Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Iii Part 29

On all these accounts we feel that our warmest thanks are due to you for your disinterested exertions for the promotion of our welfare. As an enduring testimony thereof, we request the acceptance of this purse, the contents of which we beg you will devote to the purchase of some piece of plate that we trust may be regarded by your family and your countrymen, not only as a tribute of respect to your varied talents, but as a well-merited memento of the grateful acknowledgment by the people of the province of Auckland of the eminent scientific and practical services rendered to them by you.

We are desirous that the plate should bear the following inscription:

"Presented to Dr. Hochstetter, Geologist attached to the Imperial Royal Austrian Scientific Expedition in the frigate _Novara_, by the inhabitants of the Province of Auckland, New Zealand, in testimony of the eminent services rendered to them by his researches into the Mineral and Agricultural resources of the Province."

Signed on behalf of the subscribers,

R. MOULD, JOHN WILLIAMSON, Colonel, commanding Royal Engineers, Superintendent, Chairman of Committee. Province of Auckland.

_Auckland, 24th July, 1857._

APPENDIX VI. (p. 193.)

ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITY AND PROVINCE OF NELSON TO THE GEOLOGIST OF THE NOVARA.

Dr. Hochstetter,

Before your departure from among us, we, the inhabitants of the Province and City of Nelson, beg to express to you our great obligations for the benefits which you have conferred upon us as a community.

Though we cannot but congratulate you upon your approaching return to your country and your family, we have strong personal reasons for looking upon it with regret. We feel that it has been no light or trifling advantage to have had among us one of that small cla.s.s of men who conduct the great national expeditions by which the benefits of science are distributed over the world.

We know that such an one comes invested with the highest possible authority to speak decidedly on the subjects of his investigations, and are sure that we may place the most implicit confidence in his statements.

It is the great characteristic of such scientific pursuits as you are engaged in, that though on the one hand they are joined to the deepest and inmost principles of nature, on the other they are linked to the daily wants and commonest necessities of life. We believe therefore that your visit here will not be barren of practical results. We believe that it will give us both a desire to develope, as far as possible, our share of the gifts of nature, and a knowledge how we may best do this.

We know that we have had no special claims on you for the interest you have taken in our welfare. The advantages which we have derived from it are, however, of such a kind that both those who give and those who receive may be proud of. We have had many opportunities of noticing how earnestly you pursue knowledge for its own sake, and are glad to find that those who do so are the most ready to employ for the benefit of others what they have acquired themselves. You have done this in our case with considerable personal exertion and discomfort, which have been cheerfully encountered by your diligence and activity.

We do not wish to do more than allude to considerations of a personal kind. But we must express our appreciation of your courteous and kind behaviour towards us, and a.s.sure you that few men could have been among us for so short a time and have acquired so much of the character of a personal friend.

We beg your acceptance of the accompanying Testimonial, the product of our Gold-fields, and we ask you to apply it to the purchase of a piece of plate, which may help to keep us in your remembrance, and on which we ask you to place the following inscription:--

"Presented to Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter, Geologist to the Imperial Royal Austrian Scientific Expedition in the frigate _Novara_, by the inhabitants of the Province of Nelson, New Zealand, as a record of their appreciation of the great benefits conferred upon them and the Colony by his frank communication of the results of his zealous and able researches into the geological character and mineral resources of the Province."

We earnestly hope that all good may go with you on your return to Europe, and that after a pleasant and speedy voyage you may reach in safety your home and friends. And with this wish we bid you heartily "Farewell."

Signed on behalf of the inhabitants of Nelson:

J. P. ROBINSON, Superintendent of the Province of Nelson, New Zealand.

APPENDIX VII.

NEW GRANADA has now taken the t.i.tle of the United States of Colombia, as appears from the following doc.u.ment translated from the Spanish circular to the Diplomatic Officials and Consuls of the United States of Colombia.

Secretary of State and Foreign Affairs.

Sir,--

In order that you may be exactly acquainted with the situation of the country, the undersigned Secretary of State, proposes to inform you every fortnight of the progress of the nation, setting forth fully and frankly all that has been done, neither misrepresenting nor omitting anything which, whether favourable or adverse to the new order of things in Colombia, may be worthy of your notice.

You are not ignorant that since July 18, 1861, when the Federal Government came into power in Bogota, the States of Cauca, Antioquia, Santander, and Tolima have continued in the hands of the Centralists. You are not ignorant that the decrees of "Tincion and Desamortizacion" of effects in mortmain, put forth during the days which followed the 18th of July, provoked the most violent discontent on the part of the ultramontane clergy; and that these clergy, exchanging piety for gain, and setting aside all the Christian precepts of charity, renunciation of worldly goods, moderation, and submission to the powers that be, placed themselves in open rebellion, and endeavoured by every possible means to subvert the peace. Thus Romanism succeeded in raising in Santander an army of 3000 men, in Tolima another of 1000, and in Boyaca and Cundinamarca several armed companies, one of which (that of Guasca) numbered upwards of 1000 soldiers. The Government did not, nevertheless, concern itself much about this, because on its side were reason, opinion, and strength. Now, I am glad to tell you, that out of the nine States of the Colombian Union, seven enjoy an order and tranquillity as absolute as unchangeable. The heroic State of Santander, so maltreated by the Centralists during four years, does not contain on its soil one armed enemy, and its Government, diligent and efficient in peace as in war, is directing its attention to the re-establishment of commerce and the good exercise of its administration. The faction of Tolima, after having committed incalculable depredations and excesses, has been completely subdued. The parties fomented in Boyaca and Cundinamarca have been broken up; the only one which has. .h.i.therto been able to maintain a footing, although considerably diminished, that of Guasca, has been overcome during the last few days, its chief having been killed in battle. The only disturbed States are therefore now those of Cauca and Antioquia. Thus, then, considering that the seven States in which order and peace reign, Panama, Bolivar, Magdalena, Santander, Boyaca, Cundinamarca, and Tolima, are on the coast, in the north and centre; that is to say, the most important ones in a commercial, financial, and military point of view, because in them are princ.i.p.ally found the ports through which our foreign commerce is carried on, the rich custom-houses, the salt mines, the navigable rivers, the most valuable riches, the most abundant agricultural produce, the sources of our exports, the great ma.s.s of the population, and the greatest amount of the national strength; it may very reasonably be concluded that Colombian order rests upon firm bases,--and considering, further, that in the two States still unquiet, the disturbers are reduced to very narrow limits, having no port through which to introduce the elements of war, no funds at their disposal to increase or maintain their present force;--that public opinion is generally against them, seeking all means of showing them hostility, of diminis.h.i.+ng their army, and of closing to them all resources;--that they are closely threatened by a numerous, trained, enthusiastic army, in perfect discipline, and well supplied with provisions and ammunition;--that this army, part of which occupies the south of the valley of Cauca, another part the Andes of Quindio, and the other preparing at Mompos to penetrate, if necessary, into Antioquia, commanded by experienced generals, under the immediate direction of the President of the Union;--and lastly, that the insurgent troops will amount at most but to a third part of those sent against them by the Government; that they are in want both of provisions and arms, as also of able generals:--when all this is considered, I say, it must be concluded that ere long peace will be re-established in these two States as it has already been in the rest of Colombia. It is not without regret that the President is about to undertake military operations against the two disturbed States, for his most earnest desire has been to establish tranquillity by means of conciliation, without fighting. The conduct observed by him since the commencement of the civil war has been in keeping with this desire. Only to mention recent events, hardly was Bogota occupied in 1861, ere he addressed himself with this object in the most conciliating terms to the Governments of the insurgent States. That of Antioquia had not even the courtesy to answer him. A new and even more advantageous offer of peace, on the occasion of convoking the National Convention, has been made, proving the patriotic feeling of the President and the obduracy of the Centralists ruling in Antioquia. And it must be remembered that the leniency of the Government of the Union is so much the more praiseworthy, as it has been the Government of Antioquia which has brought upon Cauca the calamity which has now prostrated it. In fact, peace and law would have obtained there many months ago, but for a cruel faction supported and reinforced by the Antioquian Government, who renewed it when it was failing, supplied it with money and munitions, a.s.sisted it with military forces, and maintained anarchy and, not alarm, but terror, in the State of Cauca. But notwithstanding these weighty motives for inducing the Government of the Union to send its army against the State of Antioquia, yet with great magnanimity it has declared that it will only do so in the event of the Government of Antioquia not having agreed to submit to the Union by the 6th of August next, the day on which the national convention is to a.s.semble at Cartajena. It is not indeed possible that this State should be allowed to remain separate from the Union, against the will of the Antioquian people, who do not join in the views of those now ruling them, nor is it to be endured that they should carry on against the other States and the Government of the Union a useless war, for no defined political object. The States that have not yet chosen their deputies for the Convention are now engaged in electing them. For the rest, although it may well be thought that after such a war as that through which we have pa.s.sed the re-establishment of order and harmony in the different branches of public administration, as well in the States as in the Union, must be a long and anxious task, yet fortunately quite the contrary has taken place. Immediately after the battles in which the Federalists were successful society began to enjoy well-regulated civil and judicial administration, and consequently confidence, commerce, labour, social life, and striving for peace, were renewed with vigour. Our people is as much the friend of order and justice as of liberty and independence. To obey willingly it only desires from its governors honesty, activity, loyalty to inst.i.tutions, patriotism, and respect for the ever moderate wishes of the country. The nation hates civil war, not alone from reason, but from instinct; it has not spontaneously sought the sad experience it has had of this terrible calamity; our strifes have not come from below; the incendiary torch fell from the seat of the chief Government. At least this is what has happened during the years just past.

But this longing for durable peace, this dearly-bought experience, and this horror of civil war, joined to a moderate and firm love of liberty and a decided spirit of progress, will produce without doubt a const.i.tution liberal, just, foreseeing, and clear, and for the future will excite the attention of the people to the election of their high officials. The President of the Union is in the country; his head-quarters are in no fixed place; until now he has been first in Piedras and then in Ambalema. A general secretary accompanies the President, for the despatch of administrative matters of a serious nature, or connected with the war, so that there may be no branch of government neglected, nor any subject of public interest which shall not be attended to as in ordinary times. This city, made nearly a year ago into a Federal district, has a governor and a sufficient number of alcaldes and other subalterns to maintain order and police. Besides the army which is moving upon Antioquia and Cauca, there has been raised and organized another of reserve, as strong as the former, and divided into three parts, which garrison the States of Santander, Boyaca, and Cundinamarca. The national engagements in matters of credit have engaged the attention of the Government in the most especial manner.

No outlay, not even to satisfy the necessities of existence, does it prefer to fulfilling its obligations with foreign creditors. Also are religiously cancelled the obligations in favour of foreigners given by the disloyal Government of the extinct Granadine Confederation, for the sums taken to make war upon the States which have supported Federal inst.i.tutions. Property belonging to foreigners is more efficiently protected than it appears ever to have been before. In fact, all that has relation to the faithful observance of public treaties, to the persons, properties, and rights of citizens, or subjects of other nations, is a subject of special solicitude to the Colombian Government, it being well persuaded that the civilization as well as the good of the country demand a faithful fulfilment of its foreign engagements, in order to raise the national credit, and to aggrandize, by the increase of knowledge, of wealth, and population, the modest country in which our lot has been cast.

To conclude, a solid and general peace is approaching with quick steps, and I believe that I shall be able to announce it to you definitely, together with the notice of the commencement of the operation of the national Convention, within two months. Some material improvements have been undertaken; but the favourable moment of entire peace has not yet arrived to carry out all that the Government intends and desires to accomplish. In the "Rejistro Oficial" you will find all that has been done in these branches, and in favour of European immigration and the colonization of our waste lands.

MANUEL ANCISAR.

_Bogota, June 5, 1862._

FOOTNOTES:

[158] The orthography of the above vocabulary is founded upon the ordinary rules for English p.r.o.nunciation. The syllable on which the chief stress is laid is marked when necessary by an accent.

[159] _Robert O'Hara Burke, and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860._ By Andrew Jackson. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.