Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 7, 1903

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Hay.

Legation of the United States on Special Mission,
Panama, December 28, 1903.

No. 7.]

Sir: I beg to inclose herewith two copies of a pamphlet recently issued here and accredited by everyone with whom I have talked as an accurate story of the uprising here, to which I direct your attention. I believe it would be well to have parts of it translated and given to the press, since it tends to strongly show how long the separatist sentiment and the intention to bring it about have lain dormant hereabout. * * *

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Wm. I. Buchanan.

Republic of Panama,
Department of Foreign Relations,
Panama, December 18, 1903.

Mr. Ramon M. Valdés, Present:

The council (junta) of the provisional government of the Republic has received with great satisfaction the pamphlet you have been good enough to publish, concerning the history and causes justifying the secession movement effected November 3, last, which has resulted in the definite establishment of this Republic as a free and independent nation. I therefore take the liberty of manifesting to you the complete approval that such a historic work deserves because of its faithful exposition of the facts, the lofty sentiments which it contains, and the interesting data and official documents collected by you with such perseverance and skill.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

F. O. de la Espriella.

The Independence of the Isthmus of Panama—Its History, Causes, and Justification.

There has been no lack nor will there by a lack of persons who will take upon themselves the task of maintaining that the Isthmus of Panama has been happy under the domination of the Government of Colombia; that the prevailing sentiments of the natives of this beautiful land, which serves as a bridge for the civilized world, have been and are of perpetual adhesion and of cordial gratitude to the Colombian nation for the great benefactions it has given us, in order to conclude with the demonstration that the secession movement, carried to such a successful termination on the 3d of the present month, is not the spontaneous outcome of the popular will, but a momentary aberration skillfully produced by a few bold speculators who sacrifice the purest ideals to the ungovernable desire of making or augmenting their fortunes out of the construction of an interoceanic canal.

Others, or perhaps the same persons, will attempt to prove that the first and only author of the transcendent event is the colossus of the North, who has overcome our loyalty to Colombia for the purpose of revenging itself for the rejection which that nation made of the Hay-Herran treaty, and which the former considers an unpardonable offense.

This must happen as we predict, and for that reason the time is opportune to state the truth, to reveal facts which it concerns the entire world to know, and to infuse even into the minds of the most incredulous or blind the conviction that the act executed on November 3 last is the logical sequence of a situation already unendurable, the solution of a grave and vexatious problem, the sincere, firm, definite, and irrevocable manifestation of the will of the people.

1. It would not be just to censure the heroes who emancipated us from the power of Spain by their determination to annex the Isthmus to the Republic of the Great Colombia, which seemed to rise all powerful and with a future full of promise and prestige out of the epicycle of independence. Under identical circumstances we of to-day would have acted in like manner; but it is well to bear in mind that the question of selecting a South American nation to which the Isthmus should unite was the cause of passionate and continued deliberatons of patriotic statesmen. The uncertainty that a small country, sparsely populated, could maintain itself alone without danger to its sovereignty, and the fact of our country being contiguous to that of Colombia—although the vast extent of intervening territory was then, as it is now, a wilderness, without means of communication, and delivered up to the almost absolute dominion of the wildness of nature—were sufficient reasons for our forefathers to resolve to unite the provinces of the Isthmus to the republican state mentioned, contenting themselves with the sole means of maritime communication for the purpose of maintaining intercourse and communication with a government situated in the interior of the continent, hundreds of leagues distant, on a table-land of a chain of the Andes exceedingly difficult of access.

These physical disadvantages to which we have alluded were further complicated with others of a different character and exceptionally grave. Colombia was organized with a central government which boded ill to the Isthmus, inasmuch as that Government, leaving the provinces in a state of abandonment so much the greater because of their distance from the capital, took from them at the same time the means and resources of satisfying their wants and subjected them to a complete state of enervation. Deputies of the two isthmian provinces—Panama and Veragus—attended the federal congresses, but the isolated action of these deputies could accomplish nothing for the well-being of their provinces, and their functions were reduced to the sharing of political responsibilities due to the operation of the established system.

As a climax of misfortunes the Granadines, like the Venezuelans, proved to be men opposed to every system of orderly government, and showed themselves to be a turbulent race with secession tendencies. Soon after independence was obtained the first symptoms of anarchy were noted, internal revolutions flourished, as did also the darkest of machinations, which wrung from the liberator, Simon Bolivar, that memorable expression, “I do not yet discern happiness for my country.” The confusion of ideas was inexpressible. Some Colombians began to think, and even proposed the establishment of a monarchy in the country. This scheme had many proselytes, and the liberator (Bolivar), opposed to all monarchial ideas, declared that it was necessary to seek the protection of a foreign power.

The contemplation of that lamentable state of affairs caused a Colombian historian to record this melancholy thought: “Colombia had lived her years of fame and glorious deeds so fast that, child as she is, she has arrived at a premature old age.”^a

The spirit of disgust which was noticeable on the Isthmus was general, and regret at what had been done dominated the thought of our most prominent men. The tendency toward the separation of the Isthmus had its inception at that time on, and in 1830, nine years after the voluntary annexation to Colombia, it was rudely manifested in a popular gathering, convened in this city by Gen. José Domingo Espinar, a Panaman by birth, a distinguished military leader of the epoch of independence, and at the time intendent or governor of Panama, and one of the most enthusiastic partisans of the idea of separation.

The memorable resolution of that patriotic assembly contained the following recommendation: “Separation from the rest of the Republic, especially from the Government of Bogotá.”

The first sectional impetus did not fail to be recorded in the annals of Colombia, and the same historian whom we have already mentioned describes it as follows:

“The picture of the Republic, which the liberator was already beginning to see between the shadows, was lamentable. The Congress of Venezuela, his country, demanded his expulsion; Montilla came to his support at Cartagena, and his example was followed by Espinar in Panama, and by the sons of the valiant Mompox. From various places in Venezuela he received enthusiastic encouragement to accept the challenge. Rio Hacha rose up against Bolivar and asked assistance of Venezuela, and Carujo set out with a force that was soon to give battle to Coronel Blanco at San Juan de Cesar. The Atlantic provinces went so far as to consider the establishment of a fourth state, and Panama went to the untenable extreme of advocating annexation to Great Britain.”

Yielding to the entreaties of the illustrious liberator, the Panamans assuaged their vehement desire of separation and submitted to the Federal Government, confiding all to the genius and sublime patriotism of their great South American chief.

II. But the sentiment was not and could not be extinguished, inasmuch as the causes producing it not only continued to exist, but were greatly aggravated. In 1840, as soon as a number of the provinces rebelled against the central Government of New Granada, the people of this capital also rose in rebellion, on November 18 of that year, led by the then Col. Thomas Herrera, for whom the future had in store such a brilliant career, and again proclaimed the independence of the Isthmus, leaving proof of that fact in an authentic popular proclamation. The idea of separation was looked upon with such favor that all the people of the isthmian provinces at once supported the proclamation and sent delegates to the convention which met soon thereafter in this city to establish the political bases of the independent state and to organize the federal government.

Our countrymen will read to-day with interest and enthusiam the fundamental law which that admirable convention adopted and which we insert, as follows:

fundamental law of the state.

The convention of the State of Panama, considering—

• First. That the majority of the provinces has expressly rebelled against the central Government, separating themselves from it and proclaiming the federation, completely breaking thereby the social compact of 1832.
• Second. That while the Republic is being reconstituted in conformity with the vote of the people the Isthmus can not remain indifferent to its lot, but that it must employ, at least provisionally, the proper means for obtaining its security and welfare.

In conformity with article 15 of the popular will of November 18 last, decrees:

• Article 1. The cantons of the ancient provinces of Panama and Veragua shall compose an independent and sovereign State, which shall be constituted as such by the present convention under the name of “State of the Isthmus.”
• Art. 2. If the organization given to New Granada be federal and suitable to the interests of the people of the Isthmus, the latter shall form a State of the federation.
• Sole paragraph. In no case shall the Isthmus be incorporated into the Republic of New Grenada under the central system.
• Art. 3. The convention shall accredit two commissioners to the body which duly represents the provinces that composed the Republic of New Granada in order to negotiate for the incorporation of the State of the Isthmus to the federation which the former comprise. The convention shall issue by a special act the instructions which these commissioners shall follow, and shall arrange everything relating to this matter.
• Art. 4. No community which, separating itself from any of the provinces of the federation and which desires to incorporate itself into the State, shall be received in it. Neither shall any of the communities who up to the present time have belonged to the ancient provinces of Panama and Veragua be permitted to separate themselves from the State of the Isthmus.
• Art. 5. The State of the Isthmus recognizes and offers to pay in proportion to its population the proportion of the internal and external debt due at the present time by the Granadines, and also offers not to divert from their purpose the funds destined to the public treasury.

Given in the hall of sessions of the convention.

Panama, March 18, 1841.

The President,

José de Obaldía.

The vice-president, representative of Panama,

Mariano Arosemena.

The representative of the canton of Alanje,

Juan Manuel López.

The representative of Bocas del Toro,

José Palacios.

The representative of Bocas del Toro,

José Maria Trivaldo.

The representative of La Chorrera,

Bernardo Arze Mata.

The representative of La Chorrera,

Juan Bautista Feraud.

The representative of El Darien,

Manuel José Borbuca.

The representative of the canton of Darien,

Mariano Arosemena Quezada.

The representative of Nata,

Marcelino Vega.

The representative of Nata,

Saturnino Castor Ospina.

The representative of Parita,

José García de Paredes.

The representative of Parita,

Antonio Amador.

The representative of Panama,

José María Remón.

The representative of Portobelo,

Ramón Vallarino.

The representative of Portobelo,

Antonio Nicanor Ayarza.

The representative of Los Santos,

José María Goitia.

The representative of the canton de los Santos,

Francisco Asprilla.

The representative of the canton de Santiago,

José Fábrega Barrera.

The representative of Santiago,

Nicolás Orosco.

The secretary of the convention,

José Angel Santos.

Panama, 20 of March, 1841.

Let it be published, circulated, and observed.

[l. s.]

Tomás Herrera.

Por S. E. el Jefe del Estado, el Secretario General,

José Agustín Arango.

The convention, which remained five months in session, adopted laws governing all branches of the public service, and legalized the power intrusted to the skill of Col. Thomas Herrera, heart and soul of the movement, and to Dr. Carlos de Icaza, who were accompanied by, as assistant and general secretary, the talented, intrepid, and spirited patriot, Mr. José Augustin Arango.^a Of those acts the following, which we insert herewith and which seem to receive new life from contact with the exciting events of the present time, are worthy of mention:

decree granting a medal of civic honor to col. thomas herrera.

The constituent convention of the State of the Isthmus, considering:

• First. That Col. Thomas Herrera is worthy of the gratitude of his fellow-citizens because of his able cooperation in the political transformation, proclaimed on that celebrated and memorable day, the 18th of the month of November, 1841, and for the administrative skill with which the provisional government of the State intrusted at that time to his wisdom and genius, has been conducted;
• Second. That these services are worthy of remuneration by the representatives of all the Isthmian people, decrees:
• Sole article. Col. Thomas Herrera is granted a gold medal to be worn on his left breast, suspended by a tricolored ribbon. This medal shall be of an elliptical form, 15 by 11 lines in diameter, and shall bear on its obverse side, in raised letters, the following inscription surrounded by a wreath of laurel: “Soldier citizen,” and on the reverse, in the same manner, “The convention of the people of the Isthmus in 1841,” all in the manner indicated in the description accompanying the decree.

Given in the hall of sessions of the convention.

Panama, April 6, 1841.

The President,

Nicolas Orosco.

The Secretary,

José Angel Santos.

Panama, April 20, 1841.

Let it be published and duly observed.

[seal.]

Carlos de Icaza.

For his excellency the vice-governor of the State in charge of the Government, the general secretary,

José Augustín Arango.

decree concerning the flag and coat of arms of the state.

The constituent convention of the State of the Isthmus, decrees:

• Article 1. The State of the Isthmus shall continue, for the present, to use the flag and coat of arms of New Granada.
• Art. 2. All official acts which formerly read Republic of New Granada shall in future read State of the Isthmus.

Given in the hall of sessions of the convention.

Panama, April 26, 1841.

The President,

Mariano Arosemena.

The Secretary,

José Angel Santos.

Panama, May 4, 1841.

Let it be published and duly observed.

[seal.]

Thomas Herrera.

For his excellency the governor of the State, the general secretary,

José Augustín Arango.

The constituent congress of 1841 was, as has already been stated, composed of a brilliant personnel of Isthmians, surpassing all the other delegations in ability and political and social prestige. The Isthmian members of that congress were venerable representatives of distinguished families, and the plan of emancipation which they advocated with such firmness and vigor was to be, as it has been, a moral heritage which their successors have cherished and preserved.

The numerous gaps shown in the history of Colombia concerning the political events which succeeded each other in the second half of the last century have prevented us from discovering the details of the reincorporation of the Isthmus of Panama to the Republic of New Grenada, as it was then called. But we know that that reincorporation was the result of diplomatic negotiations, which took place in this city in 1842 between the government of the State of the Isthmus and the Granadine Government, represented by Gen. Thomas C. de Mosquera, in which negotiations the latter, in his official capacity, made liberal promises concerning political and administrative decentralization, in order that the people of the Isthmus might themselves attend to their wants and interests, and expressed a hope for better and more favorable times for New Granada.

III. These promises were fallacious, inasmuch as a new constitution was adopted in 1843 which was nothing more than a copy of the former one, with alterations and modifications even more despotic and centralizing, and in which there was no provisions for creating in Panama a government adequate to its standing and requirements. The civil wars brought only very short periods of truce to the distressed people and devoured with vertiginous fury the private riches in search of public wealth.

But the ceaseless clamor of the Isthmians and their protests, which burst forth at times with relentless fury, convinced the Granadines at last that in order to prevent Panama—wounded to insensibility by a sense of danger—from unyoking herself from the cart which was so stealthily being drawn toward the abyss, it was necessary to grant her a special government, formed and organized by her own people, with partial autonomous powers, committing to her hands the charge of guiding this isolated region to the goal of its destinies.

Our countrymen of a former generation should have exclaimed “better late than never” when the act of February 27, 1855, was promulgated, which act amended the Granadine constitution of 1853, under which the sovereign federal State of Panama was created, while all the other Granadine provinces remained bound to the post of centralism.

The names of the illustrious citizens who filled the executive office in Panama from 1855 to 1860—Justo Arosemena, Francisco de Fábrega, Bartolomé Calvo, Ramón Gamboa, Rafael Núñez, and José de Obaldía—justify the affirmation that the administration of the government in that territory during said period of five years resulted in all the good that could reasonably be expected of it. It proved, nevertheless, insufficient to satisfy the patriotic aspirations of the people and to remedy the evils which oppressed the Isthmus, inasmuch as the sovereignty granted to the State was illusory, since in fact it was limited by powerful restrictions, which maintained between the State and the nation the bond that unites the serf to the lord whose plans he follows and to whom he must give the best he possesses as an inexcusable tribute.

In 1858 the federation of New Granada was established in a general manner, but the following year it was thought necessary to lower the sails for fear that the ship of state would take with too much impetus a direction that many thought dangerous to the power of the central government. In 1859 the national congress passed several laws, among them an election law, which greatly abridged the powers granted to the States and which was in conflict with the federal constitution of 1858.

The State of Cauca, led by General Mosquera, rose in rebellion, disavowing the laws which threatened its liberties and refusing obedience to the Government at Bogotá. Immediately thereafter Bolivar, Santander, and other States rebelled, taking for their standard the conquests of the federation, and a desperate and terrible struggle between the political parties of the Granadine Confederation ensued.

During that bloody revolution, which was prolonged even after the triumphant entrance of General Mosquera into Bogotá, the State of Panama remained comparatively quiet, inasmuch as there only occurred, on September 27, 1860, the pronunciamiento of Gen. Buenaventura Correoso and other companions, directed, not against the President of the State, but against the intendent, Mr. José Marcelino Hurtado, who was acting as agent of the President of the confederation, Mr. Mariano Ospina, and endeavored to involve the Isthmus in the conflict by assisting the cause of the Government which he served.

Simultaneously with the pronunciamiento of General Correoso, a new agitation was commenced among the people of the Isthmus directed toward its separation from the Granadine Confederation. The distinguished citizen and illustrious patriot, Mr. José de Obaldia, from the high position which he occupied, had categorically declared, in a circular which bears his signature, dated June 4, 1860, that the Isthmus, in order to insure its welfare, had no other course than that which he would adopt of freeing itself forever from the disorganized Granadine Confederation.^a The people were ardently engaged in fomenting a movement which was to give to the Isthmus an autonomous government under the protectorate of the United States of North America, of France, and of England, who found the intent justifiable. This city, that of Santiago de Veraguas, where the famous isthmian, Mr. Francisco de Fabrega, exercised a merited influence, and other towns in the interior of the Isthmus, were active centers of the secessionist movement.

There was no lack of Panamans, as discreet as optimistic, who, confiding in the foresight and wisdom of the leaders of the Republic, extinguished the ardor of the rebels with the coldness of their counsel.

General Mosquera, having already occupied Bogotá, under the title of provisional President of the United States of New Granada, addressed, under date of August 3, 1861, to the governor of Panama, Mr. Santiago de la Guardia, an interesting message, in which he complained of the attitude taken against him by Mr. José de Obaldia, and, referring to the latter, said:

“The enunciation of these facts will show to you, Mr. Governor, the degree of responsibility which your predecessor incurred. His policy left the position which the inhabitants of the State have intrusted to you full of difficulties. And while his conduct as an official placed the Isthmus in a difficult predicament, the very same citizen comes now in his private character and promotes the secession of the State, thus breaking the fraternal bonds which perpetually unite it with all others in the union, and depriving it in this way of the future awaiting it when becoming, if not the capital, the center of a great confederacy in the world of Columbus.”

And then added:

“I trust, Mr. Governor, that in reply to the letter you will advise me that the State of Panama is united to the other States, and that you will send the plenipotentiary who is to take a seat in the Congress, the convocation of which I communicate to you.”

The great revolution, led by General Mosquera, had almost dissolved the political and social bonds which united the different ethnical portions of the nation. The States of Cauca and Bolivar, for the purpose of mutually assisting each other, had formed a compact by means of a treaty dated September 10, 1860, and adopted the name of United States of New Granada, and there was a tendency in each section to organize itself as it thought fit.

The occasion was favorable for Panama to constitute itself into a free and independent State. The President, Don Santiago de la Guardia, a loyal isthmian, and an enthusiastic secessionist, realized clearly the advantages of the situation, but he did not resolve to carry out the plan, because he expected to obtain the unanimous consent of all isthmians without dissent. Yet realizing the sincere and powerful feeling of the humiliated people by whom he was surrounded, who were inclined to struggle for their freedom, he deemed it his duty to take advantage of that occasion to declare, in the name of the people he governed, that the Isthmus would not again unite itself to the Granadine nation unless under conditions which would allow it to enjoy the autonomy which its welfare demanded.

Animated by such a spirit, he concluded an agreement in the city of Colon on the 6th day of September, 1861, with Don Manuel Murillo, an eminent public man, sent for that purpose by the President of the nation. Such agreement was to be submitted to the legislature of the State, and in it were stated, by way of stipulations, the demands made by the Isthmus in order for it to continue united to the Granadine nation.

The text of said agreement is as follows:

“The undersigned, Santiago de la Guardia, governor of the State of Panama, on the one side, and Manuel Murillo Toro, commissioner of the Government of the United States of New Granada, on the other side, in view of the circumstances under which the territory of the late Granadine Conferation finds itself at present, and considering the necessity of putting an end to the anomalous condition of this State, whose best interests require the recognition of a national government and the making of a compact of union wherein the federal principles, properly so called, should be duly acknowledged, have agreed to conclude the following arrangement, the execution of which shall depend upon the approval referred to in the last article of the same.

• “Art. 1. The sovereign State of Panama incorporates itself into the new national entity called United States of New Granada, and consequently becomes one of the sovereign federal States composing the aforesaid confederation under the terms of the treaty celebrated at Cartagena on September 10, 1860, between the plenipotentiaries of the States of Bolivar and Cauca, to which the State of Panama adheres, with the sole reservations and conditions stipulated in the following articles:
• “Art. 2. In conformity with the decree of the 20th of July last, supplementing that of the 22d of March previous, the State of Panama shall send to the capital of the United States of New Granada a representative to the congress of plenipotentiaries for the purpose of ratifying the compact of union, and calling a national convention to frame the constitution, and shall thereby become a member of the aforesaid United States. But the State, in use of its sovereignty, reserves the right to approve or disapprove the new compact, and the constitution which gives expression to it, if, in its judgment, the principles established in the treaty of Cartagena of September 10, supplemented by the present one, are violated to the detriment of the autonomy of the States, or if the neutrality granted the Isthmus by the treaty with the United States of North America, in cases of international war, is not recognized in case of domestic struggles, civil wars, or revolts which may arise in the rest of the United States.
• “Consequently, and in Order to more clearly understand the treaty of September 10 between the States of Bolivar and Cauca, it is peremptorily stipulated:
  • “1. That there shall be in the State of Panama no other public employees with jurisdiction or command except those authorized by the laws of the State, who shall at the same time act as agents of the Government of the United States of New Granada in all matters which are or should come under their jurisdiction.
  • “2. That the administration of justice shall be independent in the State, and the acts of its judicial officers shall be final and shall never be subject to revision by other officers in so far as said administration and said acts do not relate to affairs appertaining to the National Government.
  • “3. The Government of the United States shall have no power to militarily occupy any point of the territory of the State without the express consent of the governor thereof, provided the State itself maintains the necessary force for the protection of the transit of either ocean; and
  • “4. That all the revenues, property, and rights of the Granadine Confederation in the State of Panama shall hereafter belong to the latter under the conditions stated in the eleventh clause of the treaty of September 10, 1860, between Bolivar and Cauca, except in so far as they may be affected by the obligations, debts, and liabilities incurred by the Government of the old Granadine Confederation and now assumed by the United States, on condition that all that the State should have to disburse or fail to perceive for such reason be deducted from the quota which it has to contribute to the general expenses of the Union, less the value of the public lands which may have to be disposed of by virtue of former promises. No deduction shall be made on account of this value.
• “Art. 3. The territory of Panama, its inhabitants and government, shall be recognized as perfectly neutral in the civil wars or rebellions that may break out in the remaining portion of the territory of the United States, under the conditions specified in article 35 of the treaty with the United States of North America and in accordance with the neutrality of foreign nations as defined and established by international law.
• “Art. 4. It is furthermore agreed that the neutrality mentioned in the preceding article shall, from now on, be scrupulously observed. Therefore the State shall take no part whatever, either in favor of or against the Government of the Union, while the latter is attacked by the adherents of the defunct Confederation and of the Government which represented it. Nor shall the State of Panama be bound to contribute by means of forced loans or special taxes in order to pay expenses made or to be made in the struggle now going on in the other States.
• “Art. 5. The Government of the United States of New Granada shall recognize the expenditures made, or ordered to be made, up to the present date in the State of Panama for government purposes, provided that they are duly verified and authorized by the laws which were in force in the Confederation. The Union shall likewise recognize the expenditures which are absolutely essential to discharge and send home the men composing the garrison which, in the name or on account of the late Granadine Confederation, still exists in the city of Panama.
• “Art. 6. Persons confined in jail or detained in any other manner, with or without a trial, for causes arising out of the civil war waged in other States, shall be given immediate and complete liberty.
• “Art. 7. The vessels, arms, and other elements of war that may have been acquired with the funds of the late Confederation shall be placed at the disposal of the Government of the United States as property of the nation.
• “Art. 8. The present agreement shall be submitted for examination aznd approval to the legislative assembly of the State of Pamama at present in session, without which approbation said agreement shall not be put in force.

“In testimony whereof we sign two copies of the present agreement at Colon on the 6th day of September, 1861, which copies shall be attested by the Secretary of State.

“S. de la Guardia

“M. Murillo.

“The Secretary of State

“B. Arze Mata.”

The legislative assembly of the State approved the treaty by a law of October 15 of the same year, which concluded with the following special provision for the purpose of protecting the interests of the Isthmus:

“* * * The governor of the State is authorized, upon the reestablishment of the Republic, to incorporate said State into the Republic: Provided, That the same concessions made by the agreement of September 6 ultimo are granted to said State.”

IV. Peace having been reestablished in the country in 1863, the great national convention to be held and which was held in the city of Rio Negro, State of Antioquia, for the purpose of making a new constitution for the Republic, was called. Messrs. Justo Arosemena, Buenaventura Correoso, Gabriel Neira, Guillermo Lynch, José Encarnacíon Brandao y Guillermo Figueroa attended said constitutional convention as delegates of the Isthmus, and these gentlemen were carried away, willingly or unwillingly, by the wave of enthusiasm which sprung up among the delegates when discussing the draft of constitution, in which the federal organization established in the United States of North America was adopted for the Republic.

Without bearing in mind that the happiness and progress produced in that great country by its institutions are the result of a combination of circumstances quite different from ours, the members of the convention believed that they had discovered the wonderful expression of political perfection, and thought that nothing more was necessary to secure for the different entities of the Republic the calm and prosperity so much desired by them. The engagements entered into by the Republic in favor of Panama in the Guardia-Murrillo agreement were naturally rejected by the convention as undesirable disturbers of the harmony of the union.

The constitution of Rio Negro grew up as a luxuriant tree in the soil of the United States of Colombia, extending its branches over the nine confederated entities. But soon afterwards the Isthmian people discovered that this tree was growing in a stormy atmosphere, that it was nourishing itself with poisonous substances, and throwing an unwholesome shade. They noticed at the same time that one of its roots was extending vigorously and deeply in the territory of the Isthmus, absorbing its rich sap and spreading contagion of a frightful disease which seems to be congenial as well as chronic in the Colombian soil.

According to the constitution the election of the President of the Republic was to be made by the vote of the States, each State having one vote, which was that of the majority of its own electors under its law. The Congress, consisting of senators and representatives elected by the States, was to declare elected as President the citizen who had obtained the absolute majority of the votes of the States.

Such principle established in the supreme law and the authority granted therein to the executive power of the union to organize and maintain public force which was to be at his service in the States, were causes which largely contributed to the great disaster which befell the whole Republic, and especially Panama, but the principal factor, the factor chiefly responsible for all the evils, consisted in the ambition of command, the political fanaticism characterized by a ferocious intolerance, and the revolutionary spirit accustomed to all kinds of violence which, save in marked exceptions, seem to be inherent to the public men of Colombia, whether civil or military.

Inasmuch as the sectional governments exercised an inevitable influence over the result of the popular elections, whenever the time came to replace the presidents of the States, or to appoint a successor to the supreme commander of the nation, or to select, by the vote of the people, the senators and representatives who would contribute by their votes in the Congress to finally declare the election of said commander, the national public force quartered in each State devoted itself with frenzy to the immoral and unlawful task of restraining or violating the suffrage in order that there might be in the States, derisively called sovereign, only humble servants of the controlling political circle at the capital and in order that the final vote of each section might be given in the direction most convenient to the interest of such Bogotánian political machine.

If we add to the above the fact that the presidential election has been unwisely and arbitrarily regulated by short periods of two years, it will be easily explained why the evil with which the Colombian nation was afflicted became still more serious and deep. None other was the origin and cause of the general wars which broke out with fury, the collisions, scandals, headquarter revolts, insurrections, the iniquitous overthrowing of the regional presidents, all that series of tragical and mournful events which developed in the Isthmus of Panama during a quarter of a century and all of which can be traced directly or indirectly to the governors of Colombia, who caused the misfortune and unhappiness of the people of this land.

All the natives of Panama are aware of the accuracy of this statement, and it is only because we fear that outside of our territory our veracity may be doubted that we present the following official and authentic testimonials, taken at random from among a great many other proofs.

Let the first be the famous reply, overflowing with indignation, which Dr. Pablo Arosemena, a distinguished statesman of Panama, who was audaciously overthrown from the presidency of the State because he would not approve and support the electoral schemes of a president of the nation addressed to Gen. Sergio Camargo, who carried out said outrage when the latter made known to the former his (Camargo’s) scandalous intimation. Doctor Arosemena’s reply is as follows:

United States of Colombia, Sovereign State of Panama,
Panama, October 12, 1875.

To the Chief Commander of the Army of the Union.

Sir: I have just received, with your memorandum of this date which bears no number, the resolution which you have dictated to-day, wherein you brand me as an enemy of the general government, threaten me with arrest, and demand from me the disarming of the force which protects and maintains my government, and the surrender of all the elements of war.

In spite of all the outrages committed by the Government of the Union and by its agents, I have been surprised by the resolution which you communicated to me, which would cause a public protest even in Turkey, and which has been issued after I had been repeatedly informed by you that you would recognize my government as legitimate, that you would communicate with it, and that the rebels who might attack would receive no help from you.

This attitude proves to me that you strictly followed the policy of the Government under which service you are, which humiliates when it pretends to promote, interferes barefacedly and impudently when it pretends to yield, breaks into pieces the constitutions when it boasts of defending them, and breaks the bonds of union when it boasts and brags of strengthening them.

I refuse to become a prisoner in my own house, as well as to maintain the arrest that you pretend to impose on me by the authority of the Colombian guard at your command. Having no force to resist you, I have to limit myself to protest against the enormous outrage of which you make yourself responsible, and which is nothing but a new blow struck against the institutions, and which shows the absence of the spirit of justice and affords a new stain to the political title which has already reaped so abundant a harvest of this rare laurel.

I also protest in the name of my country, which is to-day humiliated, and which in happier days was also to resist the liberator of five republics, the man who now lives in history and who honored in Cuaspud the national colors, and against this lost power which has replaced the whole chapter of individual guaranties with the right of war.

The chief commander of the garrison will deliver to your forces all the elements of war at his disposal.

Pablo Arosemena.

That audacious act also give rise to the following protest of the legislative assembly of the State:

“The legislative assembly of the sovereign State of Panama:

“Whereas by the imprisonment imposed on the constitutional president of the State by Gen. Sergio Camargo, general in chief of the Colombian guards, supported by the national forces, said distinguished citizen can not fulfill his functions;

“Whereas the same general has substituted a de facto government for the constitutional government, ignoring the alternates;

“Whereas in the absence of the constitutional president the assembly has no one with whom it may communicate constitutionally for the sanction of the laws;

“Whereas the Colombian guard has given earnest aid to the rebels against the legitimate government of the State, in violation of the national law of April 16, 1867, on public order;

“Wheras the attack of the sovereignty of the State and the change of government was effected by the Colombian guard,

“Be it resolved, To protest, as it does protest, before the nation and as becomes the honor of the State, against the outrage committed by the chief of the Colombian guard by the imprisonment of the constitutional president, changing the government of the latter for a de facto government and destroying the sovereignty of the State, which from this moment is left at the mercy of the chief of said Colombian guard and of the revolutionists whom it has welcomed under its protection, to denounce the outrage to the federal powers and to the governments of the other States of the Union, and to suspend its ordinary sessions until the constitutional regimen shall prevail again in the country.

“Panama, October 12, 1875.

“J. M. Alzamora, J. M. Casís, Claudio J. Carvajal, Joaquín Arosemena, Waldino Arosemena, Manuel Paulino Ocaña, J. Bracho, Manuel Marcelino, Herrera, Mateo Iturralde, Domingo Díaz, Francisco Olaciregui, B. Vallarino, Alejandro Arce, Carlos Y. Arosemena, C. Arosemena, José E. Braudao, Antonio María Escalona, José Máques.”

In 1882 the president of the State, Señor Dámaso Cervera, in his message to the assembly, briefly described in the following eloquent terms the situation created on the Isthmus:

“* * * As will be readily understood, the result of a frank and friendly policy were necessarily favorable to the order and the stability of the government of the State, which generally was the victim of the improper influence of public officers of the nation who were sometimes purposely and premeditatedly appointed, without due regard to the permanent interests of the country, and, what is still worse, with the deliberate purpose of annoying or attacking the government of the State.

“Many and very frequent have been the scandals by which a Federal policy, different from that recently put in practice, have taken away from this privileged soil even the hope of obtaining a tranquil, peaceful life under the protection of the law. And the worst of it all is that to Panama has almost always been charged before the civilized world the serious sin of the responsibility of these acts, and this in spite of the fact that but for the generally noble nature and character of its sons, the habits of work and activity would have been lost and the most trivial of public good would have been unknown, carrying us surely to barbarism.

“The administration of the State in 1878 has already knowledge of the great irregularities which were the direct cause of the most serious disorders in Panama. * * *”

In the following year, in another message, with an optimistic spirit, he said:

“I think that the time in which the Colombian guard used to overthrow constitutional government has passed, but so long as the law on public order is subject to captious interpretations by the officer charged with the enforcement thereof, the national governments, which are exclusively supported on such force, are liable to succumb when least expected, should it be convenient to the political interests of the chief of the union.”

Upon the investigation of the general causes of the unfortunate condition of Colombia, Señor Victorino Lastarria, an impartial Chilean writer, in a book published in 1867, expressed his opinion, which was reproduced as a true one in El Porvenir of Cartagena in 1886, and of which opinion we will quote here only the following paragraph:

“* * * To this should be added the absolute lack of notions and habits of justice and morality in people educated under a regimen in which everything was justified by law or force, and we will have an explanation of the frenzy and cruelty with which parties have been persecuted, and how easily have they thought lawful every means of hostility, every exclusion, every attack on the rights of others, even by men who, because of their personal integrity, would not in their private relations allow such acts. This lack of political integrity and that lack of respect for the opinions and interests of adversaries, constitute two reminiscences of the Spanish civilization which have neutralized the democratic conditions of the Colombian people and which have given to its revolutions an atrocious character and a singular demoralization which deprives the institutions and the reforms of all their value.”

And in 1862 Dr. Rafael Nuñez, who was about to be elected for the fourth time to the presidency of the Republic, in order to influence the people toward the reform in the institutions which he advocated, summed up the political history of Colombia in the following significant conclusion:

“In the course of nearly forty years of our political life, since 1832, the maintenance of public order has been, I regret to say, the exception, and civil war the general rule.”

If, in a political sense, the guardianship of Colombia was so fatal to the Isthmus, it was not less so in an economic and fiscal sense. The institutions only left to the State property and revenues of scant importance to meet its most peremptory wants, while the nation enjoyed the most valuable receipts and revenues. The Isthmus being most advantageously situated for carrying on the trade of the world, it seemed fair to let it enjoy to a sufficient extent those means of prosperity with which she was bountifully endowed by nature. But it was not without great efforts that the Isthmus obtained the right to receive one-tenth of the revenues derived from the interoceanic railway; and as regards the contracts made for excavating the canal in our territory, the Isthmus was excluded from all participation in the immense profits which said contracts have produced to the Colombian nation.

Under the federal régime of 1863 to 1885 the secession spirit of the Isthmus was not openly revealed. It was calmed, but this fact should be considered at least until 1878 as one of the rare phenomena of the mad intoxication that the people found at the bottom of the golden cup which was perfidiously offered them under the name of sovereignty of the States, and after that year as a result of the hope which the contract for the opening of the canal made with Mr. N. B. Wyse led the Isthmians to entertain, and the favorable consequences of which to our independence we shall take into consideration hereinafter.

In the fifteen years preceding the celebration of said contract the Isthmians lived an artificial and fallacious life, in which they lost sight of their true interests and their traditional tendencies.

V. While a large immigration of men of all races and countries was flowing into the Isthmus, attracted by the great work of the canal, which was already in progress, and when the well-paid work came to relieve the condition even of the poorest classes, there was initiated in the nation the propaganda of an army of statesmen, at the head of which appeared Dr. Rafael Núñez, advocating” with a stentorian voice a fundamental regeneration in order to prevent a political catastrophe, and holding the federation responsible for all the evils which afflicted the country.

There was a tremendous social convulsion in the Republic, followed by a frightful butchery and a change in the institutions.

We then returned to the régime of centralization which prevailed in 1843. To the political organism of the nation there was again given the contexture of a gigantic octopus, having powerful and innumerable tentacles spread all over the country, of which the monster made use in order to smother the slightest manifestation of autonomous life in the municipalities and to devour their very substance.

There also occurred in this city, in the crisis of 1885 and 1886, serious disturbances which were episodes incident to the bloody national tragedy; but it is obvious that the new order of things found the Isthmians with the black flag of political scepticism raised over all their homes. Thus it found them undeceived by all the vain promises and pompous theories with which the orators, statesmen, and governors of Colombia had quieted their spirits.

And as the streams of the Pactolus, which the canal company brought to this territory, flowed incessantly, the Isthmians established themselves on the margin of this marvelous river for the purpose of securing personal prosperity with the material means at their disposal. But few of the Isthmians interested themselves or participated in public affairs, with which the masses were not at all concerned, leaving such matters to the will of the Colombians, who had made of them a lucrative business. Who, then, could believe any longer in either the efficiency of centralism or federalism, in view of the fact that both systems had already been tried, with disastrous results to Panama because of the political incompetency and bad faith of the governors of Colombia? Were they not the same men, and their political successors and disciples those who were to enforce the laws? Why attempt to influence the destinies of the country when the Isthmus, as a political entity, was only a member the health of which depended on the hopelessly diseased body to which it was linked?

There was a novelty in the constitution of 1886, namely, the extraordinary article 201, in conformity with which the department of Panama was “subjected to the direct authority of the central government and governed in accordance with special laws.”

It remains to be determined whether the majority of the legislature which established such special laws acted with an honest or dishonest intention toward the Isthmus; but the truth is that the said constitutional article did nothing but oppress Panama, establishing in it a dictatorship of the most odious sort. This department was then left in a worse condition than the others. Our assemblies, governors, corporations; and employees of all grades only exercised the most urgent functions which the governors of Bogotá had the mercy or the meanness to grant them. The chapter of individual guaranties, like the rights guaranteed by the constitution to Colombians, did not exist for the Isthmians. Such a life was unbearable to the people, and in 1894, after a great struggle, we succeeded in obtaining the repeal of such an odious provision.

The generosity which inspired the members of the Congress of Colombia on repealing article 201 of the constitution—which article may be called the Panama article—can be gauged by the text of the law that abolished the same, and which reads as follows:

[Law 41 (November 6), amending article 201 of the constitution, and clause 4 of article 76 of same.]

The Congress of Colombia decrees:

Sole article. Let article 201 of the constitution, and section 4 of article 76 of said constitution, be repealed. Consequently, the general laws of the Republic shall also be applicable to the Department of Panama.

§ In revenue matters, legislative, executive, and special regulations may be issued for the Department of Panama.

Given at Bogotá September 3, 1892.

José Domingo Ospina C.,
President of the Senate.

Enrique de Narvaez,
Clerk of the Senate.

Adriano Tribín,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Miguel A. Peñaredonda,
Clerk of the House of Representatives.

It was our lot to have a most excruciating experience and to realize the profound truth contained in this principle of constitutional law, taught by the most eminent jurists of the world; that all systems of government, even those which are intrinsically the best, are bad if they are to be put in practice by men who have not at heart the public welfare, who are not familiar with the character of the people or with their instincts, and who do not take into consideration their wants and ambitions.

The only possible salvation in sight for this territory was the opening of the canal, because this work, which was destined to satisfy the industrial wants of the people of the whole world, would place us under the vigilance of powerful and civilized nations which, in the logical course of events, would eventually exercise on us a collective and beneficial protectorate; would rescue us more or less from the power of the multitude of aliens in whose hands we foolishly placed ourselves in 1821; or they would cure the evils of said adventurers by the most advanced, scientific, and governmental processes.

That solution was considered as an equivalent of a virtual emancipation from the Colombian metropolis, and for that reason the spirit of secession was not again revealed frankly and openly, as had been shown on previous occasions, while there was hope of obtaining such a natural and peaceful termination.

The interoceanic canal was to be our redemption. Whether they acted by instinct, by presentiment, by conviction, or by the clearest evidence of the future blessings to which we have referred/the fact is that there has been not a single sensible Isthmian who has not based his hopes of peace and prosperity on the opening of the prodigious interoceanic canal, and who did not consider himself bound to do all that was possible for him to do in order that the great work should be carried to a successful termination.

Hence the clamorous petitions, the earnest propaganda, the plebiscites, the delegations of prominent men sent to Bogotá, all those manifestations by means of which the Isthmus signified to the Government of Colombia its desire that the French canal company requested the extension of time which it asked in order to meet its obligations and which the great bankruptcy of 1889 had rendered necessary.

At last it was discovered that the said French company did not have at its disposal sufficient means to open said route, but the feeling of stupor that such discovery might have produced on the Isthmus was neutralized by the announcement that the Government of the United States of North America, realizing at last the advantage of our route over that of Nicaragua, by reason of the foreign protection of said great nation, and by reason also of the necessity of developing its great wealth, consented to take charge of the execution of the great work, provided that suitable and fair agreements be made with the company holding the concession and the Government of Colombia.

The stockholders of the French company overcame the difficulties and an agreement was made, subject only to the consent of the Republic of Colombia.

Inasmuch as in the Salgar-Wyse contract it had been stipulated that the concession could not be transferred to any foreign government, and since, on the other hand, the written law of Colombia declares that said governments are judicially incapable of acquiring real estate in the territory of the Republic, the permission to make the transfer had to be granted exclusively by the Congress in which lies the power to repeal or amend the laws.

The will of that sovereign body could not be sounded on so important a matter except by means of an agreement ad referendum made between the governors of the two contracting nations, which agreement, after being ratified by the legislators of both countries, would assume the character of a solemn public treaty.

The Hay-Herran treaty was made and the Senate of the United States of North America immediately approved it; but not so the Senate of Colombia, which, against all reasonable expectation, disregarding the immense benefits which the treaty would bring to the Republic, without any regard for the great interests of the United States of North America and those of France, guided by a foolish pride and an antiquated notion of patriotism, vetoed it in an indignant and emphatic manner which was equivalent to a foolish challenge to the civilization and progress of the world.

Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi: “When kings blunder, the people are the victims.”

The opposition to said treaty resounded throughout the isthmian territory like the awful announcement of an imminent cataclysm, because it was known that the rival route via Nicaragua had in North America bold and earnest friends for whom the attitude of the Colombian Senate has just helped to win the game, and because, simultaneously with the decision of said body of legislators, came the election of the President of the Republic, and there were heard sinister voices announcing a new conflict, and all eyes were turned with fear to the former prosperous villages and luxuriant fields of the Isthmus, which were converted by the last war into the devastated department of a vast necropolis.

The hour had come. The people of the Isthmus, after suffering the agonies of eighty years, received from their masters the death sentence.

But desperation works wonders. It, like faith, moves mountains, and at times, also, by a tremendous effort, breaks them to pieces. The longing for liberty, a long time suppressed and silent, though it was noticeable in the feelings of the masses like those fire streams which burn the very depths of the planets, finally bursting to the surface with indomitable force to blow to a distance the power which weighed with overwhelming heaviness on this virile and generous people.

VI. Suspicious and wicked men will perhaps accuse the United States of North America of having stimulated the insurrection on the Isthmus, but such a false and vile charge shall not stain the immaculate glory of this blissful moment and sacred hour in which the nations of the world salute with gladness the advent of the new Republic, and praise the wonderful civic valor of its founders.

Whoever reads this long statement of facts will realize that the secession tendency has been transmitted with the strength of an almost secular tradition from generation to generation in this Central American region, and that to it the most notable Isthmians of all times have offered enthusiastic devotion. Whoever calmly studies the great political transformation which has just been effected on the Isthmus of Panama, and examines the causes which produced it, will clearly see that an act of such magnitude and of such great social consequences can have no other origin than spontaneous and unanimous feeling of the people, who with a wise instinct seek their own welfare, and that such act and the way that it has been accomplished excludes all idea of foreign intervention.

Showing the qualities of statesmanship that had not been suspected in Colombia, the Isthmians have done nothing but follow in the critical moment the signs of the times; to estimate with a sound judgment the quality, the number, and the power of the elements that might favor their independence; to foresee the emergencies and to act with the faith and resolution which a lofty purpose inspires without hesitating before the tremendous consequences of a possible failure. The decisive step was taken without reckoning with the guaranties of the promises or obligations of any foreign power, because it was obvious that such step would deserve the applause and favor not only of the great North American Republic, which was about to break its relations with Colombia, and which is the natural and remarkable protector of all the oppressed peoples of this continent, but also of the other nations, all of which have such great interests in our territory, and which have just been so rashly slighted by the Government of Colombia.

Those interests, which are also ours, should be and have been the main reason for an alliance, which is none the less effective because it is not written, and which shall secure in a permanent way the independence and prosperity of our Republic.

All praise to the men who wisely conducted the movement and carried it out with such great success! All praise to the people who, in order to obtain their political liberty, did not resort to a process of extermination, nor even spilled a single drop of blood!

In order to corroborate the long enumeration that we have made of the internal causes which were the origin and which justify the final separation of the Isthmus from the nation to which it has belonged, we will quote here the following impressive words, which we invite the world to ponder, and which we, from a chair of the Colombian Congress, clearly and distinctly heard pronounced by Don José Manuel Marroquín, the present president of that republic, on the 7th of August, 1898, in the solemn act of taking the oath of office:

“* * * Hatred, envy, and greed cause men to differ in their opinions. In the political sphere, where we struggle with earnestness not so much in order to obtain a triumph of principles as we do for sinking or raising men and parties, public tranquillity, so essential in order that every citizen may enjoy in contentment the welfare which it has been his lot to secure, or which is the result of his labor, is becoming unknown among us. We live a sickly life; political crises are our normal condition; commerce and industry lack the peaceful condition which they require in order to advance. Poverty is knocking at all doors.”

* * * * * * *

“Our political disturbances have caused the conception of country to be annulled or mistaken. The idea which we have of country is associated in such manner to political revolts and with the fears and distrust engendered thereby that it is not an uncommon thing to hear from one of our countrymen what we would not hear from a native of any other country, viz, ‘I should like to have been born somewhere else.’

“Are there many among us who pride themselves in saying, ‘I am a Colombian,’ as a Frenchman prides himself in saying, ‘I am a Frenchman?’”^a

Those were the honest words of the chief magistrate of Colombia, inasmuch as they were the exact picture of a general sentiment, subject to the analysis, the candid revelation of the condition of the feelings predominating in the majority of Colombians. Those clear-cut sentences, which sound almost biblical, have a particularly deep meaning for the inhabitants of Panama, and constitute the best, most complete, and eloquent vindication of the present attitude of the isthmians, and of those who, not having been born in our territory, came to it, built happy homes, identified their interests with ours, as well as their ambitions and hopes, suffered by our side by virtue of the awful outrages of the Government of Colombia, and in the supreme moment helped us to make a better country, being magnanimously willing to sacrifice for her sake with us wakefulness, tranquillity, and even life itself if necessary.

Those evils of which, like its predecessors, the present President of Colombia made a brief and gloomy enumeration of, no longer shall produce on the Isthmus their fatal effects, thanks to the glorious independence which destroyed forever their roots. The minds of men recovered their calmness; the mortal enemies of yesterday over the dry fields of the young Republic stripped themselves, as they would of a burning garment, of the political hatred kindled in their bosoms by the parties of Colombia, now come forward with firm and steady step and extend the hand of peace and friendship.

Blessed be the work which commences by accomplishing such a noble need.

Panama, November 18, 1903.

Ramon M. Valdes.

1. Quijano Otero.
2. His son, of the same name, is one of the members of the present junta of the Republic of Panama.
3. Felipe Pérez, Anales de la Revolucion.
4. Inaugural address of the President of the Republic, Don. José Manuel Marroquin. Diario Oficial of Colombia, No. 10724, of August 7, 1898.