route at any moment. These the United States in vain endeavored to
compose. It would be useless to narrate the various proceedings which
took place between the parties up till the time when the transit was
discontinued. Suffice it to say that since February, 1856, it has
remained closed, greatly to the prejudice of citizens of the United
States. Since that time the competition has ceased between the rival
routes of Panama and Nicaragua, and in consequence thereof an unjust and
unreasonable amount has been exacted from our citizens for their passage
to and from California. A treaty was signed on the 16th day of November,
1857, by the Secretary of State and minister of Nicaragua, under the
stipulations of which the use and protection of the transit route would
have been secured, not only to the United States, but equally to all
other nations. How and on what pretext this treaty has failed to receive
the ratification of the Nicaraguan Government will appear by the papers
herewith communicated from the State Department. The principal objection
seems to have been to the provision authorizing the United States to
employ force to keep the route open in case Nicaragua should fail
to perform her duty in this respect. From the feebleness of that
Republic, its frequent changes of government, and its constant internal
dissensions, this had become a most important stipulation, and one
essentially necessary, not only for the security of the route, but for
the safety of American citizens passing and repassing to and from our
Pacific possessions. Were such a stipulation embraced in a treaty
between the United States and Nicaragua, the knowledge of this fact
would of itself most probably prevent hostile parties from committing
aggressions on the route, and render our actual interference for its
protection unnecessary.

The executive government of this country in its intercourse with foreign
nations is limited to the employment of diplomacy alone. When this fails