No. 211.
Mr. Dichman to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
Bogotá, September 11, 1880.
(Received October 22.)
No. 208.]
Sir: Referring to the subject of increased postal
facilities with Colombia, and in compliance with your instructions to urge
upon this government “the importance of adhesion to the convention of Paris
as a measure not only of postal reform, but of great commercial advantage,”
I beg to state that the matter has been brought frequently to the notice of
the Colombian Government in both its executive and legislative branches, and
I am now enabled to report the enactment of a law, a copy and translation of
which I beg to inclose, which contains the necessary authorization for the
incorporation of Colombia into the Universal Postal Union.
In accordance with the authorization conferred upon the Colombian Executive
by this law, instructions have been sent to the Colombian minister at London
to take the necessary steps to bring about the much-desired annexation of
Colombia to the postal system of the world.
But I regret to be obliged to inform you at the same time that in the
instructions just mentioned this government finds itself under the necessity
to qualify its application for the annexation by asking to be permitted to
effect the same without being obliged to assume the expense of the
transportation of the foreign mails which are carried across Colombian
territory by way of the Isthmus of Panama.
The reason for this action on the part of the Colombian Government is found
in Article XVI of its contract with the Panama Railroad Company, a
translation of which reads as follows:
[Page 333]
Article XVI.
The company hinds itself to transport gratis over the railroad the
national and state mails that may have to he carried from ocean to
ocean, or to any intermediate point, and it may make such pecuniary
arrangements as it thinks proper for the transportation of foreign
mails, the passage of which over the Isthmus is declared free to all
nations; hut the government of the republic may prohibit the passage
by the railroad of the mails of those nations that may be at war
with it, in which case the company shall refuse to carry them over
the railroad.
The position of this government practically reduces itself, therefore, to a
willingness to enter the Postal Union for all the territory of Colombia,
with the exception of the State of Panama.
Whether such a qualified adhesion to the convention of Paris is admissible is
a question which I beg to submit to the Post-Office Department for its
consideration.
Under any circumstances I consider the incorporation of Colombia into the
Universal Postal Union only a question of time, for if the qualified
application of Colombia should be inadmissible, I have no doubt but that the
Colombian Government will be obliged by public opinion and the wants of
commerce to come to such an understanding with the Panama Railroad Company
in regard to a modification of Article XVI of the contract above cited as
will enable it to apply for admission to the Postal Union without
qualification of any kind.
I deem this occasion opportune to inclose for your information a copy of a
letter addressed to me by a number of American citizens at Puerto Berrio, in
the State of Antioquia, from which you will be pleased to learn that in
compliance with your instructions their just complaints as to excessive
postal charges and other drawbacks connected with postal matters have been
remedied.
I also beg to inclose a copy of the last report of the Colombian
Postmaster-General, inviting your attention to the marked paragraph on page
5 of the report.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in
208.—Translation.]
Law 90 of 1880.
(August 18.)
upon the annexation of colombia to the
universal postal union.
The Congress of the United States of Colombia, in view of the diplomatic
convention which created the “Universal Postal Union “adjusted in Paris
June 1, 1878, by the plenipotentiaries of the Governments of Germany,
the Argentine Republic, Austro-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark and her
colonies, Egypt, Spain and her Spanish colonies, the United States of
North America, France and the French colonies, Great Britain and various
English colonies, English India, Canada, Greece, Italy, Japan,
Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands and the Dutch colonies, Peru,
Persia, Portugal and the Portuguese colonies, Roumania, Russia, Servia,
Montenegro, Norway, Salvador, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey; in view
also of the rules attached to said convention, effected in the same city
and on the same date, and of the diplomatic correspondence between the
minister of Colombia and the Government of the Swiss Confederation upon
the annexation of Colombia to the said Universal Postal Union, decrees:
- Article I. The executive power is
authorized to carry into effect the annexation of Colombia to
the Universal Postal Union according to the terms of the said
convention.
- Art. II. Colombia having been
admitted into the Universal Postal Union, and due notice thereof
having been given, according to diplomatic usage, by the
Government of the Swiss Confederation, there shall be published
in the official daily organ and in
[Page 334]
pamphlet this law, the notice of
admission, the rules and details accompanying, and the executive
decree, in which will be stated the date of their coming into
force.
- Art. III. By the provisions of
Article VII of the convention, and of Article IV of the
accompanying rules, and considering that in the national money
system the unit is the live-cent piece, the executive power will
propose to the Swiss Government the following equivalents as the
rule to be observed in the mail charges in Colombian
post-offices:
- Twenty-five hundredths (0.25) of a franc to be equal
to five Colombian cents.
- Ten hundredths (0.10) of a franc to be equal to two
Colombian cents.
- Five hundredths (0.05) of a franc to be equal to one
Colombian cent.
- Art. IV. The equivalents having been
accepted, the executive power will cause the emission of special
stamps for the use of the Universal Postal Union of the value of
one, two, and five cents.
- Art. V. The executive power is
authorized to have postal cards made, and to monopolize their
sale on account of the republic, under the conditions expressed
in Article XV of the rules and regulations. The cost will be one
cent each; this price being independent of the value of the
stamp which it must bear in order to be transported through the
mails.
- Art. VI. The executive power will
take care to include annually in the estimates of expenses the
amount necessary to cover what may be charged to the national
government according to the tenor of the same convention.
Given in Bogotá,
the 17th day of
August, 1880.
The president of the Senate of
Plenipotentiaries:
PEDRO A. LARA.
The
president of the House of Representatives:
DEMETRIO REI
RODRIGUEZ.
The secretary of the Senate of
Plenipotentiaries:
JULIO E. PÉREZ,
The
secretary of the House of Representatives:
CÁRLOS
CÓRTES.
National
Executive Power,
Bogotá,
August 18,
1880.
Let it be published and put into execution.
The President of the Union:
[
l.
s.]
RAFAEL NUNEZ.
El secretario de
fomento:,lb/>
GREGORIO OBREGON.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 208.]
Puerto
Berrio, Antioquia,
United States of
Colombia,
May 19,
1880.
Sir: We take this occasion of your presence to
offer our sincere thanks for the efforts made by you in the past year
for the improvement of the postal facilities between the United States
of America and this country, in the reduction of rates and other
advantages, the benefit of which we have for some time past realized,
and, while we regard most respectfully the interest you have manifested
in the accomplishment of what has already been done, we feel forced to
say that, in our estimation, still greater and more advanced regulations
in the postal service between two such countries as America and Colombia
ought to be pressed to a conclusion without delay.
The determination of the manner and method we leave to those who are more
competent to decide, but we earnestly ask, in the interest of Americans
in the interior of this portion of Colombia, that, at least, our own
government appoint, at once, a postal agent in Barranquilla, to protect
us against the delays and mistakes to which the transmission of letters
to and from the interior is now subject, and which, under the postal
regulations of this country, seem to be unavoidable.
We beg to subscribe ourselves, in behalf of the American colony in this
port,
Respectfully, yours,
- C. P. Yeatman.
- J. W. Fry.
- J. I. Plume.
- F. J. Middleton.
- A. D. Middleton.
- Geo. E. Middleton.
- J. Stack.
- Wm. Owens.
- L. H. Plume.
- J. H. Ackerly.
- M. A. Smith.
- G. W. Plume.
- William T. Parker.
Hon. Mr. Dichman.
American Minister to Colombia,
On board Steamer Isabel,
Magdalena River.
