Colombian Presidents [pp. 117-127]

Colombian Presidents.
that, especially in a country inexperi- Mosquera had been elected the first
enced in self-control, threatened to prove president under this radical constitution.
destructive to the very existence of gov- In spite of his own share in the responernment. The presidential term was sibility for it, and his own peaceful and
reduced to only two years, and the fre- successful administration under the
quent elections and rapidly succeeding former one, he found government under
changes in the personnel of the admin- it impossible; and after a vain struggle
istration were very demoralizingto order. to restore order until I866, he gave it
The freedom of speech and of the press up, and resorted to unconstitutional
were carried so far as to be left entirely measures,- such as forcibly closing the
unrestricted by anylibellaw, and violent national congress, and imprisoning a
revenges and assassination were encour- number of senators and representatives.
aged: people grossly insulted or ground- This soon made matters worse, and endlessly accused had really no redress un- ed in his being deposed and exiled.
der the law, and inevitably took their Again followed the dismal history of
vindication into their own hands. The confusion and disorder, unbettered and
federation of the states was very loose: without apparent hope of any relief. For
the same excessive jealousy lest any twenty years the liberal party remained
rights of the people should be restricted in power, without accomplishing any perthat controlled the rest of the instru- manent condition of civil order and loyment led it to leave the sovereignty of alty. If by chance any one able to cope
the states very great, and under it they with the situation did appear in congress,
showed very little regard for the author- it was impossible for himself or the
ity of the central government. They country to learn his powers, for the
even formally declared war against it terms were only two years long,-giving
when they pleased; and war between no congress time really to do anything.
each other was a common thing. On the Re-elections were rare, for the Colomother hand, in the loosely defined con- bians are averse to re-electing even offiditioni of the relations between them and cials with whom they are pleased,- bethe federal government, many of the ing suspicious of danger to their liberties,
perpetual disturbances were due to med- and afraid to let any one learn to think
dling interference on its part in the state himself necessary to them. Abuses in
elections. This happened very often in elections and other corruptions had bethestateof Panamai, and not infrequently come prevalent; all political parties adin the others. The abolition of the mitted these, while neither was willing
death penalty demoralized the undisci- to risk any party advantage by meddling
plined masses,- none of whose training, with them. Much of the revolutionary
either under the despotic rule of Spain disturbance in the country grew from
or in the wars and feuds that followed, these abuses and corruptions. Even
had accustomed them to any great rev- among orderly people such conditions
erence for human life; crime became can provoke revolutionary action, as in
fearfully prevalent, and when committed the case of the San Francisco vigilance
by men of wealth or influence went un- committees. Twenty years of this anpunished; while under the merit system archy had brought Colombia to the point
adopted in the prisons, with the idea of where her very existence as a separate
being abreast of the best modern meth- nation was threatened.
ods of penology, the worst and most dan- At this point comes to the front the
gerous criminals were turned loose after man who was destined ultimately to
an imprisonment of only seven or eight solve- so far as one may dare to prophyears, to fresh assaults on good order. esy from all present signs -the appar
1889.]
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