Mr. Abbott to Mr. Blaine.
Bogota , January 20, 1890. (Received February 14.)
Sir: I notice in the New York papers of December 24, just received, that the American schooners Willie and Julian have been seized by the Colombian cruiser La Popa and conducted to Carthagena for infringement of the customs laws.
The article states that the owners of the schooners had, by advice of the Colombian consul in New York, obtained a special permit from the authorities at Colon to trade upon the San Blas coast, paying therefor $50.
I have made diligent search and can find no provision of law authorizing any such proceeding. The minister of foreign affairs informs me that there is no such law or custom.
As I wrote you in my former dispatch on the subject, it is impossible to carry on a legal traffic with San Blas until after a vessel has regularly entered a port habilitado, as, for instance, Carthagena, and paid the regular import duties. The law is reasonable and necessary to prevent smuggling.
Further inquiry at the office of the hacienda discloses that the Colombian consul in New York telegraphed to the minister of hacienda here that he had dispatched two American schooners to Colon for traffic on the San Blas coast. The minister immediately answered, forbidding such action in the future. He also ordered the schooners to be taken, on their arrival at Colon, to Carthagena tor the purpose of collecting the regular customs dues, on the payment of which they were to be allowed the usual permission to trade upon that coast.
[Page 241]This information comes directly from the ministry of hacienda.
There seems to be not the least disposition to confiscate these schooners, and I presume they have ere this been released. If not, there must be some fault on the part either of the owners themselves or of the subordinate Colombian officials.
I expect to write further details by the next mail, but, owing to the slowness with which news travels here, there may be further delay in receiving them.
I am, etc.,