Special Message

To the Senate of the United States:

With reference to the convention between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty relative to interoceanic communication by the way of Nicaragua, recently submitted to the Senate, I transmit a copy of a note, under date the 29th ultimo, addressed to the Secretary of State by Sir Henry L. Bulwer, Her Britannic Majesty's minister here, and of Mr. Clayton's reply, under date the 30th ultimo. Intelligence received from the charge' d'affaires of the United States in Central America and from other quarters having led to an apprehension that Mr. Chatfield, Her Britannic Majesty's minister in that country, had concluded a treaty with the Government of Costa Rica placing that State under the protection of the British Government, I deemed it my duty to cause inquiries upon the subject to be addressed to Her Majesty's Government through Sir Henry L. Bulwer. The note of that functionary communicates the answer to those inquiries, and may be deemed satisfactory, both from the denial of the fact that any such treaty has been concluded and from its positive disavowal on behalf of the British Government of the policy intended to be subserved by such treaties.

Z. TAYLOR.