60 



BOLIVIA. 



joined table shows the total value of the im- 

 ports from and exports to Great Britain in the 

 quinquennial period 1874-78, according to 

 British returns : 



Copper, nitre, and guano were the commod- 

 ities chiefly shipped to Great Britain, whence 

 the articles imported are for the most part 

 cotton, linen, and woolen manufactures and 

 machinery. Bolivia being cut off from direct 

 communication with the Pacific seaboard since 

 the commencement of the war with Chili, her 

 foreign trade must of necessity be very limited 

 at present. Nor will any one be surprised to 

 learn that imports are subject to a very high 

 rate of duty, particularly on some articles 

 from the United States. For example, 100 Ibs. 

 of soap, costing in New York $4.57, pay an im- 

 port duty equal to $2.75 United States money ; 

 a gallon of kerosene with the tin containing it, 

 which costs in New York thirteen cents pays 

 a duty equal to nine and a quarter cents of the 

 same "money ; and, besides these enormous du- 

 ties, Bolivia permits Peru to charge five per 

 cent, additional for transit across her territory, 

 from the port of Arica. Nevertheless, the prod- 

 ucts of Bolivia are admitted into the United 

 States free of duty of any kind. " We can not 

 understand," writes a merchant established in 

 La Paz, u why the United States Government 

 maintains at great expense a Minister in this 

 republic who does nothing to forward the in- 

 terests of American manufacturers in this mat- 

 ter. Nothing could be more simple than to 

 induce Bolivia to enter into a reasonable com- 

 mercial treaty on a reciprocal basis." 



Nothing could well be more deplorable, in a 

 political point of view, than the picture present- 

 ed by Bolivia in the course of the past year. Im- 

 mediately after the reverses of the allied Peru- 

 vian and Bolivian arms, which precipitated ex- 

 President Prado's determination to seek safety 

 in flight, General Daza abandoned his post of 

 Chief Magistrate of Bolivia, and fled to escape 

 being assassinated. In Bolivia all is bitter- 

 ness, writes a journalist from Valparaiso, in 

 February, 1880; everybody wants to be Presi- 

 dent, and we can not say who is govern- 

 ing; Minister Jofr6 is in Oruro; General Cam- 

 pero has accepted the Presidency provisional- 

 ly ; Camacho is in command of the Bolivian 

 army stationed at Tacna : and, lastly, Daza has 

 withdrawn to the interior, with the evident in- 

 tention of provoking a reaction in his favor. 

 General Campero was duly invested with the 

 power in constitutional form in June, and lost 

 no time in appointing a Cabinet, and taking 

 such steps as he deemed most urgent for the 

 continued maintenance of troops at the seat of 

 war. Early in September, the Bolivian Con- 



gress issued a decree for a forced loan from all 

 the departments of the republic to the amount 

 of $500,000, with interest at ten per cent., the 

 bonds to be received in payment of taxes. The 

 Congress further authorized the Government 

 to make new emissions, if necessary, and de- 

 termine the guarantees for their payment. By 

 another decree of the Congress, $200,000 in 

 small money, of from one to ten cents, was to 

 be coined in nickel, copper, or other metal. 



Yet governmental energy, zealously seconded 

 by individual patriotism, for the enthusiasm for 

 the war had not diminished in Bolivia, was in- 

 sufficient to grapple successfully with the ever- 

 increasing difficulties of the situation. The 

 National Convention, already called into exist- 

 ence, lent efficient aid to the Executive in de- 

 vising and carrying out plans for the creation 

 of resources with which to continue the strug- 

 gle without truce and regardless of sacrifices. 

 The following decree, issued on February 21st, 

 will serve to illustrate the spirit and determi- 

 nation of that body: 



ARTICLE I. The National Convention of Bolivia has 

 ordered the sale by public auction of the property of 

 all the convents and monasteries of the republic, ex- 

 cept the eighth part, "which is destined for the support 

 of the religious communities. 



ART. II. The sale is also ordered of the treasures of 

 the churches, including the ornaments of the images, 

 the sacred vessels being alone excepted. 



ART. III. The product of the sale shall be applied 

 to defraying the expenses of the war, such as the pur- 

 chase of ships, the levying of troops, etc. 



ART. IV. Priests who in the pulpit or in any other 

 place, and laymen who in the press or in public meet- 

 ing, oppose the execution of this law, either pacifically 

 or by promoting public disturbances, shall be tried as 

 traitors to the country. 



Prior to the date of this decree, the forced 

 loan, already alluded to ;is forming part of the 

 national revenue for 1879, had been ordered 

 and collected to the amount of $500,000 ; and 

 other measures of like character were resorted 

 to later. Still, the Bolivian army was but an 

 insignificant factor at the seat of war ; indeed, 

 at the end of June, telegrams (from Santiago, the 

 capital of Chili) announced that it was com- 

 pletely disbanded, the men receiving neither 

 pay nor food, and selling their arms and ac- 

 coutrements to obtain temporary relief. " In 

 the four corners of the republic," exclaims a 

 leading journal of La Paz, in July, "dismay 

 and dejection seem to threaten the destruction 

 of our nationality, and, in the midst of the aw- 

 ful confusion, what means of salvation remains 

 to us ? Shall we yield to the conqueror ? No, a 

 thousand times no ! However great our effemi- 

 nacy be, or however deep the grief brought 

 upon us by the disasters of San Francisco and 

 of the Alianza, it is our duty to look up to 

 Heaven for that strength which the earth de- 

 nies us, and set about the grand work of de- 

 fending our country. Savages in their misera- 

 ble condition do not bow under defeat, but per- 

 severingly defend their huts and their families, 

 and nre we to triumph by tears and cowardly in- 

 action ? Do we not blush at the thought of our 



