No. 104.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Blair.
Washington, April 3, 1872.
Sir: Your dispatch, No. 122, of the 23d of February last, relative to a proposed interoceanic canal through Nicaragua, has been received. This Government has for years past, and especially since the acquisition of California, taken much interest in communications between the Atlantic and Pacific by means of railways and canals, and has incurred expense in preliminary surveys for such works. The question of the practicability of any of them at a reasonable cost has by no means been definitively settled. There is also more or less uncertainty as to which route may be the preferable, especially for a canal.
With a view to adjust differences of opinion on these matters, this Government has recently organized a board of engineers and other men eminent in science. The surveys for the different proposed interoceanic canals, and other documents relative to them, are to be laid before this board for consideration, with a view to decide upon the most eligible route and scheme. Before this decision shall have been made, it would be premature to decide whether we would aid further in such an enterprise, in what way, or to what extent.
I am, &c.,