"Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lima,
"January 20 1853.
"Sir: I have the honor, by direction of my government, to inform your excellency that it has understood, by a communication from Don Evarista Gomez Sanchez, our Consul General, charged with the exchange of ratifications of the treaty celebrated in this capital on the 23d of October, 1851, with the Señor Da Ponte Ribeiro, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of his Majesty, the Emperor, that said exchange probably took place in Rio Janeiro, on the ——.
"Said commissioner informs me, at the same time, that the government of his Majesty has conceded a privilege in favor of Don Juan ('Ireneo') Evangelista de Souza for the establishment of navigation by steam of the river Amazon, under the stipulations of a contract celebrated by authority of his Majesty, approved in his decree of the 30th of August of the preceding year.
"Said privilege defines the course of the lines which are to be established; the first to run from the city of Belen, capital of the province of Pará, to the town at the mouth of the Rio Negro, capital of the province of Amazonas; and the second to continue on from this last city to Nauta, a town situated on the Peruvian banks.
"The establishment of said navigation by steam upon the Amazon is a point agreed upon in article 2d of the treaty; as also the annual subsidy of $20,000 by each one of the governments for the space of five years in favor of the company that will undertake the enterprise; conditions to which this government is bound, and which it is desirous of fulfilling.
"This government, then, being aware of the contract celebrated with the above-mentioned Don Juan ('Ireneo') Evangelista de Souza, it is fit that I should say to your Excellency that, as according to article 3d of the separate articles of the treaty, the contracts for navigation should be made by agents duly authorized by both governments (the government of his Majesty having initiated the formation of an enterprise to this effect, and having also reference to that part of the course of the river belonging to Peru, moved, without doubt, by the desire of hastening the attainment of the great objects to which this navigation is destined,) this government can but hope that that of your Excellency will deign to inform the company organized in Rio Janeiro, that, as respects the Peruvian shores, the conditions of navigation, its course and extent, and the obligations relative to Peru, cannot be considered as existing or efficacious, except for the five years agreed upon by the treaty, and by the celebration of an agreement or contract with the same government whence these obligations may arise.
"There being no evidence up to this time that our Consul General, Commissioner Don Evarista Gomez Sanchez, has been consulted in the agreement; and it being believed that, at the date of it, he was not in Rio Janeiro, your Excellency will see how proper it is to make to you this anticipation in furtherance of the realization of that internal navigation which, for so long a time, has yearned for a decided and efficacious protection on the part of the States who share these fruitful waters, destined to open to the world new objects of speculation and of traffic, and to give to commerce and civilization one more field for their efforts.
"In the mean time, as, according to the advices of the same Consul General, the first trip of the new steamers is to be made in the month of May next, this government—for the purpose of avoiding difficulties in their running, and to contribute to the important end which they are destined to accomplish, until the opportunity occurs to arrange the conditions obligatory in that navigation by a free contract on its part, as I have already expressed to your Excellency, and according to the mutual obligations contracted in the treaty—has thought proper to direct, as a facility spontaneously conceded in the mean time to the navigation, that the authorities who exercise jurisdiction on those shores should permit the running of the steamers on the corresponding waters of Peru, and assign them points where they may touch, until the establishment of an arrangement to which this navigation is to be definitely subjected, by means of a contract which this government is bound to make for five years according to stipulation, and which it hopes your Excellency will deign to cause to be offered for its free acceptance by the associates of the company created under the authority of his Majesty, the Emperor.
"With sentiments, &c., &c.
JOSÉ MANUEL TIRADO.