from Colombia and establish their own independence. The most
illiterate of them could understand that, if they were
independent, the money which they received and passed on to
Bogota., for the bandits there to spend, would remain in their
own hands. An appeal to their love of liberty, being coupled with
so obvious an appeal to their pockets, was irresistible.

Just what devices the French Company employed to instigate
revolution, can be read in the interesting work of M.
Bunau-Varilla, one of the most zealous officers of the French
Company, who had devoted his life to achieving the construction
of the Trans-Isthmian Canal. He was indefatigable, breezy, and
deliberately indiscreet. He tells much, and what he does not tell
he leaves you to infer, without risk of going astray. Mr. William
Nelson Cromwell, of New York; the general counsel of the Company,
offset Varilla's loquacity by a proper amount of reticence.
Bunau-Varilla hurried over from Paris, and had interviews with
President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, but could not draw them
into his conspiracy. The President told him that, at the utmost,
he would only order American warships, which were on the Panama
coast, to prevent any attack from outside which might cause
bloodshed and interfere with the undisturbed passage across the
Isthmus, a duty which the United States was pledged to perform.

The French zealot-conspirator freely announced that the
revolution at Panama would take place at noon on November 3d. It
did take place as scheduled without violence, and with only the
accidental killing of a Chinaman and a dog. The next day the
Revolutionists proclaimed the Republic of Panama, and on November
6th the United States formally recognized its existence and