104 



COLOMBIA. 



residing at Bogota. In spite of the political 

 disturbances of 1876-77, the interruption of 

 navigation on the Magdalena for the past year, 

 owing to an unprecedented drought, and the 

 consequent lull in the export trade, the month- 

 ly payments have been punctually made to 

 the agent; but, as they did not reach London 

 in time for the payment of the coupons, the 

 British Minister to Colombia, Robert Bunch, 

 Esq., who was then in London, wrote the fol- 

 lowing letter to the Right Honorable E. P. 

 Bouverie, chairman of the Council of Foreign 

 Bondholders, which commends the fidelity of 

 Colombia's representatives and the sacrifices 

 they have made to preserve the credit and 

 honor of the country : 



LONDON, June 8, 1878. 

 The RigJit Honorable E. P. BOUVEBIE : 



MY DEAR SIP. : I regret to find that some misap- 

 prehension exists, even among persons who are in- 

 terested in the United States of Colombia, as to the 

 action of the Government of that republic with ref- 

 erence to that portion of its external debt which is 

 commonly known as the 4 per cent, loan of 1873. 

 Founding themselves on the undoubted fact that 

 the remittances from Bogota have been for some 

 months past smaller in amount than the convention 

 ' of 1873 gives the bondholders a right to demand, 

 many persons think that this decrease is owing to 

 the failure of the Colombian Treasury to meet its 

 engagements ; in other words, that the bondhold- 

 ers' agent, Mr. O'Leary, does not send larger sums 

 because he does not himself receive them. As this 

 belief is altogether unfounded, and as much injus- 

 tice is thereby done to the credit of Colombia, I 

 think it may be satisfactory to you to learn the real 

 state of the case. By the last mail Mr. O'Leary 

 writes to me as follows : 



" To the bondholders I only send 3,000, and re- 

 main with a balance of 22,000, which is more like- 

 ly to increase than to diminish, as the supply of bills 

 decreases. It is a thing which preys on my mind ; 

 the rate of exchange is 6 per cent, premium, and 

 bids fair to reach 20 before long. The detention of 

 this money will delay the payment of the coupons, 

 and the delay will affect prejudicially the credit of 

 this country at the very moment when it ought to 

 be the highest, considering the sacrifices it has 

 made and is making to comply with its engage- 

 ments. If you are in London, and can spare the 

 time, you will do Colombia a service by impressing 

 on the Council the necessity of explaining matters 

 to the public, and so preventing a cause entirely be- 

 yond human control from damaging the credit of 

 the country." 



As I entirely agree with Mr. O'Leary in his ap- 

 preciation of the honorable behavior of Colombia in 

 the matter of its foreign debt, it has appeared to me 

 that the simplest manner of meeting his wishes is to 

 trouble you with this letter. 1 have been a witness 

 myself of the determination of the various Govern- 

 ments of Colombia to satisfy the claims of the bond- 

 holders. I have even seen their money put away in 

 the chest to wait for the next pay-day, when the 

 Treasury was almost empty, and 'everybody, from 

 the President down, was on reduced allowances, and 

 salaries were discounted at a loss of 25 per cent. 



The supply of bills has given out, chiefly because 

 the drought from which the whole world has suffered 

 of late has visited Colombia with especial severity. 

 No doubt the political disturbances of the last half 

 of 1876 and beginning of 1877 are partly to blame 

 for the decrease of the exports, but this cause is as 

 nothing when compared with the physical one of a 

 want of water in the river. 



Perhaps I am going out of your and my way to 



trouble you with this explanation, but I like to say 

 a good word for Colombia when 1 can. 



I remain, my dear sir, your faithful servant, 

 KOBEKT BUNCH, 



The value of the exports for the year 1876- 

 '77 amounted to $14,477,897, and that of the 

 imports to $7,328,928. The subjoined table 

 shows the value and destination of the exports 

 for the year 1875-'76 : 



DESTINATION. Value. 



Germany $2,572,228 



West Indies 244,416 



Buenos Ayres. 



Costa Eica 



Chili 



Spain 



Ecuador. 



4,000 

 2,496 

 800 

 157 

 8,577 



United States of America 2,510,833 



United States of Colombia 116,234 



France 2,869,624 



Holland 



Great Britain. 



Italy 



Peru 



Venezuela 



Various . . . 



6,922 

 324,336 

 4,253 

 84,864 

 21,540 

 8,956,581 



Total $12,72~2^811 



The value of the imports for the same year 

 was $6,709,109. It should be observed that 

 the foregoing table contains an item of $116,- 

 234, which, as it stands for commodities sent 

 from other parts of the republic to the free 

 Colombian ports of Panama and Colon (As- 

 pinwall), would properly belong to the coast- 

 ing trade, although in the ministerial report it 

 figures as here given. 



The principal articles of export, with the 

 quantities and value of those shipped from the 

 republic in the year 1875-'76, are shown in the 

 annexed table : 



Of tobacco, Bremen, by far the largest pur- 

 chaser of that article, took 5,046,000 kilo- 

 grammes, and Hamburg and London each about 

 270,000 ; while to New York but 52,000 kilo- 

 grammes were shipped. New York took of 

 cinchona some 2,320,000 kilogrammes, and 

 London about 1,160,000. Of coffee, 923,OQO 

 kilogrammes were sent to Hamburg, 624,000 

 to Bremen, 242,000 to Havre, 464,000 to Lon- 

 don, and 943,000 to New York. The more 

 important shipments of cotton were to the fol- 

 lowing ports: Liverpool, 320,000 kilogrammes; 

 Havre, 201,000; Bremen, 221,000; Hamburg, 



