said protection and guarantee shall not, however, be withdrawn by the United States without first giving six months' notice to the Republic of Honduras.

WASHINGTON, May 31, 1857.

SIR: The disorders which occurred upon the Panama Railway in the month of April, 1856, have not only prompted demands on the part of the British Government, as well as that of the United States, for reparation on behalf of their subjects, but have impressed upon Her Majesty's ministers the expediency of embracing, in concert with other states, such general engagements as may afford to the interests and parties concerned a greater measure of safety in future.

It is not necessary for me to enlarge upon the importance of the interoceanic transit to all the maritime powers. It is obvious that a communication which has become of vital necessity to the commerce of the world cannot be entirely abandoned without stipulation or security, to the disposal of one Government, such as that which possesses sovereign rights over the territory in question.

The cabinet of New Granada requires the counsels and the support of those whose wisdom and whose power enable them to regulate a matter which involves a universal interest, and excites, at present, a constant apprehension. The Government of the United States and Great Britain are most directly concerned in the common pathway of trade, emigration, and intelligence.

Designed in the first instance by the enterprise of American citizens, and administered by a company formed in the United States, the railway of Panama has been largely supported by the resources of Great Britain, both in the original stock and still more in the bonds which were subsequently issued. The participation of English capital in this work is at present estimated to be about $3,000,000, which may at any moment be increased in the constant circulation and transfer of these securities. In addition to this legitimate source of solicitude for the preservation of the route, Her Majesty's Government have a more direct motive in their friendly intervention for the same purpose, in the fact that the Panama Railroad is at present the only way open to the Pacific dominions of Her Majesty, which may shortly undergo a change of government, and which are undoubtedly destined hereafter to become the seat of a great community of English settlers. With such a stake in the maintenance of the transit, you will not be surprised to learn that I am directed by the Earl of Clarendon to ascertain the views of the Government of the United States with reference to an eventual settlement of this question.

The moment may not yet be thought propitious to negotiate with New Granada, but the altered disposition of that Government may justify an expectation that the claims of the United States and Great Britain will shortly be acknowledged and satisfied, and the two Governments may find it consistent with their interests to make a timely exchange of their sentiments in relation to the future.

I am, consequently, instructed to inquire whether the United States Government is disposed to agree to a general guarantee on the part of the powers interested in the passage of the isthmus by which the neutrality of the Panama route and its freedom to all nations would be

secured. I learn from Mr. de Sartiges that the expediency of such a measure was brought under his notice by Mr. Marcy in the autumn of last year, and was the subject of a communication to the Government of France. Should the present Government sanction the overture of the late Secretary of State, and continue in the same opinion, it will give me great satisfaction to be the channel of your views with reference to the form and manner in which the object of our common wishes may be carried into effect.

I have, sir,

NAPIER.

[Inclosure No. 18-2.]

Lord Napier to Mr. Cass.

HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S LEGATION, Washington, D. C., August 24, 1857. SIR: I had the honor on the 31st May last to convey to you the desire of Her Majesty's Government to take, in common with the United States, some engagements for the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama and the security of the transit route. Considering the unsatisfactory character of the relations which have meanwhile prevailed between the Cabinets of Washington and Bogota, I am not surprised that this overture has hitherto remained without any official reply on your part. The instructions and the powers which have recently been placed in the hands of General Herran justify me in believing that the matters under discussion between the two Governments will find an amicable adjustment, and I am prompted by the presence and the communications of that minister to bring this subject again under your consideration.

General Herran is charged to inform you of the desire of his Government to negotiate a convention with the United States, Great Britain, and France, if the Imperial Government be so disposed, with a view to establishing on a broad and permanent basis the freedom and neutrality of the territory and transit of Panama.

Her Majesty's Government are aware that by the treaty of 1846 the Government of the United States has, in consideration of certain advantages, and for a limited period, guaranteed that neutrality and secured to New Granada the rights of sovereignty and property which it possesses in the interoceanic territory. I have not been informed of the precise shape in which Her Majesty's Government desire to consign the engagements, of which the general object is indicated above, but I do not doubt that they would willingly adopt the terms of the treaty of 1846 as the basis of a new common arrangement, giving to those terms such expansion in reference to the franchises of transit and the duration of the guarantee as the United States and New Granada might deem desirable. The guarantee of the United States is indeed a powerful support to the Government of New Granada and a discouragement to those, if such there be, who aim at the dismemberment of that confederation, but the combination of America and England for the same object, or that of the maritime powers in general, would no doubt establish a higher degree of confidence and render any measures which it might be necessary to embrace hereafter for the peace of the isthmus more easy to the con

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tracting parties, more agreeable to New Granada, and more satisfactory to the commercial interests of the world.

I have, sir,

[Inclosure No. 13—3.]

NAPIER.

Mr. Cass to Lord Napier.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 10, 1857.

MY LORD: The proposition in your lordship's letter of the 24th ultimo for a joint convention between the United States, England, and. France, for the purpose of securing the freedom and neutrality of the transit route over the Isthmus of Panama, has been submitted to the President, and I am now instructed to communicate to you his views concerning it.

The President fully appreciates the importance of that route to the commercial nations of the world, and the great advantage which must result from its entire security, both in peace and war, but he does not perceive that any new guarantee is necessary for this purpose on the part of the United States.

By the treaty concluded with New Granada on the 12th of December, 1846, to which your lordship has referred, this Government guaranteed for twenty years the neutrality of the isthmus, and also the rights of sovereignty and property over it of New Granada. A similar measure on the part of England and France would give additional security to the transit, and would be regarded favorably, therefore, by this Government. But any participation by the United States in such a measure is rendered unnecessary by the arrangement already referred to, and which still remains in full force. It would be inconsistent, moreover, with the established policy of this country to enter into a joint alliance with other powers, as proposed in your lordship's note.

The President is fully sensible, however, of the deep interest which must be felt by all commercial nations, not only in the Panama transit route, but in the opening of all the various passages across the isthmus, by which union of the two oceans may be practically effected. The progress already effected in these works has opened a new era in the intercourse of the world, and we are yet only at the commencement of their results.

It is important that they should be kept free from the danger of interruption, either by the governments through whose territories they pass or by the hostile operations of other countries engaged in war.

While the rights of sovereignty of the local governments must always be respected, other rights also have arisen in the progress of events involving interests of great magnitude to the commercial world, and demanding its careful attention, and, if need be, its efficient protection. In view of these interests, and after having invited capital and enterprise from other countries to aid in the opening of these great highways of nations under pledges of free transit to all desiring it, it can not be permitted that these governments should exercise over them an arbitrary and unlimited control, and close them or embarrass them without reference to the wants of commerce or the intercourse of the

world. Equally disastrous would it be to leave them at the mercy of every nation which, in time of war, might find it advantageous, for hostile purposes, to take possession of them and either restrain their use or suspend it altogether.

The President hopes that by the general consent of the maritime powers all such difficulties may be prevented, and the interoceanic lines, with the harbors of immediate approach to them, may be secured beyond interruption to the great purposes for which they were established.

I have, &c.,

LEWIS CASS.

[Senate Ex. Doc. No. 194, Forty-seventh Congress, first session.]

THE CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY AND THE MONROE

DOCTRINE.

A letter from the Secretary of State to the minister of the United States at London, dated May 8, 1882, with sundry papers and documents explanatory of the same, selected from the archives of the Department of State.

Message from the President of the United States, transmitting, in response to the Senate resolution of the 15th of July, 1882, a report of the Secretary of State and accompanying papers relating to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.

AUGUST 3, 1882.-Read and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. AUGUST 4, 1882.-Ordered printed.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith, in response to the Senate resolution of the 15th instant, a report of the Secretary of State and accompanying papers relating to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, July 29, 1882.

To the President:

CHESTER A. ARTHUR.

The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of the Senate of the 15th instant, requesting the President, "if not incompatible with the public interest, to furnish the Senate with copies of the declaration of Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer and Mr. Clayton on the exchange of the ratifications of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty on the 4th day of July, 1850, and any other documents referred to in the instruction of Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Lowell dated the 8th day of May, 1882," has the honor to lay before the President, for transmission to the Senate in response to the resolution, the accompanying copy of the declaration of Sir Henry Bulwer and Mr. Clayton described therein, together with a selection of such other documents cited in the instruction of May 8 to Mr. Lowell as seem to come within the purview of the resolution.

Respectfully submitted.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN.

Washington, July 29, 1882.

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