626 



PEEU. 



PESCHEL, OSKAR F. 



guano Lave resulted in three consequences which 

 are now combined in one : the natural reaction in 

 business and industry after passing through an epoch 

 in which the ordinary product of the guano was con- 

 sumed, and also the sales of future years ; the diffi- 

 culty which the foreign trade of Peru feels in conse- 

 quence of guano having thus temporarily ceased to 

 serve as a national return; and the blank which the 

 discount of this rental has produced in the receipts, 

 to the great embarrassment of the regular public ser- 

 vice. 



The first of these results refers to a circumstance 

 already realized, and can therefore only be corrected 

 by the gradual action of economical laws. The 

 second, i. e., the decreased commercial return in 

 proportion to the imports, will diminish as the pro- 

 duction of the country increases. But the third can 

 only be remedied by yourselves, and it is urgently 

 necessary that you should undertake the task. 



An equality between receipts and expenditures 

 is indispensably necessary for the proper adminis- 

 tration of the executive power, which, as you well 

 know, plays an important part in the moral and ma- 

 terial welfare of the nation* Only equality can in- 

 sure credit, and we require to make use of ours in 

 order to terminate the public works which have been 

 commenced ? and increase European immigration, the 

 want of which is now so sensibly felt, and which is 

 the most powerful element for increasing production. 



If the solution of our financial question places us 

 in a position to make use of our credit, the resources 

 we obtain from it will contribute to a great extent to 

 decrease the ill effects we at present experience from 

 a want of exportable products, and our foreign trade 

 will to that extent be a gainer. Consequently, the 

 public peace, social order, the due carrying on of the 

 Government, the national credit,-the termination of 

 the public works and their necessary effects on the 

 prosperity of industry and commerce, all depend on 

 your success in restoring a fiscal equilibrium by de- 

 termining the sums which are to be permanently de- 

 voted to meeting our ordinary expenses. 



The solution of this problem has become a neces- 

 sity to the republic, and it is worthy of receiving the 

 whole of your time, study, and attention, since the 

 difficulties and dangers attendant on its solution are 

 equally as great as those which must result from its 

 non-determination. 1 call your attention most seri- 

 ously to this matter, because the future of my coun- 

 try is a question which gives me much thought, and 

 because my duty to it compels me to explain its ne- 

 cessity to you, and to urge you to come to a resolution. 



The discussion of the budget and the determina- 

 tion of the receipts with which its expenses are to be 

 permanently met; the determination of unsettled 

 questions as to the administration of guano and ni- 

 trate in reference to each other, and in reference to 

 the public treasury ; the formation of a special school- 

 fund on a scale which shall enable instruction to be 

 generalized and allow the municipalities freedom of 

 action in the matter with their own funds, and thus 

 liberate the budget from charges for local expenses ; 

 and, finally, the determination of funds for the per- 

 fection of our public works and for foreign immigra- 

 tion these are the primary questions which have 

 led to my calling this extraordinary Congress, and 

 to which I especially direct your attention in conse- 

 quence of their intimate connection with the present 

 and the future of the republic. 



Honorable legislators, the responsibility which to- 

 day weighs on the representatives of the people is as 

 great as_are the problems submitted to their decision 

 by public necessity ; and problems such as these, on 

 which the present and future of a nation depend, can 

 only be solved by disregarding the minor interests 

 of the present and acting for the permanent welfare 

 of society. 



On October 7th the town of Iquique was 

 almost totally destroyed by fire. 



A circular proposing a congress of American 

 jurists was addressed by the Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs to the several governments of 

 the American Continent. The congress is de- 

 signed to establish a definite agreement on the 

 following points : 



1. As a general basis for all points not specially 

 determined, to obtain uniformity of private legisla- 

 tion, so far as the particular circumstances of each 

 country will permit it, and to stipulate in the differ- 

 ent codes the points on which uniformity is impos- 

 sible, and the manner in which questions shall be 

 decided which may arise in consequence of such 

 want of uniformity. 



2. To concede in each State to citizens of the 

 others the same rights as to natives. 



3. To simplify as much as possible marriage be- 

 tween natives and foreigners. 



4. To establish uniformity in all external acts and 

 obligatory documents. 



5. To fix common rules for the due execution of 

 civil sentences and the carrying out of summonses. 



6. To stipulate in the different codes all cases of 

 extradition and the modes of carrying them out. 



7. To assimilate commercial legislation, and more 

 particularly in cases of bankruptcy and patents. 



8. To assimilate the coinage, weights, and meas- 

 ures. 



9. To celebrate a postal convention between all 

 the states. 



The congress, the circular says, might meet 

 in Lima, or in any other place which the ma- 

 jority of the governments might determine, 

 and it might commence its sessions with the 

 presence of such plenipotentiaries of the united 

 nations as are present at the date of its in- 

 stallation, and to their decisions the other na- 

 tions might agree, either during the session or 

 subsequently. This is a most important move- 

 ment, and the centennial year is a good time 

 for the United States to aid in establishing an 

 assembly for the improvement of international 

 law. 



PESCHEL, OSKAR FERDINAND, a German 

 geographer, born March 17, 1826 ; died August 

 31, 1875. He entered a business house in his 

 youth, but, this not suiting his taste, he re- 

 tired, and devoted himself to the study of 

 law and to journalism, becoming one of the 

 editors of the Allgemeine Zeitung of Augs- 

 burg; and when, in 1854, the editor of the 

 Ausland, a geographical journal, died, Peschel 

 was appointed in his place. In this position 

 he did much to promote geography and the 

 different natural sciences connected with it. 

 Under his editorship, the Ausland became not 

 only one of the most prominent geographical 

 publications of Germany, but natural philoso- 

 phy and astronomy, physiology and biology, 

 all were represented in the same masterly 

 manner. In 1871 he accepted a call as pro-* 

 fessor in Leipsic, in which position he remained 

 up to his death. His principal works are: 

 "Geschichte des Zeitalters der fEntdeckun- 

 gen" (1858); " Geschichte der Erdkunde bis 

 auf A. von Humboldt und Karl Ritter " (1865) ; 

 " Neue Probleme der vergleichenden Erdkun- 

 de als Versuch einer Morphologie der Erd- 

 aberflache " (1870), and u Volkerkunde " of 



