the midst of things, has been lost, but this has befallen a government of poetasters before, and probably will again. The President of the day was José Maria Marroquin, a sage, a philosopher, and a discreet poet. Once the mobs that controlled the streets of his elevated capital were quelled Marroquin probably invited all the rhymsters to a poetry party at the Falls of Tequendama, where the icy water falls two hundred yards from the cold country of the plain down into the warm, luscious country-the tierra caliente-where there are orange trees and blue butterflies and palm trees, with parrots perched upon them talking fluently, just as though they were in the Congreso.

It will be pleasant for the governmental poets to dwell upon how much higher their cataract is than Niagara, but it won't quite replace Panama. We should deal very gently with our brother republicans in this matter, because their loss is not merely geographical and political, but literary as well. For instance, Panama," the place of the butterflies" in the Carib tongue, has now become the mart and workshop of the hardworking, cadaverous Gringo, and, of course, all mention of it will have to be omitted from the Parnasso Colombiano, ten portly tomes, weighing nearly a ton, in which all the Colombian poets are enshrined.

When he came to the presidency eight years ago, although the political conditions were anything but favourable, General Reyes recognised the absolute necessity of public improvements. Assisted by competent engineers, native as well as foreign, he drew up a comprehensive scheme, the leading idea of which was to develop a railway system in connection with the Magdalena and also a railway outlet on the Pacific connected

with the valley of the Magdalena and the capital. Access to this river is of course of vital importance to the whole region extending on the east to Venezuela. Of course political as well as commercial requirements make it necessary to improve the present means of access to the capital. Lines which were in progress when General Reyes was exiled would very shortly have brought the capital into railway communication with Honda, thus avoiding all the costly transfers of freight and passengers and the exasperating delays of the smaller steamers on the upper Magdalena.

The general's railway scheme after careful surveys had been made assumed the feasibility of through rail communications from the capital north to the Caribbean coast. Grave engineering difficulties are encountered, but these could be overcome. To-day the great, and for the present insuperable, obstacle to carrying out these well-considered plans is the reluctance of foreign capitalists to subject themselves to the political domination of the powers-that-be at Bogotá.

On the west or Pacific side of the country the plan was to consolidate into a single line several of the smaller railways under construction or planned, so that the port of Buena Ventura would also be placed in direct railway communication with the capital. There are many other railway branches equally important under discussion, but at present there is little active construction work going on. Stagnation has resumed its sway in the Andean capital. The impression seems to have deepened that there is no man in the country who can succeed in the work of reorganisation and rehabilitation where Reyes failed, and the outlook is anything but encouraging either for natives or foreigners resi

dent in a land which, though blessed with every natural gift, will doubtless have to pay to the uttermost farthing the penalty of one hundred years of misgov

ernment.

It cannot be denied that up to the present the history of railway construction in the republic has been a most discouraging one. Numerous concessions were made to natives and to foreigners who were supposed to have the necessary capital, but who as it generally turned out did not. In some instances the railroads were bonded and the bonds were sold on what at first seemed very attractive terms to investors, but in many instances the actual construction amounted practically to nothing. During General Reyes' administration 150 miles of new railway construction was completed. Taken by itself this seems a very small increase; nevertheless, it is greater than the entire construction during the previous twenty-five years, and was naturally taken as an augury of the success of the comprehensive policy which Reyes insisted upon as the most important feature of his programme. The fiscal policy of the government was to grant a subsidy in the form of interest-bearing bonds. covering a specific number of miles as they were completed. Large land grants were also made, and in some of the concessions a percentage of custom-house receipts was ordered set aside to meet the interest charges and the creation of a sinking fund. Such, in a few words, was the railroad programme upon which work is now almost completely at a standstill. A curious feature of the situation, and one which makes it extremely improbable that railway construction will be soon taken up again in the vigorous manner which characterised the first months of General Reyes' administration, is

that it is estimated that about one-third of the ablebodied population of the country is employed in some form or other as a boatman or a muleteer in one of the archaic forms of transportation in use. These men are all voters, and when their vested rights are interfered with are inclined to be revolutionists.

The fall of General Reyes and his disappearance from the political scene in Colombia is a great disappointment to the well-wishers of that country. His failure to maintain law and order illustrates the difficulty of the task to which he was called, almost unanimously it seemed, four years ago. Reyes was then not only the most popular man in the country, but he deserved all his popularity and more. He took a statesmanlike view of the problem posed by our summary recognition of the Panama republic and our purchase of the Canal Zone; and the tripartite treaty between the United States, Panama, and Colombia, to which Reyes assented, was undoubtedly, if not a solution, at all events the most satisfactory arrangement of a vexatious question that could be hoped for.

His assent cost Reyes his popularity and made his overthrow possible, but it cannot be denied that on the other hand the preponderating factor in his fall was the chronic state of civic commotion in which the Colombians live.

If the prophets of four years ago who promised us such great things from a Reyes dictatorship had only studied the history of the country they would not have fallen into such an error. A personal dictatorship has often been exercised in Venezuela and in Nicaragua, but the supreme power in Colombia has never been exercised by one man, but is always vested in a ring

made up of military Jefes and provincial bandits who select one of their number for the presidency.* When, however, he does not do exactly as they desire or fails to divide up the spoils of office according to their ideas of fairness, suddenly there comes "un golpe de cuartel" -a military revolt-and presto! another constitutional President is selected.

It is difficult to say whether the ring dictatorship, or the concentration of power in the hands of one-man forms of misrepresentative government common in Latin-America, is the more hurtful. The result is generally the same. Industry, education, and justice are placed under a taboo and anarchy and crime prevail throughout the land. Reyes knew his own people better than any foreigner can ever hope to know them, and doubtless his motives were of the best and the most patriotic when he fell short of the high standards of government which we had expected of him. He tried to play practical politics, and the last two years of his administration were certainly tarnished by administrative corruption. He granted commercial monopolies to his friends, and to men whom he wished to enroll among his supporters, that never should have been granted. This policy of compromise failed as it always does fail, and it must be admitted that Reyes finally left the country having lost everything, including his high reputation for personal integrity which he maintained so long under such untoward circumstances.

Whatever may be the verdict of history upon his political career, it is certain that as an explorer Rafael Reyes has gathered imperishable laurels. He has laid

*Civic commotions in Colombia from 1864 are enumerated in Appendix E, Note II, page 441.