No. 185.
Mr. Scruggs to Mr. Fish.
Bogota, July 27, 1874. (Received September 9.)
Sir: The sixty-fourth anniversary of the declaration of the independence of Colombia, occurring on the 20th instant, was celebrated here in a manner peculiar to this people.
At 10 a.m., on the 19th, there was a grand parade through the streets by the children and officers of the public and private schools. At 12 m., on the same day, there was music and singing in the plaza Bolivar. At 5 p.m. there was an imposing procession, headed by the ecclesiastics bearing a cross, an image of the crucifixion, and of the Virgin Mary, followed by the president and his cabinet, from the cathedral Vera Cruz to the plaza Bolivar. These images are represented to be the identical ones that were held up by the clergy of the viceroy to the martyrs of the revolution at the time of their public execution, during the struggle for independence of the Spanish Crown.
On the night of the 19th, all the houses and public buildings, excepting, however, the churches, were brilliantly illuminated, including, of course, the houses of the foreign legations.
The morning of the 20th was hailed by salutes of cannon, and banners were hung from the windows and balconies of all the private residences along the principal thoroughfares. At 9 a.m. public mass was said, and an appropriate sermon was preached, in the large cathedral fronting the plaza Bolivar.
At 12 m. the diplomatic body, by previous invitation through the secretary for foreign affairs, repaired to the executive mansion, and were formally received by the President. The customary congratulatory addresses were read by the dean of the diplomatic corps, and by the President.
At 1 p.m. the President and cabinet, accompanied by the diplomatic corps, proceeded between an honorary guard of soldiers to the plaza Bolivar.
Our arrival thither was hailed by music, salutes of cannon, shouts, sky-rockets, and the waving of banners. Proceeding to the bronze statue of Bolivar, in the center of the plaza, the original draft of the declaration of independence was there read and speeches made by the President of the republic and by the director-general of the national university. The President then placed the golden crown, brilliantly set with pearls and diamonds—a present from Peru to Colombia in 1864—upon the head of the statue.
The children of the public schools of the city, embracing both sexes, all ages, colors, and conditions, marched into the plaza, each of the males wearing a jacobin cap of liberty, and formed a hollow square around the statue, where they went through various evolutions, singing a beautiful native chorus. The President and cabinet, accompanied by the diplomatic body, then retired, thus ending the official ceremonies of the occasion.
Under the supervision of the municipality and of individual speculators, the feasts were protracted during the five remaining days of the week, but the exhibition bore no official character whatever. The time was consumed in horse-racing, cock and bull fighting, and in gambling, the last-named sport being openly permitted by the laws of this country, and is still a national vice of Colombia.
[Page 362]According to my understanding of general instructions from the Department, I have deemed it not improper to communicate the above, fearing, however, that it may be wholly unworthy of your attention.
In conclusion, I must crave your further indulgence for referring to a subject still more trivial in itself, but to which the perversity and ignorance of some of our own countrymen resident here, as in the United States, have given undue importance. I allude, of course, to the dress of diplomatic representatives on occasions of official ceremony. I presume that there has been no time, since the date of Mr. Marcy’s circular of June, 1853, when newspaper gossip at home has not been freely reprinted in foreign countries, exciting invidious comment. The act of Congress of March 27, 1867, making notable exceptions in favor of persons who may have, at some time or other, held military commissions, seems to have had a tendency to increase rather than to diminish this meddlesome comment. Government officials here, under institutions so republican in theory, as well as sensible persons everywhere, generally commend the rule prescribed, of adopting the plain dress of the citizen for our diplomatic representatives abroad, as being more dignified and more in keeping with our institutions and practices at home. But the matter has been frequently referred to in my presence, by resident American citizens, as well as by foreigners and attaches of other legations, in a disparaging spirit.
This subject has been partially set at rest by legislation; and I venture to suggest that if all exceptions were abolished it would avoid invidious remark, and add uniformity in dress, on official occasions, of our representatives abroad, and make it more in keeping with its civil character, while it could in no possible manner detract from the influence and consideration of our ministers.
I have, &c.,