ment paper money, and to furnish to industrial activity a proportional elasticity. I trust that in the following Session you will occupy yourselves with the projects, already presented, relating to "crédit foncier" banks, judicial reform, and the suppression of vagrancy; as well as that you will adopt the improvements requisite for the better practical development of local institutions. General and professional public instruction, in accordance with present circumstances, demands measures upon which our progress much depends. I trust you will continue to lend to this matter the attention which agricultural instruction and the reform of the Naval Academy merited of you. Public health, and especially sanitary measures for the capital of the Empire, are recommended to your care. Although the sanitary condition of the interior continues excellent, and that of the coast is favourably modified, it is necessary to persevere in the task of extinguishing such causes of disease as hygiene may be able to effect. August and most worthy Representatives of the nation, To your patriotism in the labours of this Session, there will, I hope, correspond during the legislative recess your beneficent influence, to the end that the powerful elements of prosperity granted us by God may be yet more fruitful. The Session is closed. PART IV. INTERNATIONAL AMERI CAN RELATIONS THE PANAMA CONGRESS 118. CIRCULAR OF GENERAL BOLÍVAR PROPOSING A CONGRESS AT PANAMA [Lima, December 7, 1824. International American Conference. Historical Appendix (1890), IV, 159–161. Published by the United States Government.] Simón Bolívar had for many years considered it desirable, through the medium of a conference, or congress, to attempt to unite the different states created out of the Indies. It was not, however, until the end of the year 1824 that the time seemed ripe for such an international Spanish-American assemblage. Bolívar therefore addressed the following circular letter to Señor José S. Carrión, minister of government and of foreign relations of Colombia, proposing the Assembly of Plenipotentiaries at Panama. GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND: After fifteen years of sacrifices devoted to the liberty of America to secure a system of guaranties that in peace and war shall be the shield of our new destiny, it is time the interests and relations uniting the American Republics, formerly Spanish colonies, should have a fundamental basis that shall perpetuate, if possible, those Governments. To initiate that system, and concentrate the power of this great political body, implies the exercise of a sublime authority, capable of directing the policy of our Governments, whose influence should maintain uniformity of principles, and whose name alone should put an end to our quarrels. Such a respectable authority can exist only in an assembly of pleni potentiaries, appointed by each of our Republics, and called together under the auspices of the victory obtained by our arms over the Spanish power. Profoundly imbued with these ideas, I invited, in 1822, as President of the Republic of Colombia, the Governments of Mexico, Peru, Chili, and Buenos Ayres to form a confederation, and hold on the Isthmus of Panama, or some other point agreeable to the majority, a congress of plenipotentiaries from each State "that should act as a council in great conflicts, to be appealed to in case of common danger, and be a faithful interpreter of public treaties, when difficulties should arise, and conciliate, in short, all our differences." On the 6th of June of said year, the Government of Peru concluded a treaty of alliance and confederation with the Colombian plenipotentiary. By said treaty both parties bound themselves to interpose their good offices with the Governments of America lately Spanish, so that, all entering into the same agreement, the general congress of the confederates could be held. A similar treaty with Mexico was concluded on the 3d of October, 1823, by the Colombian envoy to that country; and there are strong reasons for hoping that other Governments will also adopt a policy dictated by their higher interests. Longer to defer the general Congress of the Plenipotentiaries of the Republics that in fact are already allied awaiting the accession of the others, would be to deprive ourselves of the advantages which that assembly will produce from its very incipiency. These advantages are largely increased, if we but contemplate the spectacle that the political world, and particularly that of the European continent, presents to us. A reunion of the plenipotentiaries of Mexico, Colombia, and Peru would be indefinitely delayed, if it should not be brought on by one of the same contracting parties, unless the time and place for the carrying out of this great object be determined by another and a special convention. Considering the difficulties and delays presented by the distance separating us, together with other grave motives the general interest suggests, determines me to take this step with a view of bringing about an immediate meeting of our plenipotentiaries, while the rest of the Governments may conclude the preliminaries already gone through by us concerning the appointment and commissioning of their representatives. With respect to the time of the opening of the Congress, I make bold to think that no obstacle can oppose its verification within six months from this date; and I shall also go so far as to flatter myself that the ardent desire animating all Americans to exalt the power of the world of Columbus will diminish the obstacles and delays that the ministerial preparations demand, and the distance separating the capitals of each state and the central point of the meeting. It seems that if the world should have to choose its capital, the Isthmus of Panama would be selected for this grand destiny, located as it is in the center of the globe, having on one side Asia, and on the other Africa and Europe. The Isthmus of Panama has been tendered for this purpose in existing treaties by the Colombian Government. The Isthmus is equally distant from the extremities of the continent, and on this account ought to be the provisional seat for the first meeting of the confederates. Yielding myself to these considerations, I am seriously inclined to send to Panama the delegates from this Republic immediately upon having the honor of receiving the desired reply to this circular. Nothing, certainly, can so realize the ardent desire of my heart as the agreement I hope for on the part of the confederated Governments to accomplish this august act of America. Should your Excellency not adhere to this I foresee great delays and injuries, at a time, too, when the movement of the world hurries everything on, and may accelerate to our harm. The first conferences between the plenipotentiaries once held, the seat of the Congress, as well as its powers, can be solemnly determined by the majority, and then everything will have been realized. The day our plenipotentiaries make the exchanges of their powers will stamp in the diplomatic history of the world an immortal epoch. When, after a hundred centuries, posterity shall search for the origin of our public law, and shall remember the compacts that solidified its destiny, they will finger with respect the protocols of the Isthmus. In them they will find the plan of the first alliances that shall sketch the mark of our relations with the universe. What, then, shall be the Isthmus of Corinth compared with that of Panama? God preserve Your Excellency, JOSÉ S. CARRIÓN, Your great and good friend, Minister of Government and Foreign Relations SIMÓN BOLÍVAR 119. BASES FOR A GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF AMERICA1 [December 17, 1825. Joseph Byrne Lockey, Pan-Americanism: Its Beginnings (1920), 333-335.] The "Bases for a General Confederation of America" were presented by Manuel Lorenzo Viduarre at an informal conference between the representatives of Peru and Colombia to the Congress of Panama. They were not well received. The Colombian delegates objected to Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, and 20 as contrary to the fundamental laws of their country. José de Revenga, delegate from Colombia, declined to place his country in a position of dependency to a super state. He desired to perpetuate the American confederation, but preferred to do so by indirect means. Viduarre and his colleague on the Peruvian delegation received new instructions. Their policy was modified, and the "bases" were abandoned. 1. The interests of the Confederation shall be cared for by a general assembly to be called the Amphictyonic Congress. 2. The confederated states shall be represented by plenipotentiaries. 3. Each member of the confederation shall contribute not only to the defense of America in general, but also to that of each state in particular. 4. This defense shall be for the purpose of preventing foreign attacks. 5. The territorial integrity of the states comprehended in the confederation shall be reciprocally guaranteed. 6. No state shall be allowed to enter into a treaty of alliance with any non-American power without having previously obtained the consent of the assembly. 7. Upon no pretext whatever shall the states of the confederation make war upon one another. All of their differences shall be decided in the general congress. 8. The assembly shall indicate the points to be fortified, the forces to be maintained in each state, and the funds which each state shall contribute to carry on war or put down anarchy. 9. The assembly shall pass the general laws which may be necessary to maintain the existence of the confederation. 1 1 Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company, New York. |