The only railways in the republic are the Panamá, 47 miles in length; that from Sabanilla to Barranquilla, 15 miles; and the new line from Puerto Barrio to Medellin, only a part of which was opened to traffic in 1876. It will be eight or nine years before it is completed. There were, in 1875, 1,227 miles of telegraph, the number of dispatches transmitted in the same year being 98,375.

In May, 1875, the Colombian Congress passed a law authorizing the Executive to negotiate for the opening a communication by canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Negotiations were shortly afterward commenced, and a contract was drawn up, the terms of which we here transcribe:

The undersigned, Manuel Ancizar, Secretary of State for the Departments of Interior and Foreign Relations, of the Colombian Government, duly authorized by the President of the Union, and Antonio de Gogorza, for himself and for General Stephen Turr, according to sufficient power exhibited, have agreed to the following:

ARTICLE I. Antonio de Gogorza, in his own behalf and that of his client, General Stephen Turr, accepts in all its parts, and as part of the present agreement, the Colombian law, No. 33, of May 26, 1875, "authorizing the Executive power to negotiate for the opening up communication by canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans," and submits to the provisions and conditions therein made. And reciprocally the Colombian Government hereby concedes to, and puts them in possession of, the franchises granted in section 1 of Article II. of the above-cited law, counting the ninety-nine years of privilege from the date hereof.

ART. II. The Colombian Government authorizes General Turr and Señor Gogorza to associate themselves with two persons, approved of by the minister of the republic in France or Great Britain, and by them deemed competent, and proceed to form an international commission of engineers to survey the isthmus at Darien, and at the expense of the grantees to make the exploration mentioned in condition three, Article II. of the law above cited, and within the time therein allowed; within twelve months thereafter to make report to the Colombian Government of the result of said exploration in the manner

provided in the above-cited condition three of the law: Provided, That should unforeseen accident, such as earthquake, inundation, or armed resistance of the natives, cause delay, a reasonable extension of time be granted.

ART. III. The tracing and fixing of the line of the canal in all its length, as also that of any auxiliary railway that may be projected from ocean to ocean, must be wholly beyond and to the east of a straight line connecting the cape of Tiburon with the headland of Garachine, whose exact situation will be determined by the exploring engineers.

ART. IV. Should the river Atrato be selected by the engineers as one of the entries to the canal, its mouth, through which such entrance is proposed, must be channeled and adapted to the ingress and egress of vessels of six hundred tons, and be considered part of the line of the canal. But the navigation of the Atrato, in so far as its channel may not constitute part of the canal, shall remain free and unincumbered.

ART. V. Should the preliminary survey referred to (in Article III.) show the practicability of a canal without locks or tunnels, the grantees, General Turr and A. de Gogorza, and their associates, will, under the immediate patronage of the Colombian Government, be authorized to form, within the eighteen months specified by the law, a company for the execution of the work.

the law cited shall be made in such bank as the naART. VI. The deposit mentioned in Article III. of tional Executive may designate, the receipt of the bank being evidence of the fulfillment of said obligation. Said deposit may be in bonds of the Colombian foreign debt, at the market price at the time of the deposit. It is understood that, in case the grantees should forfeit this deposit under provision of section 2 of Article XXIII. of the cited law, the same, with the accumulated interest, will pass, without any reduction, to the Colombian Government. the cited law shall be adjudged to the grantees as ART. VII. The wild lands ceded by Article IV. of soon as the deposit shall have been made. Those situated on the banks of the canal, rivers, or maritime coasts, shall be divided into lots alternating with those of equal size reserved to the Government, and fronting those reserved to the Government on the opposite sides of the canal, rivers, or coasts. None of said lots shall measure less than three nor more than four thousand metros of front on said canal, rivers, or coasts, thus forming an area of, say, one thousand hectares, more or less. With a belt of six and a half miles (one thousand miriametros) on either side of the canal, the Government can concede no lands (to other parties) until the expiration of the ten years from the time of the commencement of the work, or until after the present grantees shall have received the entire quantity ceded them by Article IV. of the law above cited.

ART. VIII. The number of fiscal agents which, under provisions of Article IV., may be placed at the termini of the canal, shall not exceed twice the number in the custom-house at Barranquilla; and their salaries, so far as the same may become chargeable to the company, shall not exceed those allotted to employés of the same class in said custom-house.

ART. IX. Until the contingency mentioned in Article XIX. (Article XVII.?) of the law above cited, the tonnage of vessels shall be stated in their charters or registers, and that of their cargo shall be set forth in their manifests and bills of lading.

ART. X. The grantees obligate themselves to constitute an agent in Bogotá, duly authorized to represent them in the adjustment of debts and disputes that may arise from adverse construction of contract; and, for a like purpose, the Government shall name an agent to reside near the domicile of the company. In every case where irreconcilable differences may arise, they shall be submitted to the decision of the Federal Supreme Court.

to 5 franes, or 100 cents each.

ART. XI. The term "Colombian dollars," employed in the law and in this contract, signifies silver pieces of 25 grains of 900 each, being equivalent ART. XII. By the "formal commencement of the work of the canal," mentioned in section 2 of Article XXII. of the law, is understood that work upon the line should be continuously executed for three months, by at least one thousand operatives under their respective chiefs, with the necessary machinery, implements, etc., for the excavation of the

canal.

ART. XIII. It is understood, and is hereby specifically stipulated, that vessels in the exclusive service of the canal shall traverse the same free of all tax or duty.

ART. XIV. Five years before the expiration of the ninety-nine of privilege, the national Executive shall, with the concurrence of the company, name a commission to examine the canal and its appurtenances, and note what repairs, if any, shall be made before the canal and other property is turned over to the Government when the grantees' privilege shall expire.

ART. XV. The nation grants permission to the grantees to establish, at their own expense, any telegraphic lines they may deem necessary to the construction and operation of the canal.

Signed in duplicate, in Bogotá, the twenty-eighth of May, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.

L. S.

M. ANCIZAR,

ANTONIO DE GOGORZA,
For himself and General Turr.

[L. Approved May 28, 1876. [L. S.]

AQUILEO PARRA,

President of the Union.

A revolution broke out in July, 1876, against the Government, in the States of Tolima and Antioquía, but it was afterward transferred to Cauca; the town of Cartago, in the latter, having been chosen as headquarters of the insurgent forces. As late as the middle of December they were still in possession of that town. The revolution, carried on by the clerical party, was begun at the instigation of the southern clergy, who protested from the pulpit against the policy adopted by the Government of placing the public schools under secular directors, and suppressing all ecclesiastical control therein. The Parra Administration met, at the time of its inauguration (April 1st), with formidable opposition within the ranks of its own party; so much so, that the United States minister at Bogotá wrote, on April 8, 1876, that "a grave mistake, during the first six months, may prove fatal to its existence, and to the peace of the country."

COLORADO. The convention assembled under the provisions of an enabling act of Congress, approved March 3, 1875, after a session of eighty-six days completed, in March, 1876, a State constitution, which was ratified by the people July 1st. A proclamation was issued by President Grant, August 1st, which declared Colorado to be a State in the Union. In the Bill of Rights of the new constitution, the usual guarantees of national and civil rights have been retained, and, to the end that more power should be reserved to the people, it is further declared that the General Assembly shall make no irrevocable grants of special privileges or immunities; that private property

shall not be taken or damaged for public or private use without just compensation previously made to the owner thereof, or paid into court for his use; that no preference shall be given by law to religious denominations; that right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial, or delay; that aliens, who are bona-fide residents of the State, shall acquire, inherit, possess, and enjoy property to the full extent as if native-born citizens. The grandjury system has been so modified as to make a grand-jury consist of twelve men instead of twenty-three-any nine of whom concurring may find a bill, and the question whether it may not be abolished altogether is left to the Legislature. The petit-jury system has been so modified as to permit the organization of a jury of less than twelve men in civil cases, thereby materially reducing the expenses of the courts. The right of trial by jury in all criminal cases has been preserved, and for the purpose of protecting witnesses in criminal prosecutions, and that the accused may always meet the witnesses against him face to face, provision is made for the taking of depositions before some judge of the Supreme, District, or County Court, which can be used upon trial of the cause when the personal attendance of the witness cannot be obtained.

The Executive Department consists of a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, who are elected for two years. Their terms of office begin on the second Tuesday of January following their election. The official terms of the first State officers began in November, 1876. The Governor is empowered to remove all officers by him appointed, for misconduct or malfeasance in office; also to grant pardons, subject, however, to such regulations as may be provided by law, and in all cases when a pardon is granted he is required to send the reasons for granting it to the General Assembly. A twothirds vote of all the members of each House is required to pass a bill over the Governor's veto. The Lieutenant-Governor is President of the Senate. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is ex-officio State Librarian. Neither the State Treasurer nor Auditor is eligible for reëlection as his own immediate successor.

The legislative power is vested in a Senate of twenty-six members, elected for four years, and a House of forty-nine Representatives, elected for two years. It is declared that the number of Senators and of Representatives shall not be increased before 1890. The sessions of the Legislature after the first are limited to forty days. The first General Assembly met on the first Wednesday in November, 1876. It is required to meet again on the first Wednesday in January, 1879, and biennially thereafter on the same day. It is provided that no act of the Legislature shall take effect until ninety days after its passage, unless, in case of emergency (which shall be expressed in the

The public-school fund of the State shall consist of the proceeds of such lands as have heretofore been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State by the General Government for educational purposes; all estates that may escheat to the State; also all other grants, gifts, or devises, that may be made to this State for educational purposes.

The General Assembly may require that every child of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public school, between the ages of six and eighteen years, for a time equivalent to three years, unless educated by other means.

The General Assembly is required to provide by law for an annual tax, sufficient, with other resources, to defray the expenses of the State government. Section 3 of Article X. provides that "all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws, which shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, real and personal: provided, that mines and mining claims bearing gold, silver, and other precious metals (except the net proceeds and surface improvements thereof), shall be exempt from taxation for the period of ten years from the date of the adoption of this constitution, and thereafter may be taxed as provided by law. Ditches, canals, and flumes, owned and used by individuals or corporations for irrigating lands owned by such individuals or corporations, or the individual members thereof, shall not be taxed separately, so long as they shall be owned and used exclusively for such purpose."

The property of the State, counties, cities, towns, and other municipalities, and public libraries, are exempted from taxation, and, unless otherwise provided by law, lots and buildings thereon, used exclusively for religious worship, for schools, and strictly charitable purposes, and places of burial of the dead, are exempted. For the purpose of defraying the expenses of the State a tax is provided for, not in any case to exceed six mills on the dollar, with restrictions that when the valuation of property within the State shall amount to $100,000,000, the rate shall not exceed four mills, and when the valuation shall amount to $300,000,000, the rate shall never thereafter exceed two mills on each dollar of valuation. Corporations and corporate property, real and personal, are required to share the burdens of taxation, and the power to tax the same is never to be relinquished or suspended.

A State Board of Equalization is created, consisting of the Governor, Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State, whose duties are to equalize and adjust the valuation of real and personal property among the several counties, and the Board of County Commissioners in the respective counties are constituted County Boards of Equalization, whose duties are to equalize and

adjust such valuations within their respective counties.

The Legislature is prohibited from lending the credit of the State in aid of any corporation, either by loan or becoming a subscriber to any stock, or a joint owner with any party, except in case of forfeitures and escheats.

The constitution has denied the General Assembly the power to create corporations, or to extend or enlarge their chartered rights by special legislation, or to make such rights and privileges irrevocable; but in case it shall be found that the exercise of such rights and privileges proves injurious to the people, then the General Assembly shall have power to alter, revoke, or annul such charters, when that can be done without injustice to the corporators. It has declared that railroad corporations shall be liable as common carriers, and that, to avail themselves of the benefits of future legislation, they must subject themselves to all the provisions and requirements of the constitution. It has forbidden the consolidation of parallel and competing lines, and of all unjust and unreasonable discriminations between individuals in their business with such corporations.

Provision is made for the establishment and maintenance of the office of Commissioner of Mines, who is to be appointed by the Governor for four years.

A State census is to be taken in 1885, and every ten years thereafter.

The new State government was inaugurated November 3d. The message of Governor Routt shows outstanding warrants and other liabilities to the amount of $50,000; resources from delinquent taxes and from taxes available January and July, 1877, $73,000, leaving $23,000 to meet the current expenses of the State till 1878. To provide for the present exigency, a tax-levy of three mills was recommended.

By the act of Congress, September 4, 1841, each new State on being admitted is granted 500,000 acres of land for the purposes of internal improvement. The enabling act also grants to the State fifty sections "for the purpose of erecting public buildings at the capital for legislative and judicial purposes;" fifty other sections "for the purpose of erecting a suitable building for a penitentiary or State-prison;" seventy-two sections "for the use and support of a State University;" and twelve saltsprings, with "six sections of land adjoining," for the use of the State: making in all, with the 500,000 acres first mentioned, 655,160 acres. The Governor recommends that the Legislature appoint five gentlemen to locate these lands, and urges that they be withheld from sale for a few years, to avoid the error of most of the Northwestern States, of too hastily placing their lands in the market, thus losing the advantages arising from the natural growth and improvement of the country.

The first election for State officers was held October 3d, when the following (Republicans)