Part 35

In 1904 the troubled term of President Marroquin came to an end, and by the narrowest of majorities General Rafael Reyes was elected in his place. He had been sent as a special envoy to Washington to protest against the recognition of Panama, and to attempt to revive the Hay-Herran treaty, and to secure favourable terms for Colombia in the matter of the canal. He failed to do so, but it was recognized that he had discharged his difficult task with great skill and ability. On his accession to office as president he found the country exhausted and disorganized, more especially in the department of finance, and the congress was on the whole hostile to him. Finding himself hampered in his efforts to reform abuses, the president dissolved the congress, and summoned a national constituent and legislative assembly to meet on the 15th of March 1905, and with its aid proceeded to modify the constitution.

Having personal acquaintance with the success of the rule of President Porfirio Diaz in Mexico, General Reyes determined to set about the regeneration of Colombia by similar methods. His tenure of the presidency was extended to a term of ten years from the 1st of January 1905, and the restriction as to re-election at the end of that term was withdrawn, other alterations being made in the constitution with the effect of placing General Reyes really in the position of a dictator. He soon proved that he had the ability and the integrity of purpose to use his great opportunity for the benefit of his country. His firm and masterful government and wise measures did much to allay the spirit of unrest which had so long been the bane of Colombia, and though an attempt at assassination was made in the spring of 1906, the era of revolution appeared to be over.

The chief foreign treaties entered into by Colombia in the last quarter of the 19th century were:--(1) A treaty with Great Britain, signed on the 27th of October 1888, for the extradition of criminals; (2) a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation with Italy, signed on the 27th of October 1892; (3) two protocols with Italy, signed respectively on the 24th of May and on the 25th of August 1886, in connexion with the affair of the Italian subject Cerruti; (4) a consular convention with Holland, signed on the 20th of July 1881; (5) a treaty of peace and friendship with Spain, signed on the 30th of January 1881; (6) a convention with Spain for the reciprocal protection of intellectual property; (7) a concordat with the Vatican, signed on the 31st of December 1887; (8) an agreement with the Vatican, signed on the 20th of August 1892, in connexion with ecclesiastical jurisdiction; (9) an agreement with the republic of San Salvador, signed on the 24th of December 1880, in regard to the despatch of a delegate to an international congress; (10) a treaty of peace, friendship and commerce with Germany, signed on the 23rd of July 1892; (11) a treaty with the republic of Costa Rica, signed in 1880, for the delimitation of the boundary; (12) the postal convention, signed at Washington, on the 4th of July 1891; (13) a convention with Great Britain, signed on the 31st of July 1896, in connexion with the claim of Messrs Punchard, M'Taggart, Lowther & Co.; (14) a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation with Peru, signed on the 6th of August 1898; (15) an extradition treaty with Peru, signed on the 6th of August 1898; (16) a treaty of peace, friendship and defensive alliance with Venezuela, signed on the 21st of November 1896, and on the same date a treaty regulating the frontier commerce. (G. E.)

AUTHORITIES.--C. E. Akers, _A History of South America, 1854-1904_ (New York, 1905); J. J. Borda, _Compendio de historia de Colombia_ (Bogotá, 1890); Salvador Roldan Camacho, _Notas de viaje_ (Bogotá, 1890), and _Escritos varios_ (Bogotá, 1892); Dr Alfred Hettner, _Reisen in den colombianischen Anden_ (Leipzig, 1888); Angel Lemos, _Compendio de geografia de la Républica de Colombia_ (Medellin, 1894); Albert Millican, _Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter_ (London, 1891); J. M. Cordovez Mauro, _Reminiscencias Santafé y Bogotá_ (Bogotá, 1899); Norris and Laird (Bureau of Navigation), _Telegraphic Determination of Longitudes in Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and on the North Coast of South America_ (Washington, 1891); R. Nuñez and H. Jalhay, _La République de Colombia, géographie, histoire, &c._ (Bruxelles, 1893); J. M. Q. Otero, _Historia Patria_ (Bogotá, 1891); Lisimaco Palaü, _La Républica de Colombia_ (1893); M. Paz and F. Perez, _Atlas geográfico e histórico de la República de Colombia_ (1893); R. S. Pereira, _Les États Unis de Colombia_ (Paris, 1883); Felipe Perez, _Geografia general, fisica y politica de los Estados Unidos de Colombia_ (Bogotá, 1883); F. Loraine Petrie, _The Republic of Colombia_ (London, 1906); Elisée Réclus, _Geografia de Colombia_ (Bogotá, 1893); W. Reiss and A. Stübel, _Reisen in Südamerika. Geologische Studien in der Republik Colombia_ (Berlin, 1893); Ernesto Restrepo, _Ensayo etnografico y arqueologico de la provincia de los Quimbayas_ (Bogotá, 1892), and _Estudios sobre los aborigines de Colombia_ (Bogotá, 1892); Vicente Restrepo, _Estudio sobre las minas de oro y plata de Colombia_ (Bogotá, 1888, translated by C. W. Fisher, New York, 1886); W. L. Scruggs, _The Colombian and Venezuelan Republics_ (London, 1899; Boston, 1900); W. Sievers, _Reisen in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta_ (Leipzig, 1887); F. J. Vergara y Velasco, _Nueva geografia de Colombia_ (Bogotá, 1892); Frank Vincent, _Around and About South America_ (New York, 1890); R. G. Watson, _Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period_ (2 vols., London, 1884).

See also the diplomatic and consular reports of Great Britain and the United States; publications of the International Bureau of American Republics (Washington, D.C.); Bureau of Statistics, _Commercial America in 1905_ (Washington, 1906).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See A. Hettner and G. Linck, "Beiträge zur Geologie und Petrographie der columbianischen Anden," _Zeits. deutsch. geol. Ges._ vol. xl. (1888), pp. 204-230; W. Sievers, "Die Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta und die Sierra de Perijá," _Zeits. Ges. Erdk. Berlin_, vol. xxiii. (1888), pp. 1-158 and p. 442, Pls. i. and iii.; A. Hettner, "Die Kordillere von Bogotá," _Peterm. Mitt._, Ergänzungsheft 104 (1892), and "Die Anden des westlichen Columbiens," _Peterm. Mitt._ (1893), pp. 129-136; W. Reiss and A. Stübel, _Reisen in Süd America. Geologische Studien in der Republik Colombia_ (Berlin, 1892-1899),--a good geological bibliography will be found in part ii. of this work.

COLOMBIER, PIERRE BERTRAND DE (1299-1361), French cardinal and diplomatist, was born at Colombier in Ardèche. He was nephew and namesake of Cardinal Pierre Bertrand of Annonay. After a careful juristic education he was successively advocate at the parlement of Paris, intendant of the council of the count of Nevers (1321), and counsellor-clerk to the parlement (1329). Having taken holy orders, he became dean of St Quentin in 1330, and was employed to negotiate the marriage of the duke of Normandy, the future king John the Good of France, with the daughter of the king of Bohemia. In 1335 he became bishop of Nevers, in 1339 of Arras, and contributed to bring the county of Flanders into the kingdom of France. Created cardinal priest of St Susanna in 1344, he was employed by the pope on important missions, notably to negotiate peace or an armistice between France and England. Having become bishop of Ostia in 1353, he was sent next year to Charles IV. of Germany, and induced him to come to Italy to be crowned emperor at Rome, 1355. In 1356 he went to France to try to arrange a peace with England, and died in 1361 at the priory of Montaud near Avignon.

See A. Mazon, _Essai historique sur l'état du Vivarais pendant la guerre de cent ans_ (Paris, 1889), with references there.

COLOMBO, the capital and principal seaport of Ceylon, situated on the west coast of the island. Pop. (1901) 154,691. Colombo stands to the south of the mouth of the river Kelani. The coast-land is here generally low-lying, but broken by slight eminences. The great artificial harbour, enclosed by breakwaters, is bounded on the south by a slight promontory. This is occupied by the quarter of the city known as the Fort, from the former existence of a fort founded by the Portuguese and reconstructed by the Dutch. In 1869 the governor, Sir Hercules Robinson (afterwards Lord Rosmead), obtained authority to demolish the fortifications, which were obsolete for purposes of defence, and required 6000 men to man them properly. The levelling of the walls and filling up of the moat made the Fort much more accessible and healthy, and since then it has become the business centre of the city. Here are situated Queen's House, the governor's residence; the secretariat or government offices, and other government buildings, such as the fine general post office and the customs house. Here also are most of the principal hotels, which have a peculiarly high reputation among European hotels in the East. A lofty tower serves as the principal lighthouse of the port and also as a clock-tower. On the south side of the Fort are extensive barracks. The old banqueting-hall of the Dutch governors is used as the garrison church of St Peter.

To the north-east of the Fort, skirting the harbour, are the Pettah, the principal native quarter, the districts of Kotahena and Mutwall, and suburbs beyond. In this direction the principal buildings are the Wolfendahl church, a massive Doric building of the Dutch (1749); the splendid Roman Catholic cathedral of St Lucia (completed in 1904); and St Thomas's College (1851), which follows the lines of an English public school. Close to this last is the Anglican cathedral of Christ Church. The Kotahena temple is the chief Buddhist temple in Colombo.

To the north-east of the Fort is the Lake, a ramifying sheet of fresh water, which adds greatly to the beauty of the site of Colombo, its banks being clothed with luxuriant foliage and flowers. The narrow isthmus between this lake and the sea, south of the Fort, is called Galle Face, and is occupied chiefly by promenades and recreation grounds. The peninsula enclosed by two arms of the Lake is known as Slave Island, having been the site of a slave's prison under the Dutch. South-east of this is the principal residential quarter of Colombo, with the circular Victoria Park as its centre. To the east of the park a series of parallel roads, named after former British governors, are lined with beautiful bungalows embowered in trees. This locality is generally known as the Cinnamon Gardens, as it was formerly a Dutch reserve for the cultivation of the cinnamon bush, many of which are still growing here. In the park is the fine Colombo Museum, founded by Sir William Gregory; and near the neighbouring Campbell Park are the handsome buildings of a number of institutions, such as Wesley College, and the General, Victoria Memorial Eye and other hospitals. South of Victoria Park is the Havelock racecourse. Among educational establishments not hitherto mentioned are the Royal College, the principal government institution, the government technical college and St Joseph's Roman Catholic college. Most of the town is lighted by gas, and certain quarters with electric light, and electric tramways have been laid over several miles of the city roads. The water-supply is drawn from a hill region 30 m. distant.

Under British rule Colombo has shared in the prosperity brought to the island by the successive industries of coffee and tea-planting. At the height of the coffee-growing enterprise 20,000 men, women and children, chiefly Sinhalese and Tamils, found employment in the large factories and stores of the merchants scattered over the town, where the coffee was cleaned, prepared, sorted and packed for shipment. Tea, on the contrary, is prepared and packed on the estates; but there is a considerable amount of work still done in the Colombo stores in sorting, blending and repacking such teas as are sold at the local public sales; also in dealing with cacao, cardamoms, cinchona bark and the remnant still left of the coffee industry. But it is to its position as one of the great ports of call of the East that Colombo owes its great and increasing importance. A magnificent breakwater, 4200 ft. long, the first stone of which was laid by the prince of Wales in 1875, was completed in 1884. This breakwater changed an open roadstead into a harbour completely sheltered on the most exposed or south-west side; but there was still liability in certain months to storms from the north-west and south-east. Two additional arms were therefore constructed, consisting of a north-east and north-west breakwater, leaving two openings, one 800 ft. and the other 700 ft. wide, between the various sections. The area enclosed is 660 acres. A first-class graving-dock, of which the Admiralty bore half the cost, has also been added. These improvements caused Galle to be abandoned as a port of call for steamers in favour of Colombo, while Trincomalee has been abandoned as a naval station. The port has assumed first-class importance, mail steamers calling regularly as well as men-of-war and the mercantile marine of all nations; and it is now one of the finest artificial harbours in the world. The extension of railways also has concentrated the trade of the island upon the capital, and contributed to its rise in prosperity.

Colombo was originally known as the Kalantotta or Kalany ferry. By the Arabs the name was changed to Kolambu, and the town was mentioned by Ibn Batuta in 1346 as the largest and finest in Serendib. In 1517 the Portuguese effected a settlement, and in 1520 they fortified their port and bade defiance to the native besiegers. In 1586 the town was invested by Raja Singh, but without success. On its capture by the Dutch in 1656 it was a flourishing colony with convents of five religious orders, churches and public offices, inhabited by no fewer than 900 noble families and 1500 families dependent on mercantile or political occupations. In 1796 it was surrendered to the British.

COLON (formerly known as ASPINWALL), a city of the Republic of Panama, on the Atlantic coast, in the Bay of Limon, and 47 m. by rail N.W. of the city of Panama. Pop. (1908) about 3000, consisting largely of Jamaica negroes and natives of mixed Spanish, Indian and African descent. It is served by the Panama railway, which crosses the Isthmus of Panama from ocean to ocean. Colon has a deep, though poorly sheltered harbour, and is either the terminus or a place of call for seven lines of steamships. It thus serves as an entrepôt for much of the commerce between Atlantic and Pacific ports, and between the interior towns of Central and South America and the cities of Europe and the United States. The city lies on the west side of the low island of Manzanillo, is bordered on the landward sides by swamp, and consists mainly of unimposing frame houses and small shops. The most attractive parts are the American quarter, where the employés of the Panama railway have their homes, and the old French quarter, where dwelt the French officers during their efforts to build the canal. In this last district, near the mouth of the old canal, stands a fine statue of Christopher Columbus, the gift of the empress Eugénie in 1870. Here also stands the mansion erected and occupied by Ferdinand de Lesseps during his residence on the isthmus. With the exception of railway shops, there are no important industrial establishments.

Colon dates its origin from the year 1850, when the island of Manzanillo was selected as the Atlantic terminus of the Panama railway. The settlement was at first called Aspinwall, in honour of William H. Aspinwall (1807-1875), one of the builders of the railway; but some years afterwards its name was changed by legislative enactment to Colon, in honour of Christopher Columbus, who entered Limon Bay in 1502. The original name, however, survived among the English-speaking inhabitants for many years after this change. With the completion of the railway in 1855, the town supplanted Chagres (q.v.) as the principal Atlantic port of the isthmus. Later it acquired increased importance through its selection by de Lesseps as the site for the Atlantic entrance to his canal. During the revolution of 1885 it was partly burned and was rebuilt on a somewhat larger plan. As the city has always been notoriously unhealthful, the United States, on undertaking the construction of the Panama Canal (q.v.), became interested in preventing its becoming a centre of infection for the Canal Zone, and by the treaty of November 1903 secured complete jurisdiction in the city and harbour over all matters relating to sanitation and quarantine, and engaged to construct a system of waterworks and sewers in the municipality, which had been practically completed in 1907. The United States government has also opened a port at Cristobal, within the Canal Zone.

COLON, a town of Matanzas province, Cuba, on the railway between Matanzas and Santa Clara, and the centre of a rich sugar-planting country. Pop. (1907) 7124.

COLON, (1) (Gr. [Greek: kolon], miswritten and mispronounced as [Greek: kôlon], the term being taken from [Greek: kolos], curtailed), in anatomy, that part of the greater intestine which extends from the caecum to the rectum (see ALIMENTARY CANAL). (2.) (Gr. [Greek: kôlon], a member or part), originally in Greek rhetoric a short clause longer than the "comma," hence a mark (:), in punctuation, used to show a break in construction greater than that marked by the semicolon (;), and less than that marked by the period or full stop. The sign is also used in psalters and the like to mark off periods for chanting. The word is applied in palaeography to a unit of measure in MSS., amounting in length to a hexameter line.

COLONEL (derived either from Lat. _columna_, Fr. _colonne_, column, or Lat. _corona_, a crown), the superior officer of a regiment of infantry or cavalry; also an officer of corresponding rank in the general army list. The colonelcy of a regiment formerly implied a proprietary right in it. Whether the colonel commanded it directly in the field or not, he always superintended its finance and interior economy, and the emoluments of the office, in the 18th century, were often the only form of pay drawn by general officers. The general officers of the 17th and 18th centuries were invariably colonels of regiments, and in this case the active command was exercised by the lieutenant-colonels. At the present day, British general officers are often, though not always, given the colonelcy of a regiment, which has become almost purely an honorary office. The sovereign, foreign sovereigns, royal princes and others, hold honorary colonelcies, as colonels-in-chief or honorary colonels of many regiments. In other armies, the regiment being a fighting unit, the colonel is its active commander; in Great Britain the lieutenant-colonel commands in the field the battalion of infantry and the regiment of cavalry. Colonels are actively employed in the army at large in staff appointments, brigade commands, &c. extra-regimentally. Colonel-general, a rank formerly used in many armies, still survives in the German service, a colonel-general (_General-Oberst_) ranking between a general of infantry, cavalry or artillery, and a general field marshal (_General-Feldmarschall_). Colonels-general are usually given the honorary rank of general field marshal.

COLONIAL OFFICE, the department of the administration of the United Kingdom which deals with questions affecting the various colonial possessions of the British crown. The department as it now exists is of comparatively modern creation, dating only from 1854. The affairs of the English colonies began to assume importance at the Restoration, and were at first entrusted to a committee of the privy council, but afterwards transferred to a commission created by letters patent. From 1672 to 1675 the council for trade was combined with this commission, but in the latter year the colonies were again placed under the control of the privy council. This arrangement continued until 1695, when a Board of Trade and Plantations was created; its duty, however, was confined to collecting information and giving advice when required. The actual executive work was performed by the secretary of state for the southern department, who was assisted, from 1768 to 1782, by a secretary of state for the colonies. Both the Board of Trade and Plantations and the additional secretary were abolished in 1782, and the executive business wholly given over to the home office. In 1794 a third secretary of state was reappointed, and in 1801 this secretary was designated as secretary of state for war and the colonies. In 1854 the two offices were separated, and a distinct office of secretary of state for the colonies created.

The secretary of state for the colonies is the official medium of communication with colonial governments; he has certain administrative duties respecting crown colonies, and has a right of advising the veto of an act of a colonial legislature--this veto, however, is never exercised in the case of purely local statutes. He is assisted by a permanent and a parliamentary under-secretary and a considerable clerical staff.

As reorganized in 1907 the colonial office consists of three chief departments: (1) the Dominions Department, dealing with the affairs of the self-governing over-sea dominions of the British crown, and of certain other possessions geographically connected with those dominions; (2) the Colonial Department, dealing with the affairs of crown colonies and protectorates; (3) the General Department, dealing with legal, financial and other general business. In addition to these three departments, standing committees exist to take a collective view of such matters as contracts, concessions, mineral and other leases, and patronage.