• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

: DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL. 517 can only safely be solved by the free and genuinely authentic force of public opinion. The imminent gravity of tbe problem of making the nation, now honeycombed with the dissensions of partisanship, into a stable, solid entity, capable of victoriously taking care of every eventuality of the future, is ap- parent. These things counsel us to promptly remedy existing evils, but this will come too late if the reforms desired were to be introduced through the medium pro- " vided by article 210 of the constitution, which says : This constitution may be amended by a legislative act. after discussion and approbation by Congress and by this being transmitted to the Executive power and with that approval returned to the next Congress, wherein it must be debated and approved by two-thirds of the votes of both Houses." This office desires, therefore, that you will immediately proceed to make the above noble aspirations of the Executive power known to all citizens, making use of all the postal and telegrapbic facilities of the nation to this end, and that you will cooperate actively with the municipalities and see that these without delay carry out the important mission thus confided to them on this solemn occasion by the national Government, by giving their conclusion with respect to the necessity and urgency of such reforms and as to whether they desire to have them introduced by methods different from those permitted by the constitution. I request you to immediately send the results to this office by special messenger. Jose Francisco Insinares. (Here follow signatures of departmental cabinet.) (Here follow orders from prefect to all mayors of provinces to see that this order is carried out.) Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Hay. No. 7.] Legation of the United States, (Special Mission), Panama, December 28, 1903. 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 atten- tion. 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 sepa- ratist 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. Values. Present The council (junta) of the provisional government of the Republic has re- ceived with great satisfaction the pamphlet you have been good enough to pub- lish, concerning the history and causes justifying the secession movement effected November 3 last, which has resulted in the definite establishment of this Repub- lic 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 perseverence and skill. I am. sir. your obedient servant. F. O. DE LA ESPRIELLA. 518 DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE PANAMA CANAL. The Independence of the Isthmus of Panama—Its History, Causes, and Justification. There has been no lack nor will there he a lack of persons who will take upon themselves the task of maintaining that the Isthmus of Panama has heen happy under the domination of the Government of Colombia: that the prevailing senti- ments 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 alienation 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 re- jection 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 convic- tion that the act executed on November ?> last is the logical sequence of a situa- tion 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 delibera- tions 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 theu. as it is now. a wilderness, with- out means of communication, and delivered up to the almost absolute dominion of the wildness of nature—were sufficient reasous for our forefathers to resolve to unite the provinces of the Isthmus to the republican State mentioned, con- tenting 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 compli- cated with others of a different character and exceptionally grave. Colombia was organized with a central government which boded ill to the Isthmus, inas- much 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 prov- inces—Panama and Yeragus—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 responsi- bilities 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 flour- ished, 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 be- gan 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 t<» seek the protection of a foreign power. : — DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OP THE PANAMA CANAL. 519 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 s she is, she has arrived at a premature old age." x 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. Jose Domingo Espinar, a Panaman by birth, a distiguished 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 Bogota." The first sectional impetus did not fail to be recorded in the annals of Co- lombia, 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.

Load more

  27

Copy Link