BOLIVIA. 



difficulties will commence. On one side the military 

 expenses will be prodigious, with a very poor set-off 

 from trade or revenue ; on another side the friction 

 and irritation which must arise from the Russian 

 soldiery being brought into daily contact with a 

 fanatical Mohammedan population will neutralize 

 all efforts at improvement, and finally Russia will 

 find the mountaineers of Hissar and Dehinon and 

 Shahz-i-Sebz at least as impatient of control as her 

 old enemies the Lesghians and Daghestanees, and in- 

 surrection will thus be chronic along the southern 

 frontier. 



BOLIVIA (REptf BLICA DE BOLIVIA), an in- 

 dependent state of South America, extending 

 from latitude 10 to 24 south, and from longi- , 

 tude 57 25' to 70 30' west. Its boundaries 

 are, on the north and northeast, Brazil; on 

 the south, the Argentine Kepublic and Chili ; 

 and on the west, the Pacific Ocean and Peru. 

 (For the territorial divisions, area, population, 

 etc., -see the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1872, as 

 no official statistics on these points have been 

 published since that time.) 



A treaty of limits, concluded with Chili in 

 1874, met, while under discussion in Congress, 

 with determined opposition, especially in cer- 

 tain articles relating to the cession of a portion 

 of territory to that republic ; and in Cobija a 

 numerously-signed protest was made against 

 it as " binding Bolivia to surrender a part of 

 her liberty and her wealth to a foreign coun- 

 try." This protest had the effect of causing 

 certain modifications to be proposed in the ob- 

 jectionable articles. ... 



Serious disagreements were reported to 

 have occurred in the second half of the year, 

 between Brazilian commissioners and General 

 Mejia, the Bolivian commissioner, appointed to 

 dispose of the boundary question between the 

 empire and the republic. 



Senor Serapio Reyes Ortiz, President of the 

 Council of State, was named, in August, to 

 negotiate with the Argentine special envoy, 

 then in Sucre, on the boundary question still 

 pending with the Argentine Republic, but he 

 refused to accept the appointment. 



The President of Bolivia is Dr. Tomas Frias, 

 who was installed on February 14, 1874. The 

 ministers of the various departments were as 

 follows: Interior and Foreign Affairs, Dr. M. 

 Baptista ; Finance and Public Works, Dr. 

 Prudencio Carvajal ; Justice and Public Wor- 

 ship, Calvo (resigned in April) ; and War, 

 General Hilario Daza. 



The metropolitan archbishop is Dr. P. J. 

 Puch y Solona (elevated 1861), with the fol- 

 lowing bishops: of La Paz, Dr. Juan de Dios 

 Bosque (1874) ; of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, F. 

 X. Rodriguez (1870) ; and of Cochabamba, F. 

 M. del Granado, titular Bishop of Troy in part. 



The Bolivian consul-general in New York 

 is Senor Don T. Pol. 



The standing army comprises eight generals, 

 some 400 superior and 700 subaltern officers, 

 with not over 2,000 men. Nevertheless, the 

 annual expenditure for the army seldom falls 

 below $2,000,000. 



The national revenue, though set down in 



official reports at about $3,000,000, has been 

 reported to amount to about $7,500,000. 



The expenditure was given at $4,505,504 in 

 the estimated budget for 1873-'74, and the 

 revenue at $2,929,574. 



In the national debt is included an item 

 Colonel Church's loan of 1,700,000, nego- 

 tiated in London in 1872 which is at present 

 a subject of warm discussion in British finan- 

 cial circles, and the details of which are as fol- 

 lows: The loan is designated as the "Bolivian 

 six per cent, of 1872 ; " the nominal amount 

 was 1,700.000; the issue price, 68; interest 

 and sinking-fund, 8 per cent, per annum ; and 

 number of years to run, twenty-four. The net 

 produce* to the borrower is set down at 1,- 

 156,000 ; the annual charge throughout, at 

 136,000; and the total cost to borrower, in- 

 cluding capital repaid at redemption, at 3, 

 235,440. 



The following remarks formed a part of the 

 second report of the " Corporation of Foreign 

 Bondholders on South American States," pub- 

 lished in 1875 : 



The events of the past year have brought no satis- 

 faction to the holders of .Bolivian bonds. 



The committee, who act independently of the 

 council, having thought it desirable to institute pro- 

 ceedings in chancery, the judgment of the Master of 

 the Rolls was rendered on the llth December, 

 1874 ; he decided that the National Bolivian Navi- 

 gation Company and the Madeira & Mamore" Rail- 

 way Company, Limited, were entitled to apply the 

 United States bonds vested in the name of trustees, 

 and the interest accruing theron, in payment for the 

 works of the railway, referred to in the prospectus in 

 proportion to the progress of such works. 



This decree left the question of the claims of the 

 Government of Bolivia to these funds still open. 



The dividends were met at maturity, but the 

 drawn bonds, payable in January, were only paid to 

 the extent of thirty-three and one-third per cent., 

 leaving the remainder undischarged. The sum set 

 apart for the dividend and sinking-fund was thereby 

 exhausted, and that portion of the loan only remains 

 which is reserved by the recent decree of the court 

 for the construction of the railway, pending any 

 other decision on the bill filed by the Government. 



The commissioners of the Government thereupon 

 annulled the concession for the railway, claiming at 

 the same time the balance of the eighty-three per 

 cent, of the loan deposited in the Bank of England, 

 as the property of the Government. 



Meanwhile, the Government of Bolivia have 

 enacted a law to the effect that the eighty-three per 

 cent, of the proceeds of the loan of 1872 shall be 

 destined to the construction of the Madeira & Ma- 

 mo^ Railway, that the cooperation of the .empire of 

 Brazil be forthwith solicited for the raising of the 

 requisite further funds for the completion of the said 

 railway, failing which, the present concessionnaires 

 were to supply them on their own account. A dip- 

 lomatic agent in London was to be appointed, 

 charged with the special duty of terminating the 

 lawsuits and of making arrangements for the con- 

 struction of the railway. 



As it has been persistently stated by friends 

 of Bolivia, that, spite of her misfortunes, she 



* " Net produce," that is to say, inclusive of commissions 

 paid by the borrower to the loan agent, and which, from two 

 per cent, in the case of good securities, often reach as high 

 as ten per cent, when security is indifferent and agents un- 

 scrupulous. 



