The United States, however, absolutely refused to consider any other terms than those already agreed upon, and the civilised world saw the completion of an enterprise promising incalculable benefits to mankind indefinitely postponed by the opposition of Andean provinces whom the accidents of war and international politics had given an arbitrary control over a region with which they had no natural connection. The situation was particularly hard for the people of the Isthmus, whose confident hopes were now disappointed of at last receiving, by the prosperity which would follow the building of the canal, some compensation for the oppression and losses they had suffered during eighty years of misrule by the Bogotá oligarchies. Hardly had the treaty been rejected when plotting for a declaration of independence began. The resident population was unanimous, and good grounds existed for believing that even the Colombian garrison would offer no resistance unless reinforcements should come from Bogotá. In case of an armed conflict with Colombia the people of Panama could count on the sympathy of all America and Europe. The stockholders of the French Company had a direct pecuniary interest in their success. If once they could establish independence and a de facto government, Colombia could not deliver an effective attack without violating the neutrality and security of transit guaranteed to the Isthmus by the United States. Everything pointed to the success of a well-conducted movement.

Though the preparations for the revolt could not be concealed, the Bogotá government took no effective measures to forestall it. Warned that trouble was impending, the United States sent ships to prevent fighting that might interfere with transit. The new republic was proclaimed at Panama on the 3rd of November, 1903. The Colombian authorities made no resistance; the garrison surrendered without firing a shot; and the entire population acquiesced in the appointment of a provisional government, pending the calling of a convention and the adoption of a Constitution. A small force of Colombians had been landed at Colon, but the revolution at Panama found it still on the Atlantic side. On November 4th the American naval commander refused to give these troops permission to use the railroad for warlike purposes. Because the vital portion of the new republic is virtually neutral under the treaty of 1846, the provisional government having established itself in peaceable possession was safe from external attack. The useless Colombian troops at Colon either joined the people of Panama or retired. The inhabitants of Colon and the outlying districts immediately sent in their adherence, and the peace of the whole Isthmian region remained unbroken. On the 13th of November the United States recognised the new republic, being followed by France on the 18th, and then by all other nations as soon as diplomatic formalities could be complied with. Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero was elected first president of the Republic of Panama, being inaugurated on February 19, 1904. A treaty with the United States for the building of the canal was framed on substantially the same lines as the one which had been negotiated with Colombia. By the end of February it had been ratified and proclaimed, and the United States at once made preparations for the beginning of the work.

MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA

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