 With financial assistance arranged by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, a French national representing the interests of Lesseps's company, the native Panamanian leaders conspired to take advantage of United States interest in a new regime on the isthmus.In October and November 1903, the revolutionary junta, with the protection of United States naval forces, carried out a successful uprising against the Colombian government.Acting, paradoxically, under the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty of 1846 between the United States and Colombia—which provided that United States forces could intervene in the event of disorder on the isthmus to guarantee Colombian sovereignty and open transit across the isthmus—the United States prevented a Colombian force from moving across the isthmus to Panama City to suppress the insurrection.