I deem it my duty to say that the pretended fairness of the law on its
face is but a snare. The law will be taken by the reckless chiefs who
rule throughout the country as a license to despoil foreigners in times
both of civil war and peace, according to their own interpretation of
international law.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
P. S.—Since writing the foregoing the British minister has said to me
that he has written substantially the same to his government.
A.
[Translation.]
Law defining the status, rights, and
duties of foreigners.
The congress of the United States of Colombia decrees:
Article 1. Foreigners, transient or
domiciled, shall enjoy in the territory of the Union the guarantees
mentioned in article 15 of the constitution, without any limitations
other than those prescribed by international law in cases of foreign
war.
Art. 2. Foreigners domiciled in the United
States of Colombia, and not simply transients according to
international law and usages, and who have not been naturalized in
conformity with section 3, article 31, of the constitution, shall
enjoy the same civil rights and guarantees, and be subject to the
same obligations as to person and property, as Colombians.
Art. 3. Foreigners thus domiciliated shall
nevertheless enjoy the exemptions to which they may be entitled by
public treaties, and the same which Colombians under the same
circumstances may enjoy by the laws and customs of the country to
which the foreigner may belong.
Art. 4. The declaration of a foreigner
before a political authority of the country of his intention to
become domiciliated in it shall be sufficient to bring him within
the provisions of article 2.
Art. 5. The following circumstances shall
be held as presumptions of a foreigner’s intention to become
domiciliated in the United States of Colombia.
1st. Voluntary and continued residence within the territory of the
Union for more than four years without being clothed with a
diplomatic or consular character, or being the agent or acting on
commission for others residing in a foreign country.
2d. The voluntary acquisition, accompanied by possession of the same,
of real estate in the territory of the Union, provided the owner or
possessor shall reside in the country.
3d. Residence in the territory of the Union as a merchant, and having
an established house, except in cases of the agents of, and those
acting on commission for, others resident in foreign countries.
4th. Marriage with a native of the country, and a voluntary and fixed
residence in it for more than two continuous years.
5th. The voluntary acceptance and discharge of the duties of any post
in the public service of the country.
Art. 6. The foregoing presumptions will
render a foreigner liable to the tributes and contributions which
the law imposes on Colombians until it be made to appear before the
authorities that, under the same circumstances, the laws of the
country to which the foreigner may belong give the Colombians the
exemptions claimed by the foreigner.
Art. 7. Foreigners not domiciled, or
transients, shall be exempt from all burdens or personal tributes,
employments, military service, forced loans or exactions in time of
peace or war, saving the burdens recognized by international right
or usage. But if the laws or usages of a foreign country shall
subject Colombians not domiciled or transient to any of the burdens
named in this article, the exemption in part of the foreigner shall
cease.
Art. 8 Foreigners, not clothed with a
diplomatic character, who shall lose their character of neutrals by
voluntarily taking part in the civil or national strifes of the
country, shall be deemed in the same situation as natives before the
law, to the effect of bearing the burdens resulting from a state of
war, both as to their persons and property.
Art. 9. The law of April 19, 1865,
“defining the status, rights, and duties of
foreigners,” is hereby repealed.
Done in Bogota, June 13, 1866.
AQUILÉO PARRA, President of the
Senate.
JULIAN TRUJILLO, President of the
House of Representatives.
AURELINO GONZALES, Secretary of the
Senate.
FRANCISCO V. DE LA ESPRIELLA, Secretary of the House of Representatives.
Bogota, June 21, 1866.
Let the foregoing be published and executed.
[l. s.] T. C. DE MOSQUERA.
José M. Rojas
Garrido, Secretary of the Interior
and Foreign Relations.
