grievances, de- manding its interposition, or ait any rate its consideration. If you had given any just cause of dissatisfaction to the Governments of those Republics, as I am satisfied you have not, there was another course open to them far more befitting the occasion than this, and that was to make a representation of the circumstances to the Government of the United States, in which case an enquiry would have been instituted, and an efficient remedy, if necessary, would have been applied. As to the statement it has been thought proper to make, that "all the official agents of the United States in Nicaragua have been the accomplices and auxiliaries of the invaders, I know nothing of it, except what is mentioned in this paper, and its position there, in the absence of all proof, is not sufficient to entitle it to con- fidence. I repeat the assurance already given with relation to your- self, that if any of these agents have justly rendered themselves ob- noxious to such charges, let the Governments considering themselves injured by their conduct, transmit to this Department specific charges embodying these or any other accusations with evidence in support of them and the subject shall receive immediate attention followed by such action as may be justly called for. As to the Protectorate which is invoked for the in- dependence and nationality of the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica it is a subject very easily disposed of, so far as the United States have any concern in the question. The President has no belief that either of the Powers thus publicly and improperly appealed to has ever given the least encouragement to such a proposition, nor had any reason to anticipate it. 'l'he French Government has voluntarily dis- claimed any connection with Mr. Belly, and has given assurances that it has no designs upon Central America but on the contrary has avoided any interference of that kind. A garantee for the general use and security of a transit route and also for its neutrality, is a desirable measure which would meet the heavty concurrence of the United States. These views have already been made known to the Governments of Costarica and Nicaragua, and they have been informed "that the Presi- dent indulges the hope that these routes may yet be considered by gen- eral consent of neutral highways for the world, not to be disturbed by the operations of war." These great avenues of intercommunication are vastly interesting to all commercial Powers, and all may well join in securing their freedom and use against those dangers, to which they are exposed from aggressions, or outrages, originating within or with- out the Territories thro' which they pass. But the establishment of a political Protectorate by any of the Powers of Europe over any of the Independent States of this continent, or in other words, the introduction of a scheme of policy, which would carry with it a right to interfere in their con- cerns, is a measure to which the United States have long since avowed their opposition, and which, should the attempt be made, they will resist by all the means in their power. The reasons for the attitude they have assumed have been fully promulgated, and are every where well known. - They are founded on the political circumstances of the American .Continent, which has interests of its own, disconnected
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