appointed
by the president of the republic. Each department has a local
legislative assembly elected by the people. The national congress is
constituted of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate
is composed of twenty-seven members elected for six years, one-third
retiring every two years, three of whom are nominated by each of the
nine departments. The House of Representatives comprises members elected
for four years by universal suffrage, each department forming a
constituency and returning one member for every 50,000 inhabitants.
Congress convenes every two years. The presidential term of office under
the new act was fixed at six years in place of the two years formerly
prevailing. The judiciary was irremovable, and trial by jury was allowed
for criminal offences. Capital punishment was re-established, and the
press was made responsible for matter published. The unlicensed trade in
arms and ammunition thitherto existing was prohibited. Previous to 1886
the crime of murder was only punishable by 10 years' imprisonment, a
sentence which in practice was reduced to two-thirds of that term;
slander and libel were formerly offences which the law had no power to
restrain, and no responsibility attached to seditious publications.

After the promulgation of this new Act of Constitution President Nunez
was proclaimed as president of the republic for the term ending in 1892.
He was unable, however, in consequence of ill-health, to reside at
Bogota and discharge the presidential duties, and consequently in August
1888 Senor Carlos Holguin was designated to act for him. In 1892
President Nunez was again elected to the presidency for a term of six
years, his continued ill-health, however, forcing him to place the
active performance of his duties in the hands of the vice-president,
Senor Miguel Caro. In 1895 the Liberals made another attempt to seize
the government of the country, but the movement was suppressed without
any very great difficulty. In this same year Nunez died, and
Vice-President Caro became the actual president, an office he had
practically filled during the three previous years. In 1898 Senor M. A.
Sanclemente, a strong Conservative, and supported by the Church party,
was elected to the presidency for the period ending in 1904. In October
1899 the Liberals organized another revolutionary outbreak for the
purpose of trying to wrest the power from Conservatives, but this
attempt had no better success