ortest and the best for travelers and merchandise, and equally open to
all the world. It has sought to obtain no territorial acquisition, nor
any advantages peculiar to itself; and it would see with the greatest
regret that Mexico should oppose any obstacle to the accomplishment of
an enterprise which promises so much convenience to the whole commercial
world and such eminent advantages to Mexico herself. Impressed with
these sentiments and these convictions, the Government will continue to
exert all proper efforts to bring about the necessary arrangement with
the Republic of Mexico for the speedy completion of the work.

For some months past the Republic of Nicaragua has been the theater of
one of those civil convulsions from which the cause of free institutions
and the general prosperity and social progress of the States of Central
America have so often and so severely suffered. Until quiet shall have
been restored and a government apparently stable shall have been
organized, no advance can prudently be made in disposing of the
questions pending between the two countries.

I am happy to announce that an interoceanic communication from the
mouth of the St. John to the Pacific has been so far accomplished as
that passengers have actually traversed it and merchandise has been
transported over it, and when the canal shall have been completed
according to the original plan the means of communication will be
further improved. It is understood that a considerable part of the
railroad across the Isthmus of Panama has been completed, and that
the mail and passengers will in future be conveyed thereon.

Whichever of the several routes between the two oceans may ultimately
prove most eligible for travelers to and from the different States on
the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and our coast on the Pacific, there is
little reason to doubt that all of them will be useful to the public,
and will liberally reward that individual enterprise by which alone they
have been or are expected to be carried into effect.

Peace has been concluded between the contending parties in the island of
St. Domingo, and, it is hoped, upon a durable basis. Such is the extent
of our commercial relations with that island that the United States can
not fail to feel a strong interest in its tranquillity.

The office of commissioner to China remains unfilled. Several persons
have been appointed, and the place has been offered to others, all of
whom have decl