COLOMBIA, UNITED STATES OF. 



Ill 



in case the transaction referred to in the law 

 of the 2d of June of last year be not verified. 

 The following law was passed concerning 

 the Panama Eailroad : 



ARTICLE I. In the event provided for in section 

 7th of Article I. of the legislative decree of August 

 K3, 1867, with respect to the Panama Kailroad, the 

 Executive power shall exact the strict fulfilment of 

 the stipulations of Article XXIX. of the contract to 

 which said legislative decree refers. 



ART. II. Tiae Panama Kailroad being turned over 

 to the republic, in fulfilment of the aforesaid stipu- 

 lation, the Executive power shall dictate the neces- 

 sary dispositions to secure its good management, 

 while it endeavors to celebrate a contract to rent said 

 railroad to an individual or company, national or 

 foreign, which gives guarantees of fulfilling the con- 

 ditions which the Executive power thinks fit to ex- 

 act. 



ART. III. To this effect, the Executive power shall 

 publish tenders in Europe and America, six months 

 beforehand, of the day of the celebration of the con- 

 tract, and shall endeavor to have inserted into said 

 contract all stipulations required for the interests of 

 the republic. The contract entered into must have 

 the sanction of Congress before it can be valid. 



BOGOTA, April 29, 1872. 



The President of the Colombian Union, on 

 the 7th of May, convoked Congress by decree 

 to hold extraordinary sessions, beginning on 

 the 8th, for the purpose of finishing affairs of 

 a general character still pending, and any oth- 

 ers that might be presented to it by the Ex- 

 ecutive power. 



The message sent by the President to Con- 

 gress in sessions extraordinary, among other 

 matters, recommended a bill to be brought 

 forward for the construction, on account of 

 the Union, of an interoceanic road from the 

 bay of Buenaventura on the Pacific, crossing 

 the valley of Cauca, and descending the Mag- 

 clalena to the Atlantic. But that which con- 

 cerns Panama more particularly is the section 

 between Buenaventura and the river Cauca, 

 which, by opening up a communication with 

 the valley of Cauca, would bring the valu- 

 able exports of that fertile valley by way of 

 the Panama Railroad. 



The Bogota poor-house was to be closed in 

 May, for want of funds, 



President Murillo dismissed, as unnecessary, 

 the guard stationed at the government palace. 



A few immigrants had arrived from the 

 Canary Isles and from Alsatia. 



General dissatisfaction reigned in those parts 

 of the Republic bordering upon the lake of 

 Maracaibo (the whole of whose waters belong 

 to Venezuela), caused by the onerous duties 

 levied by the Venezuelan Government upon 

 Colombian merchandise entering or leaving 

 the republic by that lagoon, which forms the 

 natural and easiest outlet for the productions 

 of those regions which are separated from the 

 Ma^dalena by the Central Cordilleras. The 

 Colombian Government had remonstrated with 

 that of Venezuela on this subject. " Colom- 

 bia," says the Bogota press, " has at her dis- 

 posal two ways of remedying the evil : diplo- 

 macy, which is the best, or building a road 



through her own territory to fluvial or mari- 

 time ports of her own." It would, however, 

 be found cheaper to keep peace with Venezu- 

 ela by admitting her claim to moderate pro- 

 tective imports, than to try to make a railway 

 across the Andes to the Magdalena River. It 

 was a grand oversight that Colombia did not 

 secure for her citizens tbe right to one-half of 

 the Maracaibo waters ; but it is not too late, 

 nor is Venezuela in a state at present to dic- 

 tate the law to the United States of Colombia, 

 above all in a question of limits and the vexa- 

 tious abuse of her citizens. The legation 

 about to be sent to Caracas will be adequate 

 to the mission with which it is intrusted by 

 the nation. In 1871 Venezuela received by 

 way of transit duty on effects introduced into 

 Colombia, and exports by the same route, the 

 value of $148,372.98. The importations and 

 exportations into Colombia, by the port of Los 

 Cachos, produced to Venezuela in 1871 $656,- 

 293. The conviction is that, if a railroad were 

 constructed between Cucuta and the Magda- 

 lena, in ten years there would be exported no 

 less than 240,000 bags of coffee, while the 

 above $656,293, Venezuela dollars, would re- 

 main in Colombia. 



Public works and public instruction were 

 equally prosperous in Boyaca and Santander. 

 In the month of March there were 11,494 chil- 

 dren attending the schools. Bolivar was 

 chiefly occupied with the advancement of its 

 agriculture ; and the State of Magdalena with 

 the consideration of its water and road com- 

 munication. 



A numerous meeting of Catholics was held 

 in Zapaquira, to resolve what should be done 

 in view of the recent law of Cundinamar- 

 ca, which excludes religion from the public 

 schools. A proposition to found schools, es- 

 sentially Christian, at the expense of Catholics, 

 was adopted. A collection was taken up, 

 which gave $400 toward that object, which is 

 considered, besides, to be the most dignified 

 rebuke to the Government. 



Six curates were to be sent, at tbe expense 

 of Government, to the territory of Casanare, 

 each to establish and direct a school for pri- 

 mary education ; $3,600 per annum were ap- 

 propriated from the national Treasury to de- 

 fray tbe expenses of the missions. 



Society in Bogota was reported to be in a 

 state of continual alarm ; and assassinations 

 were becoming frequent. 



A railway from the port of Buenaventura, 

 on the Pacific, to the river Cauca, in the State 

 of that name, was contracted for. 



Dr. 1ST. R. Cheyne, a distinguished physician 

 of Bogota, died at that city, in July. The 

 Tradicionista states tbat be came to South 

 America about the termination of the War of 

 Independence. Bolivar and the other heroes 

 of that time were his particular friends. He 

 had been suffering for some time back with a 

 painful disease, which ended his life at the age 

 of seventy-three years. The Government or- 



