The message of President Murillo, a copy and translation of which I
enclose— see also “Diario Oficial,” No. 551—will be found a
statesmanlike paper, and is generally satisfactory. It is not to be
disguised, however, that it pictures the condition and prospects of the
country as he would wish them, rather than as they actually are. Taken
literally, it is calculated to make a too favorable impression abroad.
The chronic evils and wants of the nation are either passed by or barely
alluded to, while the better side of the picture is, perhaps, a little
hopeful.
A remarkable feature of the message is the just views taken of the rights
of foreigners in Colombia. Should this policy be adopted by the
congress, and respected by the States, it cannot fail to bring salutary
results to the country. A large portion of the burden under which the
latter labors in the form of public debt has arisen from the oppression
of foreigners by unequal taxation and the seizure of their property. The
message in this respect is in advance of its predecessors. It is
scarcely to be hoped that the congress will adopt this enlightened
policy, although it has taken it into consideration with some favorable
indications, nor if adopted is it probable the states would observe it.
As I have frequently said before, these unjust practices of the States
in the time of peace, and of all in time of war, have been so long in
use as to have become fixed habits with the natives, and their
eradication difficult. I believe it not too much to say that the note
which I was ordered to address this government remonstrating against the
law of April 19, 1865, attached to my No. 204, had much influence in
bringing about this desirable announcement by the executive.
The part of the message which relates to the isthmus may be regarded as
highly important to our government, and in my judgment demands prompt
and attentive consideration. This people, morbidly sensitive and jealous
in all that may affect its dignity or sovereignty, is especially so with
respect to that section of its territory. The proceedings of Acting
Rear-Admiral Pearson, Commander MacDiarmid, General French, and Consul
Rice, as they have been reported, and of which I gave some account in my
Nos. 198, 211, and 212, have produced a feeling here which is to be
regretted. This feeling does not extend to our government, but is
confined to the alleged conduct of these officers. It is due to them to
say that no definite or authentic information has reached me justifying
the complaints made against them. The evidence in support of the charges
which I have seen has appeared to me partial, and too incomplete to
justify any decisive action until after further inquiry into the
facts.
Our relations with the isthmus, arising out of the 35th article of the
treaty of 1846, are the object of jealousy and envy on the part of Great
Britain and France. As anticipated in my No. 192, explanations have been
asked by her Majesty’s charge d’affaires as to the conditions under
which British troops can be allowed to cross the isthmus. This move was
probably intended to call out the result of General Sickles’s mission,
about which the Colombian government has maintained entire secrecy. The
government has experienced some embarrassment on the subject, but its
answer, contained in the foreign secretary’s report, pages 105 and 106,
herewith enclosed, will, I believe, be found satisfactory to our
government. I feel fully justified in the opinion that both these powers
would be gratified to see an end put to this article of the treaty,
while neither is perhaps willing to enter into a similar one. It is not
likely that Colombia will decide to give the stipulated notice for its
termination. In connection with this subject I beg to refer to my No.
143, of January 16, 1865.
The concession recently made to an English company for the construction
[Page 509] of a canal across the
isthmus is an important measure. (See report of the secretary of
Hacienda i Fomento, pages 64 and 114, hereto annexed.) I happened to
know that an English company was preferred to others, for the reason
that any danger of an undue preponderance of our influence on the
isthmus will be thereby guarded against. I doubt the real purpose of the
grant, and suspect that it will turn out a bubble. Mr. Daniel H. Teller,
of New York city, has an agent here seeking a like privilege by a
different route, but it is not likely that he will succeed.
British influence has been potent in this nation from its origin. Should
that far-seeing people undertake the construction of this canal in good
faith, and a diminution of our treaty rights be brought about, serious
inconveniences might result to us. A formidable agency to this end is
British capital. Substantially the whole of the Colombian foreign debt
is held by British subjects, who have pledged as security 37½ per cent.
of the custom-house receipts, which little more than pays the interest.
This indebtedness has been considerably increased within the last five
years, and there is a fair prospect that it will soon be greatly
augmented by new loans and investments under the protection of the
British government for projected roads, &c., which the wants of the
country do not require, and which cannot redound to its interest. While
it is not to be doubted that Colombian sympathy for the United States is
strong, this control of her resources by Great Britian has heretofore
been, and will long continue to be, a power difficult to combat. The
wisest and most anxious Colombian statesman is unable to see where this
power is to end; for the reduction of the public debt, or even a check
to its increase, it is to be feared, is beyond the reach of the present
or probable future capacity of the country. The want of adminisatative
ability, integrity, and patriotism is calculated to inspire gloomy
doubts of the final solution of the financial problem, without grave
evils to the country.
In my No. 47 I reported a conversation held with an eminent politician of
this country in relation to a projected separation of the State of
Panama from the republic. This idea still exists with the people of that
State. The federal government is not without fears of its ability to
hold this part of its territory in subjection, and contributes $50,000 a
year, nominally to aid in sustaining the local government, but really to
attach the inhabitants to the confederation. The latter have an idea
that once free from the interior, for which they have a strong aversion,
and under the protection of a strong power, they would own the national
interest in the railroad, establish custom-houses, and thus enjoy an
abundance which they are not inclined to acquire by industrial pursuits.
Were the guarantee of our treaty abrogated, and the Pacific road
completed, it is hardly to be expected that Great Britain or France
would look with disfavor on such an enterprise, which if opportunely
undertaken, the chances would be largely in favor of its successful
accomplishment.
These considerations, though in part speculative, have seemed to me not
entirely unworthy of attention, taken in connection with the
helplessness of Colombian finances. In illustration of the want of
financial sagacity, and the depressed condition of the revenues, I refer
to the report of the secretary of Hacienda i Fomento, herewith enclosed,
pages 51–53. Injudicious as the operation there explained may appear,
this government would repeat it to-day for a much larger amount. It has
indeed had an agent in London for nearly a year, seeking loans for like
purposes, which, if obtained, would amount to not less than ten millions
of dollars. He has succeeded in part, as will be seen by the appendix to
this report.
I beg to call attention to the accompanying report of the foreign
secretary. The parts marked with the numbers of my despatches treating
on the same subjects give a tolerably accurate statement of their
present state. This document, as well as the report of the secretary of
Hacienda i Fomento, contains some [Page 510] interesting information concerning the country, of
which I will say more in a subsequent number, No. 219.
Despatch from the department No. 134, of November 9th, 1865, was received
on the 5th ultimo.
[Translation.]
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF
COLOMBIA TO THE CONGRESS OF 1866.
Citizens, Senators, and Representatives:
The punctual meeting of congress this year in the midst of perfect
peace fills my highest aspirations. Although still strong between
the combatants the hatreds generated by a prolonged war, I found the
Union entering on peace at taking charge of the executive power, and
it has been my highest aim to surrender it to my successor in the
same condition. This situation is, moreover, made secure by the
demoralization of the party which might desire to oppose it, by the
recognition which all have had to yield to the existing government,
and by the palpable advantages of the liberal and tolerant policy
which springs from the existing constitution. I therefore greet you
with the greatest pleasure and congratulate you on your being able
to betake yourselves to the labor of perfecting the present
political regimen and providing for all the necessities of the Union
in perfect calmness, without any apprehensions for the permanence of
the work of Rio Negro (the national constitution) or the liberty and
independence of our people.
The existing system of policy answers to the two great exigencies of
progress—the union of forces in order to meet those difficulties
against which local and individual action would be impotent, and
that of dispersion, whereby the mission of multiplying and
increasing on our immense territory is fulfilled and its soil
submitted to our industry. While free scope is allowed to individual
activity in all its phases, indispensable to moral and material
progress, our system has resisted victoriously the efforts of the
last representatives of interests which the regeneration has
annihilated. That liberty cide contest, too well known to you, and
the particulars of which are given you in the reports of the
secretaries of war and of government, does not deserve notice in
this paper, except in the confirmation of the assertion that our
institutions, although apparently weak, carry within themselves in
their fulfilment all the force necessary to their preservation,
because they make the stability of the government the interest of
all, and all for this reason come to its support in the day of
danger. Thus is explained why a conspiracy very wide spread,
secretly fed by the rancors of the conquered party to the last civil
war, and by the great interests compromised in the transcendental
measure of the desamortizing of mortmain
property, did not succeed in misleading a single population of any
importance into the strife; and on the contrary, beaten at its
outbreak, and afterwards disconcerted and humiliated, that
conspiracy may have consolidated what it undertook to destroy, and
has ended, in my opinion, in an episode as mistaken as criminal—the
history of a party whose existence was natural, and, perhaps,
necessary, during one period of our social life, but which in the
changes through which we are passing has to disappear, as have
passed away the selfish interests which protected and sustained
it.
This result, which will be so notable in our history, leaves the
legislator to more elevated reflections than if the old parties
might again soon appear to renew the combat. Setting out with this
fact in view, and with the conviction that our institutions,
although they may seem in the beginning to produce bitter fruits
only, are fundamentally good—and the only ones the country wishes
and desires to preserve—the labors of congress must and ought to be
confined to perfecting and upholding them.
In some of the States, also, armed uprisings have occurred, which,
without affecting directly the federal order, may have impugned the
efficacy of our institutions by endangering their ascendancy. But an
attentive consideration of these events will show that they are the
exclusive result of the demoralization incident to the constant
appeal to force with which we have been corrupted by the strifes of
the two great parties, and chiefly from ignorance of the system
itself. The recent establishment of the system, and its having been
combated in advance, have not permitted its cardinal bases to be so
generally understood as it is to be desired, nor the formation of
habits consequent on it. The political education of a people is not
to be accomplished within a year or two, nor is it reasonably to be
expected that the most enlightened legislative body in the world can
enact in a single year an entire political system, which in its
execution which will not encounter difficulties apparently
irresistible at first, or [Page 511]
exempt from defects and omissions which the hand of the legislator
will have to correct and supply.
Followed with perseverance and free from prejudice, applying
ourselves to developing and perfecting it with confidence in the
philosophic elements which it contains, it will be found, within a
very short time, perfectly adequate to our present social condition.
The preservation of peace at home and abroad will be sufficient to
enable us to grow as a people, and to develop our forces on a
surprising scale, without the necessity of modifying, in anywise,
our fundamental institutions.
Our foreign relations have been maintained during the past year, and
continue on the best possible footing for a people that neither
pretends to exercise influence on the destinies of others, nor asks
more than to be respected in its own way of existence, and in the
equity of its commercial transactions. The governments of Europe
with which we maintain frequent intercourse deport themselves in
this respect with our country in a satisfactory manner. The
essential parts of all the correspondence held by the appropriate
department with the legations, relate chiefly to the protection of
transient or resident foreigners, who have suffered some detriment
in their persons or property.
The governments of advanced countries, whose administrations have
reached almost all the perfection attainable, which have at their
command easy and quick communications and agents, profoundly versed
in their duties, with various other means of prompt and fit action,
cannot be made to comprehend the difficulties which impede or annul
official action among us. These difficulties are principally those
consequent to a society of recent formation, with an immense
territory, without ways of communication, and in which war has
notably retarded the regular organization of the public power.
Ignoring or forgetting so cardinal a difference of situations, those
governments are severely exigent for the security of their subjects.
Yet, on the other hand, it must be admitted that the habits of
violence and the imperfect administration of justice, organic or
occasional, and in not a few cases the indolence of the local
political authorities, furnished just causes of complaint and
reparation, which the federal government cannot less than recognize
and accept the responsibility. Happily, in those which have been the
subject of recent discussion, an equitable adjustment has been
facilitated, by the rectitude of purpose and desire of conciliation
manifested in their proceedings by the diplomatic agents accredited
by those governments.
The declaration contained in the law passed by the last congress,
that “the nation is not liable for the damages and injuries
sustained by foreigners in time, or on account of war, but in such
case they shall have the same rights and remedies as natives,” has
not, as was easily to be foreseen, received the acquiescence of the
European governments nor of that of the United States of America,
which, far from adhering to it, have protested against the law,
declaring that in all cases that may arise they will insist on all
their rights. The principle, however justifiable it may be, not
receiving the consent of the civilized powers in a condition to give
to their protests the sanction of force, and adopting opposite
principles, the nation has to submit to the consequences of that
sanction.
Besides to enable us to insist on the declaration of this law, it
would be necessary for us to give entire reality to the hypothesis,
that when a people asks to be inscribed on the list of nations it is
because it has complete capacity to organize its public
administration, and above all that of justice, in such a manner as
to give the greatest security possible to the property and persons
of those who may come within its jurisdiction; because it cannot be
pretended that foreigners will come to participate in the insecurity
and violences so frequent in the ferocious civil wars endemic in our
present social state. A contrary cause will draw after it better
consequences, instead of reducing the foreigner to the insecure and
humiliating condition of those who live at the mercy of the first
revolutionist who may present himself, as still is the case with
natives. It is more becoming us to learn from the scrupul us respect
we owe to the person and property of the stranger, according to the
general notions of public right, the respect due to our
fellow-citizens, and thus give to our society the respectable
character to which it aspires.
Although the crime of the 14th of April, 1865, in Washington,
snatched from us, in the virtuous Abraham Lincoln, a true and kind
friend to our people, the American government has continued to treat
us with great deference and sympathy. The guarantee of sovereignty
and neutrality which it promised us by the treaty of 1846, in
exchange for the privilege of passing troops across the isthmus, has
truly given rise to serious difficulties, because not all the agents
of that government in the ports of the isthmus, and on the isthmus
itself, possess the intelligence and morality, which the use of this
concession implies. Grave wrongs have been committed by a soldier
and the commander of a war vessel, and by the military in transit
over the isthmus, for which I have not the least doubt that the
American government will give us due satisfaction, and adopt for the
future the proper precautions to avoid their repetition.
This treaty, which guarantees the neutrality and property of the
isthmus, and concedes its free transit to the American government,
will expire in 1868, should either party so notify the other one
year before the expiration of the time signified. It is fit that you
should discuss whether or not it will be convenient to continue that
guarantee, with the consequences that may attend it, at a period
more or less distant.
The exactions of money which have been made of some American citizens
in the State of [Page 512] Bolivar,
in virtue of a defective constitution, have given place to renewed
reclamations by the American legation, to which it has not been
practicable to answer satisfactorily with the indication alone of
the constitutionality of the tax laws of that State.
Taxes may be objectionable for another class of reasons, such as
accidental or political causes which may determine their
extraordinary augmentation, and on account of the agents and the
manner of their assessment and collection. But foreigners having no
connection with these political causes, and from their condition
exercising no influence on the government which appoints those
agents and prescribes those terms, it is not just to impose these
burdens on them, for the causes of which they are in no sense
responsible.
For the want of diplomatic agents, and besides of speedy and secure
communication between this capital and that of Venezuela, the
questions arising out of the common navigation of the Zulia and the
commerce between the two countries, our relations with the
government of the United States of Venezuela were suddenly made to
appear in an unfavorable light. But the sending of a consul general
to Caracas, and the arrival in this capital of a legation of the
first rank, entrusted to a subject full of good will towards our
country, with some explanations and corrections, the precious
perfect cordiality was re-established; so that it may be asserted
with the greatest confidence that the questions pending between the
two governments will receive an early and satisfactory solution.
The navigation of the Zulia continues with regularity, and the
friendship and commerce between the two peoples is restored on the
most liberal bases and the most fraternal aspirations.
The relations we preserve with Ecuador are found in a like state. Its
government has shown itself animated by very friendly sentiments,
solicitous to give explanations and satisfaction in the cases in
which they have been demanded, and disposed to cultivate, upon a
footing of reciprocal respect and equity, friendship and commerce
between the two peoples.
The treaty celebrated with Costa Rica during the past year, in
accordance with the instructions of the senate of plenipotentiaries,
and the approval of which remained pending in the house of
representatives after receiving that of the senate, is an act of the
most transcendent importance, which you will permit me to recommend
to your enlightened consideration. We cede, it is true, a portion of
our territory by no means insignificant, but aside from the facts
that it is unpopulated, and that we will not populate it for many
years, it is useless to us; and by giving it in exchange for
industrial and political concessions of great value, that laborious
and moral people comes to fraternize entirely with us by a political
assimilation of very considerable advantages for the future. By
carrying into effect the stipulations of that treaty, Costa Rica,
without losing any of her independence or freedom, would be almost
as one of the members of our Union, with evident advantages for
both.
A grave conflict has arisen between Chili and Spain, alarming all the
peoples of Spanish origin, principally by reason of the
extraordinary proceedings on the part of Spanish agents. The peoples
who have not at their command great resources for war have cause of
alarm when they see those who consider themselves stronger disregard
the wholesome usages of diplomacy and deliver to the decision of the
sword causes which in nowise affect great interests. In such cases
all ought to protest energetically against such proceedings.
The non-recognition by Spain of the right which the peoples once her
colonies on this continent have had, and still have, to an
independent existence, and the obstinate war she made on them for
more than fourteen years, from a spirit of domination, with bloody
executions, left, as was natural, obstinate distrusts and hatreds,
which cannot be combated now by any arrogant policy based on a
preponderant squadron; and while she persists in it, America will
witness complications which will produce only evils of every kind,
as well to the aggrieved as the aggressors. It is the duty of every
one of these governments to not lose sight of these events, and to
be prepared for the time when they may knock at their doors, if the
honesty of their policy shall not secure their withdrawal. It
pertains to you to mark out for the executive power the line of
conduct it is to follow in anticipation of such events.
With the government of the United Mexican States, as well as with the
other republics of this continent, our relations are preserved in
the same state as heretofore.
The exacerbation of mind proceeding from the practice of the
constitutional doctrine by which religious belief and worship are
placed without the jurisdiction of the government so long as they do
not interrupt the public peace, has gone on losing its vehemence and
gravity from day to day, and that essential basis of our Union is
entering into the customs and producing the best results. The
catholic clergy display their activity in their proper sphere of
action; they write, preach, have educational establishments,
administer the curacies and ecclesiastic benefits, but cannot
intervene in the political or civil affairs of the people, and are
sustained by the voluntary contributions of the believers.
The desamortization (unfettering) of what is called mortmain property, and the redemption of annuities on the
treasury in favor of religious and charitable bodies, has been
actively prosecuted, with the best results. These important measures
have fared like all others which, through ignorance or prejudice,
are rejected or condemned in the beginning. Their orderly execution,
making palpable their advantages, has gone on giving them greater
support in opinion, and will end in their irrevocable and general
acceptance. Up to this time the sales of real estate amount to more
than $5,000,000, and more than $2,000,000 applied to the redemption
of annuities, in which latter operation more than $2,440,000 of the
floating debt and $483,530 of the consolidated debt have been paid;
and as the emission of floating bonds has [Page 513] not yet reached $7,000,000, still when they
shall amount to $8,000,000, it is more than probable the total
amount will be paid from sales and redemption yet to be made.
If these important economic operations are followed by a peace made
sure by the genuine practice of our institutions, and by a
methodical perseverance in opening and improving cheap ways of
communication and traffic, industry may be raised from its present
prostration, and soon after abundant fruits to the general well
being and to the income of the revenue.
The latter produced in the year 1864-5, according to the data
collected up to now, the sum of $2,555,573, and as the estimated sum
in the appropriation bill was $2,225,000, the result is an excess of
$330,573, obtained by the favor of peace and sustained regularity in
the collection and management of the revenues. The increase of the
revenue of the custom-house of more than 100 per cent. over the
product of the preceding year, and of more than $500,000 above the
amount fixed in the appropriation bill, is remarkable, as will be
seen thus:
| Products |
$1,337,946,881 |
| Amount fixed in the appropriation bill |
800,000,000 |
| Difference |
537,946,881 |
And nevertheless, circumstances never were more unfavorable to this
branch of revenue, because war had paralyzed labor, ruined entire
regions of the country, demoralized commerce, and deeply wounded all
branches of industry, while the articles of most general consumption
were at a high price, owing to the scarcity of cotton, and which was
also the first year of the most moderate tariff we have had.
This fact, a new stimulus for the preservation of peace,
demonstrates, moreover, that by persisting in a system of economy
and severity in the service, the custom-houses may soon yield us
$2,000,000, and with the income from the salt works, also
increasing, we can easily balance our incomes and expenses.
The foreign creditors holding the old debt of Colombia received near
$100,000 over the limits fixed to their demands by the convention
adjusting them, and even more than they calculated to receive from
the 1st January, 1867, forward.
The loan of a million of dollars, contracted to aid in opening the
Buenaventura road, is religiously met, by paying the interest and
gradually the principal.
But for the conspiracy of October last, and the unjustifiable conduct
of the President of Magdalena in using for the expenses of a war
purely local more than $70,000 of the proceeds of the custom-house
at Santa Marta, at a time when those funds were more needed by the
government of the Union, the situation of the treasury would now be
notably more favorable.
The estimated revenues made approximately by the income of last year
is $2,350,000, a sum with which may well be met the indispensable
expenses of the service for the current year, as will appear from a
draught of an act which will be presented to the house of
representatives. The expenditures have been reduced more than
$500,000, resulting in a great part from advantageous contracts for
the manufacture of salt and from some other measures regulating the
revenue system.
To the extent of the federal authority and so far as the resources of
the treasury would permit, I have labored to encourage the opening
and improvement of ways of communication Various engineers have
traversed our territory with this object. The establishment of a
telegraph between the capital and various points on the Magdalena
river, and the capital of the state of Antioquia, is in a great
measure realized. Two corps of hydraulic engineers are occupied in
exploring the whole course of the river Magdalena, in order to
determine the works necessary to secure its navigation by steam,
from its mouth on the Atlantic to the highest passable point towards
its source, so that no obstacle to its navigation may be found at
any season of the year. The arrival of these officers, who are among
the most distinguished of the corps of engineers of the United
States of America, is due, in a great part, to the kind solicitude
of the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, an enlightened friend of our
country.
By virtue of legal authority, after discussing and comparing divers
projects, and without losing sight of the advantages and political
dangers that may arise, I agreed to the grant of a privilege for the
construction of an interoceanic canal across the isthmus of Darien.
Any commentary or calculation touching the benefits which such a
work would bring to the nation and to the world would be inadequate
and foreign to this paper. I am satisfied that the simple
announcement that the work is to be undertaken will be gratifying in
a high degree to your patriotism.
With the deplorable exceptions of the officers of the battalion
“Tiradores,” which composed the garrison of Panama, and a major with
fourteen of the soldiers under his orders, were wanting in their
duties by disobeying their chiefs in order to mix themselves with
armed force in the local administration of the sovereign State of
Panama, the rest of the Colombian guard has observed an exemplary
conduct, being obedient in all respects to the government and
respectful to the rights and liberties of their fellow-citizens. It
had been reduced to less than eight hundred men, until the breaking
out of the conspiracy in October made an increase of the public
force necessary, which I have not believed I ought to reduce, as the
end of my administration is near and my successor may judge the
present force indispensable.
The accompanying reports of the secretaries of the departments give
ample details of the [Page 514]
matters to which I have briefly alluded. By their study it will be
seen that if the present situation does not offer much that can
satisfy the ardent desires of the patriot, it certainly awakens
great hopes of entering on the fruitful career of labor. In order to
develop its productive forces, nothing more is necessary than peace,
a perfect administration of justice, and ways of communication.
War, and the animosities which attend and outlive it, distort and
prevent the ideas of liberty and justice; and for this reason, my
administration, constantly guided by the spirit of liberty and
tolerance dictated by the Rio Negro constitution has appeared to
many weak and even complacent towards the reputed enemies of the
existing order of things. I trust that the authorized
representatives of the Union, on a careful examination of my conduct
through the term now about to expire, will find it strictly in
accordance with the requirements of duty. I have held myself
independent of every selfish, personal, or party influence, severely
impartial in recognizing the right, solicitous in preserving the
general order and in securing local and individual liberty, and I
have not permitted the sacrifice of any social principle or interest
confided to my loyalty and patriotism.
MANUEL MURILLO.
Bogota, February
1,1866.
