Bolivia, as the insidious author and
persistent perpetrator of a new inter
national crime.
H.R. Helper.
Washington, 1874.

Bolivia
Cwt y>1

ocii-zig^

QI

"I give tie/e Books
fcr_the founding dj -.a. Colkg. Lruthil Colon]'

•Y^LE«¥MH¥EI^SIir¥»

Private and confidential until I
May 5, 18T4. See page ST. }

BOLIVIA,

INSIDIOUS AUTHOR
AND
PERSISTENT PERPETRATOR

A NEW INTERNATIONAL CRIME.

"Ni malas palabras,
Ni buenas acciones."
Extract from an Epigram against Bolivia, by an offended Spanish-speaking German.
(Neither bad words,
Nor good actions.)

For fifteen years, now going on slxflPn, Bolivia owes for ner
National Maps, and always promises to pay for them,
but seems secretly determined never to do it.
WILX, SHE PAY FOR THEM NOW I

An Appeal to the Congress of the United States for justice in
Behalf of the Claiimkf, Joseph H. jGolxon, by his
Attorney, HiNTO**FSo*f _w H-ELEm

WASHINGTON,
January 3, 1874.

Private and confidential until I
May 6, 18T4. Seo page 3T. J

BOLIVIA,

INSIDIOUS AUTHOR
AND
PERSISTENT PERPETRATOR

OF

A NEW INTERNATIONAL CRIME.

"Ni malas palabras,
Ni buenas acciones."
Extract from an Epigram against Bolivia, by an offended Spanish-speaking German.
(Neither bad words,
Nor good actions.)

For fifteen years, now going on sixteen, Bolivia oives for her
National Maps, and always promises to pay for them,
hut seems secretly determined never to do it.
WILZ, SHE PAY FOR THEM STOW J

An Appeal io the Congress of the United States for justice in
Behalf of the Claimant, Joseph H. Colton, by his
Attorney, Hinton Kowan Helper.

•WASHINGTON,
Jan-oaky 3, 1874.

Not with the intention of selling, for not even so much as a single copy
is to be sold at any price whatever, but, on the contrary, as a means of
effectually preventing publicity, in exa,ct accordance with the assurancs
herein given to the Hon. Secretary of State of Bolivia, under date of Jan
uary 3, 1874, this pamphlet is
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, (January 3) by
HENTQHr ROWAF HELPER,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

A MEMORIAL

FKOM
JOSEPH H. COLTON, OF NEW YORK, TO THE CONGRESS OF THE
UNITED STATES, AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF BOLIVIA.

To the Honorable, the Senators and Representatives of
the United. States of America in Congress Assembled:
Gentlemen : At more than seventy-three years of age, baffled and
perplexed up to a point of complete discomfiture in a matter of officially-
admitted justice due to me, for the last fifteen years, by a foreign
government, with which the Government of the United States has long
been in amicable diplomatic relations, I respectfully come before you with
details and complaints of a series of audacious wrongs, to which I have
been again and again subjected under the operations of a new species of
international crime, which, in this auspicious era of progressive family-
ship and fair-dealing among civilized individuals and nations, could
hardly have had its inception or perpetration outside of Bolivia.
During the summer of 1858, two of Bolivia's most able and distinguished
military engineers, Colonel Juan Ondarza and Commandant Juan Mariano
Mujia, under commission from their government, came and introduced
themselves to me, at my place of business, in the city of New York,
proposing terras for the engraving and publishing of a large map of the
Eepublic of Bolivia, of which map, in rough outline, they themselves, as
army and topographical engineers of the nation, were the authors. On
the 21st of September of the same year, 1858, I acceded to the final terms
which they proposed, and, under that date, entered into a written contract
with them accordingly.
Under the conditions of that contract, I was to. engrave the map artis
tically and in the best manner, on copper-plate, and was then to print
neatly, paste on good canvas, and fit up with mouldings, rollers and rings,
ready for suspension against walls, ten thousand copies of the work — a map
six feet in length by five feet in height— for the round sum of twenty-five
thousand dollars in gold. This was at the rate of only two dollars and fifty
cents for each one ofthe said maps; a price, even at that notable time of
plenty and cheapness, which was, indeed, but very little above the actual
cost of the first-rate materials and labor employed by me. The engraving,
printing, and publishing of such maps now, maps of the same dimensions,
and of equal quality in all respects, would cost very nearly, or quite, one
hundred per cent. more.

At one time the Bolivian Government itself, as will be conclusively
proved iu the course of the following pages, sold two. thousand copies of
these same maps at twelve dollars per copy, and, at another time, three
thousand copies at five dollars per copy; thereby realizing, as proceeds of
the sale of -only one-half of the edition of the said map, a sum total of
thirty-nine thousand dollars, which, as public funds, went into the na
tional treasury. I am also informed, on unquestionable authority, that
certain of these said maps of Bolivia, which were taken thence to the
Argentine Republic, have been sold in Buenos Ayres, and elsewhere in
that Confederation, at the uniform pi-ice of twenty dollars in gold per
copy. Accompanying this memorial is a copy of the map in question. Please
examine it carefully, and dispose of it in whatever manner you may deem
most proper. First the Bolivian Commissioners in New York, and after
ward the Bolivian Government itself, at La Paz, not only approved my
work most entirely and heartily, but expressed themselves as highly de
lighted with the map, and even went so far as to tender me an ostentatious
and formal compliment on the skill and success which, as they were
pleased to say, I had displayed as an American artisan and map-maker.
Those compliments, like many other stupendous monuments in my pos
session of Bolivian verbosity, have proved to be of the value of a very
small fraction of the paper on which they are written.
A part of the foregoing statement of facts is here made in evidence of
the additional fact, (a fact fit to be held in constant remembrance, ) that
I did not, either in person or by agent, go to Bolivia soliciting business,
but that Bolivia came to me, seeking my skill as an engraver, requesting
my services as a publisher, and, by means of false pretences and fraudu
lent promises, betrayiug me into the expenditure of a large portion of my
patiently and justly acquired earnings, the accumulations of long years of
industry and economy on my part, for the gratification and advantage of
herself alone.
Of the twenty-five thousand dollars which the Bolivian Commissioners,
acting for their government, were to pay me in this transaction, the sim
of two thousand dollars was to be paid on the commencement of the
work, and the larger sum, twenty-three thousand dollars, was to be paid on
the completion and delivery of the maps, or very soon afterward. The
smaller sum here mentioned was paid at the time agreed upon ; but the
larger sum, being the bulk ofthe amount due me, has never been paid,
nor even so much as one cent of it, to this day; notwithstanding the fact
that the Bolivian Government has, meanwhile, repeatedly passed acts,
resolutions, and decrees, issued orders in council, given scores of pres
idential asurances, indulged in hundreds of ministerial promises, and
dealt out consular and diplomatic pledges without number, and of the
most solemn and binding character, all acknowledging the sacredness of
Bolivia's purpose and duty to pay the debt, and (in words only, words
inflated and befouled with the falsehoods of fifteen years, words, words,

words,) defining the ways and means, and declaring the times and places,
for a final adjustment of the obligation.
These ever-ready, endless and unfulfilled promises of a nation to pay
an eminently just and frequently acknowledged debt — promises which
have gradually taken on, since 1858, every phase of official and extra
official solemnity that the vilest stretch of disengenuous diplomacy can
possibly apply to any case of debt or credit existing between a Govern
ment, on the one hand, and an alie-n individual on the other — constitute
the new crime upon which I thus especially arraign before the highest
bar of American' justice, and, more generally, before the enlightened
public judgment of all mankind, Bolivia, one of the sovereign and in
dependent powers of the earth, a so-called republic, destitute of truth.
destitute of honor, destitute of shame, and most conspicuously and
painfully distitute of the modicum of merit necessary to entitle her to
even the lowest or meanest place among the august family of nations.
And for this new species of crime, of which it would appear that Bolivia
is alone the execrable author — a crime which she has wilfully and wick
edly perpetrated against me times and ways without number, I now, and
in this manner, respectfully petition your honorable body for speedy and
equitable reparation to myself, and for adequate aud condign punish
ment of the criminal.
Other high crimes and misdemeanors frequently and flagrantly com
mitted by Bolivia, to the galling shame ofthe friends of enlightened self-
government, and to the deep disgrace of true republican institutions, and
upon which glaringly nefarious acts she ought, in a supreme inter
national court of honor and equity, to be at once indicted and denation
alized, will be briefly recorded against her toward the close of this me
morial. The precise measures of redress which I seek, will be found fully and
clearly indicated in the following pages, in which the whole case at issue
is amply elucidated in the correspondence of my last and present attor
ney, Mr. Hinton Rowan Helper, who holds full, exclusive and irrevocable
powers from me, in this case, and with whom your honorable body, or
the Honorable Secretary of State, or other officer or officers ofthe United
States, will please adjust and finally settle and close this matter at the
earliest convenient day.
It would be unbecoming and cruel, ou my part, to burden the Con
gress of my country, or any other body of beings, mortal or immortal,
with all the letters, notes, memorandums, dispatches, decrees, resolutions,
orders, and acts, which have had their origin in this case ; and of which
Bolivia, on her own part especially, has been prolific to a most marvelous
and reprehensible extent.
For the last three years and more, my attorney aforesaid has given
close and constant attention, both in Bolivia and out of Bolivia, to my
interests in the premises; and from his own voluminous correspondence
and papers in this regard (saving myself the' labor of going bade to cull

fi
from the musty archives of a whole decade of antecedent writings,) I
have selected the following documents, which constitute a fair resume of
the entire case; and these documents I thus most respectfully submit for
the careful perusal, and for the equitable action, of your honorable body.
On the slightest intimation of your desire to examine them, all the papers
in the case, from first to last, from 1858 to 1873, inclusive, will at once
be laid before you.

SECRETARY FISH TO MR. HELPER.
Department oi4 State,
Washington, December 21, 1870.
Hin ton Rowan Helper, Esquire.
Sir : I have received your letter of the 19th instant, referring to one
from you of the 28th ultimo, soliciting information in regard to the condi
tion of the claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton against the government of
Bolivia, and asking the friendly interposition of this Department in behalf
of the claimant.
In reply, I have to state, that the latest information upon the subject is
contained in a note from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia, under
date of the 29th.of May, 1869, to Mr. Caldwell, then United States Minister
at La Paz, promising that his government will take into serious consider
ation the claim made by Mr. Colton, and adopt such action as justice shaU
require. Pursuant to your request, instructions will be addressed to Mr. Mark-
breit, the present United States Minister in Bolivia, to renew the friendly
offices which have been heretofore exercised with that government in re
gard to the claim adverted to.
I am, Sir,
Your Obedient Servant,
HAMILTON FISH.

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY CORRAL.
Sucre, Bolivia, November 1, 1871.
Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State of Bolivia.
Sir: As a citizen ofthe United States of America, I have the honor to
inform you, that I have just arrived within the capital of Bolivia, under
full and perfect power of attorney to settle, with the Government of
Bolivia, a certain matter of business of long standing, which I will now
briefly explain.
In the summer of 1858, there arrived in the city of New York, two ex
perienced and distinguished engineers of Bolivia, Colonel Juan Ondarza

and Commandant Juan Mariano Mujia, duly commissioned by the Boli
vian Government to procure the engraving and the publishing of ten
thousand large maps of the Republic of Bolivia, from rough but careful
and correct sketches in manuscript by those gentlemen themselves. On
the 21st of September, 1858, more than thirteen years ago, Colonel On-
darza and Commandant Mujia enteredinto an agreement with Mr. Joseph
H. Colton, of New York, one of the most celebrated map-publishers in the
world, by which agreement Mr. Colton was to engrave the map faithfully
and artistically on a copper-plate, and to publish therefrom (he furnishing
all the materials and labor) . ten thousand well-finished copies of the same,
for the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ofthe United States, — a sum
equivalent to thirty thousand dollars, more or less, of the Republic of
Bolivia. In all respects, the work was well executed by Mr. Colton, -^-the
map itself having been one of the finest and best labors of his life, — and
not an iota of his part ofthe contract was left unfulfilled. Of the whole
amount stipulated to be paid, the sum of two thousand dollars was ad
vanced ; but since then Mr. Colton, greatly to his disappointment and
injury, has not received one cent.
It is to the honor of Bolivia that she has always acknowledged her obli
gation to pay this debt ; but mere acknowledgments of ".obligation, and
idle promises to pay, can never compensate Mr. Colton for his very large
outlay of money and labor in behalf of Bolivia, thirteen years ago. In
deed, he has assured me that the actual cost to himself of the materials
and labor he used, in the publication of the ten thousand maps, without
charging anything whatever for his own personal services, was twenty-one
thousand dollars in gold. The two thousand dollars paid, deducted from
the twenty-one thousand dollars of real, unavoidable expenses, leaves
nineteen thousand dollars as the sum in money, in addition to his own
personal and valuable services, which Mr. Colton, in that way, advanced
to Bolivia so long ago as 1858; and, as already remarked in substance, on
this large amount, so manifestly due upon the commonest principles of
justice and equity, nothing whatever, in the way of interest or otherwise,
has ever been paid. Moreover, in addition to the regular and heavy ex
penses thus incurred, Mr. Colton also paid all the incidental charges for
boxing and shipping the maps, and for the marine insurance and freight
on them, fron New York to Arica, amounting, in the aggregate, to some
thing over thirteen hundred dollars; which, added to the $21,000 already
mentioned, makes the sum total of |22,300 as the whole first cost to him
self of the various issues of this very unfortunate transaction; leaving a
dead loss, thus far, of $20,300 in gold, as principal, actually paid out for
Bolivia, thirteen years ago.
It may, I think, be seriously doubted whether Bolivia may reasonably
or rightly expect that an altogether favorable impression will ever be pro
duced on the minds of those who examine her maps — the maps which
exhibit her as a part of the world — so long as those maps remain unpaid
for. This I say because I believe that an avenging spirit of justice will,

sooner or later, and with unerring exactitude and propriety, punish and
correct every wrongful act.
On the 20th of September, 1864, President Acha addressed to the Con
gress of Bolivia a special and patriotic message upon the subject of this
debt, eloquently asking for the passage of an act authorizing its speedy
payment; and Congress, responsive to his just and prudent pleadings
touching the honor and dignity of Bolivia, passed au act instructing the
Secretary of the Treasury to pay the amount then due, including the in
terest and difference of exchange, which, with the principal, amounted,
at that time, to $38,242 in Bolivian money. Yet, as twice remarked
already, not one cent has Mr. Colton ever received since the first and only
payment — a payment in advance — of only two thousand dollars.
Here follows an extract translated from the well conceived message of
President Acha, September 20, 1864, recommending, but recommending
in vain, that payment be made:
" The history of this business, the engraving and publishing of the val
uable map of Bolivia, by Mr. J. H. Colton, a citizen ofthe United States,
most clearly shows how just the claim is, and how loudly the dignity of
the nation calls for its payment. * * * I reiterate my preced
ing recommendation, and trust that the subject will receive the serious
attention of Congress, since, although the Minister of the United States
has not given an official character to his request for the satisfaction of this
claim, it is none the less the duty of the Republic to preserve its honor,
which is now so deeply committed for the payment."
Having thus briefly stated to your Excellency the facts in this case, I
beg that you will, in conference with President Morales, seriously consider
the sacredness of the obligation involved, and, in recognition of the duty
of Bolivia to discharge the debt without further delay, name to me an
early day and hour when I may have the honor of calling on you with the
view of arriving at a good understanding as to the time and place of full
and final payment.
A letter which I have in hand from the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of
State of the United States, referring to another letter from the Depart
ment of State, at Washington, addressed to the Hon. Leopold Markbreit,
United States Minister to Bolivia, bearing upon this same subject, will
be submitted to you, when I shall have the honor of calling on you according
to your appointment; Mr. Markbreit himself not being in Sucre at this time.
I am, Sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

SECRETARY CORRAL TO MR. HELPER.
[Translation.]
Department op Government and Foreign Affairs,
Sucre, Bolivia, November 4, 1871.
Hinton Rowan Helper, Esq.
Sir : I have received your highly esteemed communication of the 1st
instant, advising me of your arrival in this city with full powers for pros
ecuting against this government the claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of
New York, for the maps of Bolivia, which were published under the con
tract with Messrs. Juan Ondarza and Juan Mariano Mujia.
The government finds itself animated by the best desires to satisfy all
just demands, and hopes you will adduce the necessary vouchers and ac
counts, to the end that such equitable action may be taken as will con
tribute to the interest and credit of the nation.
With this motive, I am much pleased to offer you assurances of the
respect and consideration with which I am your attentive and faithful
servant, CASIMIRO CORRAL.

/ AFFIDAVIT OF GEN. JUAN MARIANO MUJIA.
[Translation.] Sucre, Bolivia, November 9, 1871.
The citizen Juan Mariano Mujia, of Bolivia, at the suggestion in per
son of Mr. Hinton Rowan Helper, a citizen of tho United States of
America, declares and certifies as follows : That on the 8th of March,
1858, a Cabinet Council of the Republic of Bolivia, passed a Supreme Re-
lution, authorizing the publication of the National Map of Bolivia, then
only in rough outline, for account of the nation. In consideration and
virtue of that Supreme Resolution, the National Congress, assembled in
Cochabamba, passed a law, on the 27th of October, 1864, ordering that
payment be made to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, of the whole
amount of his account for the edition of the said map.
The law thus mentioned, in Mr. Colton' s favor, was enacted by the
Congress of Bolivia, having in full view all the previous papers in the
ease, including the record of the fact that two thousand copies of the
map had already been sold, for account of the Government, at twelve dol
lars per copy, amounting in the aggregate to $24,000, which was then
almost sufficient to pay the debt for the whole edition. Afterward, of
the eight thousand copies still stored in the Custom-house at Arica, three
thousand copies were brought forward, and also sold for account of the
Government, at five dollars per copy, yielding a gross sum of $15,000,
which, added to the other gross sum of $24,000, made a sum total of
o

10
$39,000, which has been actually paid into the National Treasury of
Bolivia, from the sale of only one-half of the said maps; and all this with
out taking into account other copies since ordered by the Government,
and sold at different prices.
By the brief statement I have thus made, the truth of which statement
is in the conscience of all around me, it will be seen that the edition of
the Map of Bolivia, because ofthe money already received for copies sold,
can never occasion burden or loss to the National Treasury.
Delay, in the matter of payment, has been caused solely by our politi
cal dissensions and civil wars, to which must be attributed the increase,
by way of interest, in the amount now due to Mr. Colton, who, on his
part, faithfully fulfilled all the conditions of the contract that we, as the
representatives of Bolivia, entered into with him, and which said contract
has been solemnly recognized and sanctioned by various acts of our
National Congress.
Finally, let it suffice to say, that the payment of the claim now made
by Mr. Colton's attorney, Mr. Hinton Rowan Helper, than which claim,
nothing can be more just, will only be complying with the laws of the Re
public, and, at the same time, be in harmony with our public faith aud
our national honor.
JUAN MARIANO MUJIA.
Conformably to the laws of Bolivia, the foregoiog affidavit of Geu. Mujia was,
on the 14th of N04*embe*-> 1871, duly acknowledged, and sworn to, betore Jose
Feliz Ona, a Notary Public, andCeledonio Avila, the Prefect, of Sucre, otherwise
sometimes called Chuquisaca. H. R. H.

AFFIDAVIT OF COL. JUAN ONDARZA.
[Translation.] La Paz, Bolivia, December 23, 1871.
The undersigned, Juan Ondarza, Engineer in Chief of the Republic of
Bolivia;, declares and certifies as follows:
1. That I was one of the original public contractors for the engravino-,
publishing and transmission of ten thousand copies of the map of the
Republic of Bolivia, which was ordered by the National Government, in
Cabinet Council, by decree of March 8, 1858, which commissioned for
that purpose the authors themselves of the said map, Juan Mariano
Mujia and myself -who were provided with authority, instructions and
recommendations the most convenient and ample.
2. That, in virtue of the said decree, authority and instructions, we
proceeded to New York, in the United States of America, and there
became parties to a solemn agreement in writing, with Joseph H.
Colton, a citizen of that Republic, who was the proprietor of one of the

11
largest and most reputable map-publishing establishments in that country
for the engraving on copper of the said map, and for the publishing and
shipping of ten thousand complete copies of the same, (most of them
mounted on rollers, but some with flexible seams for folding,) for the
round sum of twenty-five thousand dollars in gold, which sum the Gov
ernment of Bolivia was to pay to the said Colton soon after the publica
tion of the map.
3. That the said agreement was approved and accepted by the Gov
ernment of Bolivia, which obligated itself to pay Mr. Colton the amount
stipulated, aud to do so within a brief period, as expressed in the peremp
tory decree of April 21, 1860.
4. That the debt for the maps Was again recognized by an Act of the
Bolivian Congress in May, 1861, which ordered payment of the money,
from that time forward, by installments.
5. That, acting on the last-mentioned law, the administration of Pres
ident Jose Maria Acha, fixed the sum of eight hundred dollars to be paid
monthly out of the public treasury of La Paz, into the hands of the
Minister Resident of the United States near the Government of Bolivia.
6 That none of the aforementioned laws or provisions having been
carried out, it devolved on the National Congress, assembled in Cocha
bamba, in October, 1864, to make, and it made accordingly, a new and
solemn recognition of the debt; fully guaranteeing the amount due,
and ordering it to be paid to the new ministerial representative from the
United States, the Hon. Allen A. Hall, who was also the representative of
Mr. Colton.
7. That, sad to relate, the law last mentioned was not complied with,
because, almost immediately after its enactment, the successful rebellion
of Melgarejo caused the trampling out and ignoringof all the pre-eminent
rights aud duties of the nation.
8. That, as Chief of the Commission named and delegated to have the
Map of Bolivia published, and as principal author of the said map, I
have always endeavored to have our part of the contract made good,
having frequently appeared before the Congress and Government of my
country, soliciting such effective resolutions and decrees as would lead to
the fulfillment in good faith of the sacred obligations resting upon us in
this regai-d, and with which obligations the honor and credit of Bolivia
are now so intimately connected.
9. That, with his part of the contract, Mr. Colton observed the most
scrupulous and punctual compliance, engraving and publishing, at his
places of business, in New York, the ten thousand copies of the Map
of Bolivia; and then, as per request and instructions, shipping the same,
in boxes, at his own cost, to the port of Arica, subject to the order and
disposition of the Bolivian Government ; that, for a long while, most of
the said maps were kept in the Custom-house at the said port of Arica ;
and that, in conformity with the decree of .March 8, 1858, two thousand
copies of the said map were delivered to the Government, at La Paz, by

12
Mr. Mujia, from the proceeds of the sale of which our own account was
to have been paid. These two thousand copies of the map were sold
at twelve dollars per copy, and the money deposited in the National
Treasury. 10. That subsequently, in accordance with the law of October, 1864,
three thousand other copies of the said map were disposed of by the
Government at five doUars per copy. The aggregate of the two sums
thus actually realized by the Government of Bolivia, from the sale of
only five thousand copies of the map, was in excess of the sum total of
Mr. Colton's account at that time.
11. That the late Minister Resident of the United States in Bolivia,
the Hon. John W. Caldwell, at the instance of his own Government, ad
dressed to our Bolivian Secretary of State, during Melgarejo's administra
tion, an official communication, of the nature of an international question,
looking to reclamation in this matter. The communication in question
was forwarded to me at Copacabana, where I was then confined in feeble
health, asking me for exact information touching all the points of this
case; and, on the 19th of September, 1869, I replied thereto at length,
substantially in accordance with these present declarations.
12. In conclusion, having positive and correct knowledge of all the
facts .of this case from its very incipiency having been a witness in my
own person of the praiseworthy labors and sacrifices of Mr. Colton, who
so ably and successfully fulfilled his part of the contract, and who gave
his faith and credit to the Government of Bolivia, in the manner here
explained, I further declare and certify, that I am aware that the unjus
tifiable disappointments and delays to which the said Mr. Colton has been
subjected, from time to time, by the said Government of Bolivia, have,
more than once, nearly caused his financial ruin, and seriously crippled
and retarded him in his business. Wherefore, I now venture to entreat the
exalted sense of equity and duty of the Patriotic President, General
Augustine Morales, and of the Illustrious Secretary of State, Doctor
Casimiro Corral, in favor of this pre-eminently just claim, which is now
again presented for final settlement, by Mr. Colton's new and special
attorney, the Hon. Hinton Rowan Helper, a distinguished citizen of the
United States, into whose hands I have the honor to place this present
synopsis of information and declaration, to the entire truth of which I
here give my name in autograph and my word of honor.
JUAN ONDARZA.
On the 27th of December, 1871, the foregoing affidavit of Col. Ondarza was duly
acknowledged, and sworn to, in conformity with Bolivian law, before Lorenzo Var
gas, a Notary Public, and Uladislao Silva, the Prefect, of La Paz.
H. R. H.

13
SECRETARY CORRAL TO MR. HELPER.
]Translalion.|
Department of Government and Foreign Affairs,
La Paz, Bolivia, January 4, 1872.
Hinton Rowan Helper, Esq.
Sir : I have received, and have submitted to His Excellency, the Pres
ident of the Republic, your very agreeable communication of yesterday,
relative to the claim of Mr. Joseph H. Colton, for the Maps of Bolivia,
which were engraved and published in New York.
For the taking of this matter into full and just consideration, nothing
else is now necessary than the arrival in this city of the Hon. Leopold
Markbreit, Minister Resident of the United States.
So soon as the arrival in question shall have taken place, the business
you have in hand with this Government will be acted upon in comformity
with the principles of strict justice.
With this motive, I offer to you the assurances, and especial consider
ation, with which, I am, Your attentive servant, CASIMIRO CORRAL.

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY CORRAL.
La Paz, Bolivia, January 16, 1872.
Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State of Bolivia.
Sir : In the United States, where, for the last ninety-six years,
we have been making steady and auspicious progress toward the
true principles of republican government, and toward such condition
of things generally as should characterize mankind in the highest and
best estate attainable in this life, an Act or a Resolution of Congress is
regarded as a proceeding so solemn and binding as to be held sacred. I
am somewhat familiar with our Federal Laws, (our Statutes at Large, )
and am not aware that it has ever been necessary for our national legis
lators to pass more than one Act, or one Resolution, to accomplish a
single object.
In Sucre, more than ten weeks ago, just before President Morales
and yourself set out on the way from that city to this, I had the honor
to acquaint or re-acquaint you fully with the old-standing, long-unsettled
business, in connection with your Government, that has brought me to
Bolivia, and to solicit your aid in its early and equitable settlement. I
am now in La Paz for the same purpose ; for the purpose of obtaining
payment of the money due Joseph H. Colton, of New York, for ten thous
and large maps which he engraved and published of and for the Republic of
Bolivia in the year 1858; and considering the extraordinary and important

14
fact that the Bolivia Government has already, by Acts and Resolutions
of Congress, and by Presidential Decrees, on no less than five different
occasions, ordered payment of the amount due the claimant, I trust
that your Excellency will perceive the justice and propriety of closing the
case accordingly, without further delay.
In connection with the three letters, besides this, which I have already
had the honor to address you, the first under date of November 1, 1871,
the second dated November 4, 1871, and the third bearing date of
January 3, 1872, I now most respectfully submit to you, for your ex
amination, the twelve additional papers herewith inclosed, numbered
and described as follows :
No. 1, Memorandum and substance of the Presidential Decree of March
8, 1858, under which decree authority was given to contract for the en
graving' and publishing of the map.
No. 2. Original agreement between the Bolivian agents and Joseph H.
Colton, for the engraving and publishing of ten thousand copies of the
map. No. 3. Printed Solicitation made by Colonel Juan Ondarza and Com
mandant Juan Mariano Muj ia, to the Government of Bolivia, in behalf of
Joseph H. Colton, May 23, 1861.
No. 4. Resolution of the Government, May 7, 1860. ordering payment of
the amount due the claimant; not paid.
No. 5. Legislative Resolution, August 12,1881, ordering payment ofthe
amount due the claimant; not paid.
No. 6 Legislative Resolution of July 22, 1863, ordering payment of the
amount due the claimant; not paid.
No. 7. Act of Congress, October 27, 1864, ordering payment ofthe
amount due the claimant; not paid.
No. 8. Financial Law and Budget of Bolivia, published at Cochabamba,
in 1865, under Government authority, recognizing (on the last page but
one) the obligation of the Republic to pay the debt; not paid. In plain
truth, this paper may be said to constitute the sixth (as yet) unfulfilled
deliberative promise of the Nation to pay its long- waiting, long sufferino-
creditor. No. 9. Statement and Declaration of Col. Juan Ondarza, in favor of
Joseph H. Colton, dated at La Paz, December 23, 1871; the same beino-
a concise, terse, and truthful history of the whole case.
No. 10. Statement and Declaration of Commandant Juan Mariano Mujia,
in favor of Joseph Ii. Colton, dated at Sucre, November 9, 1871. This
paper, like Col. Ondarza' s paper, is historically and statistically valuable,
and shows, as Col. Ondarza's paper also shows, that the Government has
already received $39,0110 from the sale of only one-half of the maps, be
sides having unsold maps suspended, for general reference, in most of
its public offices throughout the Republic. Interest fairly calculated on
the amount thus actually received from the sale of only one-half of the
maps, and added to the principal, would probably amount to considerably

more than the sum total of the claimant's account now awaiting
payment. No. 11. The semi-official newspaper, La Beforma, of La Paz, No 25,
June 28, 1871, first page, sixth column, in the course of an article on the
finances and liabilities of the nation, mentioning the debt due to Mr.
Colton, and twice stating the amount at $56,000, which is considerably
more than Mr. Colton claims under the six per cent, agreement. It is
understood that this article was written by a gentleman to whom the Bo
livian Ministry itself had, two years previously, referred the papers in this
case, requesting him to make up the account.
12. Original power of attorney given by Joseph H. Colton, claimant,
to Hinton Rowan Helper, to collect from the Government of Bolivia the
money due the said claimant, and to give to the said government a final
receipt and acquittance therefor.
I beg that your Excellency will bestow upon these papers the earliest
attention that you can conveniently give them ; so that I may not be un
necessarily detained here on expenses and loss of time, which would cause
an aggravation of a case alreadv too aggravated in certain of its features.
My client, Mr. Colton, is now getting to be an old man, at least three
score years and ten, and expects soon to be gathered to his fathers. He
has more than once feelingly and sadly assured me that, up to the present
time, his business relations with Bolivia have caused him more disap
pointment, vexation and trouble than all the other business relations, of .
his life put together. A timely application of the genuine principles of
law and equity in this case, may redeem Bolivia in the estimation of this
long-indulgent creditor, this good old man, (and of many other ri jht-
minded men,) before the final summons shall be received to pass from
earth; and that this may be so, I confidently rely on the generally con
ceded superior morality, prudence, and power of your present govern
ment. I remain, Sir, with great respect, your Excellency's obedient servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.
CERTIFICATE OF MINISTER MARKBREIT.
Legation op the United States,
La Paz, January 23, 1872.
Thereby certify that, on the 18th instant, I placed into the hands of the Hon.
Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State of Bolivia, the original of the foregoing copy,
together with the twelve inclosnres therein specified. L; MARKBREIT,
rL. a.] United States Minister Resident.

16
DECREE OF THE BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT.
[Translation.]
Ministry of Finance and Industry,
La Paz, Bolivia, February 1, 1872.
In view ofthe contract made in New York, on the 21st of September,
1858, between Joseph H. Colton, of the one part, and Juan Ondarza and
Juan Mariano Mujia, of the other part, for the engraving and publishing
of ten thousand maps of Bolivia, for the sum of twenty-five thousand
dollars in gold ; in view also of the decree of March 8, 1858, authorizing
the making of the said contract ; also the laws of August 12. 1861, and
October 27, 1864, which order payment of the sum due the claimant; also
the financial law of the Republic for the year 1865, which recognizes the
debt, including interest, at the rate of six per cent, per annum, and differ
ence of exchange, in the sum total, at that time, of thirty-eight thousand
dollars : It is hereby acknowledged and declared, that the claim now
made by Joseph H. Colton, through his attorney, Hinton Rowan Helper,
is just, and entitled to preference in payment : In virtue whereof, the
Government of Bolivia, desiring to maintain the national credit, recognizes
as now due the claimant, by way of principal, interest and difference in
exchange, the full sum of fifty-one thousand nine hundred and eighty-five
dollars in Bolivian currency, or, as otherwise expressible, the sum of
forty-one thousand five hundred and eighty-eight dollars and fifty-four
cents in gold, to be paid religiously out of the first funds that are obtained
from the loan authorized_by the Congress of 1871. .y ,
Take notice of this, and pass it to the Director General of Accounts,
for the registry of the sum of forty-one thousand five hundred and eighty-
eight dollars and fifty -four cents in gold ($41,588.54 in gold,) to be paid
to Joseph H. Colton. Sign-manual of His Excellency,
PRESIDENT MORALES.
By order of His Excellency,
GARCIA,
Secretary of the Treasury.
CERTIFICATE OF MINISTER MARKBREIT.
Legation oe the United States,
La Paz, Bolivia, February 6, 1872.
I, the undersigned. United States Minister Resident in Bolivia, do hereby certify,
that the foregoing is k true and correct copy of the original decree; which said
original decree is deposited in this Legation.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand aud affixed the seal of this
Legation. [> s-] L MARKBREIT,
United States Minister Resident.

17
MR. COLTON TO MINISTER MARKBREIT.
New York, March 27, 1872.
Hon. L. Markbreit, United States Minister, La Paz, Bolivia.
Dear Sir : Mr. Helper has returned to this city, aud has laid
before me numerous papers in relation to my claim against Bolivia,
which, after the long period of fourteen years, is, I regret to have to say,
still unpaid. However, the Decree passed by the Bolivia Government,
on the first day of last month, again recognizing the debt, and promising
to pay it, will, I trust, soon be fulfilled, in both letter and spirit, and so
bring the case, even though at this late day, to an amicable and satisfac
tory conclusion.
Among the papers, or copies of papers, submitted to me by Mr. Hel
per, is one in the form of an explanatory and defensory supplement to
the account rendered by him to the Government of Bolivia in my behalf.
In this paper, he shows plainly that, while the legal rate of interest here,
where the debt was incurred, aud is due, is seven per cent, per annum,
he has, with the understanding that the whole amount is to be paid a few
months hence, charged Bolivia only six per cent., and that this lower
rate of interest, for so long a time, considering the amount of the prin
cipal, is much in favor of Bolivia, and against me.
As you are doubtless well aware, it is a universal custom here, with the
banks and other financial houses, whenever a note or other obligation falls
due, and is not paid, to have it renewed in the sum of both the principal
and the accrued interest; and thenceforward the obligation draws inter
est on the whole amount so consolidated. Why, then, should Bolivia, to
the detriment of myself, be an exception to this rule ? Are nations to be
more favored than individuals, and accounted at the same time as less
responsible and less honorable? On various occasions, in years
past, Bolivia has solemnly promised to pay me a specified sum,
as the full amount due me. Suppose she had done so, as, in good
faith, she ought to have done, and I had put the money out at simple
interest in New York, I would, meanwhile, have been receiving here
seven per cent. ; whereas, in Bolivia, I am now receiving (if, indeed, I
am receiving anything at all, other than plentiful promises,) only six per
cent, on the original sum of indebtedness.
It would have been both right and proper for Mr. Helper, as my at
torney, Ito have charged seven per cent. ; fori myself have had to pay
seven per cent., and, in some cases, considerably more than seven per
cent., for money to sustain me in the very business wherein Bolivia, in
consequence of having failed to fulfill her equitable obligations, greatly
embarrassed and crippled me fourteen years ago. And why, if I may
ask, why should I be forced to pay seven per cent., to accommodate
Bolivia at six per cent. 4> I do not say these things in condemnation of
Mr. Helper, and certainly not, in any respect, as reflecting updn your
self; for I feel under sincere obligations to both you and him, and am
3

18
quite disposed to accept, as a final closing up of the whole case, the sum
twice mentioned in the last decree, namely, forty-one thousand five hun
dred and eighty-eight dollars and fifty-four cents, in gold, or its equiv
alent; and all the more so, as I am informed by Mr. Helper that President
Morales and Secretary Corral both assured you that the whole amount
should be paid within "about four months " from the date of the said
decree. When I tell you, as I may with all candor and truth, and with no small
degree of unavoidable vexation and sadness on my own part, that the high
rates of interest which I have had to pay for money, the execution and
verification of legal papers, the salaries and fees of agents and attorneys,
and other expenses attending my fourteen years' unavailing efforts to
obtain justice from Bolivia, have amounted, and will amount, by the time
I get through with the case, even if at once closed up in accordance with
the last decree, to considerably more than one-half of the whole amount
mentioned therein, you will readily understand with what grace and
justice, (or rather with what lack of grace and justice, ) Bolivia can still
withhold from me the money so long and so manifestly overdue. Thus,
as you will perceive, no matter how soon I may receive the amount, the
whole amount, mentioned in the last decree, 1 shall, in fact, as for myself,
be the recipient of less than fifty per cent, of the entire sum. Transac
tions of this kind, where, in reality, the extraordinary delays, inconve
niences and costs of the collection of j ust debts are so great as to practically
reduce the amount to less than one-half of the sum due in equity, may or
may not, require comment as against the delinquent party, but I am
deeply impressed with the conviction that it is impossible for the injured
party to forget them.
In conclusion, permit me to request that you will be so kind as to state
to President Morales and Minister Corral the substance of this letter, and
solicit from them, without further delay, an order on the bankers in Lon
don, who hold the funds out of which my long-deferred claim is to be
paid, an order in form and substance similar to the one herewith inclosed,
and which is, for the most part, a, copy of a proposed order which I have
found among the several papers submitted to me by Mr. Helper. The
debt paid in this manner will at least save me from still further loss by
way of exchange, or otherwise ; and, in view of the foregoing statement
of facts, I am sure that your own quick and correct sense of honorable
dealings as between man and man, or as between men and governments,
will recognize the perfect reasonableness of my request.
I am, dear sir, yours, very truly,
JOSEPH H. COLTON.

19
MINISTER MARKBREIT TO MR. HELPER.
LA Paz, Bolivia, March 31, 1872.
Hon. Hinton Rowan Helper.
My Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to acknowledge receipt of your
favors written from Arequipa, Lima and Panama, and was glad to know
that, on the 5th instant, you had arrived. safely at the latter place. Mr.
Colton's prospects are good. The Church loan seems to be almost certain
of success. Just so soon as I learn that the loan has been realized, I shall
insist upon this government giving me a draft for the entire amount of
the claim, upon Messrs. Lumb, Wanklyn & Co., or rather, upon General
Campero, the Bolivian Minister. I shall know in less than one month.
Excuse haste. With kindest regards, I am, your friend,
L. MARKBREIT.

SECRETARY CORRAL TO MINISTER MARKBREIT.
[Translation.]
Department of Government and Foreign Affairs,
La Paz, Bolivia, June 1, 1872.
Hon. Leopold Markbreit, United States Minister Resident.
Sir : With your pleasing communication of yesterday, I have received
Mr. Colton's letter to you, from New York, in which he expresses his
thanks to the National Government for the decree of the 1st of last Feb
ruary, which ordered payment of the amount due him for ten thousand
maps of this republic; asking, at the same time, payment by draft in his
favor, against Messrs. Lumb, Wanklyn & Co., negotiators ofthe Bolivian
Loan in London.
So soon as we shall have received a full statement in regard to the said loan,
the draft asked for will be given, as the National Government is interested
that payment of Mr. Colton's claim be made, with preference, as soon as

With this motive, I have the honor to subscribe myself,
Your most attentive and faithful servant,
CASIMIRO CORRAL.

MINISTER MARKBREIT TO MR. HELPER.
La Paz, Bolivia, June 4, 1872.
My Dear Me. Helper: I wrote you last on the 28th ultimo. I now
transmit to you a note from Dr. Corral, in answer to one from me, rela
tive to the Colton claim. I think it will prove satisfactory, for in it they
promise to give a draft for the amount due, on Messrs. Lumb, Wanklyn
& Co., so soon as they can ascertain the amount of their credit. You

20
may believe me when I tell you that I shall not rest till they pay up .
What if they decline to pay interest from the date of the decree ? Should
I, in that case, refuse to receive the draft ? Send me instructions on this
point. -Congress will meet here. I don't send copy of my note to Mr.
Colton, for want of time. Your Friend,
L. MARKBREIT.

\
MR. HELPER (FOR MR. COLTON) TO MINISTER MARKBREIT.
New York, June 14, 1872.
Hon. Leopold Markbreit,
United States Minister, La Paz, Bolivia.
Sir: One of the ablest writers of antiquity, well known and deservedly
honored in Hebrew literature, has assured us that there is a time for
everything; and if that assurance be true, then there is a time when na
tions, like individuals, should pay for their maps.
At any rate, there is a time, now near at baud, when I, as an individual,
am either to receive from the Republic of Bolivia, pay for the maps which
I engraved and published for her, fourteen years ago, or' shall have to
relinquish, at once and forever, all faith in the integrity of her purposes
and promises.
You are aware that both President Morales and Secretary Corral assured
you that the last Decree of the Bolivian Government issued in my favor,
under date of Febuary 1, 1872, should certainly be made good, in all its
provisions, within about four months from that time; butthe four months
mentioned, and half a month mce, are now up and gone, and I am still
suffering the injustice of the inconvenience and burdens of the inter
minable delays of a faithless debtor.
Under these circumstances, I will be as brief and pointed as possible in
stating the final determination to which I have come. It is as follows :
1. If the whole amount of $41,588.54, in gold, due me according to the
terms of the decree of the first of last February, be not paid by or before
the last day of next September, I shall, on the day following, submit all
the papers in the case to our Department of State in Washington, and
will solicit the Honorable Secretary of State to collect the money for me,
including the large additional costs and charges, which are just and legal,
but of which I shall never make any account whatever, provided the
amount mentioned in the said decree, and now overdue, be paid by or be
fore the 30th day of next September.
2. Immediately after the meeting of our Cougress, early in December
of the present year, I shall, if my claim be still unsettled, submit to that
honorable body, copies of all the correspondence and papers in the case,
earnestly petitioning that a war vessel, or two or more such vessels, if
necessary, be dispatched to Cobija, or to Mejillones, for the collection of
the money, and that Bolivia be required to pay, besides the increased

21
amount that will be found to be justly due me, ail expenses of the naval
expedition. I am well aware of the great gravity of these words, and of
the pepuliar positiveness of their import in this connection ; having calmly
deliberated with myself, and dispassionately advised with others, be
fore determining on this outline of proceeding as a course of action to be
followed. No other recourse is left me. I must do this or do nothing.
My own sense of equity, linked with a sense of duty, tells me, that, in the
contingency alluded to, it will be eminently right and proper for me to
make the petition thus contemplated; and if it does, indeed, become right
and dutiful on my part to make the petition, then, as a moral sequence,
it will be but right and dutiful on the part of Congress to grant it.
3. In the event that, in a last effort to obtain my rights in this case, it
shall become necessary for me to pursue the course here foreshadowed,
I shall take occasion to urge upon our Government the very serious con
sideration of the question, whether a nationality that is either too dis
honest or too poor to pay for its maps, is, in any respect, worthy of a
place among the family of nations ? Taking the negative of this question,
I shall, with such humble ability as I possess, endep„vor to prove that
Bolivia, having, for the full period of fourteen years, been either too dis
honest or too poor to pay for her maps, is no longer worthy of recognition
as a distinct nationality.
4. Well justified and strongly fortified as I feel I shall be in the position
thus assumed, I shall argue further, that it is derogatory to the dignity
of the United States to maintain a Minister pr even a Consul, within the
limits of such a self-exhausted and disreputable community as Bolivia ;
and will further give it as my opinion, with reasons in detail, that all
honorable nationalities should at once withdraw from that unworthy
country every system and grade of international intercourse, and not only
permit, but effectually encourage, the speedy and complete absorption
of Bolivia by ose or more of the contiguous Commonwealths ; in other
words, that Bolivia must immediately conform her conduct to a higher
standard of honesty and dignity, or be forever ignored and blotted out
from the family of nations, and her territory and obligations allowed to
lapse co one or more of the abler and better conterminous States, — to
Peru, to Chili, to Brazil, or to the Argentine Republic ; or to any two or
three, or to all, of those neighboring nationalities.
Inclosed herewith you will find a copy of this communication, which,
in the event that the money so long overdue is still withheld, and in the
further event that you deem it right and proper that the Government to
which you are accredited should be advised, in ample time, of this deter
mination on my part, you will please transmit to the Honorable Secretary
of State of Bolivia.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOSEPH II. COLTON.
By his Attorney:
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

2*2
MINISTER MARKBREIT TO MR. HELPER.
La Paz, Bolivia, July 3, 1872.
My Dear Mr. Helper: I am in receipt of your letter dated June 14,
and, in reply, beg to say that if ynu and Mr. Colton will only have
a little more patience, Iwill insure you the full payment of tlie latter's claim
before the next meeting of our Congress. You will gain nothing by threats;
while I have the firm conviction that I can collect every cent of your claim,
if you will only leave the management of the matter to me. Excuse the
brevity of this note, but I am exceedingly occupied to-day in making
preparation for a grand dinner, which I intend to give to-morrow. Keep
cool, my dear Mr. Helper, and I give you my word that I shall see that
justice is done Mr. Colton. Truly yours, L. MARKBREIT.

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER MARKBREIT.
New York, August 7, 1872.
Hon. Leopold Markbreit, United States Minister, La Paz, Bolivia.
Dear Sir : Your letter of the 3d of July is before me. Let us reason
together. After Mr. Colton, with the faith of an Abraham and the patience of a
Job, had waited nearly fourteen long years for Bolivia to keep just one of
the numerous official promises in the form of decrees, resolutions and
orders, which, at various intervals during that period, she had issued in
his behalf, as so many tokens of her intention to pay him for ten thousand
large maps, which he engraved and published for her in 1858, it became
but too evident that she was only trifling with him.
Congressional acts, legislative orders, government decrees, presidential
promises, ministerial pledges, diplomatic guarantees, and consular assur
ances, have again and again been given with a readiness and redundance
that might have been honorable, but for their uniform disingenuity and
non-fulfilment. Meanwhile, as stated in his letter to you, under date of the 27th of
March, Mr. Colton, in his long series of efforts to obtain at least an ap
proximation to justice in this case, has already been put to the enormous
expense of more than one-half of the whole amount mentioned in the last
Bolivian decree.
Are these proceedings on the part of Bolivia to be taken as examples
ofthe honor and justice of certain newly-organized nationalities in the
nineteenth century? and are these the inklings aud rules of morality that
those nationalities would teach their citizens? If so, the sooner such
nationalities cease to exist as sovereign states, the better will it be for
mankind, and for the world at large.

23
When, at great disadvantage to Mr. Colton, and at no little peril
and expense to myself, I wont personally to Bolivia, last year, it was to
make a final effort to obtain the money due on this eminently just and
long-pending claim. President Morales and Secretary Corral both said
yes, and proposed another decree, as if, forsooth, the claimant had not
already, for nearly half a generation, been gorged and surfeited and nau
seated on such worthless papers.
Bolivia's previous and frequent disregard of the sacredness of such
obligations had naturally filled me with distrust; yet, in deference to
your opinion and advice, I accepted the proffered document ; with the
distinct understanding, however, that the money should be forthcoming
in the matter of about four months from the first of February, which
would bring the time of maturity down to about the first of June.
It is now August, 1872; the money, due since 1858, has not been paid ;
a youthful nation still owes an elderly individual an old debt for its maps;
it is a debt of fourteen years' standing; the creditor, an aged man, now
in his 73d year, has waited and waited, respectfully and patiently,
almost to the end of his days; and yet the debtor, one of the distinct
governing powers of the earth, has the hardihood, not to say shameless
ness, to ask for a longer indulgence of time.
I will not here protest that this request comes accompanied by circum
stances which would warrant the inference that, in the estimation of
Bolivia, Mr. Colton is now in his dotage, or that he has become wholly
oblivious to those priceless sentiments of self-respect and manhood
which are so peculiarly characterestic of almost every American citizen ;
but this I will say, that it is the direct cause of a provocation that would
seem to justify the use of words far more forcible aud scathing than com
plimentary; but I will forbear.
In the plenitude of your faith in Bolivia's integrity, as I learn from
your note ofthe 3d of July, you kindly speak for her, as follows: "If
you and Mr. Colton will only have a little more patience, I will insure
you the full amount of the latter's claim before the next meeting of our
Congress." To which, in addition to what I have already said above, I
have simply to reply, that Mr. Colton and I, again deferring to your
wishes and advice, (and on your account alone, ) have concluded to hold
everything in suspense, and will wait, if necessary, until the next meeting
of our Congress; but under no consideration whatever will we wait one
day or one hour longer, except as formal and public petitioners to the
government of the United States for the righting of this gross, musty,
and cruel wrong; a wrong with which we, as mero individuals, en
dowed with but a single life-time, and not gifted with either the
strength of a Samson or the longevity of a Methuselah, feel we have
no power to cope.
I am, dear sir, very respectfully, your friend and servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

24
MR. HELPER TO MINISTER MARKBREIT.
New York, August 19, 1872.
Hon. Leopold Markbreit. United States Minister, La Paz, Bolivia.
Dear Sir: With all our Ministers to Bolivia, except yourself, since the
Colton claim fell due, fourteen years ago, Bolivia has played fast and loose,
and has adroitly succeeded in making them, each in his term, believe fib
after fib, and falsehood after falsehood, until from some cause or other,
their terms of office were respectively up, when the spell would be broken,
and they would at last awaken to the sorry fact that they had, all the
while, allowed themselves to be most craftily and egregiously duped.
That Bolivia is now boldly presuming to play this same low and dis
honest trick upon you also, is, to me, as unwelcomely apparent as is the
most brazen-faced embodiment of vice that struts the streets. But I
have great confidence that you will not suffer yourself to be so un
graciously and pitiably deceived by her; albeit the false promise she gave
you that she would pay the Colton money in "the matter of about four
months" from the first of February last, is still unfulfilled, after the lapse
of more than half a year.
Indeed, I shall not, for one moment, permit myself to doubt that you
will find a way to vindicate your dignity, both as a man and as a minister.
and, of course, you' are much better qualified than I am to judge how far,
if at all, you should consider, as entailed upon yourself, the many indigni
ties of chicanery and untruth which have been so long and so often mani
fested by Bolivia toward at least three or four of your more immediate
predecessors at La Paz.
There are some cases of shortcomings, and failures, and forfeitures
of word, of such frequent and indefensible repetition, that, as it seems to
me, there should be given, from a specified date to a specified date, but
one further extension of credence; and, in my judgment, Bolivia was
clearly a case of this kind, when, after fourteen years' practice of the
most unblushing Machiavelism, she promised, on the first of February last,
as she had similarly promised, for the hundredth time, more or less, that
she would pay the Colton money in "the matter of about four months."
What can be fairer than that this particular act of bad faith on the part
of Bolivia, should be charged against her, not as a single act, but as an
act in addition to numerous others, equally bad, which she has artfully
and meanly perpetrated during the last fourteen years ? And what possi
ble fitness or propriety is there in our maintaining, at a high salary, a
Minister at the capital of a nation possessed of so little sense of justice,
truth, or honor? Or rather, what rational excuse can be given for thus
belittling and degrading the improved and elevated system of American
diplomacy which has its fountain-head at Washington ?
You will remember with what reluctance I accepted Bolivia's last
Colton decree, hardly believing it of more value than its weight in chaff,
so far as it represented any honest purpose on the part of its authors.

25 fi
But, on your assurance that you thought they really did mean to pay, and
would do so, as they promised, iu ''the matter of about four months," I
deferred to your views and wishes, and left the case in your hands, for
mally requesting you, in the power of attorney which I executed to you,
on the 7th of February, to collect the money and transmit it here to Mr.
Colton. According to the written and verbal provisions and conditions of this
last decree, the money should have been paid about the first of June.
In a mood of excessive liberality, under the circumstances, I only in
sisted that payment should be made not later than the 30th of September.
You now ask for Bolivia, that the time be extended to the first of Decem
ber. Be it so. Herewith, under date of the 7th instant, you have my
letter, sigued both by Mr. Colton and myself, complying with your
request. Mr. Colton earnestly hopes that he may not be wearied nor worried
in this matter with any more despicable devices, flagrant insincerities,
nor unconscionable postponements. For such limitless stratagems and
circumventions on the part of a nation, he feels that the life of an indi
vidual is too short, especially when, as in his case, more than seventy-
two years have already passed. He wants justice from Bolivia ; he
wants it now ; he has beeii waiting for it fourteen years ; he wants the
money due him since 1858. Henceforth any and every letter from
Bolivia that fails to bring the money will prove unsatisfactory.
What reassurance can you give that this claim will be certainly and
finally settled by the time you mention, or that in fact, without an appeal
to force of some sort against Bolivia, it is now any nearer adjustment
than it was fourteen years ago ? Please give me full and explicit infor
mation in this regard, so that I may know, in good time, whether or
not it will be necessary for me to prepare a memorial on the subject for
the action of our Congress in December.
I am, dear sir, very respectfully, your friend and servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

MINISTER MARKBREIT Tq SECRETARY CORRAL.
[Private and Extra Official.] La Paz, Bolivia, October 17, 1872.
To His Excellency, Casimiro Corral, §*o. §-c.
Esteemed Sir and Friend: By this mail I have received letters from
Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of New York, in which he says that, not haying
teceived payment of his claim against Bolivia, he has determined to pre
sent to the Congress of the United States, which will assemble on the 2d
of December, a memorial petitioning for the active intervention of that
government in his favor.
I permit myself to communicate to you the intentions of Mr. Colton,
4

26
because to me it would be extremely disagreeable if he should, indeed,
carry out those intentions; believing as I do that it would operate much
to the discredit of Bolivia to have the case taken up before our Congress;
and, with these views, I submit whether it may not be better to adopt
measures to satisfy the just claim of Mr. Colton. If this gentleman is
now impatient, he is hardly to be wondered at, or blamed, seeing that
fourteen years have passed since he has been waiting to be paid. Up to
this date, the total amount of the claim is $42,648.39 in gold.
Of good disposition toward your Excellency, I am your attentive friend,
L. MARKBREIT.

SECRETARY CORRAL TO MINISTER MARKBREIT.
[Translation.] La Paz, Bolivia, October 17, 1873.
To Mr. Leopold Markbreit, etc.
Distinguished and Estimable Friend: At this very moment I have
received your valued letter of to-day, in which you acknowledge receipt
of communications from Mr. Joseph H. Colton.
I am very sorry that the gentleman intends to present a memorial to the
Congress of the United States.
Be you persuaded and assured that the Government of Bolivia knows
how to regard its obligations touching this just and legal claim, after
having acknowledged the debt, and pledged its honor to pay it with pref
erence. Consequently the time is not distant when the sum of the in
debtedness can be raised; and for this reason I do not think it necessary
that Mr. Colton should resort to the extreme measures which he seems to
contemplate. Having thus answered your esteemed favor of to-day, I have the pleas
ure to subscribe myself, Your attentive friend and faithful servant,
C. CORRAL.

MR. HELPER TO MINISTER CROXTON.
New York, February 13, 1873.
Hon. John T. Croxton, United States Minister to Bolivia.
Sir : After an unaccountable detention of nearly two weeks in Wash
ington, your note of the 30th ultimo has been forwarded to me at New
York. I went to Washington, some weeks ago, with the intention of layiuo-
before Congress a memorial, publicly petitioning that honorable and
supreme body, for the abolition of our mission to Bolivia, and for the
forcible collection, by the Navy of tho United States, of a somewhat

-J. I
ancient but eminently just debt, due for the last fourteen j ears and more,
from the Government of Bolivia, to Mr. Joseph H. Colton, of this city.
But having promised our present Minister at La Paz, Mr. Markbreit,
that I would take no positive step in that direction before about the 15th
of January, I found, after consultation with several Senators and Repre
sentatives, that no final action could be had on the case during the few
weeks that then remained of the present short session of Congress.
Meanwhile, I conferred with Secretary Fish also, who kindly assured
me, that, if I desjred and requested it, he would, in the event of my not
laying the case before Congress at this session, urge the matter a little
stronger with our Minister to Bolivia.
Under these circumstances, I concluded to withhold the case entirely
from Congress, for the present, and to make one more earnest effort to
obtain justice privately and peaceably. That effort, in connection with
my own individual and independent efforts, I am now making through
the Hon. Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, whose predecessors in the State
Department, for many years past, also gave, from time to time, more or
less attention to the case.
In accordance with the suggestions'of some of my friends in Congress,
it is my intention, as attorney for the claimant, soon to communicate di
rectly with the Bolivian Secretary of State on this subject, copies of which
communication will be duly transmitted to both Secretary Fish and your
self; and after I shall have so communicated, there will probably remain
very little, if anything, for you to do; and, perhaps, little or nothing for
you to do before them. About this, however, I shall know better after
I shall have had the pleasure of an interview with you. When will you
arrive in New York, on your way to Bolivia, and where will you stop in
this city?
Any information that I may be able to give you in regard to your ne
cessary outfits for sea and land, (for you will need one particular outfit
for your ocean passage, and another for your mountain journey,) will be
given most cheerfully. Yours, very respectfully,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER,

MR. HELPER (FOR MR. COLTON) TO THE HON. SECRETARY
OF STATE OF BOLIVIA. New York, February 15, 1873.
To the Honorable, the Secretary of State of the Republic of Bolivia.
Sir: Of equal significance with this letter itself, is the inclosure here
with, to which your attention is respectfully invited.
This enclosure is substantially a copy of a communication which I
addressed to Minister Markbreit, under date of the 14th of June last,
stating to him, that the money so long overdue from the Government of

28
Bolivia to Joseph II. Colton, of this, city, must be paid by thc 30th of
September following, or, in the event of non-payment, specific complaint
of Bolivia's many acts of bad faith in the matter would theu be made by
me to my own Government, at Washington, and an earnest petition
presented thereto, for an early redress of the gross and multitudinous
wrongs to which I have herein been subjected during the last fourteen
years. In reply to my particular communication to Mr. Markbreit, of which
the enclosed paper of the 14th of last June is a copy, he said he could not,
consistently with his diplomatic duties and responsibilities, lay that com
munication before the Bolivian Government; but, instead of serving me
and furthering the ends of justice in the manner I suggested, he took it
upon himself, in effect, if not in purpose, to serve Bolivia and perpetuate
and augment an already overgrown iniquity by using to me, in July last,
these suasive and delusive words :
" If you and Mr. Colton will only have a little more patience, I will insure
you the full payment of his claim against Bolivia before the next meeting
of our Congress."
Deceived by the foregoing false promise, as I had already been deceived
time aud again, year in and year out, by other false promises, I waited
until the first of last December, and even then, considering it possible
that Minister Markbreit meant to assure me that it was at La Paz, and
not in New York, that the money was to be paid "before the next meet
ing of our Congress," I advised him of the quandary that had arisen in
my mind on the subject of the particular time and place of payment
promised, and informed him that I would, as au additional proof of my
patience and forbearance, give Bolivia the benefit of the doubt, and not take
any decisive action against her until he could be heard from in reply, or
until sufficient time had elapsed for me to hear from him in that regard.
As yet he has made no reply whatever, and, strange enough, too strange,
indeed, I have not received a line from him since the 20th of October, a
blank interval as from him to me of nearly four months.
Nevertheless, that engagement on my part restrained me in honor from
any earnest effort to induce Congressional intervention in my behalf until
about the 15th of January, a month past, when, ou consultation with a
.number of our Senators and Representatives in Washington, I was in-
•formed that the present short session of Congress was then already too
-far. spent to admit of a careful consideration of the case, and final action
.upon it, before the 4th of next month, March, when the session will
expire. Cheated thus out of one-half of the present session of Congress, and
assured that the period ofthe other half was, notwithstanding the justice
of my cause, too limited for me to obtain the important legislation I de
sired, I concluded, on further consultation with Senators and Representa
tives, not to press the matter any further in that way for the present, but

29
to afford Bolivia, as I now do by this writing, one more generous oppor
tunity to liquidate the debt in graceful compliance with the behests of
amity and equity. If, as is but too true, there have been a thousand such
opportunities afforded heretofore, not one of which has ever been honored
with just recognition, please consider the number now a thousand and
one, and this one the last.
Having submitted to you the foregoing paragraphs of information and
explanation, I now deem it proper to lay before you the most essential
part of this communication; and I do so, respectfully, by giving you the
additional information that, unless the whole amount of the money so
long overdue to me from Bolivia shall be paid to me here in New York
by or before the 15th of next August, I shall immediately thereafter pub
lish all the principal facts ofthe case in pamphlet form, and will send the '
same to every one of our own Senators and Representatives, to our Presi
dent, and to each of the members of his Cabinet; and also to all the Gov
ernments of Europe and South America; and to the leading newspapers
of the world. I will also, in, the event of not receiving payment within
the six months thus given, take, or cause to be taken, so far as I can, all
the compulsory measures against Bolivia which I have mentioned in the
enclosure herewith.
It is true that our Congress will not meet again until the first Monday
in next December, but I will not wait till then; for, having already been
beguiled into waiting nearly half a generation, it now behooves me to be
more mindful of my own rights, and of the solemn duties I owe to my
creditors, to my family, and to myself. Hence my desire and purpose to
impart to our Senators and Representatives a full and true knowledge of
the facts of the case in advance of their assembling in Washington, so that
intelligent and warrantable action may be taken by them early in the
ensuing session.
You will observe that, in the foregoing remarks, which are already more
copious than I intended to make when I began this letter, I have said
nothing in detail of the numerous deceptions aud chicaneries that have
been practised by Bolivia since 1858 to reduce and belittle (by allowing
only unusually low, less than legal, rates of interest and otherwise) the
amount lawfully due me, nor of the innumerable hollow promises and
heartless delays that have caused me so much labor and loss of time, and
an expense, up to this present moment, of more than twenty-six thousand
dollars in gold, in unavailing efforts to collect the sum which Bolivia so
justly owes me, and which should have been paid to me many, many years
ao-o, without subjecting me to any expense whatever; but the facts here
alluded to will form a part of my printed complaint to our Congress at
Washington — if indeed I am eventually forced to make such complaint —
and I shall then and there ask to be indemnified accordingly.
Yet I hope you will not, by inflicting upon me the glaring injustice of
still further delays and disappointments, render it necessary for me to
take the decisive step here foreshadowed. By or about or before the 1st

30
of July send to me in duplicate, (the first by one mail aud the second by
another, payable to the order of Joseph H. Colton, No. 80 Broadway,
New York, ) a draft for the full amount due me according to the last Boli
vian decree, dated February 1, 1872, and all will be well.
Such a draft shall itself be your voucher of complete and final discharge
from all indebtedness in the premises; but, if you desire it, the Minister
of the United States to Bolivia is hereby authorized and requested to ex
ecute to you any additional release of the obligation that you may require,
and his writing of release so executed shall be as absolutely good and bind"
ing against me as if the same were executed by myself in person.
Let it be distinctly understood, however, that the functions and priv
ileges of the said Minister are hereby limited in time, in this case, to the
1 5th of July at furthest, as that is the very latest date from which a letter
posted at La Paz can reach New York by the 15th of August, after which
particular time I am firmly resolved not to wait on Bolivia one day
longer, save only as I may have to do so in awaiting equitable actionagainst
her in my favor by the Congress of the United States.
Both the Government and the people of the United States are devotedly
wedded to the principles of peace and good will toward others; they are
also strongly attached to the principles of honor and justice toward them
selves; but it is possible to offend them by subjecting them, for the full
period of fourteen years on a stretch, to the endurance of a series of chaf
ing and conspicuous wrongs; and, once offended in that way, they are apt
to seek, and not unapt to obtain, redress for all the outrages so perpetrated
against them.
There is now on file in the American Legation at La Paz a large num
ber of elaborate documents bearing on this case, and although it may not
now be necessary for you to examine anyone of them, (it being only neces
sary for Bolivia to pay the money so many years overdue to me, ) yet I
should be glad if our Minister there would, on your request, lay before
you for your perusal my letters to him under these several dates in 1872:
March 27, March 29, June 14, July 29, August 7, August 19, September
9, and October 19; also, my last communication immediately preceding
the issue of the last Bolivian decree to Secretary Corral, January 16, 1872,
and the affidavits of Colonel Juan Ondarza, December 23, 1871, and Gen
eral Juan Mariano Mujia, November 14, 1871; also, my letter to our new
Minister, General Croxton, February 13, 1873. (General Croxton, still
here, will soon take the place of Mr. Markbreit, who has been recalled.)
These several papers are fair samples of those which, with the Bolivia-
Colton decrees themselves, will constitute my indictment against the Gov
ernment and nationality of your country, and it is for you and the other
gentlemen associated with you in the guardianship of your Republic to
decide whether or not Bolivia—faithless Bolivia,long delinquent Bolivia-
can afford to provoke into action the grave proceedings thus contem
plated. Herein my work is done; my word is spoken; I have nothiug more

31
to say. Nor will I again suffer myself to be drawn into further barren
correspondence with Bolivia, or with any one in Bolivia, on this subject.
If any new attempts be made in this case to kill more time by useless
inquiries, ambiguous statements, disingenuous promises, or Machiave-
lian propositions — such as have already occasioned me so much sad and
ruinous expense in years and years gone by — I shall meet those attempts
only by sending in reply a copy of this communication with its enclosure;
copies of both of which papers I shall, within a fortnight from to-day,
transmit to the honorable Secretary of State at Washington, and to the
United States Minister to Bolivia, respectively. Duplicates of the same
papers will also be forwarded to you in due time.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
Your Obedient Servant, JOSEPH H. COLTON.
By his Attorney: HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

MR. HELPER TO PRESIDENT FRIA3.
[Private Note.] New York, February 15, 1873.
To His Excellency, the Hon. Tomas Frias, President of Bolivia.
My Dear Sir: It grieves me exceedingly that duty and justice to my
much-worried and much- wronged client, Mr. Colton, (now nearly seventy-
three years of age,) have at last constrained me to adopt the most specific
and stringent measures for bringing his very just and officially recog
nized claim against Bolivia, before the Government ofthe United States,
at the earliest possible day and in the strongest possible manner, pro
vided the matter be not amicably and equitably settled by the time men
tioned in the long communication which I have this day dispatched to the
honorable Secretary of State of Bolivia.
Your excellency may remember that when I was in Chuquisaca, in 1871,
I there had the honor to deliver to you a letter of introduction from Gov
ernor Frias, of Tucuman, in the Argentine Republic, and I myself have
a very pleasing remembrance of the honor you did me in that city when
you called on me at the residence of our amiable and worthy friend, Senor
Don Mariano Ypifla.
Do induce your people to pay at once the money so long and so justly
due — So many years overdue — to Mr. Colton, and let us all, as Americans,
and as men of reason and honor, be friends and not enemies.
With many sincere wishes for the success of your administration and
for your health and happiness and long life,
I am, dear sir, very truly,
Your friend and servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

MR. HELPER TO SECRETARY CORRAL.
[tVivate NuJtj.j New York, February 15, 1873.
Hon. Casimiro Corral, Secretary of State of Bolivia.
My Dear Sir: The accompanying letter and its inclosure are so long
and exhaustive, that, in strict propriety, this note ought to be brief.
The conclusion and determination of Mr. Colton and myself, as explained
in the papers referred to, are final.
In extending the time for payment six months more from the present
date, in addition to the fourteen years and upward already taken by Bo
livia, we trust that our patience and our liberality of disposition will be
conceded, and that we may not be eventually compelled, under greatly
aggravated convictions of unjust usage, to resort for relief to the harsh
and disruptive measures which I have foreshadowed.
Simple justice, which we have so often — in so many years of the past — -
respectfully solicited, and which Bolivia has so frequently promised, is
all we desire ; let us have that, even at this late day, peaceably and in
honor, and we will, by your consent, remain mutual friends and well-
wishers. Even in a mere pecumiary and worldly point of view, leaving out en
tirely the moral aspect ofthe question, (if indeed, one may ever dare to
disregard that sublime and transcendent consideration,) it is for the in
terest of Bolivia to pay this debt, and to pay it, at the very furthest,
within the ultimate time mentioned in my more elaborate communication
of this same date.
Without taking against Bolivia the general action which I contemplate
in the contingency alluded to, I could, I think, have had our mission to
La Paz abolished before now. So that, of one thing at least, I can now
very confidently assure you: unless the Colton claim be soon paid, you
will, as I believe, have, in the person of Gen. Croxton, if he lives to arrive
at your Capital, the last United States Minister to Bolivia; and even him
you will probably have for a period of only about twelve months, perhaps
less. I sincerely hope and trust that your action in the matter will be such
as to contribute to the maintenance and promotion of harmony and jus
tice and all worthy and honorable relations, international and personal.
It is said here that President Frias is to Bolivia what Thiers is to
France; and this saying is highly complimentary to both of the distin
guished statesmen whose names are thus mentioned in juxtaposition. I
remember His Excellency, Senor Frias, very well, and very" favorably,
having had a letter of introduction to him, (delivered in Chuquisaca, in
1871, ) from Governor Frias, ofthe Province of Tucuman, in the Argentine
Republic. Pray be good enough to hand His Excellency the inclosed
note. I am, Dear Sir, very respectfully,
Your friend and servant,
. HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

33
MR. HELPER TO MINISTER CROXTON.
New York, February 28, 1873.
Hon. John T. Croxton, United States Minister to Bolivia.
Sir: I respectfully solicit your earnest attention to the somewhat elab
orate communication herewith, and also to the inclosures which accom
pany it, addressed by Mr. Joseph H. Colton and myself, on the 15th
instant, to the Hon. Secretary of State of Bolivia.
These papers are all in relation to an eminently just and fully and fre-,
quently admitted debt, due since 1858, from the Government of Bolivia
to the said Mr. Colton, and he and I are all the more desirous of rightly
and honorably inducing you to give them special attention, because they
are framed with certain last conditions, looking to an equitable and ami
cable settlement (in this fifteenth year of the delinquency,) which the
authorities of the country to which you are accredited may do well to
consider and act upon without further delay.
Trusting that your diplomatic services in this case, and in all other
cases, may be promotive of justice, peace, and good will,
I have the honor to be, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

MR- HELPER TO SECRETARY FISH.
New York, February 28, 1873.
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington.
Sir : There must be some inherent defect in the system of. diplomacy
itself, which, when respectfully appealed to, and implicitly relied on, by a
citizen of one Republic seriously damaged in his property by the Govern
ment of another Republic, leaves the aggrieved and despoiled party, after
a period of more than fourteen years, just where it found him, — if not in
a worse condition.
This predicate is certainly true, incontrovertibly and conspicuously
true, of the Colton case against Bolivia.
During all of the many years of the pendency of this case, there, has
been no time when Bolivia did not (because of documentary vouchers
that could not be questioned) unreservedly admit the justice ofthe claim,
and promise to pay the money.
Last summer Bolivia raised successfully in London, a loan of ten mil
lions of dollars, tess the stipulated discounts and commissions. In Feb
ruary previously she gave me a decree, solemnly pledging her honor and
her religious faith to the payment to me, out of the first proceeds of that
loan, of the forty-odd thousand dollars due to Mr. Colton ; but, notwith
standing the formality and solemnity of that national obligation, she has
not paid one dime of the amount ; and I am now very apprehensive that
5

34
her real purpose is never to pay a dime, more or less, so long as she can
avoid payment by false promises, by cunning delays, or by other measures
of duplicity, such as -have, all. the while, been peculiarly characteristic of
her conduct.
From first to last, since 1858, when the debt was contracted, the credi-
itor and his attorneys have spent over twenty-six thousand dollars, and a
vast amount of time and labor, — to say nothing of the countless number
of vexatious disappointments incurred, — in fruitless efforts to obtain at
least an approximation to justice in this matter ; to save something, even
though that something be less than a moiety, from the unfortunate trans
action with Bolivia. Yet, distressing to relate, no appeal, no pleading,
uo argument, however just and earnest, seems adequate to the task of
arousing in Bolivia either an honest impulse, or a sense of shame.
It is less fitting that such a country should be recognized and honored
as a Republic, than that Buncombe County, in North Carolina, should be
set up and flattered as an Empire.
I most respectfully solicit your careful attention to the six inclosures
herewith, all of which bear immediately and pressingly on the Colton
case against Bolivia; and I beg to assure you that Mr. Colton and I will
feel both honored and favored by your action in the premises, if you,
through our Minister at La Paz as a medium of communication, can and
will at last so manage the case as that even the mere semblance of justice,
which is now only possible to the claimant, may be had fairly and peace
ably within the time mentioned in these inclosures. Only by some such
settlement as this, made by or before the 15th of next August, can be ob
viated the necessity for a memorial on the subject to our Congress at
Washington. Should you, at anytime, be requested by Congress or by the President,
to furnish more or less of the correspondence on file in the State Depart
ment, in this case. — as you may possibly be, sometime next winter, —
please let this letter and its six inclosures appear among the papers which
you will transmit in response to such request.
Promising not to trouble you again in Mr. Colton's behalf during the
next six months, unless it be in reply, or in regard, to some important
communication or information which I may receive meanwhile,
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

3D
SECRETARY TERRAZA TO MR. COLTON.
[Translation.]
Department op Government and Foreign Affairs,
La Paz, Bolivia, April 3, 1873.
Joseph H. Colton, Esq.
Sir: This department has received your communication ofthe 15th of
February last, and inclosed in it a copy of the one you addressed, under
date of the 14th of June, last year, to Mr. Leopold Markbreit, then
United States Minister to the Government of this Republic.
Having brought the contents of both to the notice ofthe President of
the Republic, he charges me to say, in reply, that very soon the debt you
claim, for the publication of the map of Bolivia, shall be satisfactorily
and completely determined; since, with a view of bringing to an end the
involuntary delay which this business has caused to the grave detriment
of the interests of the State, the Government will obtain from Congress,
to meet during the latter part of the present month, the necessary
authority for a payment to be made with the funds actually in hand
arising from the 17 per cent, which has been deducted from the loan of
£10,000* destined for the railroad of the Madeira and Mamore.
Respectfully,
MELCHOR TERRAZA.

PRESIDENT FRIAS TO MR. HELPER.
[Translation.] La Paz, Bolivia, April 17, 1873.
Hinton Rowan Helper, Esq.
My Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of February 15, I have the
honor to assure you of the earnest desire of the Bolivian Government to
satisfy the recognized debt in favor of Mr. Colton; in virtue of which, I
dare announce to you that payment will certainly commence to be made
during the present year, 1873.
In case there should not be at La Paz any direct representative of the
creditor, the matter might be placed in the hands of the Legation of the
United States.
With this motive, I offer to you my sentiments of gratitude for your
amiable congratulation upon my official investiture.
Your affectionate and sincere servant, TOMAS FRIAS.

• *This is a mistake. The gross amount of the loan, successfully raised in London, in tbe
Summer of 1872, was $10,000,000. H. R. H.

36
EXTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT FRIAS TO
THE CONGRESS OF BOLIVIA, APRIL 28, 1373.
[Translation.]
"Having already spoken of national obligations, which may be regarded
as results ofthe personal acts of the late President Morales, I must not
omit to speak also of the absolute preference given to Mr. Colton's claim,
which comes of compromises strictly national; in virtue of which, I
have not hesitated to assure him and his attorney, that satisfaction of
the debt shall be commenced during the present year; considering this as
one of our first duties toward the liquidation of our national obligations. ' '

MR. COLTON TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE COMMITTEES ON
FOREIGN AFFAIRS. New York, January 1, 1874.
To the Honorable, the Senate and House Committees
on Foreign Affairs, Washington.
Gentlemen : You will receive herewith my petition to the Congress
ofthe United States for justice to myself from tbe Government of Bolivia,
which, in a most extraordinary and aggravating manner, has persist
ently injured me in my property for the last fifteen years.
My age, (I being now in my seventy-fourth year,) and my feebleness of
health, prevent me from going to Washington, iu person, to seek redress
for the gross wrongs which I have so often suffered through the many
acts of bad faith of the Bolivian Government; but Hinton Rowan Helper,
Esquire, who holds from me complete and permanent powers of attorney
in this regard, and who is familiar with all the facts of the case, from
first to last, will deliver to you this and the accompanying papers, and
will, I doubt not, be able to give whatever additional information you
may require.
I have the honor to request, therefore, that you, as upright American
Senators and Representatives, having official cognizance of the conduct
of nations, as that conduct affects the citizens of our own country will
with a swiftness of dispatch commensurate with Bolivia's interminable
wilful and wicked delays, adjust this matter with Mr. Helper, my only,
absolute and irremovable attorney, with full powers herein. Any set
tlement made with him will be as valid and final, in all respects, as if
made with myself personally.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant
JOSEPH H. COLTON.

37
MR. HELPER (FOR MR. COLTON) TO THE HON. SECRETARY
OF STATE OF BOLIVIA.
[Private and Confidential, until May 5, 18T4.J Washington, January 3, 1874.
To the Honorable, the Secretary of State of Bolivia.
Sir: Acting on advice, which I am unwilling to disregard, I have the
honor to address you as follows:
Under the two connected dates of January 3, 1874, and May 5, 1874,
you will receive herewith a printed copy, of my Memorial to the Congress
of the United States, against the Government of Bolivia. Till the latter
date nb public proceedings in the case will be taken, and none even then,
provided the whole amount of the money so long overdue to me from
Bolivia, be, by that time, received; otherwise the case, as printed, will,
immediately thereafter, be submitted for the serious consideration and
action of my own government. I am informed that the present .(long)
session of our Congress will probably not close until about the middle of
July. By the amount thus claimed as overdue, I mean only the amount so
often- admitted by Bolivia herself to be due; as appears in her last
decree, of February 1, 1872. Yet, as I have heretofore explained, that
amount is, in reality, much less than the amount due in equity; nor does
this include one cent of the enormous expenses thus far incurred by me,
in fruitlessly seeking justice in this case, namely, twenty-six thousand
eight hundred and forty dollars in gold, up to the 1st instant; together
with the accruing expenses of my attorney, now in Washington, and the
cost of printing the accompanying pamphlet, still to be added.
I am willing to forgive, (but can never forget,) the great injustice ap
parent in these ponderous expenses, provided full payment of the amount
due by the said last decree, of February 1, 1872, together with the in
terest which shall have legally accrued thereon up to the date of the
receipt here of the money, be made, in good faith, not later than the 5th
of May, of the present year. The money, in the form of a draft, may be
either sent directly to me, or to the State Department at Washington,
subject to my order.
If complete satisfaction ofthe said last decree be not given by the time
mentioned above, I shall most earnestly, (and I am sure most rightfully, )
publicly petition the Congress of the United States, as by the inclosed
printed pamphlet, to make good to me, to the uttermost farthing, all
original dues and actual expenses in the premises.
By three different steamers, sailing on different days, you will, if there
be no miscarriage of the mails, receive this letter and the enclosed pam
phlet, in triplicate.
I am, Sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, JOSEPH H. COLTON.
By his attorney: HINTON ROWAN HELPER.

38
Thus, honored Senators and Representatives of the American Con
gress, have I had the honor to submit to you, both by way of making com
plaint and by way of seeking redress, an epitome of the many acts of
gross injustice and insult which, for half a, generation, I, as a citizen of
the United States, have been forced to endure, and am still forced to en
dure, at the hands of dishonorable Bolivia, with whose Government you
are (no doubt but imperfectly acquainted with the real character of that
despicable country) yet pleased to maintain relations of international
friendship and comity. ,
The main facts of the case in point may be summarized as follows:
Of her own volition and overture, whether wily or worthy, Bolivia be
came largely indebted to me in the year 1858 for ten thousand large maps
of herself as one ofthe governing Powers ofthe earth.
Two years afterward, in 1860, having already time and again proved
false to her solemn word with me, and I having meanwhile appealed to the
honorable Secretary of State at Washington for aid in the effort to recover
the amount due me, she promised our then Minister Resident at La Paz that
she would soon pay off the debt. Her failure to keep that promise con
stituted her first flat indignity and insult, or at least what should have
been regarded as an indignity and insult, to a diplomatic representative of
the United States.
In still later years, from 1860 to 1873, she has repeatedly given the most
positive assurances to me and to each and every Minister Resident whom
we have sent to her capital, that she would pay the money "very soon;"
but, up to this present day, not once has she been veracious enough to keep
her word, or honest enough to pay one cent. For the exact truth of all
these statements I would respectfully refer you to the six following-
named Ministers and ex. Ministers of the United States, whose field of
diplomacy is, or has been, Bolivia; or, if not to those gentlemen them
selves in person, to the archives of our State Department in Wash
ington, where dispatches from them respectively on this subject will be
found on file:
Hon. John Cotton Smith, Sharon, Connecticut.
Hon. David K. Cartter, Washington, D. C.
Hon. Allen A. Hall, Nashville, Tennessee.
Hon. John W. Caldwell, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hon. Leopold Markbreit, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hon. John T. Croxton, Paris, Kentucky.
Not merely has Bolivia, by profuse and ordinary promises, written and
verbal, misled me and my special agents, and hoodwinked every Minister
whom our Government has sent to her between the years 1858 and 1873,
but she has also, during the same time, by numerous public aud official
declarations and extraordinary messages, issued under the signatures and
seals of her nationality, audaciously trifled with all our illustrious Secre
taries of State, from the days of the Hon. Lewis Cass to the Hon Hamil
ton Fish, inclusive.

39
Up to this present time no dispute — no misunderstanding — has ever
existed between Bolivia and myself as to the amount due, and her many
admissions of the strict justice of the debt have, as is clearly shown in
the preceding pages, always been accompanied by the most solemn and
formal assurances of early payment. " Yes, " is the ever ready but deceit
ful word upon her lips. "Yes, the obligation is one of honor and equity ;
the principal is correctly, stated; you have charged the minimum rate of
interest; the amount is right, and the money shall be paid very soon ;"
but just there everything is allowed to rest quietly until, whether months
or years afterward, she is again addressed on the subject, when, with an
air of augmented ardor and virtue, she reiterates, privately and publicly,
all previous promises, and pledges herself anew. In this way there is in
deed great danger that from the New Crime of Bolivia — unless that crime
be speedily repressed and punished — a progeny of countless and direful
evils may soon issue.
Bolivia's most shameful conduct in this matter is a fact notorious all
over Bolivia itself; and, to my certain knowledge, the comparatively few
good men in that country mourn over it as they would mourn over any *
other distinct national disgrace. It is an example of barefaced fraud and
falsehood on the part ofthe State, inevitably corruptingthe private char
acter of her own citizens, and giving a sort of public license for the plot
ting and practice of rascality throughout the 'world. Therefore, both in
consideration of my own admitted rights, and as a moral and necessary
lesson to the great majority of the Bolivians themselves, Bolivia should
now, at last, be required to do her obvious duty just once, as that duty
has been so often and so exactly defined by herself; and thereby furnish
to the world at least one instance of a forced (in the absence of a volun
tary) observance ofthe commonest principles of truth and justice.
Even to hint at all the high crimes and misdemeanors of Bolivia,
other than the one now under particular consideration, and all of which
should be matters ofthe deepest concern with those numerous and right-
minded peoples who are so earnestly struggling for better conditions of
individual and national life, would require much more time and space
then I now have at my disposal.
The forty-seven revolutions with which Bolivia has so fatally afflicted
herself and her neighbors during the brief period that she has been an
independent power, since 1825; her impermanence and precariousuess
of political metropolis, she having, in the course of years past, held her
sessions of Congress at no less than five different places, namely, Chuqui
saca, La Paz, Tapacari, Oruro, and Cochabamba; her perverse alienation
from herself, many years ago, of all the diplomatic representatives from
Europe; her barbarous assassinations of most of her Presidents; her prac
tical denial to her citizens of the rights of personal liberty and private
judgment; her contempt of the elevating and ennobling pursuits of peace;
her inattention to the civilizing inventions and industries of the age;
her disregard of thc refining influences which result from a proper ap-

40
plication of labor to the useful arts; her apathy in all matters of enlight
ened comfort, convenience, andprogresp, even within her own borders;
she being a country without roads, without bridges, without hotels, and
without manufactures; having no art, no science, no literature, little
agriculture, and less commerce; and her shocking indecencies of daily
and hourly and incessantly eating lice in the public streets, as unblush-
ingly as in the private houses, of all her cities and towns; — these are some
of the subjects which, under other circumstances, might be more elabo
rately discussed in evidence of Bolivia's unfitness to be any longer recog
nized as a civilized nation.
But for the very positive assurances given me by both President Frias
and Secretary Terraza, in April last, in reply to my letters of final condi
tions under date of Febuary 15, 1873, — all of which assurances and let
ters you will have found herewith, — I should have had the honor of pre
senting this petition to your honorable body before now; for I presumed
that you would expect me to believe the explicit and holographic words
of an Illimanian President, and his Secretary of State. Yet you see now,
as I have long seen to my sorrow, what such words are worth; what, in
fact, they haye been worth for these last fifteen years; just nothing at all;
especially when the President and Secretary of State in question are bom
of Bolivia.
A strikingly strange and suspicious feature of the assurances of Pres
ident Frias and Secretary Terraza, is apparent in these words: "Pay
ment will certainly commence to be made during the present year, 1873."
This is an ex parte provision or arrangement, and I here openly protest
against it. It is only another piece of sheer artifice on the part of Boli
via; it bodes more mischief; it is rank with the sinister designs of double-
dealing; it means a gradual and indefinite lengthening out, into oblivion,
of a comparatively insignificant debt of a country for its maps, already
overdue for the full period of fifteen years; it smacks of delay till the
crack of doom. Only contemplate for a moment this youngest offspring
of the New Crime of Bolivia. What a matchless and monstrous specta
cle of perfidious baseness!
Here is a regularly recognized Republic, a Republic in name at least,
passing all manner of official acts and resolutions, year after year, always
frankly admitting its undeniable duty to pay for its maps published in
1858, frequently authorizing the payment to be made in full, and then,
in 1873, promising to "commence" payment sometime during the fifteenth
year ofthe delinquency; and yet, even after so many extraordinary exhi
bitions of pitiable shabbiness, as if'no depth of dishonor was low enough
for Bolivia, failing to pay one cent! I have some little knowledge of the
language in which I am writing this Memorial, and it may be that, if put
to the test, I might succeed in applying a few appropriate terms to a so-
called gentleman who would seek to evade his just obligations to a wash
erwoman; but never yet have I seen or heard any words of English usage
at all adequate to the description of such varied and unending acts of
ineffable meanness as Bolivia is guilty of in this map matter.

41
I respectfully entreat your honorable body to cut short the barefaced
and baleful career of Bolivia in this New Crime. Not only do I ask that,
as the very least that can be done with any sort of propriety, you will at
once suspend diplomatic relations with Bolivia until she learns something
of the good faith due to her national promises and pays me for her maps;
but I also earnestly beseech you, as the superior functionaries of my own
Government, and as the highest and best representatives of American
republican nationality, to grant me the more exact and certain measures
of justice which are adverted to in my letters of final conditions under
dates respectively of June 14, 1872, and February 15, 1873.
In addition to the sum of $41,588.54 in gold, due to me by the decree
of February 1, 1872, and which should be so much the more as interest
at the rate of seven per cent, over six per cent, per annum would make it.
Bolivia ought, in equity, to be required to pay me the heavy expenses to
which I have been subjected during the last fifteen years, in vain efforts
to obtain from her what she so justly owes me. All told, the expenses
alone amount to $26,840 in gold; and with this additional amount, (having
given her at least eighteen months of fair admonition and warning, ) I now
charge her; requesting that, henceforth, on this sum of expenses, thus
far, as also on the sum mentioned in the last decree, seven per cent, per
annum be allowed me.
It has thus been my painful duty to acquaint your honorable body with
the bad character of one ofthe nations of the new world, with which you,
on your own part, are in regular diplomatic and friendly alliance; although
that nation herself, at this time, has neither a Minister nor a Consul— if,
indeed, she ever had a Minister — within the United States. Her Consul
under commission at New York, a gentleman engaged in mercantile pur
suits, is not a Bolivian, has never been in Bolivia, has been in Europe for
the last seven months, and will, I hear, probably remain absent from the
United States at least twelve months longer. Is there not' lacking here
both a principle and a practice of true international courtesy and reci
procity ? Is it not, in truth, a very one-sided business ? The United
States are not unrepresented in Bolivia; but Bolivia is unrepresented in
the United States.
Lord Clarendon bluntly blotted Bolivia from the Diplomatic map of
Great Britian in 1853. France, Germany, Russia, and all the other gov
erning powers of Europe, have likewise long since ceased to regard Bolivia
as worthy of notice as a nation. Out of South America, it is our own
country alone that maintains a minister in Bolivia.
Honoiable Senators aud Representatives of the American Congress:
Tho intelligent and well-moaning world has already, more than once,
had occasion to applaud the reasonable measures of protection and indem
nification which you, as national legislators, as republican statesmen, have
accorded to those of your less fortunate fellow-citizens who for a time
have bech despoiled of cither their rights or their property by inconsid
erate foreign Governments. I now ask that you will, with your usual

42
moderation and fairness toward all eonoerned, afford to the better portion
of mankind another proof of the fact that citizenship of the United States
- is indeed a great and glorious privilege — a high prerogative — carrying
with it the amplest guarantees of rightful consideration at home and of
due respect abroad.
Only the plain truth about Bolivia have I told your honorable body.
She came to me. I did not go to her. Scores of times has she grossly
deceived me. In both spirit and purse has she greatly injured me. Truth
finds no welcome with her. From justice she hides her face. Honor
she never knew. She knows no shame. Absolutely incapable has she
proved herself of performing even one little straightforward act of hon.
esty. As a nation she is abject to the last degree. Not only does she
not pay the amount originally due me, but, in the fruitless efforts which
I have made during fifteen years to collect the money, she has thus far
caused me an additional loss, in actual expenditures and binding compro
mises, of nearly twenty-seven thousand dollars in gold! Is this justice?
Is it not a gross outrage against all the principles of honorable dealing?
Is it not a species of national swindling aud robbery, and should not the
¦ nation so manifestly guilty of such criminal conduct be either compelled
herself to pay the aggregate amount of principal, interest and costs, or
unceremoniously dislodged from tlie eminence of sovereign power, and
her territory and obligations allowed to lapse to an honest and solvent
neighboring nationality? For an equitable and affirmative reply to this
last inquiry, and for action accordingly, I confidently appeal to the enlight
ened and just judgment of my own great Government, as that Govern
ment is now supremely and preeminently represented in the Congress of
the United States, JOSEPH H. COLTON, Claimant.
By his Attorney :
HINTON ROWAN HELPER.
Correct, — Approved :
JOSEPH H. COLTON.

INDEX TO IMPORTANT PAPERS.

Page.
Secretary Fish to Mr. Helper  6
Mr. Helper to Secretary Corral  6
President Acha to the Bolivian Congress  8
Secretary Corral to Mr. Helper  9
Affidavit of Gen. Mujia  9
Affidavit of Col. Ondarza  10
Secretary Corral to Mr. Helper  13
Mr. Helper to Secretary Corral  13
Decree, the last, of the Bolivian Government.  16
Mr. Colton to Minister Markbreit  17
Minister Markbreit to Mr. Helper  19
Secretary Corral to Minister Markbreit  19
Mr. Helper to Minister Markbreit  20
Minister Markbreit to Mr. Helper  •  22
Mr. Helper to Minister Markbreit  '.  '  22
Mr. Helper to Minister Markbreit  24
Minister Markbreit to Secretary Corral  25
Secretary Corral to Minister Markbreit  26
Mr. Helper to Minister Croxton  ,  26
Mr. Helper to Secretary Terraza  37
Mr. Helper to President Frias  31
Mr. Helper to Secretary Corral  32
Mr. Helper to Minister Croxton  33
Mr. Helper to Secretary Fish  33
Secretary Terraza to Mr. Colton  35
President Frias to Mr. Helper  35
President Frias to the Bolivian Congress  36
Mr. Colton to the Committees on Foreign Affairs  36
Mr. Helper to the Bolivian Secretary of State  37

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