COLOMBIA, UNITED STATES OF. 



123 



In March, a rebellion broke out in the de- 



Eartments of Chiriqui and Los Santos, in the 

 tate of Panama. The movement was headed 

 by General Tomas Herrera. Sefior Correoso, 

 the President of the State, while making an 

 official visit to those departments, was sur- 

 prised at Negho, in Las Tablas, but man- 

 aged to reach the woods unhurt, and in this 

 manner escaped the assassination which was 

 attempted. He arrived at Panama after a 

 journey of twenty-three days, enduring many 

 privations and being much of the time without 

 food. The American steamer Montijo, owned 

 by the Messrs. Schuber, of Panama, was seized 

 by the insurrectionists, who took from her 

 thirty-eight hundred dollars of Government 

 money that was found on board. Panama 

 was greatly excited over the event, and all the 

 males over eighteen years of age were called 

 to arms to defend the city. In May the re- 

 bellion was put down. The Montijo was re- 

 turned to her owners, and the question of in- 

 demnity was to be decided by arbitration, 

 Messrs. Schuber & Brother appointing one, 

 President Correoso another, and these two 

 naming a third umpire. The rifles, the prop- 

 erty of a New York firm, which were con- 

 signed to a commercial house in Panama on 

 commission, and were appropriated by the 

 Government and used during the revolution, 

 were returned to Mr. "W. F. Kelly, the repre- 

 sentative of the owners, and $5,000 paid for 

 the use of them. The arms and ammunition 

 of the rebels, consisting of about three hundred 

 Eemington rifles, with suitable cartridges, 

 which were deposited with the British consul 

 when peace was declared, together with 500 

 Remington rifles purchased in New York, by 

 Mr. Losa for the use of the Government, were 

 sold to the same Mr. Kelly. 



The Congress of Colombia met on March 1st, 

 at Aguilar, with Parra as President of the Sen- 

 ate, and Lino Bennal as President of the House. 

 Among its first acts was the ratification of a 

 treaty of peace with Peru. In the House of 

 Representatives, on the 22d of May, a note 

 from the Secretary of the Treasury was read, 

 asking for special measures to enable him to 

 make up for the deficit in the public rents pro- 

 duced by the non-payment of the subvention 

 of the Panama Railroad, which it owes to the 

 republic. One of the leading journals of Bo- 

 gota, El Tiempo, in its review of the labors 

 of Congress which closed its session toward 

 the end of May, says : 



Looking at the dark clouds accumulating in the 

 political sky and horizon, the air about the capital 

 smells of sulphur, and war seems imminent. The 

 value of the national bonds has declined, not from 

 purely political causes, but rather from a bill for the 

 amortization of the interior debt, which has been sub- 

 mitted to the Senate. This bill, as well as many 

 others which have been touched upon, would appear 

 to have been brought forward owing to the unusual 

 delay of the Panama Railroad Company in paying 

 the $250,000 which, as an annual rent, belongs to 

 this republic. This notice has caused no little sen- 

 sation in official regions. 



The Nation, of Bogota, of the 25th of May, 

 referring to the same subject, says: 



The managing director of the Panama Kailroad 

 Company has addressed to the President of the Union 

 a note, dated from^New York last month, setting 

 forth the difficult circumstances in which the com- 

 pany at present finds itself placed, caused by the 

 small profits accruing from the undertaking, and 

 requesting a modification of the existing contract. 

 It is said that the company pretends that the Govern- 

 ment should agree to have the contract altered, so that 



the railroad to the' Government, the latter should 

 accept so much per cent, of the earnings of the road 

 as in the former contract. 



The Nation observes that, however much the 

 income of the railroad may have declined, still 

 it cannot be less than $1,000, 000 annually, and 

 recommends Congress, before providing meas- 

 ures to fill up the deficit caused in the national 

 Treasury by the non-payment of the $250,000, 

 that that body should take up the question 

 with all the severity the case demands, and 

 believes it will be found that the company, if 

 properly managed, is quite able to pay the sum 

 it obliges itself to do. 



In June railroad directors notified the Gov- 

 ernment that they would refuse to pay an- 

 nually, hereafter, the $250,000, and offered 

 instead, to allow the Government a certain 

 proportion of the profits. 



The Bank of Bogota was established and 

 opened for business in the capital on Novem- 

 ber 25, 1870, with a capital of $235,000, which 

 may be increased to $500,000. 



In December, 1870, a committee of Darien 

 Indians arrived at Bogota, and were well re- 

 ceived by the President, who afterward gave 

 them a private audience. They seemed to bo 

 an intelligent people, showing a favorable dis- 

 position toward civilization. The tribe to 

 which they belong consists of thirty villages, 

 and cultivates cocoa, coffee, and maize. 



An Immigration Society, in February, 1871, 

 was formed at Santa Marta. 



On May 31, 1871, Captain Selfridge made 

 the following report to the Government of the 

 United States of Colombia on the Darien Sur- 

 veying Expedition : 



UNITED STATES STEAMER EESACA, ) 

 CHEPIOANA, TIDKA EIVEK, May 31, 1871. f 



To His Excellency Senor Eustorjio Salgar, President 

 of the United States of Colombia, Bogota : I consider 

 it my duty to inform your Excellency of the general 

 results obtained by the Isthmus of Darien Exploring 

 Expedition for the opening of an interoceanic ship- 

 canal, which I have the honor to command. This 

 expedition, composed of two vessels of the United 

 States Navy, sailed from New York in January, 1870, 

 and arrived in the bay of Caledonia in the month of 

 February following. A vessel belonging to the Pacific 

 Squadron was sent to cooperate on the Pacific coast. 



From the port of Caledonia various observations 

 were made with instruments, and also from the port 

 of Sarsardi toward the northern extremity, on two 

 lines which terminated on the coast of the Pacific, in 

 the confluences of the rivers Sabana and Lara. The 

 first of these lines was to cross the Cordilleras, fol- 

 low the valley of the Sucubti as far as the union of 

 this river with the Chucunaque, and then cross the 

 isthmus to the point fixed on in the Pacific. The 



