Chapter XV: Part 15

The strength of the army is determined annually by congress, but every able-bodied citizen is nominally liable to military service. Its peace footing in 1898 was 1000 men. After the war of 1899-1903 its strength was successively reduced to 10,000 and 5000, a part of this force being employed in the useful occupation of making and repairing public roads. The navy in 1906 consisted of only three small cruisers on the Caribbean coast, and two cruisers, two gunboats, one troopship and two steam launches on the Pacific. There was also one small gunboat on the Magdalena.

_Education._--Although Bogota was reputed to be an educational centre
in colonial times, so slight an influence did this exert upon the
country that Colombia ended the 19th century with no effective public
school system, very few schools and colleges, and fully 90% of
illiteracy in her population. This is due in great measure to the long
reign of political disorder, but there are other causes as well. As in
Chile, the indifference of the ruling class to the welfare of the
common people is a primary cause of their ignorance and poverty, to
which must be added the apathy, if not opposition, of the Church.
Under such conditions primary schools in the villages and rural
districts were practically unknown, and the parish priest was the only
educated person in the community. Nominally there was a school system
under the supervision of the national and departmental governments,
but its activities were limited to the larger towns, where there were
public and private schools of all grades. There were universities in
Bogota and Medellin, the former having faculties of letters and
philosophy, jurisprudence and political science, medicine and natural
sciences, and mathematics and engineering, with an attendance of 1200
to 1500 students. The war of 1899-1903 so completely disorganized this
institution that only one faculty, medicine and natural sciences, was
open in 1907. There were also a number of private schools in the
larger towns, usually maintained by religious organizations. The
reform programme of President Reyes included a complete reorganization
of public instruction, to which it is proposed to add normal schools
for the training of teachers, and agricultural and technical schools
for the better development of the country's material resources. The
supreme direction of this branch of the public service is entrusted to
the minister of public instruction, and state aid is to be extended to
the secondary, as well as to the normal, technical and professional
schools. The secondary schools receiving public aid, however, have
been placed in charge of religious corporations of the Roman Catholic
Church. The expenditure on account of public instruction, which
includes schools of all grades and descriptions, is unavoidably small,
the appropriation for the biennium 1905-1906 being only L167,583. The
school and college attendance for 1906, according to the president's
review of that year, aggregated 218,941, of whom 50,691 were in
Antioquia, where the whites are more numerous than in any other
department; 4916 in Atlantico, which includes the city of
Barranquilla, and in which the negro element preponderates; and only
12,793 in the federal district and city of Bogota where the _mestizo_
element is numerous. Although primary instruction is gratuitous it is
not compulsory, and these figures clearly demonstrate that school
privileges have not been extended much beyond the larger towns. The
total attendance, however, compares well with that of 1897, which was
143,096, although it shows that only 5% of the population,
approximately, is receiving instruction.

_Religion._--The religious profession of the Colombian people is Roman
Catholic, and is recognized as such by the constitution, but the
exercise is permitted of any other form of worship which is not
contrary to Christian morals or to the law. There is one Protestant
church in Bogota, but the number of non-Catholics is small and
composed of foreign residents. There has been a long struggle between
liberals and churchmen in Colombia, and at one time the latter
completely lost their political influence over the government, but the
common people remained loyal to the Church, and the upper classes
found it impossible to sever the ties which bound them to it. The
constitution of 1861 disestablished the Church, confiscated a large
part of its property, and disfranchised the clergy, but in 1886
political rights were restored to the latter and the Roman Catholic
religion was declared to be the faith of the nation. The rulers of the
Church have learned by experience, however, that they can succeed best
by avoiding partisan conflicts, and the archbishop of Bogota gave
effect to this in 1874 by issuing an edict instructing priests not to
interfere in politics. The Church influence with all classes is
practically supreme and unquestioned, and it still exercises complete
control in matters of education. The Colombian hierarchy consists of
an archbishop, residing at Bogota, 10 bishops, 8 vicars-general, and
2170 priests. There were also in 1905 about 750 members of 10 monastic
and religious orders. There were 270 churches and 312 chapels in the
republic. Each diocese has its own seminary for the training of
priests.

_Finance._--In financial matters Colombia is known abroad chiefly
through repeated defaults in meeting her bonded indebtedness, and
through the extraordinary depreciation of her paper currency. The
public revenues are derived from import duties on foreign merchandise,
from export duties on national produce, from internal taxes and
royalties on liquors, cigarettes and tobacco, matches, hides and salt,
from rentals of state emerald mines and pearl fisheries, from stamped
paper, from port dues and from postal and telegraph charges. The
receipts and expenditure are estimated for biennial periods, but it
has not been customary to publish detailed results. Civil wars have of
course been a serious obstacle, but it was announced by President
Reyes in 1907 that the revenues were increasing. For the two years
1905 and 1906 the revenues were estimated to produce (at $5 to the L1
sterling) L4,203,823, the expenditures being fixed at the same amount.
The expenditures, however, did not include a charge of L424,000,
chiefly due on account of war claims and requisitions. During the
first year of this period the actual receipts, according to the
council of the corporation of foreign bondholders, were $9,149,591
gold (L1,829,918) and the payments $7,033,317 gold (L1,406,663). It
was expected by the government that the 1906 revenues would largely
exceed 1905, but the expectation was not fully realized, chiefly, it
may be assumed, because of the inability of an impoverished people to
meet an increase in taxation. An instance of this occurred in the
promising export of live cattle to Cuba and Panama, which was
completely suppressed in 1906 because of a new export tax of $3 gold
per head. Of the expenditures about one-fourth is on account of the
war department.

The foreign debt, according to the 1896 arrangement with the
bondholders which was renewed in 1905, is L2,700,000, together with
unpaid interest since 1896 amounting to L351,000 more. Under the 1905
arrangement the government undertook to pay the first coupons at 2-1/2%
and succeeding ones at 3%, pledging 12 to 15% of the customs receipts
as security. The first payments were made according to agreement, and
it was believed in 1907 that the succeeding ones, together with
one-half of the unpaid interest since 1896, would also be met. It is
worthy of note that this debt, principal and accumulated interest,
exceeded six and a half millions sterling in 1873, and that the
bondholders surrendered about 60% of the claim in the hope of securing
the payment of the balance. It is also worthy of note that Panama
refused to assume any part of this debt without a formal recognition
of her independence by Colombia, and even then only a sum
proportionate to her population. The internal debt of Colombia in June
1906 was as follows:--

Consolidated 5,476,887 dollars silver,
Floating 2,345,658 " gold.

Whether or not this included the unpaid war claims was not stated.

_Money._---The monetary system, which has been greatly complicated by
the use of two depreciated currencies, silver and paper, has been
undergoing a radical reform since 1905, the government proposing to
redeem the depreciated paper and establish a new uniform currency on a
gold basis. The paper circulation in 1905 exceeded 700,000,000
_pesos_. The issue began in 1881 through the Banco Nacional de
Colombia, its value then being equal to that of the silver coinage.
Political troubles in 1884-1885 led to a suspension of cash payments
in 1885, and in 1886 Congress made the notes inconvertible and of
forced circulation. In 1894 the Banco Nacional ceased to exist as a
corporation, and thenceforward the currency was issued for account of
the national treasury. On October 16, 1899--the outstanding
circulation then amounting to 46,000,000 _pesos_,--the government
decreed an unlimited issue to meet its expenditures in suppressing the
revolution, and later on the departments of Antioquia, Bolivar, Cauca,
and Santander were authorized to issue paper money for themselves.
This suicidal policy continued until February 28, 1903, when,
according to an official statement, the outstanding paper circulation
was:--

Pesos.
National government issues 600,398,581
Department of Antioquia 35,938,495.60
" " Bolivar 18,702,100
" " Cauca 44,719,688.70
" " Santander 750,000
--------------
700,598,865.30

So great was the depreciation of this currency that before the end of
the war 100 American gold dollars were quoted at 22,500 _pesos_. The
declaration of peace brought the exchange rate down to the
neighbourhood of 10,000, where it remained, with the exception of a
short period during the Panama Canal negotiations, when it fell to
6000. This depreciation (10,000) was equivalent to a loss of 99% of
the nominal value of the currency, a paper _peso_ of 100 _centavos_
being worth only one centavo gold. International commercial
transactions were based on the American gold dollar, which was usually
worth 100 _pesos_ of this depreciated currency. Even at this
valuation, the recognized outstanding circulation (for there had been
fraudulent issues as well) amounted to more than L1,400,000. In 1903
Congress adopted a gold dollar of 1.672 grammes weight .900 fine
(equal to the U.S. gold dollar) as the monetary standard created a
redemption bureau for the withdrawal of the paper circulation,
prohibited the further issue of such currency, and authorized free
contracts in any currency. Previous to that time the law required all
contracts to specify payments in paper currency. Certain rents and
taxes were set aside for the use of the redemption bureau, and a
nominally large sum has been withdrawn from circulation through this
channel. On the 1st of January 1906, another monetary act came into
operation, with additional provisions for currency redemption and
improvement of the monetary system. A supplementary act of 1906 also
created a new national banking institution, called the Banco Central,
which is made a depository of the public revenues and is charged with
a considerable part of their administration, including payments on
account of the foreign debt and the conversion of the paper currency
into coin. The new law likewise reaffirmed the adoption of a gold
dollar of 1.672 grammes .900 fine as the unit of the new coinage,
which is:--

_Gold_:--
Double condor = 20 dollars.
Condor = 10 "
Half condor = 5 "
Dollar (mon. unit) = 100 cents.
_Silver_:--
Half dollar = 50 cents.
Peseta = 20 "
Real = 10 "
_Nickel_:--5 cents.
_Bronze_:--2 cents and 1 cent.

The silver coinage (.900 fine) is limited to 10%, and the nickel and
bronze coins to 2% of the gold coinage. The new customs tariff, which
came into force at the same time, was an increase of 70% on the rates
of 1904, and provided that the duties should be paid in gold, or in
paper at the current rate of exchange. This measure was designed to
facilitate the general resumption of specie payments.

_Weights and Measures._--The metric system of weights and measures has
been the legal standard in Colombia since 1857, but its use is
confined almost exclusively to international trade. In the interior
and in all domestic transactions the old Spanish weights and measures
are still used--including the Spanish _libra_ of 1.102 lb avoirdupois,
the _arroba_ of 25 _libras_ (12-1/2 kilogrammes), the quintal of 100
_libras_ (50 kilog.), the _carga_ of 250 _libras_ (125 kilogs.), the
_vara_ of 80 centimetres, and the _fanega_. The litre is the standard
liquid measure. (A. J. L.)

HISTORY

The coast of Colombia was one of the first parts of the American continent visited by the Spanish navigators. Alonso de Ojeda touched at several points in 1499 and 1501; and Columbus himself visited Veragua, Portobello, and other places in his last voyage in 1502. In 1508 Ojeda obtained from the Spanish crown a grant of the district from Cape Vela westward to the Gulf of Darien, while the rest of the country from the Gulf of Darien to Cape Gracias-a-Dios was bestowed on his fellow-adventurer, Nicuessa. The two territories designated respectively Nueva Andalucia and Castella de Oro were united in 1514 into the province of Tierra-firma, and entrusted to Pedro Arias de Avila. In 1536-1537 an expedition under Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada made their way from Santa Marta inland by the river Magdalena, and penetrated to Bogota, the capital of the Muiscas or Chibchas. Quesada gave to the country the name of New Granada.

By the middle of the century the Spanish power was fairly established, and flourishing communities arose along the coasts, and in the table-lands of Cundinamarca formerly occupied by the Muiscas. For the better government of the colony the Spanish monarch erected a presidency of New Granada in 1564, which continued till 1718, when it was raised to the rank of a viceroyalty. In the following year, however, the second viceroy, D. Jorge Villalonga, Count de la Cueva, expressing his opinion that the maintenance of this dignity was too great a burden on the settlers, the viceroyalty gave place to a simple presidency. In 1740 it was restored, and it continued as long as the Spanish authority, including within its limits not only the present Colombia, but also Venezuela and Ecuador. An insurrection against the home government was formally commenced in 1811, and an incessant war against the Spanish forces was waged till 1824.

In 1819 the great national hero, Bolivar (q.v.), effected a union between the three divisions of the country, to which was given the title of the Republic of Colombia; but in 1829 Venezuela withdrew, and in 1830, the year of Bolivar's death, Quito or Ecuador followed her example. The Republic of New Granada was founded on the 21st of November 1831; and in 1832 a constitution was promulgated, and the territory divided into eighteen provinces, each of which was to have control of its local affairs. The president was to hold office for four years; and the first on whom the dignity was bestowed was General Francisco de Paula Santander. His position, however, was far from enviable; for the country was full of all the elements of unrest and contention. One of his measures, by which New Granada became responsible for the half of the debts of the defunct republic of Colombia, gave serious offence to a large party, and he was consequently succeeded not, as he desired, by Jose Maria Obando, but by a member of the opposition, Jose Ignacio de Marquez. This gave rise to a civil war, which lasted till 1841, and not only left the country weak and miserable, but afforded an evil precedent which has since been too frequently followed. The contest terminated in favour of Marquez, and he was succeeded in May 1841 by Pedro Alcantara Herran, who had assisted to obtain the victory. In 1840 the province of Cartagena had seceded, and the new president had hardly taken office before Panama and Veragua also declared themselves independent, under the title of the State of the Isthmus of Panama. Their restoration was, however, soon effected; the constitution was reformed in 1843; education was fostered, and a treaty concluded with the English creditors of the republic. Further progress was made under General Tomas de Mosquera from 1845 to 1848; a large part of the domestic debt was cleared off, immigration was encouraged, and free trade permitted in gold and tobacco. The petty war with Ecuador, concluded by the peace of Santa Rosa de Carchi, is hardly worthy of mention. From 1849 to 1852 the reins were in the hands of General Jose Hilario Lopez, a member of the democratic party, and under him various changes were effected of a liberal tendency. In January 1852 slavery was entirely abolished. The next president was Jose Maria Obando, but his term of office had to be completed by vice-presidents Obaldia and Mallarino.

In 1853 an important alteration of the constitution took place, by which the right was granted to every province to declare itself independent, and to enter into merely federal connexion with the central republic, which was now known as the Granadine Confederation. In 1856 and 1857 Antioquia and Panama took advantage of the permission. The Conservative party carried their candidate in 1857, Mariano Ospino, a lawyer by profession; but an insurrection broke out in 1859, which was fostered by the ex-president Mosquera, and finally took the form of a regular civil war. Bogota was captured by the democrats in July 1861, and Mosquera assumed the chief power. A congress at Bogota established a republic, with the name of the United States of Colombia, adopted a new federal constitution, and made Mosquera dictator. Meanwhile the opposite party was victorious in the west; and their leader, Julio Arboleda, formed an alliance with Don Garcia Moreno, the president of Ecuador. He was assassinated, however, in 1862; and his successor, Leonardo Canal, came to terms with Mosquera at Cali. The dictatorship was resigned into the hands of a convention (February 1863) at Rio Negro, in Antioquia; a provisional government was appointed, a constitution was drawn up, and Mosquera elected president till 1864. An unsuccessful attempt was also made to restore the union between the three republics of the former federation. The presidency of Manuel Murillo Toro (1864-1866) was disturbed by various rebellions, and even Mosquera, who next came to the helm, found matters in such a disorganized condition that he offered to retire. On the refusal of his resignation, he entered into a struggle with the majority in the congress, and ultimately resorted to an adjournment and the unconstitutional arrest of 68 of the senators and representatives. To the decree of impeachment published by the congress he replied by a notice of dissolution and a declaration of war; but he soon found that the real power was with his opponents, who effected his arrest, and condemned him first to two years' imprisonment, but afterwards by commutation to two years' exile. The presidency of Santos Gutierrez (1868-1870) was disturbed by insurrections in different parts of the republic, the most important of which was that in Panama, where the most absolute disorganization prevailed. Under his successor, General E. Salgar, a Liberal candidate elected in opposition to General Herran, a treaty was finally concluded with the United States in connexion with an interoceanic canal, a bank was established at Bogota, and educational reforms instituted. Manuel Murillo Toro (1872-1874) and Santiago Perez (1874-1876) saw the country apparently acquiring constitutional equilibrium, and turning its energies to the development of its matchless resources.

The election for the presidential term 1876-1878 resulted in favour of Aquiles Parra, who was succeeded in April 1878 by General Julian Trujillo. His administration was marked by a strong effort to place the financial position of the government on a more satisfactory footing, and the internal indebtedness was substantially reduced during his rule. In April 1880 Senor Rafael Nunez acceded to the presidency. During his term of office revolutionary disturbances occurred in the provinces of Cauca and Antioquia, but were suppressed with no great difficulty. Provision was made in 1880 for a settlement of the boundary dispute with Costa Rica, and in July of that year the federal Congress authorized the formation of a naval squadron. A movement was now set afoot in favour of a confederation of the three republics of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela on the basis of the original conditions existing after the expulsion of Spanish authority, and a resolution was passed by the chamber of deputies to that effect. The opposition shown by Venezuela and Ecuador to this project prevented any definite result from being achieved. In April 1882 Senor Francisco J. Laldua became president, but his death occurring a year later, General Jose Eusebio Otalora was nominated to exercise the executive power for the unexpired portion of the term. In 1883 the dispute in connexion with the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela was submitted by the two governments to the arbitration of Alphonso XII., king of Spain, and a commission of five members was appointed to investigate the merits of the respective claims. The decision in this dispute was finally given by the queen regent of Spain on the 16th of March 1891. In April 1884 Senor Rafael Nunez was again proclaimed president of the republic in his absence abroad. Pending his return the administration was left in the hands of General Campo Serrano and General Eliseo Payan. The Liberal party had been instrumental in the re-election of Nunez, and looked for a policy in conformity with their views and political convictions. President Nunez had no sooner returned to Colombia than the Liberals discovered that his political opinions had changed and had become strongly Conservative. Discontent at this condition of affairs soon spread. Nunez from motives of ill-health did not openly assume the presidential office, but from his house near Cartagena he practically directed the government of the republic. The Liberals now began to foment a series of revolutionary movements, and these led in 1885 to a civil war extending over the departments of Boyaca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena and Panama. General Reyes and General Velez were the two principal leaders of the revolt. In order to protect the passage of the traffic across the Isthmus of Panama during these disturbed times detachments of United States marines were landed at Panama and Colon, in accordance with the terms of the concession under which the railway had been constructed. After a number of defeats the leaders of the revolt surrendered in August 1885, and on the 5th of September following peace was officially proclaimed. Nunez, who had meanwhile assumed the presidential duties, now brought about a movement in favour of a fresh Act of Constitution for Colombia, and a new law to that effect was finally approved and promulgated on 4th August 1886. Under the terms of this act the federal system of government for Colombia was abolished, the states becoming departments, the governors of these political divisions being appointed by the president of the republic. Each department has a local legislative assembly elected by the people. The national congress is constituted of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of twenty-seven members elected for six years, one-third retiring every two years, three of whom are nominated by each of the nine departments. The House of Representatives comprises members elected for four years by universal suffrage, each department forming a constituency and returning one member for every 50,000 inhabitants. Congress convenes every two years. The presidential term of office under the new act was fixed at six years in place of the two years formerly prevailing. The judiciary was irremovable, and trial by jury was allowed for criminal offences. Capital punishment was re-established, and the press was made responsible for matter published. The unlicensed trade in arms and ammunition thitherto existing was prohibited. Previous to 1886 the crime of murder was only punishable by 10 years' imprisonment, a sentence which in practice was reduced to two-thirds of that term; slander and libel were formerly offences which the law had no power to restrain, and no responsibility attached to seditious publications.

After the promulgation of this new Act of Constitution President Nunez was proclaimed as president of the republic for the term ending in 1892. He was unable, however, in consequence of ill-health, to reside at Bogota and discharge the presidential duties, and consequently in August 1888 Senor Carlos Holguin was designated to act for him. In 1892 President Nunez was again elected to the presidency for a term of six years, his continued ill-health, however, forcing him to place the active performance of his duties in the hands of the vice-president, Senor Miguel Caro. In 1895 the Liberals made another attempt to seize the government of the country, but the movement was suppressed without any very great difficulty. In this same year Nunez died, and Vice-President Caro became the actual president, an office he had practically filled during the three previous years. In 1898 Senor M. A. Sanclemente, a strong Conservative, and supported by the Church party, was elected to the presidency for the period ending in 1904. In October 1899 the Liberals organized another revolutionary outbreak for the purpose of trying to wrest the power from Conservatives, but this attempt had no better success than the movements of 1885 and 1895. In January 1900, however, Vice-President Jose Marroquin seized upon the government, imprisoned President Sanclemente (who died in prison in March 1902), and another period of disturbance began. The rebels were defeated in May in a desperate battle at Cartagena; and continuous fighting went on about Panama, where British marines had to be landed to protect foreign interests. As the year 1900 advanced, the conflict went on with varying success, but the government troops were generally victorious, and in August Vice-President Marroquin was recognized as the acting head of the executive, with a cabinet under General Calderon. In 1901 the rebellion continued, and severe fighting took place about Colon. Further complications arose in August, when trouble occurred between Colombia and Venezuela. On the one hand, there were grounds for believing that the Clericals and Conservatives in both countries were acting together; and, on the other, it was expected that President Castro of Venezuela would not be sorry to unite his own countrymen, and to divert their attention from internal affairs, by a war against Colombia. The Colombian revolutionary leaders had made use of the Venezuelan frontier as a base of operations, and the result was an invasion of Venezuelan territory by Colombian government troops, an incident which at once caused a diplomatic quarrel. The United States government in September offered its good offices, but President Castro refused them, and the state of affairs became gradually more menacing. Meanwhile both Panama and Colon were seriously threatened by the rebel forces, who in November succeeded in capturing Colon by surprise. The situation was complicated by the fact that the railway traffic on the Isthmus was in danger of interruption, and on the capture of Colon it became necessary for the American, British and French naval authorities to land men for the protection of the railway and of foreign interests.

On the 18th of September the Venezuelans, who had entered Colombia, were totally routed near La Hacha, and after fierce fighting the insurgents at Colon were compelled to surrender on the 29th of November. But the Civil War was not yet ended. For another eight months it was to continue, causing immense damage to property and trade, and the loss of tens of thousands of lives. In many towns and villages the male population was almost entirely destroyed. Not till June 1903 was internal peace finally restored. In the autumn of that same year Colombia, exhausted and half ruined, was to suffer a further severe loss in the secession of Panama.

The abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty in 1901, and the failure of the second French company to construct a canal between Colon and Panama (see PANAMA CANAL) had, after many hesitations, induced the United States government to abandon the Nicaragua route and decide on adopting that of Panama. Negotiations were set on foot with Colombia, and an arrangement--under what was known as the Hay-Herran treaty--was made to the following effect. Colombia agreed (1) to the transfer of the rights, under the concession, of the French company to the United States; (2) to cede, on a hundred years' lease, a right of way for the canal, and a strip of land 5m. broad on either side of the waterway, and the two ports of Colon and Panama. The United States agreed to pay Colombia (1) L2,000,000 down in cash, and, ten years later, an annual rental of L50,000, and further a share of the price paid to the French company, _i.e._ L8,000,000, in which Colombia held 50,000 shares. This treaty was signed by the plenipotentiaries and ratified by the United States Senate. The Colombian Congress, however, refused to ratify the treaty on the ground that when the negotiations had taken place the country was in a state of siege, really in the hope of securing a larger money payment. The adjournment took place on the 31st of October. On the 3rd of November a revolution broke out at Panama, and the state seceded from Colombia and declared itself to be an independent republic. This opportune revolution was no doubt fomented by persons interested in the carrying through of the United States scheme for piercing the isthmus, but their task was one that presented no difficulties, for the isthmian population had been in a state of perennial insurrection against the central government for many years. Whoever may have instigated the rising, this much is certain, that American warships prevented the Colombian troops from landing to suppress the revolt. On the 7th of November the United States government formally recognized the independence of the republic of Panama (q.v.). The other powers in succession likewise recognized the new state; the recognition of Great Britain was given on the 26th of December. Colombia thus sacrificed a great opportunity of obtaining, by the ratification of the Hay-Herran treaty, such a pecuniary recompense for the interest in the territory through which the canal was to be constructed as would have gone far to re-establish her ruined financial credit.

In 1904 the troubled term of President Marroquin came to an end, and by the narrowest of majorities General Rafael Reyes was elected in his place. He had been sent as a special envoy to Washington to protest against the recognition of Panama, and to attempt to revive the Hay-Herran treaty, and to secure favourable terms for Colombia in the matter of the canal. He failed to do so, but it was recognized that he had discharged his difficult task with great skill and ability. On his accession to office as president he found the country exhausted and disorganized, more especially in the department of finance, and the congress was on the whole hostile to him. Finding himself hampered in his efforts to reform abuses, the president dissolved the congress, and summoned a national constituent and legislative assembly to meet on the 15th of March 1905, and with its aid proceeded to modify the constitution.

Having personal acquaintance with the success of the rule of President Porfirio Diaz in Mexico, General Reyes determined to set about the regeneration of Colombia by similar methods. His tenure of the presidency was extended to a term of ten years from the 1st of January 1905, and the restriction as to re-election at the end of that term was withdrawn, other alterations being made in the constitution with the effect of placing General Reyes really in the position of a dictator. He soon proved that he had the ability and the integrity of purpose to use his great opportunity for the benefit of his country. His firm and masterful government and wise measures did much to allay the spirit of unrest which had so long been the bane of Colombia, and though an attempt at assassination was made in the spring of 1906, the era of revolution appeared to be over.

The chief foreign treaties entered into by Colombia in the last quarter of the 19th century were:--(1) A treaty with Great Britain, signed on the 27th of October 1888, for the extradition of criminals; (2) a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation with Italy, signed on the 27th of October 1892; (3) two protocols with Italy, signed respectively on the 24th of May and on the 25th of August 1886, in connexion with the affair of the Italian subject Cerruti; (4) a consular convention with Holland, signed on the 20th of July 1881; (5) a treaty of peace and friendship with Spain, signed on the 30th of January 1881; (6) a convention with Spain for the reciprocal protection of intellectual property; (7) a concordat with the Vatican, signed on the 31st of December 1887; (8) an agreement with the Vatican, signed on the 20th of August 1892, in connexion with ecclesiastical jurisdiction; (9) an agreement with the republic of San Salvador, signed on the 24th of December 1880, in regard to the despatch of a delegate to an international congress; (10) a treaty of peace, friendship and commerce with Germany, signed on the 23rd of July 1892; (11) a treaty with the republic of Costa Rica, signed in 1880, for the delimitation of the boundary; (12) the postal convention, signed at Washington, on the 4th of July 1891; (13) a convention with Great Britain, signed on the 31st of July 1896, in connexion with the claim of Messrs Punchard, M'Taggart, Lowther & Co.; (14) a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation with Peru, signed on the 6th of August 1898; (15) an extradition treaty with Peru, signed on the 6th of August 1898; (16) a treaty of peace, friendship and defensive alliance with Venezuela, signed on the 21st of November 1896, and on the same date a treaty regulating the frontier commerce. (G. E.)

AUTHORITIES.--C. E. Akers, _A History of South America, 1854-1904_
(New York, 1905); J. J. Borda, _Compendio de historia de Colombia_
(Bogota, 1890); Salvador Roldan Camacho, _Notas de viaje_ (Bogota,
1890), and _Escritos varios_ (Bogota, 1892); Dr Alfred Hettner,
_Reisen in den colombianischen Anden_ (Leipzig, 1888); Angel Lemos,
_Compendio de geografia de la Republica de Colombia_ (Medellin, 1894);
Albert Millican, _Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter_ (London,
1891); J. M. Cordovez Mauro, _Reminiscencias Santafe y Bogota_
(Bogota, 1899); Norris and Laird (Bureau of Navigation), _Telegraphic
Determination of Longitudes in Mexico, Central America, the West
Indies, and on the North Coast of South America_ (Washington, 1891);
R. Nunez and H. Jalhay, _La Republique de Colombia, geographie,
histoire, &c._ (Bruxelles, 1893); J. M. Q. Otero, _Historia Patria_
(Bogota, 1891); Lisimaco Palau, _La Republica de Colombia_ (1893); M.
Paz and F. Perez, _Atlas geografico e historico de la Republica de
Colombia_ (1893); R. S. Pereira, _Les Etats Unis de Colombia_ (Paris,
1883); Felipe Perez, _Geografia general, fisica y politica de los
Estados Unidos de Colombia_ (Bogota, 1883); F. Loraine Petrie, _The
Republic of Colombia_ (London, 1906); Elisee Reclus, _Geografia de
Colombia_ (Bogota, 1893); W. Reiss and A. Stubel, _Reisen in
Sudamerika. Geologische Studien in der Republik Colombia_ (Berlin,
1893); Ernesto Restrepo, _Ensayo etnografico y arqueologico de la
provincia de los Quimbayas_ (Bogota, 1892), and _Estudios sobre los
aborigines de Colombia_ (Bogota, 1892); Vicente Restrepo, _Estudio
sobre las minas de oro y plata de Colombia_ (Bogota, 1888, translated
by C. W. Fisher, New York, 1886); W. L. Scruggs, _The Colombian and
Venezuelan Republics_ (London, 1899; Boston, 1900); W. Sievers,
_Reisen in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta_ (Leipzig, 1887); F. J.
Vergara y Velasco, _Nueva geografia de Colombia_ (Bogota, 1892); Frank
Vincent, _Around and About South America_ (New York, 1890); R. G.
Watson, _Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial
Period_ (2 vols., London, 1884).

See also the diplomatic and consular reports of Great Britain and the
United States; publications of the International Bureau of American
Republics (Washington, D.C.); Bureau of Statistics, _Commercial
America in 1905_ (Washington, 1906).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See A. Hettner and G. Linck, "Beitrage zur Geologie und
Petrographie der columbianischen Anden," _Zeits. deutsch. geol. Ges._
vol. xl. (1888), pp. 204-230; W. Sievers, "Die Sierra Nevada de Santa
Marta und die Sierra de Perija," _Zeits. Ges. Erdk. Berlin_, vol.
xxiii. (1888), pp. 1-158 and p. 442, Pls. i. and iii.; A. Hettner,
"Die Kordillere von Bogota," _Peterm. Mitt._, Erganzungsheft 104
(1892), and "Die Anden des westlichen Columbiens," _Peterm. Mitt._
(1893), pp. 129-136; W. Reiss and A. Stubel, _Reisen in Sud America.
Geologische Studien in der Republik Colombia_ (Berlin, 1892-1899),--a
good geological bibliography will be found in part ii. of this work.

COLOMBIER, PIERRE BERTRAND DE (1299-1361), French cardinal and diplomatist, was born at Colombier in Ardeche. He was nephew and namesake of Cardinal Pierre Bertrand of Annonay. After a careful juristic education he was successively advocate at the parlement of Paris, intendant of the council of the count of Nevers (1321), and counsellor-clerk to the parlement (1329). Having taken holy orders, he became dean of St Quentin in 1330, and was employed to negotiate the marriage of the duke of Normandy, the future king John the Good of France, with the daughter of the king of Bohemia. In 1335 he became bishop of Nevers, in 1339 of Arras, and contributed to bring the county of Flanders into the kingdom of France. Created cardinal priest of St Susanna in 1344, he was employed by the pope on important missions, notably to negotiate peace or an armistice between France and England. Having become bishop of Ostia in 1353, he was sent next year to Charles IV. of Germany, and induced him to come to Italy to be crowned emperor at Rome, 1355. In 1356 he went to France to try to arrange a peace with England, and died in 1361 at the priory of Montaud near Avignon.

See A. Mazon, _Essai historique sur l'etat du Vivarais pendant la
guerre de cent ans_ (Paris, 1889), with references there.

COLOMBO, the capital and principal seaport of Ceylon, situated on the west coast of the island. Pop. (1901) 154,691. Colombo stands to the south of the mouth of the river Kelani. The coast-land is here generally low-lying, but broken by slight eminences. The great artificial harbour, enclosed by breakwaters, is bounded on the south by a slight promontory. This is occupied by the quarter of the city known as the Fort, from the former existence of a fort founded by the Portuguese and reconstructed by the Dutch. In 1869 the governor, Sir Hercules Robinson (afterwards Lord Rosmead), obtained authority to demolish the fortifications, which were obsolete for purposes of defence, and required 6000 men to man them properly. The levelling of the walls and filling up of the moat made the Fort much more accessible and healthy, and since then it has become the business centre of the city. Here are situated Queen's House, the governor's residence; the secretariat or government offices, and other government buildings, such as the fine general post office and the customs house. Here also are most of the principal hotels, which have a peculiarly high reputation among European hotels in the East. A lofty tower serves as the principal lighthouse of the port and also as a clock-tower. On the south side of the Fort are extensive barracks. The old banqueting-hall of the Dutch governors is used as the garrison church of St Peter.

To the north-east of the Fort, skirting the harbour, are the Pettah, the principal native quarter, the districts of Kotahena and Mutwall, and suburbs beyond. In this direction the principal buildings are the Wolfendahl church, a massive Doric building of the Dutch (1749); the splendid Roman Catholic cathedral of St Lucia (completed in 1904); and St Thomas's College (1851), which follows the lines of an English public school. Close to this last is the Anglican cathedral of Christ Church. The Kotahena temple is the chief Buddhist temple in Colombo.

To the north-east of the Fort is the Lake, a ramifying sheet of fresh water, which adds greatly to the beauty of the site of Colombo, its banks being clothed with luxuriant foliage and flowers. The narrow isthmus between this lake and the sea, south of the Fort, is called Galle Face, and is occupied chiefly by promenades and recreation grounds. The peninsula enclosed by two arms of the Lake is known as Slave Island, having been the site of a slave's prison under the Dutch. South-east of this is the principal residential quarter of Colombo, with the circular Victoria Park as its centre. To the east of the park a series of parallel roads, named after former British governors, are lined with beautiful bungalows embowered in trees. This locality is generally known as the Cinnamon Gardens, as it was formerly a Dutch reserve for the cultivation of the cinnamon bush, many of which are still growing here. In the park is the fine Colombo Museum, founded by Sir William Gregory; and near the neighbouring Campbell Park are the handsome buildings of a number of institutions, such as Wesley College, and the General, Victoria Memorial Eye and other hospitals. South of Victoria Park is the Havelock racecourse. Among educational establishments not hitherto mentioned are the Royal College, the principal government institution, the government technical college and St Joseph's Roman Catholic college. Most of the town is lighted by gas, and certain quarters with electric light, and electric tramways have been laid over several miles of the city roads. The water-supply is drawn from a hill region 30 m. distant.

Under British rule Colombo has shared in the prosperity brought to the island by the successive industries of coffee and tea-planting. At the height of the coffee-growing enterprise 20,000 men, women and children, chiefly Sinhalese and Tamils, found employment in the large factories and stores of the merchants scattered over the town, where the coffee was cleaned, prepared, sorted and packed for shipment. Tea, on the contrary, is prepared and packed on the estates; but there is a considerable amount of work still done in the Colombo stores in sorting, blending and repacking such teas as are sold at the local public sales; also in dealing with cacao, cardamoms, cinchona bark and the remnant still left of the coffee industry. But it is to its position as one of the great ports of call of the East that Colombo owes its great and increasing importance. A magnificent breakwater, 4200 ft. long, the first stone of which was laid by the prince of Wales in 1875, was completed in 1884. This breakwater changed an open roadstead into a harbour completely sheltered on the most exposed or south-west side; but there was still liability in certain months to storms from the north-west and south-east. Two additional arms were therefore constructed, consisting of a north-east and north-west breakwater, leaving two openings, one 800 ft. and the other 700 ft. wide, between the various sections. The area enclosed is 660 acres. A first-class graving-dock, of which the Admiralty bore half the cost, has also been added. These improvements caused Galle to be abandoned as a port of call for steamers in favour of Colombo, while Trincomalee has been abandoned as a naval station. The port has assumed first-class importance, mail steamers calling regularly as well as men-of-war and the mercantile marine of all nations; and it is now one of the finest artificial harbours in the world. The extension of railways also has concentrated the trade of the island upon the capital, and contributed to its rise in prosperity.

Colombo was originally known as the Kalantotta or Kalany ferry. By the Arabs the name was changed to Kolambu, and the town was mentioned by Ibn Batuta in 1346 as the largest and finest in Serendib. In 1517 the Portuguese effected a settlement, and in 1520 they fortified their port and bade defiance to the native besiegers. In 1586 the town was invested by Raja Singh, but without success. On its capture by the Dutch in 1656 it was a flourishing colony with convents of five religious orders, churches and public offices, inhabited by no fewer than 900 noble families and 1500 families dependent on mercantile or political occupations. In 1796 it was surrendered to the British.

COLON (formerly known as ASPINWALL), a city of the Republic of Panama, on the Atlantic coast, in the Bay of Limon, and 47 m. by rail N.W. of the city of Panama. Pop. (1908) about 3000, consisting largely of Jamaica negroes and natives of mixed Spanish, Indian and African descent. It is served by the Panama railway, which crosses the Isthmus of Panama from ocean to ocean. Colon has a deep, though poorly sheltered harbour, and is either the terminus or a place of call for seven lines of steamships. It thus serves as an entrepot for much of the commerce between Atlantic and Pacific ports, and between the interior towns of Central and South America and the cities of Europe and the United States. The city lies on the west side of the low island of Manzanillo, is bordered on the landward sides by swamp, and consists mainly of unimposing frame houses and small shops. The most attractive parts are the American quarter, where the employes of the Panama railway have their homes, and the old French quarter, where dwelt the French officers during their efforts to build the canal. In this last district, near the mouth of the old canal, stands a fine statue of Christopher Columbus, the gift of the empress Eugenie in 1870. Here also stands the mansion erected and occupied by Ferdinand de Lesseps during his residence on the isthmus. With the exception of railway shops, there are no important industrial establishments.

Colon dates its origin from the year 1850, when the island of Manzanillo was selected as the Atlantic terminus of the Panama railway. The settlement was at first called Aspinwall, in honour of William H. Aspinwall (1807-1875), one of the builders of the railway; but some years afterwards its name was changed by legislative enactment to Colon, in honour of Christopher Columbus, who entered Limon Bay in 1502. The original name, however, survived among the English-speaking inhabitants for many years after this change. With the completion of the railway in 1855, the town supplanted Chagres (q.v.) as the principal Atlantic port of the isthmus. Later it acquired increased importance through its selection by de Lesseps as the site for the Atlantic entrance to his canal. During the revolution of 1885 it was partly burned and was rebuilt on a somewhat larger plan. As the city has always been notoriously unhealthful, the United States, on undertaking the construction of the Panama Canal (q.v.), became interested in preventing its becoming a centre of infection for the Canal Zone, and by the treaty of November 1903 secured complete jurisdiction in the city and harbour over all matters relating to sanitation and quarantine, and engaged to construct a system of waterworks and sewers in the municipality, which had been practically completed in 1907. The United States government has also opened a port at Cristobal, within the Canal Zone.

COLON, a town of Matanzas province, Cuba, on the railway between Matanzas and Santa Clara, and the centre of a rich sugar-planting country. Pop. (1907) 7124.

COLON, (1) (Gr. [Greek: kolon], miswritten and mispronounced as [Greek: kolon], the term being taken from [Greek: kolos], curtailed), in anatomy, that part of the greater intestine which extends from the caecum to the rectum (see ALIMENTARY CANAL). (2.) (Gr. [Greek: kolon], a member or part), originally in Greek rhetoric a short clause longer than the "comma," hence a mark (:), in punctuation, used to show a break in construction greater than that marked by the semicolon (;), and less than that marked by the period or full stop. The sign is also used in psalters and the like to mark off periods for chanting. The word is applied in palaeography to a unit of measure in MSS., amounting in length to a hexameter line.

COLONEL (derived either from Lat. _columna_, Fr. _colonne_, column, or Lat. _corona_, a crown), the superior officer of a regiment of infantry or cavalry; also an officer of corresponding rank in the general army list. The colonelcy of a regiment formerly implied a proprietary right in it. Whether the colonel commanded it directly in the field or not, he always superintended its finance and interior economy, and the emoluments of the office, in the 18th century, were often the only form of pay drawn by general officers. The general officers of the 17th and 18th centuries were invariably colonels of regiments, and in this case the active command was exercised by the lieutenant-colonels. At the present day, British general officers are often, though not always, given the colonelcy of a regiment, which has become almost purely an honorary office. The sovereign, foreign sovereigns, royal princes and others, hold honorary colonelcies, as colonels-in-chief or honorary colonels of many regiments. In other armies, the regiment being a fighting unit, the colonel is its active commander; in Great Britain the lieutenant-colonel commands in the field the battalion of infantry and the regiment of cavalry. Colonels are actively employed in the army at large in staff appointments, brigade commands, &c. extra-regimentally. Colonel-general, a rank formerly used in many armies, still survives in the German service, a colonel-general (_General-Oberst_) ranking between a general of infantry, cavalry or artillery, and a general field marshal (_General-Feldmarschall_). Colonels-general are usually given the honorary rank of general field marshal.

COLONIAL OFFICE, the department of the administration of the United Kingdom which deals with questions affecting the various colonial possessions of the British crown. The department as it now exists is of comparatively modern creation, dating only from 1854. The affairs of the English colonies began to assume importance at the Restoration, and were at first entrusted to a committee of the privy council, but afterwards transferred to a commission created by letters patent. From 1672 to 1675 the council for trade was combined with this commission, but in the latter year the colonies were again placed under the control of the privy council. This arrangement continued until 1695, when a Board of Trade and Plantations was created; its duty, however, was confined to collecting information and giving advice when required. The actual executive work was performed by the secretary of state for the southern department, who was assisted, from 1768 to 1782, by a secretary of state for the colonies. Both the Board of Trade and Plantations and the additional secretary were abolished in 1782, and the executive business wholly given over to the home office. In 1794 a third secretary of state was reappointed, and in 1801 this secretary was designated as secretary of state for war and the colonies. In 1854 the two offices were separated, and a distinct office of secretary of state for the colonies created.

The secretary of state for the colonies is the official medium of communication with colonial governments; he has certain administrative duties respecting crown colonies, and has a right of advising the veto of an act of a colonial legislature--this veto, however, is never exercised in the case of purely local statutes. He is assisted by a permanent and a parliamentary under-secretary and a considerable clerical staff.

As reorganized in 1907 the colonial office consists of three chief departments: (1) the Dominions Department, dealing with the affairs of the self-governing over-sea dominions of the British crown, and of certain other possessions geographically connected with those dominions; (2) the Colonial Department, dealing with the affairs of crown colonies and protectorates; (3) the General Department, dealing with legal, financial and other general business. In addition to these three departments, standing committees exist to take a collective view of such matters as contracts, concessions, mineral and other leases, and patronage.