102 



OASTILLA, DON R. 



CENTRAL AMERICA, 



forces, masters of the country. The Chilians 

 went home ; Castilla was made a major-general, 

 and sent in 1841 to the south, where Vivanco 

 had revolted. He quelled the revolution, and 

 in November of the same year he was second 

 in command of the Peruvian army which in- 

 vaded Bolivia, was taken prisoner at the dis- 

 astrous battle of Ingavi, where Gamarra fell, 

 and was banished to an interior town. After 

 peace was restored between the two republics, 

 and a struggle for power had been going on for 

 some time between Torico and San Roman, La 

 Fuente and Vidal, Vivanco, in 1843, became 

 again the supreme ruler of Peru, but made 

 such bad use of his power that Castilla, with 

 two other generals, landed in the department 

 of Moquegua in the south, defeated two of 

 Vivanco's commanders, and obtained posses- 

 sion of Cuzco. He was declared general-in- 

 chief of the constitutional army, and Nieto presi- 

 dent of a junta of five. The hitter dying very 

 suddenly, Castilla became civil chief of his 

 party. Vivanco's officers and men deserted 

 him or were defeated, and in July, 1844, Cas- 

 tilla routed him completely at Arequipa, 

 marched on to Lima, and restored the consti- 

 tutional acting President, Meuendez. 



In April of the following year Castilla was 

 elected by Congress President of Peru, and 

 was the first who held out for the whole consti- 

 tutional term of six years. He did much to in- 

 crease commerce, raised the exports of guano 

 and silver, and gave to the republic the long- 

 desired peace which was only momentarily 

 interrupted by a local outbreak and by an un- 

 important war with Bolivia. In 1851 Castilla 

 retired into private life, and gave his place up 

 to General Echenique, who had been elected. 

 But in two short years the latter's administration 

 had become very unpopular, and Castilla com- 

 menced a revolution at Arequipa, in which he 

 was joined by Elias. In several engagements 

 Echenique and Vivanco who had made com- 

 mon cause with him were beaten, and Castilla 

 entered Lima triumphantly at the beginning of 

 1855 as supreme ruler of the country. In this 

 capacity he made many sweeping reforms. 

 After having first abolished the capitation tax 

 on Indians, he prohibited slavery entirely, and 

 called together a national convention. 



After his reelection in 1858 he continued 

 to labor for the increase in morality and wealth 

 of his people at home, and made the name 

 of the republic respected abroad. It is only 

 necessary to point out the resolute and hand- 

 some manner in which he openly stood up for 

 the Dominican Republic struggling against 

 Spanish enslavement, and the moral support 

 he gave to republican Mexico by sending a 

 minister to Juarez. The events of the adminis- 

 trations of San Roman, Pezet, and Prado are 

 too fresh, and the part which Castilla played 

 in them too universally known, to need repeti- 

 tion. His hatred of Pezet's truckling to Spanish 

 arrogance, and his dislike of Prado's wavering 

 policy, prompted him to take part in the last 



two revolutions. If he had lived he would 

 have had a fair chance of once more entering 

 Lima at the head of a victorious army, for his 

 cause was popular, his energy and luck prover- 

 bial, and his name an army in itself. He was 

 hastening to the important town of Arica, 

 which was ready, like a ripe fruit, to drop into 

 his lap. He had had a serious fall from his 

 horse a few days before ; but, riding along the 

 old roads he had so often travelled on when 

 a boy and a young man, he never thought of 

 his years, but with youthful enthusiasm fancied 

 he had still the strength of his early age. But, 

 after having trotted about sixty miles in one 

 day, he seemed wearied ; urging his companions 

 to push on, he, with three adjutants, hailed to 

 take some rest. "With difficulty he dismounted, 

 stretched himself out on some rugs, and im- 

 mediately fell asleep. In half an hour he awoke, 

 sat iipright, looked tenderly at his young com- 

 panions resting on each side, coughed, and 

 instantly expired. 



Castilla was held in the highest esteem even 

 by his political opponents and enemies in arms ; 

 and it should be recorded to their honor as well 

 as his, that they no sooner heard of his death, 

 than they hastened to convey his body with the 

 greatest honors to the capital, where a monu- 

 ment has already been ordered to his memory. 

 He was ambitious, but just ; vain, but kind, 

 really desirous of doing all the good in his 

 power ; and, though he sometimes adopted in- 

 judicious measures, no man was ever more 

 ready to correct and make amends for his 

 errors than he. He never abused his power, 

 and did more for the material and moral prog- 

 ress of Peru than any other man in the re- 

 public. His emancipation of the slaves in Peru, 

 at a time when no other ruler of a state in 

 Europe or America had dared to do such a 

 thing, was one of the noblest deeds of his life, 

 and entitles him to the everlasting gratitude 

 of the freedmen of the republic. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. There are at pres- 

 ent in Central America five independent re- 

 publics: Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, 

 Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The desire for re- 

 establishing the old Central-American Confed- 

 eration has still many friends in each of the 

 republics. 



1. GUATEMALA.* President (1865-1869), 

 Vincente Cerna. American minister at Guate- 

 mala, Fitz-Henry "Warren (since 1865). Area, 

 44,500 square miles; population, according to 

 the census of 1865, 1,180,000. Population of 

 the capital, Guatemala, about 40,000. The rev- 

 enue, in 1864, was 1,147,809 dollars; the ex- 

 penditures, 1,130,708 dollars. The public debt, 

 in 1865, amounted to 2,461,978 dollars. The 

 regular army consists of 3,200 men. 



The largest part of the commerce of Guate- 

 mala is carried on with England by both ways, 

 the Pacific and Atlantic, though this latter has 



* For other information, see ANNTTAL CYCLOPAEDIA, for 1860 

 and 1866. 



