The Loyalists were the people who remained loyal to the British Crown rather than were in favour of independence.
The Loyalist were on the average older and partially also richer: they were better established and therefore a change would be a risk for them. This was their reason: they were afraid of change and of loosing their position.
There needed to be a hot line so we would know when the war was announced.
They wanted Panama to become independent from Colombia so they could build the Panama Canal.
