the attention of the Senate of the United
States, and requires no further comment in this communication.

The settlement of the question respecting the port of San Juan de
Nicaragua and of the controversy between the Republics of Costa Rica and
Nicaragua in regard to their boundaries was considered indispensable to
the commencement of the ship canal between the two oceans, which was the
subject of the convention between the United States and Great Britain
of the 19th of April, 1850. Accordingly, a proposition for the same
purposes, addressed to the two Governments in that quarter and to the
Mosquito Indians, was agreed to in April last by the Secretary of State
and the minister of Her Britannic Majesty. Besides the wish to aid in
reconciling the differences of the two Republics, I engaged in the
negotiation from a desire to place the great work of a ship canal
between the two oceans under one jurisdiction and to establish the
important port of San Juan de Nicaragua under the government of a
civilized power. The proposition in question was assented to by Costa
Rica and the Mosquito Indians. It has not proved equally acceptable
to Nicaragua, but it is to be hoped that the further negotiations on
the subject which are in train will be carried on in that spirit of
conciliation and compromise which ought always to prevail on such
occasions, and that they will lead to a satisfactory result.

I have the satisfaction to inform you that the executive government of
Venezuela has acknowledged some claims of citizens of the United States
which have for many years past been urged by our charge d'affaires at
Caracas. It is hoped that the same sense of justice will actuate the
Congress of that Republic in providing the means for their payment.

The recent revolution in Buenos Ayres and the Confederated States having
opened the prospect of an improved state of things in that quarter, the
Governments of Great Britain and France determined to negotiate with the
chief of the new confederacy for the free access of their commerce to
the extensive countries watered by the tributaries of the La Plata; and
they gave a friendly notice of this purpose to the United States, that
we might, if we thought proper, pursue the same course. In compliance
with this invitation, our minister at Rio Janeiro and our charge
d'affaires at Buenos Ayres have been fully authorized to conclude
treaties with the newly organized confederation or the States composi