Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1879

[Translation from the Diario Oficial of Bogota, Wednesday, May 22, 1878.]

No. 4187.
Law 28th of 1878 (18th of May) “approving the contract for the construction of an interoceanic canal across Colombian territory.”

The Congress of the United States of Colombia, after an examination of the contract, which is verbatim as follows:

contract for the construction of an interoceanic canal across Colombian territory.

Eustorgio Salgar, secretary of the interior and of foreign relations of the United States of Colombia, duly authorized, of the one part, and of the other part Lucien N. B. Wyse, chief of the Isthmus Scientific Surveying Expedition in 1876, 1877, and 1878, member and delegate of the board of directors of the International Interoceanic Canal Association, presided by General Etienne Türr, in conformity with powers bestowed at Paris, from the 27th to the 29th of October, 1877, have celebrated the following contract:

Article 1. The Government of the United States of Colombia grants to Mr. Lucien N. B. Wyse, who accepts it in the name of the civil International Interoceanic Canal Association, represented by their board of directors, the exclusive privilege for the construction across its territory, and for the operating of a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Said canal may be constructed without restrictive stipulations of any kind.

This concession is made under the following conditions:

1st. The duration of the privilege shall be for ninety-nine years from the day on which the canal shall be wholly or partially opened to public service, or when the grantees or their representatives commence to collect the dues on transit and navigation.

2d. From the date of approbation by the Colombia Congress for the opening of the interoceanic canal, the government of the republic cannot construct, nor concede to any company or individual, under any consideration whatever, the right to construct another canal across Colombian territory which shall communicate the two oceans. Should the grantees wish to construct a railroad as an auxiliary to the canal, the government (with the exception of existing rights) cannot grant to any other company or individual, the right to build another interoceanic railroad, nor do so, itself, during the time allowed for the construction and use of the canal.

3d. The necessary studies of the ground, and the route for the line of the canal, shall be made, at the expense of the grantees, by an international commission of individuals and competent engineers, in which two Colombian engineers shall take part. The commission shall determine the general route of the canal and report to the Colombian Government directly, or to its diplomatic agents in the United States or Europe, upon the results obtained, at the latest in 1881, unless unavoidable circumstances clearly preven, should prevent their so doing. The report shall comprise in duplicate the scientific labors performed, and an estimate of the projected work.

4th. The grantees shall then have a period of two years to organize a universal joint stock company, which shall take charge of the enterprise, and of the construction of the canal. This term shall commence from the date mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

5th. The canal shall be finished and placed at the public service within the subsequent twelve years after the formation of the company which will undertake its construction, but the executive power is authorized to grant a further maximum term of six years in the ease of encountering superhuman obstacles beyond the power of the company, and if after one-third of the canal is built, the company should acknowledge the impossibility of concluding the work in the said twelve years.

6th. The canal shall have the length, depth, and all other conditions requisite in order that sailing vessels and steamships measuring lip to 140 meters long, 16 meters in width, and 8 meters in draught shall, with lowered topmasts, be able to pass the canal.

7th. All public lands which may be required for the route of the canal, the ports, stations, wharves, moorings, warehouses, and in general for the construction and service of the canal as well as for the railway, should it be convenient to build it, shall be ceded gratis to the grantees.

8th. These unoccupied public lands shall revert to the government of the republic with the railroad and canal at the termination of this privilege; there is also granted for the use of the canal a belt of land two hundred meters wide on each side of its banks throughout all the distance which it may run, but the owners of lands on its banks shall have free access to the canal and its ports as well as to the right of use of any roads which the grantees may open there; and this without paying any dues to the company.

9th. If the lands through which the canal shall pass, or upon which the railroad may be built, should, in whole or in part, be private property, the grantees shall have the right to demand their expropriation by the government according to all the legal formalities in such cases. The indemnity which shall be made to the land-owners, and which shall be based on their actual value, shall be at the expense of the company. The grantees shall enjoy in this case, and in those of temporary occupation of private property, all the rights and privileges which the existing legislation confers.

10th. The grantees may establish and operate at their cost the telegraph lines which they may consider useful as auxiliaries in the building and management of the canal.

Art. 2. Within the term of twelve months after the international commission shall have presented the result of their definitive surveys, the grantees will deposit in the bank or banks of London, which the national executive power may designate, the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand francs as security for the accomplishment of the work. The receipt of said bank or banks shall be a voucher of the fulfillment of said engagement. The deposit shall be made in certificates of the foreign debt of Colombia, at the current market price on the day of delivery. It is understood that should the grantees forfeit this deposit by virtue of the provisions of clause 2, Article 22, of this contract, the said sum with its interest shall become the sole property of the Colombian Government. On the conclusion of the canal the amount deposited as security shall remain to the credit of the treasury, as indemnity to the national government for the expenses incurred in the erection of buildings for the use of public offices.

Art. 3. Should the route of the canal from one ocean to the other pass to the west and to the north of the imaginary straight line which connects Cape Tiburon with Garachine Point, the grantees must make a friendly arrangement with the Panama Railroad Company, or pay an indemnity which shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of law 46, of August 16, 1867, “which approves the contract celebrated July 5, 1867, reformatory of that of April 15, 1850, for the construction of a railroad from ocean to ocean, across the Isthmus of Panama.”

In case the international commission selects the Atrato, or some other stream now navigable, as one of the entrances of the canal, the canalized mouth shall be considered as one of the parts of the principal work, and maintained in equally good condition. River navigation in the upper part of the stream, so far as it has not for its object the use of the canal, shall be open to commerce, and free from all dues.

Art. 4. In addition to the lands granted by paragraphs 7 and 8 of Article 1, these are gratuitously given to the grantees, and at their choice five hundred thousand hectares of the unoccupied public lands, with the mines which they may contain. This allotment shall be made directly by the national executive power. The public lands situated on the sea-coast, or on the border of the canal, or at the rivers, shall be, divided as closely as possible in alternate lots between the government and the company, forming, if the ground will permit, areas of one and two thousand hectares. The measurement for the allotment or location shall be made at the cost of the guarantees) and with the intervention of commissioners of the government.

Unoccupied lands so granted, with the mines which they may hold, shall be awarded to the grantees as soon as they request them after the deposit of the security. In a belt of two myriameters on each side of the canal, and during five years after the conclusion of the work, the government cannot transfer other lands beyond the said lots until the company shall have obtained the whole of the lands which are granted to it gratuitously.

Art. 5. The government of the republic declares neutral, for all time, the ports of each terminus of the canal and the waters of the latter from one sea to the other, and consequently, in case of war between other nations or between one or more of these and Colombia, the transit of the canal shall not be interrupted on that account, and the merchant vessels and individuals of all nations of the world may enter said ports, and navigate the canal without let or hinderance. In general any ship whatever may navigate the canal freely without discrimination, exclusion, or preference of persons or nationalities, by paying the dues and abiding by the regulations laid down by the company for the use of said canal and its dependencies. Exception is made of foreign troops, which cannot pass without permission from Congress.

Art. 6. The entrance to the canal shall be rigorously prohibited to the war vessels of those nations which are at war, and to those whose destination manifests their intention to take part in hostilities.

Art. 7. The grantees will enjoy the right during the whole time of the privilege to use the ports at the termini of the canal, as well as intermediate points, for the anchorage and repair of ships, and the loading, depositing, transshipping, or landing of merchandise. The ports of the canal shall be open and free to the commerce of all nations, and no import duties shall be exacted, except on merchandise destined to be introduced for the consumption of the rest of the republic. Tire said ports shall, therefore, be open to importations from the commencement of the work, and the custom-houses, and the revenue service which the government may deem convenient for the collection of duties on merchandise destined for other portions of the republic, shall be established, in order to prevent introduction of smuggled goods.

Art. 8. The executive power shall issue the necessary regulations for the protection of its revenue by preventing smuggling, and shall appoint the number of men necessary for this service at its own expense. Of the employés indispensable for this, ten shall be paid by the company, and their salaries shall not exceed those paid to officials of the same grade in the custom-house at Barranquilla. When necessary, the company shall transport, free of charge by the banal or by the auxiliary railroad, the men at the service of the union or destined for police duty, with the object of guarding public service without, or preserving public order within. If the company should not own ships or tugs, they shall pay the passage of these men across the isthmus. The sustenance of the public force necessary for the security of the interoceanic transit shall also be at the expense of the company.

Art. 9. The grantees shall have the right to introduce, free of import or other duties of whatever class, all the instruments, machinery, tools, fixtures, provisions, clothing for laborers which they may need during all the time allowed to them for the construction and use of the canal. The ships carrying cargoes for the use of the enterprise shall enjoy free entry into whatever point shall afford them easy access to the line of the canal.

Art. 10. No taxes, either national, municipal, of the State, or of any other class, shall be levied upon the canal, the ships that navigate it, the tugs and vessels at the service of the grantees, their warehouses, work-shops, and offices, factories of whatever class, storehouses, wharves, machinery, or other works or property of whatever character belonging to them, and which they may need for the service of the canal and its dependences, during the time conceded for its construction and operation. The grantees shall also have the right to take from unoccupied lands the materials of any kind which they may require without paying any compensation for the same.

Art. 11. The passengers, money, precious metals, merchandise, and articles and effects of all kinds which may be transported over the canal, shall also be exempt from all duties, national, municipal, transit, and others. The same exemption is extended to all articles and merchandise for interior or exterior commerce which may remain in deposit, according to the conditions which may be stipulated, with the company in the storehouses and stations belonging to them.

Art. 12. Ships desiring to cross the canal shall present at the port of the terminus of the canal at which they may arrive, their respective registers and other sailing papers, prescribed by the laws and public treaties, so that the vessels may navigate without interruption. Vessels not having said papers, or which should refuse to present them, may be detained and proceeded against according to law.

Art. 13. The government allows the immigration and free access to the lands and work-shops of the grantees of all employés and laborers, of whatever nationality, contracted for the enterprise, or who may come to engage themselves in the service of the canal, on condition that such employés or laborers submit to existing laws, and to the regulations established by the company. The government assures them aid and protection and the enjoyment of their rights and privileges, according to the constitution and laws of the nation, during the time they live in Colombian territory.

Art. 14. As a compensation to the grantees for the expenses of the building, preservation, and operation of the canal, which are for their account, they shall have the right during all the period of this privilege to charge and collect for passage over the canal, and the ports dependent upon it, dues for light-house, anchorage, transit, navigation, repairs, pilotage, towing, hauling, storage, and station, as per the tariffs they may establish, and which may be modified at any time under the following express conditions:

1st. These dues shall be imposed without exception or favor upon all ships in identical conditions.

2d. The tariff shall be published four months before going into operation in the Diario Oficial of the government, as well as in the capitals and principal commercial ports of the countries affected thereby.

3d. The principal dues to be collected on vessels shall not exceed the rate of ten francs for each cubic meter, resulting from the multiplication of the principal dimensions of the submerged portion of the ship in transit (length, breadth, and draught).

4th. The principal dimensions of the ship in transit, that is to say, the greatest exterior length and beam of vessel, as well as the greatest draught of water, shall be nautical dimensions, inserted in the official clearance papers, with the exception of such modifications as may result in the course of the voyage. The captains of ships and agents of the company may require a new measurement to be taken, which operation shall be effected at the expense of the solicitor.

5th. The same measurement, that is to say, the parallelopiped described by the submerged part of the ship, shall serve as the basis for the determination of the other accessory charges.

6th. Special dues for navigation shall be reduced in proportion to the excess when the net profits derived therefrom shall exceed 12 per cent. of the capital employed in the enterprise.

Art. 15. By way of compensation for the right and exemptions which are conferred upon the grantees by this contract, the government of the republic shall enjoy a participation equal to 5 per cent. of the gross earning which shall accrue to the enterprise, as per the tariff to be fixed by the company.

Art. 16. The grantees are authorized to require payment in advance of any charges which they may establish; nine-tenths of these charges shall be made payable in gold, and only the remaining one-tenth part shall be payable in silver of twenty-five grammes, of a fineness of 900.

Art. 17. The ships which shall infringe upon the rules established by the company shall be subject to the payment of a fine which said company shall fix in its regulations, of which due notice shall be given to the public at the time of the issue of the tariff. Should they refuse to pay said fine, nor furnish sufficient security, they may he detained and prosecuted according to the laws. The same proceedings may he observed for the damages they may have caused.

Art. 18. If the opening of the canal shall be deemed financially possible, the grantees are authorized to form, under the immediate protection of the. Colombian Government, a universal joint-stock company, which shall undertake the execution of the work, taking charge of all financial transactions which may be needed. As this enterprise is essentially international and for public utility, it is understood that it shall always be kept tree from political influences.

The company shall take the name of “The Universal Interoceanic Canal Association;” its residence shall be fixed in Bogota, New York, London, or Paris as the grantees may choose; branch offices may be established wherever necessary. Its contract, shares, bonds, and titles of its property shall never be subjected by the Government of Colombia to any charges for registry, emission, stamps, or any similar imposts upon the sale or transfer of these shares or bonds, as well as on the profits produced by these values.

Art. 19. The company is authorized to reserve as much as 10 per cent. of the shares emitted, to form a fund of shares, to the benefit of the founders and promoters of the enterprise. Of the products of the concern, the company take, in the first place, what is necessary to cover all expenses of repairs, operations, and administration, and the share which belongs to the government, as well as the sums necessary for the payment of the interest and the amortization of the bonds, and, if possible, the fixed interest or dividend of the shares; that which remains will be considered as net profit, out of which 80 per cent. at least shall be divided among the shareholders.

Art. 20. The Colombian Government, should it consider it important, may name a special commissioner in the board of directors of the company. This delegate shall enjoy all the advantages conceded to the other directors by the statutes of the company. The grantees are obliged to appoint in Bogota, near the national government, an agent duly authorized to resolve all doubts and to present all demands to which this contract may give rise. Reciprocally, and with the same intention, the government shall name a resident agent in the principal establishment of the company on the canal. In every case the difficulties which may arise between the contracting parties shall be submitted to a committee of arbitrators, composed of four individuals, two of whom shall be selected by the executive power from among the members of the federal supreme court, and the other two named by the company. In case of a tie in the votes of this committee, the said arbitrators shall name a fifth party. The decision pronounced by this tribunal shall be final.

Art. 21. The grantees, or those who in the future may succeed them in their rights, may transfer those rights to other capitalists or financial companies, but it is absolutely prohibited to cede or mortgage them under any considerations whatever to any nation or foreign government.

Art. 22. The grantees or their representatives shall forfeit their acquired rights in the following cases:

1st. If they do not deposit within the term stipulated the amount reguired as security, for the execution of the work.

2d. If in the first of the twelve years allowed for the construction of the canal the work is not already begun. In this case the company shall forfeit the sum deposited as a guarantee, and which shall go to the benefit of the republic.

3d. If at the termination of the period fixed by paragraph fifth of Article 1 the canal is not navagable.

4th. If they do not comply with the provisions of Article 21.

5th. If the service of the canal should be interrupted without some superhuman obstacle.

In cases 2, 3, 4, and 5, the federal supreme court shall decide whether the privilege has become null or not.

Art. 23. In all cases of declaration of nullity, the public lands mentioned in paragraphs 7 and 8 of Article 1, and those not alienated among those conceded in Article 4, will return to the possession of the republic in the state in which they are found, and without any indemnity whatever, and also the buildings, materials, works, and improvements of which the grantees hold possession in the canal. These shall reserve only their capital, vessels, provisions, and in general their movable property.

Art. 24. Five years previous to the expiration of the ninety-nine years of the privilege, the executive power shall appoint a commissioner to examine the condition of the canal and annexes, and, with the knowledge of the company or its agents on the isthmus, to make an official report, describing in every detail the condition of the same and pointing out what repairs may be necessary. This report will serve to establish in what condition the canal and its dependencies shall be delivered to the national government on the day of expiration of the privilege now granted.

Art. 25. The enterprise of the canal is reputed to be of public utility.

Art. 26. This contract, which will serve as a substitute for the provisions of law 33, of May 26, 1876, and the clauses of the contract celebrated on the 28th of May of the same year, shall be submitted for the approval of the president of the union and the definite acceptance by the Congress of the nation.

In witness whereof they sign the present in Bogota, on the 20th March, 1878.

• EUSTORGIO SALGAR.
• LUCIEN N. B. WYSE.

Bogota, March 23, 1878.

Approved.

The president of the union:

AQUILEO PARRO.

The secretary of the interior and of foreign relations:

EUSTORGIO SALGAR.

decrees.

The foregoing contract is hereby approved, with the following modifications:

Article 1, with the addition of the following paragraph:

§—“It is, however, stipulated and agreed that if, before the payment of the security determined upon in Article 2, the Colombian Government should receive any formal proposal; sufficiently guaranteed, in the opinion of the said government, to construct the canal in less time and under more advantageous conditions for the United States of Colombia, said proposal shall be communicated to the grantees or their representatives, that they may be substituted therein, in which case they shall be preferred; but if they do not accept said substitution, the Colombian Government, in the new contract which they may celebrate, shall exact, besides the guarantee mentioned in Article 2, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars in coin, which shall be given as indemnity to the grantees.

Article 2, thus:

“Art. 2. Within the term of twelve months from the date at which the international commission shall have presented the definite results of their studies, the grantees shall deposit in the bank or banks of London, to be designated by the national executive power, the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand francs, to the exclusion of all paper money, as security for the execution of the work. The receipt of said banks shall be a voucher for the fulfillment of said deposit. It is understood that if the grantees should lose that deposit by virtue of the stipulations contained in clauses 2 and 3 of Article 22 of the present contract, the sum referred to, with interest accrued, shall become in toto the property of the Colombian Government. After the conclusion of the canal, said sum, without interest, which latter will in this case belong to grantees, shall remain for benefit of the treasury, for the outlays which it may have incurred or may incurr in the construction of buildings for the service of the public officers.”

Article 3, thus:

“Art. 3. If the line of the canal to be constructed from sea to sea should pass to the west and to the north of the imaginary straight line which joins Cape Tiburon with Garachiné Point, the grantees must enter into some amicable arrangement with the Panama Railroad Company, or pay an indemnity, which shall be established in accordance with the provisions of law 46, of August 16, 1867, ‘approving the contract celebrated on July 5, 1867, reformatory of the contract of April 15, 1850, for the construction of an iron railroad from one ocean to the other through the Isthmus of Panama.’

“In case the international commission should choose the Atrato or some other stream already navigable as one of the entrances to the canal, the ingress and egress by such stream, and the navigation of its waters, so long as it is not intended to cross the canal, shall be open to commerce and free from all imposts.”

Article 4, thus:

Art. 4. Besides the lands granted in paragraphs 7 and 8 of Article 1, there shall be awarded to the grantees, as an aid for the accomplishment of the work, and not otherwise, five hundred thousand hectares of public lands, with the mines they may comprise, in the localities which the company may select. This award shall be made directly by the national executive power. The public lands situated on the sea-coast, on the borders of the canal or of the rivers, shall be divided in alternate lots between the government and the company, forming areas of from one to two thousand hectares. The measurements for the allotment or locating shall be made at the expense of the grantees and with the intervention of government commissioners. The public lands thus granted, with the mines they may hold, shall be awarded to the grantees as fast as the work of construction of the canal progresses, and in accordance with rules to be laid down by the executive power.

“Within a belt of two myriameters on each side of the canal, and during five years, after the termination of the work, the government shall not have the right to grant other lands beyond the said lots until the company shall have called for the whole number of lots granted by this article.”

Article 5, thus:

“Art. 5. The government of the republic hereby declares the ports at each end of the canal, and the waters of the latter from sea to sea, to be neutral for all time; and consequently in case of war among other nations, the transit through the canal shall not be interrupted by such event, and the merchant vessels and individuals of all nations, of the world may enter into said ports and travel on the canal without being molested or detained. In general, any vessel may pass freely without any discrimination, exclusion, or preference of nationalities or persons, on payment of the dues and the observance of the rules established by the company for the use of the canal and its dependencies. Exception is to be made of foreign troops, which shall not have the right to pass without permission from Congress, and of the vessels of nations which, being at war with the United States of Colombia, may not have obtained the right to pass through the canal at all times, by public treaties wherein is guaranteed the sovereignty of Colombia over the Isthmus of Panama and over the territory whereon the canal is to be cut, besides the immunity and neutrality of the said canal, its ports, bays, and dependencies and the adjacent seas.”

Article 6, thus:

“Art. 6. The United States of Colombia reserves to themselves the right to pass their vessels, troops, ammunitions of war at all times and without paying any dues whatever. The passage of the canal is strictly closed to war vessels of nations at war, and which may not have acquired, by public treaty with the Colombian Government, the right to pass by the canal at all times.”

Article 8, thus:

“Art. 8. The executive power shall dictate, for the protection of the financial interests of the republic, the regulations conducive to the prevention of smuggling, and shall have the power to station, at the cost of the nation, the number of men which they may deem necessary for that service.

“Out of the indispensable officials for that service, ten shall be paid by the company, and their salaries shall not exceed those enjoyed by employés of the same rank in the Barranquilla custom-house.

“The company shall carry gratis through the canal, or on the auxiliary railway, the men destined for the service of the nation, for the service of the state through whose territory the canal may pass, or for the service of the police, with the object of guarding against foreign enemies, or for the preservation of public order, and shall also transport gratis the baggage of such men, their war materials, armament, and clothing which they may need for the service assigned to them.

“The subsistence of the public force which may be deemed necessary for the safety of the interoceanic transit shall likewise be at the expense of the company.”

Article 13, thus;

“Art. 13. The government allows the immigration and free access to the lands and shops of the grantees of all the employés and workingmen of whatever nationality, who may be contracted for the work, or who may come to engage themselves to work on the canal, on condition that such employés or laborers shall submit to the existing laws, and to the regulations established by the company. The government promises, them support and protection, and the enjoyment of their rights and guarantees, in conformity with the national constitution and laws, during the time they may sojourn on Colombian territory.

“The national peons and laborers employed on the work of the canal, shall be exempt from all requisition of military service, national as well as of the state.”

Article 14, thus:

“Art. 14, In order to indemnify the grantees of the construction, maintenance, and working expenses incurred by them, they shall have, during the whole period of the privilege, the exclusive right to establish and collect for the passage of the canal and its ports, the dues for light-houses, anchorage, transit, navigation, repairs, pilotage, towage, hauling, storage, and of station according to the tariff which they may issue, and which they may modify at any time, under the following express conditions;

• “1st. They shall collect these dues, without any exceptional favor, from all vessels in like circumstances.
• “2d. The tariffs shall be published four months before their enforcement in the Diario Oficial of the government, as well as in the capitals and the principal commercial ports of the countries interested.
• “3d. The principal navigation dues to be collected shall not exceed the sum of ten francs for each cubic meter resulting from the multiplication of the principal dimensions of the submerged part of the ship in transit (length, breadth, and draught).
• “4th. The principal dimensions of the ship in transit, that is to say, the maximum exterior length and breadth at the water-line, as well as the greatest draught, shall be the metrical dimensions inserted in the official clearance papers, excepting any modifications supervening during the voyage. The ships’ captains and the company’s agents may demand a new measurement, which operation shall be carried out at the expense of the petitioner, and,
• “5th. The same measurement, that is to say, the number of cubic meters contained in the parallelopipedon circumscribing the submerged part of the ship, shall serve as a basis for the determination of the other accessory dues.”

Article 15, thus:

“Art. 15. By way of compensation for the rights and exemptions which are allowed to the grantees in this contract, the government of the republic shall be entitled to a share amounting to five per cent. oh all collections made by the company, by virtue of the dues which may be imposed in conformity with Article 14, during the first twenty-five years after the opening of the canal to the public Service. From the twenty-sixth up to the fiftieth year, inclusive, it shall be entitled to a share of six per cent.,; from the fifty-first to the seventy-fifth to seven per cent.; and from the seventy-sixth to the termination of the privilege to eight per cent. It is understood that these shares shall be reckoned, as has been said, on the gross income from all sources, without any deductions whatever for expenses, interest on shares, or on loans or, debts against the company. The government of the republic shall have the fight to appoint a commissioner or agent, who shall intervene in the collections, and examine the accounts, and the distribution or payment of the shares coming to the government shall be made in due half-yearly installments. The product of the five, six, seven and eight per cent. shall be distributed as follows:

“Four-fifths of it shall go to the government of the republic, and the remaining one-fifth to the government of the state through whose territory the canal may pass.”

“The company guarantees to the Government of Colombia that the share of the latter shall in no case be less than the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, which is the same as that received as its share in the earnings of the Panama Railroad, so that if in any year the five per cent. share should not reach said sum, it shall be completed out of the common funds of the company.”

Article 20, thus:

“Art. 20. The Colombia Government may appoint a special delegate in the board of directors of the company whenever it may consider it useful to do so. This delegate shall enjoy the same advantages as are granted to the other directors by the bylaws of the company.

“The grantees pledge themselves to appoint in the capital of the union, near the national government, a duly authorized agent for the purpose of clearing up all doubts and presenting any claims to which this contract may give rise. Reciprocally and in the same sense, the government shall appoint an agent, who shall reside in the principal establishment of the company situated on the line of the canal; and, according to the national constitution, the difficulties which may arise between the contracting parties shall be submitted to the decision of the federal supreme court.”

Article 22, thus:

“Art. 22. The grantees, or their representatives, shall lose the right hereby acquired in the following cases:

• “1st. If they do not deposit, on the terms agreed upon, the sum which by way of security must insure the execution of the work.
• “2d. If, in the first year of the twelve that are allowed for the construction of the canal, the works are not already commenced, in this case the company shall lose the sum deposited by way of security, together with the interest that may have accrued; all of which will remain for the benefit of the republic.
• “3d. If, at the end of the second period fixed in paragraph 5 of Article 1, the canal is not transitable, in this case also the company shall lose the sum deposited as security; which, with the interests accrued, shall remain for the benefit of the republic.
• “4th. If they violate the prescriptions of Article 21; and,
• “5th. If the service of the canal should be interrupted for a longer period than six months without its being occasioned by the acts of God, &c.

“In cases 2, 3, 4, and 5, the federal supreme court shall have the right to decide whether the privilege has become annulled or not.”

Article 23, thus:

“Art. 23. In all cases of decisions of nullity, the public lands mentioned in clauses 7 and 8 of Article 1, and such lands as are not settled or inhabited from among those granted by Article 4, shall revert to the possession of the republic in the condition they may be found in, and without any indemnity whatever, as well as the buildings, materials, works, and improvements which the grantees may possess along the canal and its accessories. The grantees shall only retain their capital, vessels, provisions, and in general all movable property.”

Given at Bogota on the seventeenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight.

The president of the senate of plenipotentiaries:

RAMON GOMEZ.

The president of the chamber of representatives:

BELISARIO ESPONDA.

The secretary of the senate of plenipotentiaries:

JULIO E. PEREZ.

The secretary of the chamber of representatives:

ENRIQUE GAOUA.

Bogota, May 18, 1878.

Let it be published and enforced.

The president of the union:
[seal.]

JULIAN TRUJILLO.

The secretary of the interior and foreign relations:

FRANCISCO J. ZALDUA.

Note from Mr. Lucien N. B. Wyse, wherein he declares he accepts all the modifications made by law 28 to the contract for the construction of the interoceanic canal.

To the honorable Secretary of the Interior and Foreign Relations:

I have the honor to inform you that I accept each and all of the modifications introduced by Congress to the contract which I celebrated with Señor Eustorgio Salgar, your worthy predecessor in the department of the interior and foreign relations, for the construction of the interoceanic canal, which contract was approved by the executive power under date of March 23 last.

The modifications to which I have alluded are those recorded in law No. 28 of the 18th instant.

I hasten to lay this declaration before the Government of Colombia, so that it may be taken in consideration, in order that said law may be effective in all its parts.

Bogota, May 18, 1878.

LUCIEN N. B. WYSE,
Chief of the International Scientific Commission for the Survey of the Isthmus, Member and Delegate from the Board of Directors of the Interoceanic Canal Association.