COLOMBIA. 



105 



37,000 ; London, 12,000 ; and New York, 20,- 

 000. 



The shipping movements at all save the free 

 ports (Panama and Aspinwall) of Colombia 

 were as follows in the year 1875-'76 : 



ENTERED. 



CLEARED. 



The most recent official returns relating to 

 railways, telegraph lines, etc., are those re- 

 corded in the " Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1876. 



Among the latest official acts of ex-Presi- 

 dent Parra, immediately before transferring the 

 reins of government to his successor, General 

 Trujillo, was the approval of a contract drawn 

 up between Senor Eustorgio Salgar, Secretary 

 of the Interior and of Foreign Relations of 

 the United States of Colombia, duly authorized 

 party of the first part, and, as party of the 

 other part, Lucien N. B. Wyse, chief of the 

 scientific exploring expedition of the Isthmus 

 in 1876, 1877, and 1878, Member and Delegate 

 of the Committee of Direction of the Civil In- 

 ternational Interoceanic Canal Society, pre- 

 sided over by General Etienne Tilrr. The 

 more important clauses of this contract are as 

 follows : 



ART. I. The Government of the United States of 

 Colombia concedes to Mr. Lucien N. B. Wyse, who 

 accepts, in the name of the Civil International Inter- 

 oceanic Canal Society, represented by their Com- 

 mittee of Direction, the exclusive privilege for the 

 execution across its territory, and for the excavating 



of a canal between the two oceans, the Atlantic and 

 Pacific. Said canal may be constructed without re- 

 strictive stipulations of any character. 



This concession is made under the following con- 

 ditions : 



1. The duration of the privilege shall be for ninety- 

 nine years, to be reckoned from the day in which 

 the canal shall be opened wholly or partially to pub- 

 lic service, or when the grantees begin to realize the 

 tolls upon commerce and navigation. 



2. From the date of approbation by the Colombian 

 Congress of the present contract for the opening of 

 the Interoceanic Canal, the Government of the Repub- 

 lic can not construct by itself, or concede to any com- 

 pany or individual, under what title soever, the right 

 to construct another canal across Colombian ter- 

 ritory, which shall put in communication the two 

 oceans. If the grantees wish to construct a railway 

 as an auxiliary of the canal, the Government (saving 

 existing rights) can not concede to any other com- 

 pany or individual the right to establish another in- 

 teroceanic railroad, nor do so itself, during the time 

 conceded for the construction and use of the canal. 



3. The necessary studies of the ground and route 

 for the line of the canal shall be made at the cost of 

 the grantees, by an International Commission of in- 

 dividuals and competent engineers, in which two 

 Colombian engineers shall take part. The Commis- 

 sion shall determine the general route of the canal, 

 and inform the Colombian Government directly, or 

 their diplomatic agents in the United States or Eu- 

 rope, at latest, in 1881, unless extreme necessity, 

 clearly proved, should prevent. The report shall 

 include, in duplicate, the scientific labors executed, 

 and an estimate of the projected work. 



4. The grantees will have then a period of two 

 years to form a universal stock company which shall 

 take charge of the enterprise, and undertake the 

 work of the construction of the canal. This term 

 will be counted from the date mentioned in the pre- 

 ceding paragraph. 



5. The canal shall be finished and placed at the 

 service of the public within the twelve years imme- 

 diately following the time of the organization of the 

 company to undertake its construction ; but the ex- 

 ecutive power is authorized to grant a further maxi- 

 mum term of six years, if, in an extreme case, beyond 

 the control of the company, and after one third part 

 of the canal is built, tney should recognize the im- 

 possibility of finishing the work in the said twelve 

 years. 



6. The canal shall have the length, depth, and all 

 other conditions necessary in order that sailing ves- 

 sels and steamers of 140 metres long, a maximum 

 beam of 16 metres, and drawing 8 metres of water, 

 shall, with lowered topmasts, be able to pass the 

 canal. . . . 



ART. II. Within the term of twelve months reck- 

 oned from the time at which the International Com- 

 mission shall have presented the result of its definite 

 studies, the grantees will deposit in the bank or 

 banks of London which the national executive pow- 

 er may designate the sum of 750,000 francs as securi- 

 ty for the execution of the work. The deposit shall 

 be made in certificates of the foreign debt of Colom- 

 bia at the current price in the market on the day of 

 delivery. On the conclusion of the canal the amount 

 deposited as security will remain to the credit of the 

 Treasury to indemnify the National Government for 

 the expenses incurred in the erection of edifices for 

 the use of public offices. 



ART. III. Should the route for the construction 

 of the canal from one ocean to the other pass to the 

 west or north of the imaginary straight line which 

 joins Cape Tiburon with Garachine Point, the gran- 

 tees must arrange amicably with the Panama Rail- 

 road Company, or pay an indemnity which shall be 

 established by the terms of the law 46 of August 16, 

 1867, " which approves the contract celebrated July 

 5, 1867, reformatory of that of the 15th of April, 1850, 



