82 



BOLIVIA. 



Ayres and was erected into an independent 

 state in 1825, taking the name it still bears, in 

 honor of Simon Bolivar. 



The signal victory gained over the Spaniards 

 by Bolivar and Sucre at the battle of Ayacucho 

 in December, 1824, proved the death-blow to 

 Spanish sway in America; and the Spanish- 

 American countries, after they had achieved 

 their independence, retained their former boun- 

 daries unchanged. 



The Chilians urge the point, disputed by the 

 Bolivians, that during the colonial period the 

 Chilian territory extended northward to lati- 

 tude 23 south, or at least up to the bay of Meji- 

 llones, over a portion of the desert of Atacama ; 

 and in support of their claim they evoke the 

 testimony of royal letters patent, the jurisdic- 

 tion exercised by Chili up to the bay just 

 named, the result of a special survey of the 

 coast under the auspices of the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment, and lastly a clause of a Bolivian 

 President's message to Congress in which Oo- 

 bija is mentioned as the only port of Bolivia, 

 and in need of improvement. The fact is, 

 Chili remained until 1842 in peaceful posses- 

 sion of the territory which is the prize and in 

 part the scene of the present strife. In that 

 year attention appears to have been for the 

 first time directed, by the President of Chili, 

 to the Atacama Desert as a possible source of 

 national wealth, and then commenced the dis- 

 cussion which has ended in an appeal to arms. 

 Guano discoveries on the barren strip of coast, 

 and the expropriation by the Government of 

 Chili of the deposits whose location had been 

 ascertained by a commission appointed by that 

 Government, brought into the field the Bolivian 

 Government as a claimant for what was sup- 

 posed to be a rich prize. However, Chili 

 seems to have exercised jurisdiction over the 

 guano deposits at Mejillones, Angama, Santa 

 Maria, and other points on the desert coast, 

 inasmuch as from the year 1842 to 1857, 113 

 vessels of various nations loaded guano at those 

 places under licenses obtained from the Chilian 

 port of Valparaiso. No allusion, it would 

 seem, has been made to any grant of similar 

 licenses from the Bolivian port of Cobija. The 

 discussion as to the proprietorship of the des- 

 ert was carried on from 1842 until 1864, when 

 the hostile visits of a Spanish fleet to the coast 

 had the effect of uniting the Republics of Chili, 

 Bolivia, and Peru to oppose a common enemy. 

 Under the influence of this feeling the first 

 two republics in 1866 made mutual concessions 

 of their respective rights and privileges, in a 

 treaty of limits establishing the boundary-line 

 at 24 south, but fixing a common zone between 

 latitude 23 and 25 south wherein both coun- 

 tries should share equally in customs receipts 

 and export duties on minerals. A transcript of 

 this treaty and of others of more recent date 

 will be found at the end of this article. It is 

 contended on behalf of Chili that Bolivia from 

 the first disregarded the obligations she had 

 contracted; set aside the arrangement for a 



partition of revenues ; refused permission to the 

 Chilian inspectors to perform their duty ; and 

 that the general course she pursued was rather 

 that of a sole than of a joint owner of the ter- 

 ritory. 



In the mean time it had been discovered 

 that the barren strip of soil was rich, not only 

 in guano, but in metallic and other mineral 

 wealth, and especially in vast deposits of ni- 

 trate of soda. The value of this mineral as an 

 agricultural manure is now universally recog- 

 nized. Almost exclusively through Chilian 

 capital and enterprise, the trade in it soon 

 became important ; and Peru, which has rich 

 deposits of her own, was jealous of the men- 

 aced competition of the Chilian companies with 

 her nitrate and guano trade. "Accordingly," 

 says an English writer, "the Peruvian Gov- 

 ernment, which has recently acquired a mo- 

 nopoly of this trade by grievous oppression of 

 the private persons who owned deposits in 

 Peru, and which has been able in consequence 

 to extort enormous prices from foreign cus- 

 tomers, is believed to have persuaded Bolivia 

 to follow the same course, in defiance of treaty 

 obligations, toward the Chilians." In less than 

 ten years after signing the treaty of 1866, the 

 conduct of Bolivia had become such as to ren- 

 der it necessary for the Government of Chili, 

 in defense of her citizens and their properties, 

 either to negotiate a new treaty or reassert 

 former boundaries. Chili chose the former 

 course, and the treaty of August, 1874, was 

 signed and duly ratified. This treaty abolished 

 the neutral zone, and gave to Bolivia all ex- 

 port and customs dues previously agreed upon 

 except those arising from the sale of guano, 

 freedom from Chilian inspection, etc. The 

 stipulations on behalf of Chili were in protec- 

 tion of her industry. They provided that, for 

 a space of twenty-five years, Chilian capital- 

 ists working mines should not be subjected to 

 any increase of export duty, nor in their per- 

 sons, capital, or industries, to other imposts ot 

 any nature whatsoever than those already ex- 

 isting at the time of the treaty. Since then, 

 millions of Chilian capital have been invested 

 in mining and the manufacture of nitrate on 

 this formerly unproductive coast, causing three 

 important towns to be built, nine tenths of 

 the inhabitants of which are Chilians. 



The respective rights of the two republics 

 being thus settled by a new treaty (that of 

 1874), which, while securing the possession of 

 the territory to the Bolivians, protected the 

 interests of the Chilians as capitalists and 

 workers of the mineral wealth of the country, 

 friendly relations were reestablished ; but they 

 did not prove enduring. The Bolivian Gov- 

 ernment began last year to trench upon these 

 rights, and especially to subject Chilian com- 

 panies concerned in the nitrate trade to new 

 and heavy burdens (an export duty of 10 cents 

 per quintal, February, 1878), in contravention 

 of express treaty stipulations. It is contended 

 that the influence of the Peruvian Government 



