former, especially, must perceive that we act with sincerity and good intentions, in the steps we have taken to incline his most Christian majesty in favour of the Republic, and that we do not attribute to the French government the suspicious and treacherous conduct displayed by those persons who arrived here in the frigate Tarm, and whose voyage seems to have had for its object a visit to the country merely to pry into the state of our affairs. The tranquillity enjoyed by the Republic has enabled the Executive to make arrangements for the extension of the new method of instruction in the first rudiments of learning, for increasing the number of scholars, establishing new professorships, and reforming some colleges which still languished under the ancient colonial system of education, and the horrors of the war. The progress of public education must necessarily be slow, whilst the funds of the colleges continue as small as they are at present; and perhaps we might mistrust the benefit of the establishments that have been founded, did we not observe the youth of the country eager to learn, and the teachers devoting themselves to public instruction, without other incentive than their own zeal and respect for their characters. I hope that, in the course of this session, time will be found for digesting a general plan of study, the want of which is every day more sensibly felt.

The project of laws for the political and judicial administration of departments, which were laid before the Executive at the close of the last session, will be returned to you, with such objections thereto as seem to me expedient. I will not assert that such objections will

render these important laws perfect, but your intelligence, and the time that will be afforded you for their deliberate discussion, inspire me with a confidence that your labours will make them so, and that their utility will be acknowledged throughout the republic. The Executive is persuaded that these two laws will correct the errors which exist in the government of departments, and will partially improve the administration of justice, by making it a positive and substantial blessing to the people, who complain with much reason of the extensive jurisdiction embraced by the only three tribunals of appeal which we possess, and of the circumscribed power of the municipalities. But that this blessing may be rendered complete, it is absolutely necessary to issue a law respecting the revenues of corporation lands, since the health, convenience, and ornament of our towns, the state of the roads, and the facilities of communication, require certain funds, without which, the municipalities will be mere ciphers in the state.

I may state to you, that in general no unfavourable change has occurred in the progress and regularity of the constitutional regime. The authorities daily respect our institutions more and more; and the citizens enjoy the free privilege of demanding the fulfilment of the laws. It would indeed be a phenomenon in politics, if an infant society like ours could arrive at its height of prosperity without obstacles and slight oscillations. Colombia has still to experience the effects of the wanderings of ignorance and the incessant intrigues of our enemies; although it is true, that neither can impede her advance to that point at which she

must one day arrive. The disturbances in Pasto, which, from the nature of the country, and the character of the people, threatened to be of long duration, have subsided; and the government has visited them with as much indulgence as was compatible with public security. That activity and vigilance which suffocated this germ of disunion, will do the same on all occasions where deluded persons suffer themselves to be seduced into the commission of disorders. The people desire to live in peace under protection of the laws, and whilst they themselves take charge of the public tranquillity, and support our institutions, the Republic will enjoy internal quiet, and the standing army will have fewer duties to discharge.

Our internal commerce requires some regulations, in order to suppress the abuses committed by our sailors, and to protect navigation; and our commerce carried on with the coasts inhabited by wandering tribes, requires some special laws, in order to spare the Executive those embarrassments which it has experienced in this particular of late years. I require from Congress a law denying letters of citizenship to individuals of any nation with whom the Republic may be at war. This is a law to be found in the code of a nation that may be truly called free, and any demonstration of its necessity appears to me superfluous.

The exhaustion of the national treasury will continue to be sensibly felt whilst the payment of arrears falls on the annual revenue, and the system continues to prevail of not fixing the public expenses, and providing correspondent funds for meeting them. To these causes of fiscal embarrassment may be added,

at present, the necessity we have been under of increasing the standing army, with a view of opposing a vigorous resistance to the hostile undertakings of Spain. I cannot give you an accurate idea of the improvement that has been made in the treasury department, in virtue of the laws issued in the last session, owing to the short period that has elapsed since their publication. The Executive has given that tone and impulse that were so essentially wanted in the general administration, the custom-houses, and treasuries of departments, always consulting, however, the strictest economy. I hope that in the course of the present legislature, you will digest a systematic arrangement of the tithe rents, a reform in the law of direct contribution, and such other objects as the Executive will point out to you in virtue of the privilege it derives from the constitution to that effect.

The various and unpleasant questions that were agitated regarding the loan of March 1822, have been set at rest in a manner satisfactory to the parties, and honourable to the republic. For this purpose, the Executive had recourse to the powers granted by you in the act of the 1st of July 1823, and the result shall be in due time laid before you. Congress must be highly gratified in learning that our conduct in this transaction has met with the general approbation of those respectable persons in foreign countries who were best able to appreciate the difficulties which enveloped it.

The

I shall likewise give you a most circumstantial account of the mode and the terms on which the loan decreed on the 30th of June of last year has been raised. To those

who are acquainted with the histories of other nations, the conditions of this loan have appeared highly favourable. The Executive has observed, that its agents have confined themselves to the instructions they received on leaving the capital: their operations have been conducted under the eye and direction of the Colombian minister in London, and the conduct of this public functionary has obtained the applause of all who have observed him narrowly. It has been a source of great satisfaction to the Executive, that the new loan was not negotiated until the question of the old one had been satisfactorily disposed of; and the consequence was, that the former was contracted under most favourable circumstances, which, by having been taken advantage of at the moment, saved us from the burthensome conditions to which we must, otherwise, have submitted. You will examine the documents which will be presented to you with accuracy and discretion, and you will receive all the necessary information thereon from the secretary of the treasury, since in this examination are comprised the interests of our constituents, the honour of the government, and the good faith of the republic. I can congratulate myself, by anticipation, with the assurance that the congress and the nation will be well pleased with this transaction.

It is essential to the public prosperity and national credit, that you employ a portion of your labours in funding the national debt. Every year that passes accumulates fresh embarrassments in this particular for the succeeding ones. The debt embraces various periods, objects, and creditors, without a proper classification of each. You

know well that it is absolutely necessary that a classification of these periods be made, as well as provision for the punctual payment of the interest, and the gradual extinction of the principal. Although a law on this subject was passed last session, you will agree with me in thinking that it is imperfect and informal.

The standing army continues to give proofs of its obedience to the laws. Although no enemies are to be found within the republic with whom to contend, it has remained on the war footing required by the state of European politics. The Executive has carried into effect so much of the law which provided for the levying 50,000 men as was necessary in order to reinforce the auxiliary army of Peru, to cover the coast departments, and to organize several corps of reserve in the interior.

Orders have been given for forming the national militia throughout the country, on the principle laid down by the Congress of Cucuta ; insomuch that several corps of citizens, who recognize the defence of the country as their first duty, are now added to our battalions. You will examine the provisional decrees which the Executive has issued for the due observance of the law on this subject, and will establish a permanent system for the national militia in all the branches and objects of its organization. These measures, and the abundant elements of war which we possess, have placed the republic in a condition to present itself armed at all points, in defence of its liberty and independence.

Our naval force is undergoing that improvement and increase which, in our immediate circumstances, it requires. The Colombian

flag has made itself respected throughout the seas; and where it has encountered that of Spain, it has left a monument of the superiority which it derives from the valour of its sailors. The Executive has adopted measures for fixing the strength of our navy, as well on our rivers and coasts as on the high seas, and for laying aside such vessels as occasion immense expenses, without being of the slightest service. Little, however, can be done in this department, unless education be encouraged among our naval officers, and until the laws to which I have elsewhere referred be enforced. Naval instruction is taught in Carthagena and Guayaquil, as far as the small funds which the Executive can supply for this purpose will permit; but it can make but little progress until warmly protected by Congress. Having already represented the state of the army to Congress in my former messages, pointing out such laws as appeared to me necessary and just, I shall content myself with naming the subject, in the hope that during the present session you will take this interesting object into your consideration.

Such is the state of our republic in the various branches of its administration: possessing friendship and good intelligence with American and foreign governments; regularity in its conventions and treaties; order and tranquillity at home; respect and submission to

the laws; free exercise of the liberty of the press; the dissemination and advancement of public education; well-founded hopes of improvement in the state of our treasury; an army covered with laurels, and zealously devoted to the cause of independence and liberty; together with sufficient resources for supporting, under every event, our dignity, our government, and our laws. It belongs to you, gentlemen, to remove such obstacles as impede the rapid march of the republic to its height of prosperity, and to reform those errors which the public voice and your own judgments condemn. If we take a retrospective view, and contemplate what Colombia was when she published her code, we shall recognize with surprise the grand career we have since run, and the enormous difficulties we have surmounted. This reflection should animate us to persevere with zeal, honour, and patriotism in the exercise of our respective faculties. The Executive has reason to expect these virtues from the representatives who compose the legislative assemblies, and you may rely confidently on receiving from me such assistance as my experience in the administration may enable me to afford; and above all, the strictest punctuality in the execution of your wise resolves.

FRANCISCO DE PAULA SANTANDER. Bogota, Jan. 2, 1825-15.

The treaty which has been ratified between the Republic of Colombia and the United States con

tains the following articles, estabEshing the principle that free ships make free goods :—

Art. 12.-It shall be lawful for the citizens of the United States of America and the republic of Colombia to sail with their ships, with all manner of liberty and security, (no distinction being made who are the proprietors of the merchandises laden thereon,) from any port to the places of those who now are or hereafter shall be at enmity with either of the contracting parties. It shall likewise be lawful for the citizens aforesaid to sail with the ships and merchandises before-mentioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the places, ports, and havens, of those who are enemies of both or either party, without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, not only directly from the places of the enemy, before-mentioned, to neutral places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy to another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of one power, or under several. And it is hereby stipulated, that free ships shall also give freedom to goods, and that every thing shall be deemed free and exempt, which shall be found on board the ships belonging to the citizens of either of the contracting parties, although the whole lading, or any part thereof, should appertain to the enemies of either, contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed, in like manner, that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board a free ship, with this effect-that although they be enemies to both or either party, they are not to be taken out of that free ship, unless they are officers or soldiers, and in the actual service of the enemies. Provided, however, and it is hereby agreed, that the stipulations in this article contained, declaring that the flag

shall cover the property, shall be understood as applying to those powers only who recognize this principle; but if either of the two contracting parties shall be at war with a third, and the other neutral, the flag of the neutral shall cover the property of enemies whose governments acknowledge this principle, and not of others.

Art. 13.-It is likewise agreed, that in the case where the neutral flag of one of the contracting parties shall protect the property of the enemies of the other, by virtue of the above stipulation, it shall always be understood that the neutral property found on board such enemy's vessels shall be held and considered as enemy's property, and as such shall be liable to detention and confiscation, except such property as was put on board such vessel before the declaration of war, or even afterwards, if it were done without the knowledge of it; but the contracting parties agree, that two months having elapsed after the declaration, their citizens shall not plead ignorance thereof. the contrary, if the flag of the neutral does not protect the enemy's property, in that case the goods and merchandises of the neutral, embarked in such enemy's ship, shall be free.

On

There are some exceptions on the subject of goods contraband of war. Regulations are also made respecting the search of vessels in time of war; but it is agreed that these stipulations shall refer only to those vessels which sail without convoy, and that "when said vessels shall be under convoy, the verbal declaration of the commander of the convoy, on his word of honour, that the vessels under his protection belong to the nation whose flag he carries, and when they are bound