COLOMBIA, UNITED STATES OF. 



117 



tion of the South to the Union, keep back its 



Erosperity, and destroy the negro race. He 

 icked, notwithstanding his intellectual abili- 

 ties and eloquence, the power of comprehend- 

 ing the true condition of his country, as viewed 

 by the -people of the Union States, and the 

 spirit to cooperate with them. His death was 

 the result of disease of the heart. 



COLOMBIA, UNITED STATES OF, a republic 

 in South America.* President, for the term 

 of 1868 to 1870, Santos Gutierrez; American 

 minister in Colombia, P. J. Sullivan, appointed 

 in 1867. In the budget for 1866-'67, the rev- 

 enue and expenditures were each estimated at 

 2,350,000 piastres. The public debt, in 1861, 

 was reported to amount to 44 million piastres, 

 34,690,000 of which belonged to English cred- 

 itors. In the budget for 1866 to 1867, only the 

 sum of 488,204 piastres was set down as inter- 

 est of the public debt. The federal army, in 

 time of peace, numbers 2,000 men; in the 

 event of war the several States are obliged to 

 offer a contingent of one per cent, of the popu- 

 lation. The Colombian Government claims 

 altogether a territory of about 513,000 English 

 square miles, while other statements (not giv- 

 ing to Colombia all the disputed territory) re- 

 duce it to 357,000. The population is 2,794,- 

 473, not including the uncivilized Indians, 

 whose number is estimated at 126,000. The 

 federal capital at present is Bogota, with a 

 population of 40,000 inhabitants, but many de- 

 sire to have the seat of the federal Govern- 

 ment transferred to Panama. The imports of 

 the ports of Panama and Colon (Aspinwall) 

 were, in 1864, valued at $35,000,000, and the 

 exports at $67,000,000. In 1865 there arrived 

 in Panama 353 vessels, of 360,206 tons. The 

 number of arrivals in Colon, in 1864, was 556 

 vessels, together of 485,044 tons. 



The new President, Santos Gutierrez, en- 

 tered upon his office on the 1st of April. His 

 first acts were received with favor by all polit- 

 ical parties. He offered seats in the cabinet to 

 several prominent men of the (Conservative) 

 opposition, who, however, declined. In the 

 later months of the year he became involved 

 in a violent conflict with the Conservative 

 party of several States. The Conservative 

 President of the State of Cundinamarca, Sefior 

 Ignacio Gutierrez Vergara, was arrested, and 

 was held a prisoner even after the Supreme 

 Court had declared the arrest and imprison- 

 ment unconstitutional. In December, the new 

 (Liberal) Legislative Assembly of Cundinamar- 

 ca condemned the President of the State to 

 eight years in the chain-gang, and deprived him 

 of all right to ever after hold any office. After- 

 ward the Assembly granted him a pardon, 

 which the Conservatives looked upon as an 

 insult. The Legislatures of the States of Toli- 

 ma and Antioquia solemnly protested against 

 the removal, by the President of the Eepublic, 

 of the constitutional government of Cundina- 



* For other statistical information, see ANNUAL AMER- 

 ICAN CYCLOPAEDIA for 1867. 



marca, and demanded a reform in the federal 

 Constitution. 



The larger portion of the republic remained 

 free from civil war. Disturbances in Tolima 

 in the early part of the year were soon sup- 

 pressed. Only the State of Panama suffered 

 severely from internal strife. On the 5th of 

 July, when it had become known that the 

 election for President of the State had gone in 

 favor of the Conservative candidate, Dr. Ama- 

 dor, thus defeating the Government (Liberal) 

 candidate, Arosemena, a revolution broke out 

 in the city of Panama, which resulted in the 

 declaration of General Fernando Ponce as Pro- 

 visional President. General Ponce at once 

 issued the following proclamation : 



PANAMA, July 5, 1868. 



Fernando Ponce, General of tlie Armies of the Union 

 and of the sovereign State of Panama, and Pro- 

 visional President of this State, to hu fellow- 



The people and army of the capital have sponta- 

 neously called, me to take charge provisionally of the 

 executive government of the State, to save the cause 

 of liberty, which is to-day threatened in this beamti- 

 ful and important section of Colombia. You know 

 the cause which has given rise to the popular move- 

 ment that places me at the front of the public admin- 

 istration. Deficient institutions have permitted an 

 unauthorized party to rise up boldly, pretending to 

 subjugate the great liberal majority and check the 

 rapid progress which this State should necessarily 

 pursue. I have accepted the honor with which my 

 1'ellow-citizens have distinguished me, because a sol- 

 dier, who from his infancy has stood in the ranks of 

 those who have fought for liberty and right, should 

 not withhold his services when he sees the cause of 

 the true republic threatened. Isthmians, we are pos- 

 sessors of the most important point of the globe, and 

 we ought to see that our territory should not only be 

 the road across which civilized nations should com- 

 municate, but also that it should be an asylum for all 

 the oppressed. Let us found institutions capable in 

 their beneficent exercise to open out the prosperity 

 of this country, and give it respectability in the eyes 

 of other governments. Let us confide in the sublime 

 destinies prepared for a free people. Let us be unan- 

 imous in assisting that peace may be eternal within 

 the limits which the two oceans have marked out for 

 this country, and plenty will be spread out before us, 

 and will be preserved by such impregnable walls. 



Foreigners resident on the isthmus, it gives me 

 pleasure to remember that my modest country has 

 been up to the present time so respected by friendly 

 nations. The conduct of the governors of this repub- 

 lic, always worthy and to be respected in their foreign 

 relations, and the protection of strangers visiting our 

 land, is the true bulwark of the people who enter in 

 the race of civilization. Y6ur houses and property 

 will be respected, and public treaties will be held, in- 

 violate during the short period of my administration. 

 Soldiers of the battalion Santander, I entertain the 

 hope that you will always bear with honor the flag of 

 the free, and that you will never be unworthy of the 

 honorable title by which you are distinguished. The 

 name of the hero of Boyaca is the greatest decoration 

 with which you can be adorned, and in the moment 

 of danger you ought to imitate his example. 



Fellow-citizens, before a constituted assembly, which 

 should unite soon to regulate the situation of the State, 

 I will lay down my authority and present myself to 

 give an account of my acts. 



FEKNANDO PONCE. 



Another proclamation declared the isthmus 

 in a state of war, suspending constitutional 



