IN THE Western World the mid-nineteenth century was almost overburdened by major developmelnts in most aspects of human activity. Among the more striking were the ideological movements which turned around the rights of the individual and eradication of the evils of society. Nueva Granada was not by-passed by these developments. Its educated people were in close contact with ideological movements of the European scene, particularly through the medium of newspapers, journals, pamphlets and books. Internal events of the Granadian scene quickly acquired a mask of European dialectic, and a furious uproar ensued over whether or not Nueva Granada was seriously in danger of conquest by the ideology of socialism and communism. Conservatives, Liberals, organized artisans, government officials, the clergy, and a very few genuine socialists provided the counterpoint to which the general public responded with gratifying interest and mixed emotions.' Despite the intellectual ebullience which characterized Nueva Granada in mid-century, the events which it masked were the fruition of pressures built up over many years. There was an inherent inchoate demand in the general population for local autonomy. It was inherent in and given form by the ruling classes in the growth of administrative decentralization and the rapid increase of the units of local government. Within the emerging constitutional regime a two-party system gradually appeared without national organization. Both party nuclei