No. 194.
Mr. Scruggs to Mr. Fish.

No. 97.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit to the Department, separately, by this mail, an official copy of the memorial of the secretary of the interior and foreign affairs of Colombia for the year 1874, addressed to the Congress of this republic, now in session.

The secretary reports that the peace and public order of the nation have been maintained throughout the entire year last past; that the federal laws have been easily and faithfully executed; that the individual States, following their career of prosperity, have maintained themselves in complete harmony with the government of the union; that all ill-will has been displaced from party politics, and all malevolence from the discussions of conflicting interests heretofore dividing the people; that the system of public instruction continues to be the object of greatest care alike to federal and state governments; that the spirit of enterprise is being stimulated more and more each day; and that the good relations of the republic with the great powers of the world have been carefully and successfully cultivated.* *

Speaking of the foreign relations of the republic, the honorable secretary says:

The item of $40,000 usually set aside in the appropriation act for the diplomatic service is hardly sufficient to sustain two legations of first class with the modest salaries fixed by law; So that Congress, in former years, voted additional sums in order to complete the payment of the diplomatic agents and employés of the republic, or passed acts legalizing the diversion of certain sums to this service.

Alluding to the discontinuance of the Colombian legation in Washington, page 144, the secretary says:

Until the year last past a permanent legation has been maintained in the United States of America, but the deficiency of the appropriation voted, the satisfactory termination of the subjects placed in charge of Mr. Martin, and the greater necessity for accrediting a legation extraordinary in Venezuela have rendered the maintenance of a special mission in Washington difficult. Notwithstanding this, our minister in [Page 427] Europe, Mr. Zapata, was likewise accredited near the American Government, should imperative necessity arise for the temporary presence of a representative of the republic in that country.

The present international relations of Colombia, according to the honorable secretary—

Demand the support of four legations—one in Europe, one in the United States of America, one in Venezuela, and one near the republics of the Pacific. Great compromises, bind us with the United States of America. That nation guarantees the sovereignty of Colombia over the most important portion of our territory. The only interoceanic communication over our isthmus was opened by citizens of that republic. In Washington are accredited legations of all the countries with whom we are on the best relations, and of those with whom it would be desirable and convenient to establish such relations, so that the legation in the United States of America can fulfill great and important general commissions.

The case of the Montijo is treated of from page 161 to page 164, inclusive. I subjoin a translation of this entire portion of the memorial, as follows:

The capture of the steamer Montijo, the property of the Messrs. Schuber & Brother, citizens of the United States of America, which took place in the national waters of Colombia, in the month of April, 1871, by some individuals of the State of Panama, who had rebelled against the government of the State, caused the reclamation for damages to the persons and property of the reclaimants, directed to the general government, through the legation of the United States of America in this city.

This reclamation, initiated in December, 1871, gave rise to a controversy between Mr. Zapata, then secretary of the interior and foreign relations, and General Hurlbut, minister-resident of the United States of America. It was, however, suspended by referring the question to the Department of State in Washington, where it was to be discussed with the Colombian legation in that city.

In the mean time, the Colombian federal supreme court took cognizance of the proceedings instituted upon the occupation of the Montijo, and by a decision of March 25, 1872, confirmed that of the judge of the first instance, in so far as it decided that, in the capture of the ship, the crime of piracy had not been committed.

The Colombian government was led to believe that that of the American Union, better informed of the acts, and in possession of satisfactory proofs, had abandoned this reclamation, since it had ceased to appear until the new minister, the honorable Mr. Scruggs, who was received in July, 1873, reproduced it. But as the discussion had become vexatious, it was proposed by my predecessor to submit the question to an arbitral decision. This was accepted by Mr. Scruggs as soon as he received instructions from his Government.

The law 43, of 1874, gave the executive power the necessary authority, and on the 17th of August last the following convention was agreed to:

Agreement of arbitration.

“The undersigned, to wit, William L. Scruggs, minister resident of the United States of America, and Jacobo Sánchez, secretary of the interior and foreign relations of the United States of Colombia, being especially authorized by their respective governments to submit to the decision of arbitrators the indemnity-claims made by the Government of the United States against that of Colombia for damages resulting from the seizure and detention of the steamer Montijo, within the territory and by certain citizens of Colombia, in April, 1871, have entered into the following agreement:

  • “1. Said claims shall be submitted to arbitrators, one to be appointed by the minister-resident of the United States of America, another by the government of the United States of Colombia, and these two to name an umpire, who shall decide all questions upon which they may be unable to agree. In case the place of either arbitrator or of the umpire shall, from any cause, become vacant, such vacancy shall be filled forthwith, in the manner herein provided for the original appointment. If the arbitrators cannot agree in the choice of an umpire, one shall be selected by new commissioners, chosen for and assigned exclusively to this duty.
  • “2. The arbitrators and umpire so named shall meet in Bogotá within one month from the date of their appointment, and shall, before proceeding to business, make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially consider and determine, to the best of their judgment, and according to public law and the treaties in force between the two countries, and these present stipulations, the claims herein submitted, and such declaration shall be entered upon the record of their proceedings.
  • “3. The official correspondence and documents relative to the case shall be submitted to the arbitrators; but before their decision is rendered, the attorney-general, or lawyer, of the government of Colombia shall be heard, as well as the one designated by the minister-resident of the United States. The expositions of the attorneys will be made orally or in writing.
  • “4. The arbitrators shall have jurisdiction of the claims mentioned, and they shall decide, as a primary question, whether the United States of Colombia is obligated to grant indemnification; and if that question should be decided affirmatively, they will fix the amount of indemnification. The award shall be in writing; and, if indemnity be given, the sum to be paid shall be expressed in the legal coin—pesos de ley—of the United States of Colombia, and paid to the minister-resident of the United States, or to such person as he may name, within one year from the date of the decision.
  • “5. The expenses of the arbitration, not to exceed fifteen hundred dollars, shall be borne in equal moieties by the two governments.
  • “6. The two governments will accept the award made as final and conclusive, and will give full effect to the same; and the Colombian government shall be forever released from any and all further accountability after the decision of the arbitrators shall have been made and its terms faithfully complied with.

“In faith whereof the plenipotentiaries of the two governments have signed and sealed the present agreement, in Bogota, on the 17th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.

“WILLIAM L. SCRUGGS.

“JACOBO SANCHEZ.

Poder Ejecutivo Nacional,
“Bogota, 17 de Agosto de 1874.

“Aprobado.

“S. PEREZ.

J. Sanchez, El Sacretorio de lo Interia i Belaciones Exterior’s.

The arbitral commission was constituted as follows: Mr. Mariano Tanco was nom mated on the part of the Colombian government; Mr. Bendix Koppel on the part of the legation of the United States of America; and the gentlemen thus commissioned named the honorable Mr. Bunch, Her Britannic Majesty’s minister-resident, as umpire.

The arbitrators met on the 23d day of September last, in the office of foreign relations, exchanged their respective credentials, made the declaration required in article 2 of the convention, announced their selection of Mr. Bunch as umpire, and signified, as the probationary limit, the 20th day of January, 1875, within which time the parties should present all the proofs which they might judge necessary.

Mr. Gómez, the attorney-general of the nation, was nominated counsel for the Colombian government.

On the 17th of September last, I directed the official letter found among the documents annexed to this memorial, (page 30,) for the purpose of elucidating more clearly the acts connected with the capture of the Montijo, and of proving whether the Messrs. Schuber and Brother, in their character of foreigners domiciled in the State of Panama, had observed the neutral conduct in the civil wars of the state which entitled them to the rights which they claim, and to the protection of their government.

In the official letter named the following data were asked:

  • “1. Information upon the agreement which the owners of the Montijo celebrated with the Messrs. Fernando Ponce and Buenaventura Coreoso for the transportation of troops and other elements of war during the period in which those gentlemen were in rebellion against the government of the state.
  • “2. Date of Messrs. Schuber’s domicile in Panama, the business they had been engaged in, and the time they had been navigating the Montijo.
  • “3. Authentic copy of the ship’s patent of navigation, and the title which it had in order to do the coasting-trade; the nationality of the captain and all the crew.
  • “4. Sworn declaration of some passengers as to whether the act of occupation of the ship was or was not by violence.
  • “5. Information relative to the reclamations which the Messrs. Schuber and Brother had made in consequence of the occupation of the steamer at divers times, before what authorities, and what arrangement had been made or initiated with such object.
  • “6. Sworn declaration of persons worthy of credit, acquainted with the events as they occurred, relative to the points referred to, and especially with respect to the participation which the claimants may have taken in the political questions of the State of Panama; and
  • “7. Finally, a report of the president of the state respecting the acts referred to.”

The government of the State of Panama furnished the data asked, and upon them and those already published, Mr. Gómez made his concluding argument, which he read before the arbitral commission at their session on the 20th of January last.

The question now remains in the condition referred to, the arbitrators not yet having rendered their decision.

The reclamation caused by the capture of the Montijo once decided, there remains [Page 429] pending no other question of similar character with the Government of the American Union.

The debt which the republic contracted in consequence of the reclamations growing out of the riots in the city of Panama April 15, 1858, amounts, principal and interest, to $402,020.44. In June, 1871, the American legation in this city passed an account which showed a balance of $157,372.48 in favor of the American Government, computing at compound interest. Upon the supposition that the time for payment had arrived, and without exacting the payment of the whole amount rendered, or any determinate part of it, the legation limited itself to asking a written response upon the subject.

Mr. Martin, as minister in Washington, took charge of and arranged the respective accounts. He showed that the republic had not delayed the payments, but had, on the contrary, anticipated some of them; thus obtaining a reduction of the compound interest, which saved the republic more than $33,000. The debt was canceled, before the last installment became due, in 1874.

Concerning the interoceanic canal project the secretary says:

The result of the explorations which the American Government has ordered to be made in our isthmus and in that of Nicaragua is still unknown. The treaty for the excavation of the canal, approved by Congress in 1870, was not ratified within the time fixed, which terminated September 12, 1871. The American legation in this city announced that it had instructions to propose a prolongation of the time one year more for the exchange of ratifications; but the executive power could not concede this without the approval of Congress. Moreover, if the negotiation depended upon the explorations, it was prudent to await their result.

The legation of the republic in Washington, in charge of Mr. Martin, had authority to adjust a new treaty, but the American Government did not accept the obligation to construct the canal, or to contract for its construction with any company, which was the basis of Mr. Martin’s proposition.

So long as the American Government does not possess all the information which it deems necessary upon this matter, it is but natural that it should not accept this obligation; consequently, the treaties referred to will only be projects whose realization will depend upon the practicability of the work where it may be considered most advantageous.

The perseverance of the Government of the United States of America in sustaining the exploring commissions in the American isthmuses will decide the opening of one of them within no very remote period because already the commerce of the world demands this work.

According to some publications it is known that a survey on the line of the Panama Railway is practicable.

The legation of Nicaragua in the United States of America, in charge of Mr. Emileo Benard, presented in the month of June last a memorial upon the advantages of opening the interoceanic canal through that country. He estimates its approximate cost at fifty or sixty million dollars, and that the construction of a tunnel will not be necessary.

In his memorial, Mr. Benard cites that of Mr. J. E. Nourse, a distinguished professor in the Naval Academy of the United States, published in 1870, wherein he compares the Suez Canal with that which is proposed in the American isthmus. “The probabilities are,” says Mr. Nourse, “that a canal in America will be much more useful than that of Suez, since the former will serve not only for the south of Europe, Asia, and the coasts or Africa, but likewise for the commerce of the world. If the isthmus of Suez is the center of the old continent, that of America is the center of the grand union of the Atlantic and Pacific; a center not only of the seas, but likewise of the lands and waters of the globe.”

Speaking of the income of the Suez Canal, Professor Nourse says: “During the last twenty years the steamship navigation of England has increased 417 per cent., that of France 613 per cent., and that of Austria 637 per cent. The commercial exchanges of exportation and importation of the Chinese Empire, during the year 1855, amounted to 281,000,000 francs; in the year 1868 they reached 1,120,000,000 francs. The number of ships which entered and went out of her ports in 1855 was 1,527, with 529,222 tons; in 1868 they amounted to 14,075, and the number of tons to 6,318,503. The Suez Canal Company, taking as a basis the annual tonnage of Liverpool at six millions, that of Marseilles at five millions, and the traffic across the Dardanelles and Black Sea at six millions, calculated the minimum traffic of the canal at six millions and the product at 60,000,000 francs.”

“In view of these calculations,” says the Colombian minister of foreign affairs, “it would not be an exaggeration to estimate the traffic through the Interoceanic Canal at eight million tons, and the annual gross product at sixteen million dollars. Perhaps the time may have already arrived when Colombia should encourage the formation of a company for the execution of this work. In such event, Congress should give the [Page 430] necessary authority. If the Government of the United States, in possession of the data wanting in 1870, would initiate the celebration of a new treaty, it might be adjusted upon the basis of that approved by Congress in 1870; and doubtless this treaty, in the present condition of the negotiation, would tacitly embrace the obligation of carrying out the enterprise.”

I shall crave your indulgence for making the following translation from pages 177 and 178 of the honorable secretary’s memorial, touching the war in Cuba:

A part of the Great Antilla is still a dependency of the Spanish power, but the war of more than six years which has been sustained by those who proclaimed the independence of the island at Jara, has demonstrated the inutility of the efforts made by Spain to maintain this most important portion of Latin-America in a colonial state.

The justice of the cause proclaimed at Jara, the ferocity employed by the agents of the Spanish government in order to conquer the insurrection, and the maintenance of slavery in the colonial part, have inspired general and warm sympathies for the Cuban revolution. This revolution is a subject of more importance than any which has been discussed in American diplomacy for some years past. Since 1870, Colombia has recognized the belligerent rights of the patriots of Cuba who have sustained the war for independence; has granted some aid to the poor families who had been under the necessity of abandoning their native country by reason of the war which had devastated it, and has employed her diplomatic action to promote the emancipation of the island.

The Colombian administration under Murillo directed the circular of the 26th of September, 1872, to all the republics of Latin-America, with the end of obtaining from Spain the independence of Cuba through the common intervention of those governments under the direction of that of the United States of America. These acts demonstrate how much interest Colombia feels in the fate of the Cuban patriots.

Mr. Martin, Colombian minister plenipotentiary in Washington, charged to promote the execution of the elevated thought expressed in the Colombian circular, had an understanding with the representatives of the Spanish-American republics accredited near the Government of the United States. In the conference of April 8, 1873, brought about by Mr. Martin, and in which the ministers of Chili, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, the Argentine Republic, and Salvador (the only Spanish-American representatives then in Washington) participated, the transcendant idea expressed by Colombia was discussed—the condition of the relation of each of the Latin-American republics with the ancient metropolis, and the influence which the recent political transformation of Spain would have upon the fate of Cuba.

* * * * * * *

The controversy between Colombia and Venezuela, growing out of the long-standing dispute respecting the boundary-limits between the two countries and of certain reclamations by the latter against the former government, arising from alleged violations of neutrality laws and commercial treaties, still remains unsettled. Although, up to the present time, Dr. Murillo’s mission to Caracas has been barren of satisfactory results, hopes are entertained, now that the civil war in Venezuela has terminated, that an amicable solution of the difficulties may be reached before the close of the present administration, if not before the adjournment of the present Congress.

I have, &c.,

WILLIAM L. SCRUGGS.