634: 



PERU. 



the par value. The old paper money is no longer 

 legal tender, but is exchangeable for internal bonds 

 at the rate of 1 sol for 15 sols of notes and 8 sols for 

 1 inca. The paper money, when its forced circula- 

 tion was repealed in 1888, was declared 'receivable 

 for 5 per cent, of the customs duties at the rate of 

 35 paper sols for 1 of silver. 



Commerce and Communications. The total 

 value of the imports in 181)3 was 10,877,000 sols, and 

 of the exports 17,138,000 sols (1 sol = 53'1 cents). 

 The principal exports are sugar, silver bars and ore, 

 cotton, and wool. In 1895 there arrived at the port 

 of Callao 491 vessels,. of 553,403 tons, and departed 

 481. of 548,797 tons. The state railroads have a 

 total length of 800 miles, and there are 120 miles of 

 private railroads. 



The post office handled 4,218.450 letters, etc., dur- 

 ing 1894 in the internal and 1,567.083 in the inter- 

 national service ; receipts were 973,068 and expenses 

 1,033,657 francs. The telegraphs have 1,473 miles 

 of lines and 1,675 miles of wire. 



Attempted Revolution. After collecting arms 

 and ammunition from the beginning of the year, 

 obtained from European traders on the Amazon, 

 Col. Teodoro Seminario. one of the leaders in the 

 revolution that upset the dictator Caceres and placed 

 Pierola in power, issued on May 5 a proclamation 

 declaring the independence of the department of 

 Loreto, near the boundary of Ecuador. He organ- 

 ized a provisional government at Iquitos, raised a 

 military force of 7,000 men. and erected fortifica- 

 tions at Iquitos. His avowed purpose was to estab- 

 lish a new system of federation in Peru. If that 

 failed, the new state might unite with Brazil. The 

 rebels advanced upon Moyabamba, the capital of 

 the department, and captured it on June 2 after a 

 fight with the Government troops. The authorities 

 in Lima did not regard the movement as formidable, 

 except as a symptom of the general dissatisfaction 

 and disorganization of the country; but the seat of 

 the revolt was most difficult of access. The troops 

 of Col. Seminario, a great part of them raised by im- 

 pressment, were armed with old-fashioned weapons. 

 He fitted out a small steamer for service on the 

 Amazon, where the sympathy of the people was 

 with the revolutionists. The rebels were thus able 

 to obtain a supply of Mauser rifles and some machine 

 guns before the Brazilian Government interfered to 

 stop the passage of arms up the Amazon river. 

 President Pierola, obtaining a credit of 200.000 

 sols, sent two overland expeditions to the revolted 

 province. They had to make a march of nearly 

 1,000 miles over difficult mountain routes and to 

 carry with them Gatlings and parts of steamboats, 

 to be put together on the streams beyond the 

 mountains. The Brazilian Government gave loyal 

 support to the Peruvian authorities by ordering all 

 officials on the upper Amazon to suspend commer- 

 cial and other relations with the revolutionists, and 

 by granting permission to the Peruvian troops to 

 traverse Brazilian territory, without which they 

 would scarcely be able to reach their objective 

 point. The Minister of War. Col. Ybarra, set out 

 on the transport "Constitucion " with 500 men and 

 superior munitions of war to sail round by the 

 Straits of Magellan and ascend the Amazon to the 

 seat of the rebellion, which Peru was authorized to 

 do by a treaty with Brazil. Before any of the Peru- 

 vian forces arrived Seminario sent Burgo Cisneros, 

 one of his ministers, to Lima to make terms with 

 President Pierola. The revolutionary leader sent 

 a message to the President saying that he did not 

 want bloodshed, though he was prepared to resist 

 attacks : he wanted reforms in Loreto, and appealed 

 to the patriotism of the President to grant them, 

 but would refrain from waging a fratricidal war. 

 President Pierola sent a reply on July 7, informing 



Seminario that he must hand over the government 

 of Loreto to the Peruvian consul at Pani, who was 

 dispatched at once to take over provisionally the 

 administration of the department until the arrival 

 of the Minister of War. Pierola promised to ask 

 Congress to grant amnesty if Seminario obeyed his 

 orders immediately. Seminario, announcing that he 

 abandoned his idea of federation and desisted from 

 the purpose of resistance because he found that the 

 Peruvian people were not with him, fled into Brazil, 

 leaving an empty treasury for the Government com- 

 missary. Brazil had sent a force to the frontier to 

 disarm any revolutionists who entered Brazilian ter- 

 ritory. Consul Lopez arrived in Iquitos and assumed 

 control before the end of July. 



Political and Financial Affairs. To meet the 

 expenses of the expeditions for the suppression of the 

 revolt in Loreto the Peruvian Government farmed 

 out to a joint-stock company for one year the taxes 

 on tobacco, opium, spirits, and stamps, the company 

 agreeing to pay the Government 135,000 sols a month 

 and half the receipts above that sum. A more for- 

 midable and general conspiracy for the overthrow 

 of Pierola was going on at the time of the separatist 

 movement in the northern province. The impo- 

 tence of the Pierola administration, financial diffi- 

 culties and political anarchy, the inability of the 

 Government to control corrupt officials and an un- 

 ruly soldiery, and its helplessness in relation to 

 foreign creditors and concessionnaires and to the 

 Chilian Government, which still retained posses- 

 sion of the provinces of Tacna and Arica, and 

 would offer no satisfactory proposal for determining 

 their future ownership, which should have been 

 done by a plebiscite in 1894, according to the treaty 

 all these conditions were favorable to an attempt 

 of Caceres, who was in exile in Buenos Ayres, to 

 start a revolution with the aid of his powerful 

 friends and the wealth, that he acquired while 

 President. The Government was aware that a 

 conspiracy was on foot for a long time before the 

 police on July 11 arrested Dr. la Mar and cap- 

 tured documents implicating well known citizens, 

 army officials, and ex-officials. Shortly afterward 

 an Indian uprising was threatened in Chanchamayo 

 and Perene, but order was quickly restored by the 

 troops. 



Congress was opened on July 28. President Pie- 

 rola declared that Peru would exact from Chili the 

 fulfillment of the terms of the treaty of Ancon, con- 

 cluded in 1883, respecting Tacna and Arica. Con- 

 gress passed a vote of censure upon the Cabinet, 

 which therefore resigned. A new ministry was 

 formed on Aug. 8, as follows: Premier and Minister 

 of Justice, Manuel Olacchia: Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, Enrique Riva Aguero ; Minister of Finance, 

 Ignacio Rey; Minister of War, Juan Ybarra; Min- 

 ister of the Interior, Jose Maria la Puente ; Minis- 

 ter of Industry, Manuel J. Cuadros. The budget, 

 as revised by the new Minister of Finance, showed 

 a deficit of 719,264 sols. He promised a plan to 

 cover it that involved neither a loan nor an increase 

 of taxation. A law was passed holding every minis- 

 ter directly and personally responsible for all ex- 

 penditures that he orders, and directing that a 

 strict account be kept of all money received and 

 paid out in each department. To work the valuable 

 petroleum deposits that have been discovered near 

 Zorritos important concessions have been granted 

 to a French company. Gold discoveries were made 

 in the region where Seminario's revolutionary up- 

 rising took place. Still more promising mines were 

 openedin Sandia and Carabaya, in the extreme south- 

 eastern part of the republic. Several railroad conces- 

 sions have been granted, including one for opening 

 up and colonizing the country between Iquitos and 

 Chanchamayo, at the head waters of the Amazon. 



