wards us, and of its disposition to commence and to establish relations with the republic. The executive power has hastened to manifest the same feelings on its part by means of a minister plenipotentiary, and to prepare the preliminaries which must precede the negotiations.

With the European powers we have succeeded in entering upon some diplomatic relations, which are at present reduced to the obtainment of an explicit recognition of our national sovereignty. Our cause appears to have attained considerable popularity among some of the most powerful nations; and although their governments have not decided on making the required declaration, they have not given us any cause for complaint. Their acts relative to commerce and neutrality have arisen out of the principle of recognising us as governments, de facto. That of Colombia has convinced all nations, that good faith and justice are the immutable rules of our conduct, and that we make it our duty to respect the laws of all states, their rights, and those of their respective subjects. Such will always be the conduct of the government and citizens of CoTombia, as the means of preserving peace and good understanding with the rest of the universe. It is satisfactory to me, that, during the course of my administration, on the establishment of a new and delicate system, no questions of difficulty have presented themselves, tending to interrupt the harmony in which we live with all nations.

His Faithful Majesty, the King of Portugal, has opened the way in Europe, to the recognition of the American governments. That of Colombia had addressed a di

plomatic mission to the Court of Lisbon, which, among other things, was to regulate the limits of the republic adjoining the Brazils, but the unexpected death of Mr. Echeverria, and the late events in the provinces of Brazil, tending to shake off their dependence on Portugal, have frustrated our intentions. I have taken steps to arrange with the Court at Rome respecting the government of ecclesiastical affairs, in which so many difficulties have been, and are daily experienced, to the manifest detriment of the prerogatives of the supreme civil authority, and of the spiritual wants of the people. The death of Mr. Echeverria interrupted this negotiation also, but the govern< ment is already prepared to send a fresh mission to Rome. In the mean time, the Congress will be informed of the manner in which this matter is conducted, trusting that your wisdom will lay down a certain, although provisional re gulation, that will remove all scruples and other difficulties,

The government has the satis faction to announce to the Congress, that the free territory which the Republic of Colombia now embraces, is the same as that fixed by the fundamental law of the state. Three new departments have increased the number of those which recognized the law of or ganization of the 2nd of October; the one separated itself from the mother country by its own exertions; the other two have been liberated by the valour of the army, and the extraordinary ability and prudence of the President Liberator. Thus, in them, as in the other seven departments, the political system, adopted by the constituent Congress of Cucuta, has been established with general ap.

plause. The people have indulged in the best hopes of prosperity on seeing their political and civil liberty secured by the fundamental law. Every Colombian has submitted his own will to that of the law: the glory of the warrior; the illumination of the philosopher, the prerogatives of the minister of the altar, the influence of merit, of reputation, and of virtue -all have humbled themselves before the constitution. But for the exception of two or three small bodies of men, who wished to live in the midst of disorder, the government might aver that no sentiments but those of union and fraternity exist in the bosom of the Colombians. The state of order and internal repose which the republic has attained, has not been disturbed either by the arrogant attempts of the enemy, by his evil suggestions, or by the frequent difficulties arising from the painful state of the public treasury, which sometimes offer opportunities for disturbance to those who, in the alteration of a system, experience changes either of fortune or in their views of ambition. The government acknowledges itself indebted for this benefit, first to the mercy of the Supreme Being, who has watched over the fate of Colombia, and next to the efficacious co-operation of all the citizens, of all the authorities, and especially, of the venerable clergy both secular and regular. On so prosperous a basis, public education has begun to spread successfully, information has been diffused by means of the press, the citizens have procured liberty to denounce the abuse of power, and the people have been inspired with a sincere love for their institutions. The propagation and progress of

literary and scientific establishments, which I anticipate from the new statutes of the Congress and the influence of the local authorities, will doubtless be the best support which our code and the administration of the government, the security of the republic and its future happiness will henceforward possess. It is a most gratifying duty for me to recommend to you, most ardently, the fate of the Colombian people, whose sacrifices have rendered the entire protection of wise and beneficent laws necessary to them. A most exterminating warfare has destroyed its population, its agriculture, and its commerce, and it is the duty of Congress to do its utmost for the revival of these sources of public and private wealth. I call the attention of Congress to agriculture, commerce, and the mines: our geographical position will afford you the ready means of placing the heroic people of Colombia in a situation to redouble and enrich itself.

Respecting the national revenue, I did not desire to disturb the pleasure the Congress must have experienced on hearing the communications I have just made to it. The public treasury is impoverished; the revenue system requires alteration, and the necessities which it is urgent to provide for are such as not to admit of delay or procrastination. The government has undergone afflicting struggles in the course of its administration, and the Congress cannot but approve the manner in which it has been able to overcome the struggle between urgent public necessities, and the calamities with which the fortunes of the citizens have been visited. The Congress of Cucuta passed the most bene

ficial laws, by which the old colonial revenues were diminished, and the substitution, that was adopted to cover the deficit, has not at all corresponded to the estimates. The army, and the officers of the civil administration and of the revenue, demand the return of that part of their pay which the government had thought proper to retain: the fortifications, the marine, the artillery, and magazines, the officers, the national establishments, all require the consideration of Congress, and so urgently, that, in my opinion, it ought to occupy its first sittings; for without pecuniary resources the government cannot fulfil its duties, nor the nation profit by its independence and liberty. It is to the Chamber of Representatives I more especially direct my voice in this matter: two branches of revenue appear to me capable of assisting us in providing abundantly the supplies I require those of tobacco and of customs. The first requires funds to improve it, and to make advances; and the second, well regulated laws. If to these are added the improvements which I expect will be made in the other existing branches, it may be expected that the people, being less burthened, will themselves facilitate the means of improving the national treasury. The government is desirous that the exactions from the clergy, known under the titles of mesada ecclesiastica, annalidades, and media-annata, may be entirely abolished.

One of the objects to which I must direct the particular attention of the Congress is our foreign debt. You, gentlemen, are aware that the generosity of several foreigners, during calamitous periods, reanimated the spirit of

the Colombians, and supplied them with the means of maintaining gloriously the war of independence; whatever may have been the views and speculations of our auxiliaries, the republic is their debtor, and we are bound to pay with fidelity. The complicated situation, in which this business is placed at present by the proceedings of our agents in Europe, and more so by the difficult circumstances with which the republic was surrounded until last year, has presented the government with serious difficulties, in adopting a conciliatory and decorous line of conduct. The Congress will be informed of all the details, and will be convinced of the prudence with which I have conducted an affair of so much delicacy. I must, however, declare that our national honour should rise above all other considerations, by sacrificing to it that regularity and economy which, in other circumstances, we should zealously and rigorously enforce. We are debtors, and we must pay at any sacrifice. The executive power expects that the Congress will pass a law by which it will be enabled to provide for the payment of the interest and the gradual liquidation of the principal.

The arms of Colombia have been covered with glory wherever they have proclaimed the laws and liberty, and, even in their reverses, they have preserved entire the character which they had acquired. At the time when the Congress of Cucuta closed its sittings, the important fortresses of Carthagena and Cumana were in the hands of the Spaniards; the isthmus and the provinces of the captain generalship of Quito groaned under the unjust dominion of the government of Madrid; the province of

Coro had been in a state of insurrection fomented by Spanish agents; the district of Ocana was under the dominion of a faction; the province of Guayaquil, disturbed in the interior, was exposed to the fury of anarchy, and a maritime force fearlessly domineered over our Atlantic coast. Now, all has disappeared, and this immense territory, once in the possesion of Spain, is now under the protection of the laws and government of Colombia. Licentiousness, which generally follows in the train of war, has not stained the reputation of the defenders of the republic-the laws have spoken -their voice has been more tremendous than the clash of arms, and the conquerors, in a thousand battles, have never hesitated to obey them with submission. A desperate attempt of the enemy, which his superior maritime force enabled him to make, has roused the public spirit, and recalled to the liberating army its most sacred duty-that of renewing its sacrifices for the independence of the country. Maracaibo, being occupied by the expeditionary general, the executive power conceived itself to be in the situation contemplated by Art. 128 of the constitution, and has used the extraordinary powers attributed to it in such manner and terms as will be laid before the Congress distinctly. If I have not as yet experienced the satisfaction of learning the complete destruction of the enemy, I have at least that of knowing that his intentions have been frustrated in the invasion of Merida and Truxillo, and that the departments of Venezuela and Boyaca are in a state of security, the reinforcements of the army of the Magdalena having been efficaciously disposed, and the fortresses of Puerto-Cabello and

Maracaibo being in a state of rigorous blockade. Had it not been for the unfortunate occurrence of the insurrection of a few places in Santa Martha, the government would now have announced to the Congress the freedom of the department of Zulia.

The standing army and the national militia require careful regulations and organization; without these, the government will continue to experience such difficulties and opposition as the enormous difference between the political system of a free state and the military system of an absolute monarchy necessarily produce. The fortresses which come into our possession in a ruinous state require urgent repairs the magazines and parks of artillery require stores and other warlike supplies, which render the republic respectable. I recommend to the Congress, with that ardour which it is incumbent on me to feel, the fate of the widows, and of the soldiers and officers disabled in the service of the country.

The exertions of the government have procured for the republic a sufficient maritime force to protect our coasts and the foreign trade. Without it we should be still subject to the Spanish squadron, to whose superiority, as I have already said, the enemy is exclusively indebted for the advantages he has attained. But this valuable acquisition will be of no use, if the Congress does not supply the government with the means to maintain, increase, and repair whatever the course of military events or the accidents of the elements may render necessary. The secretary of the Navy will lay before the Congress more detailed information on this head, and will present to it

the result of the glorious trials which our forces have begun to make, together with the regulations, ordinances, and other provisions which the executive has made, in virtue of the law, to procure and preserve such a maritime force as our geographical position requires.

Gentlemen-I have lived only to contribute to the fulfilment of the will of the nation; to the rigorous observance of the laws I have sacrificed projects of utility and convenience, persuaded that submission to them is never more necessary than in the commencement of the establishment of a political system, and that no one ought to bow to them with greater respect than he who is placed at the head of the government. If circumstances have obliged me to exercise the extraordinary powers which the constitution permits, it never has been my intention to avail myself of them either against the political freedom of the nation, or of the individual liberty of the citizens. Foreign enemies and internal tranquillity have been the only objects I have had in view in the exercise of such powers; and in testimony of this truth I can appeal to the whole population of

the republic. I have endeavoured to employ the authority, which the representatives of the nation deposited in my hands, to its proper purpose, and if I have not advanced, so far as my desires and my conscience led me to wish, the Congress must attribute it to the want of means, of time, and of tranquility, and not to my sentiments. From the moment when I took the reins of government, I was persuaded that I was placing myself under a load superior to my strength-that I renounced my liberty, and constituted myself a slave of Colombia; and I must frankly confess that, if I did not place my hopes in the labours and assistance of the Congress, I should not hesitate a moment in recovering my liberty. In conclusion, gentlemen, I congratulate the republic on the installation of the first constitutional legislature, and entreat of you, with the most ardent feelings of my heart, that we may unite our exertions, our vigilance, and our sentiments, to labour for the happiness of Colombia, and preserve entire the precious treasure of her independence and liberty.

FRANCISCO DE PAULO SANTANDER. Bogota, 17th April, 1823-13th.

COLOMBIA AND PERU. Francisco de Paula Santander, of the Liberators of Venezuela and Cundamarca, &c., VicePresident of the Republic, and charged with the Executive Power.

To all persons who may see these presents, health.

Whereas, between the republic

of Colombia and the state of Peru there was concluded and signed, in the city of the freemen of Lima, on the 6th of July, in the year of grace, 1822, by plenipotentiaries sufficiently, authorized on both sides, a treaty of perpetual union, coalition, and confederation, the tenour of which is literally as follows: