682 



PERU AND- BOLIVIA. 



R. Markham, " The War between Peru and 

 Chili, 1879-'82" (New York: R. Worthington, 

 publisher). 



In the preface we find the ensuing passage : 

 " The authentic materials for a narrative of the 

 war are now sufficiently extensive, although 

 they are almost exclusively supplied from the 

 Chilian side. The ground has been carefully 

 described in a series of publications issued by 

 the Chilian Hydrographic Department, enti- 

 tled 'Noticias sobre las provincias litorales.' 

 The official dispatches, diplomatic notes, and 

 reports of correspondents are contained in the 

 * Bole tin de la guerra del Pacifico,' published 

 at Santiago periodically from April, 1879, to 

 March, 1881. The history of the three cam- 

 paigns has been written in copious detail by 

 one of the most distinguished literary men in 

 Chili, Don Benjamin Vicufia Mackenna. The 

 author's powers of description, of delineating 

 character, and of critical analysis are of a very 

 high order. His industry in collecting materials 

 is extraordinary, and it is equaled by his ability 

 in arranging them. Vicufia Mackenna is, above 

 all things, an historical biographer. He could 

 not, if he would, omit a trait or an incident, 

 however much its mention might tell against 

 the view he advocates. His love of historical 

 truth amounts to a passion. From no writer 

 since the days of Ercilla are we more certain 

 to get the good equally with the bad points 

 of an enemy. His work is, therefore, invalu- 

 able. 



" Don Diego Barros Arana, in his ' Historia 

 de la guerra del Pacifico,' gives us the history 

 of the three campaigns, as well as of the naval 

 warfare. His narrative is less interesting and 

 not nearly in such full detail as that of Vicufia 

 Mackenna. We also have the memoir of the 

 Chilian Minister of "War for 1881, which gave 

 rise to an acrimonious paper war between the 

 minister and the general commanding the army, 

 and thus many things were made public. The 

 general replied in a volume containing all the 

 official dispatches. There are also a few mono- 

 graphs of special actions, such as ' El Combate 

 Homerico' and 'Estudios sobre la vida del 

 Capitan Arturo Prat,' which are useful. Chili, 

 assuredly, has been fully heard, but Peru and 

 Bolivia, apart from official reports, are silent so 

 far as we are aware. If books have been pub- 

 lished, they have not become accessible here. 

 The whole story, with the exception of private 

 letters regarding the proceedings or the fate ot 

 individuals, and mere official utterances, is told 

 by Chilians. Impartiality and common fair- 

 ness, therefore, demand the utmost care in 

 judging of the acts and motives of their oppo- 

 nents. If an unbiased stranger does not adopt 

 the Chilian view with regard to the causes of 

 the war, the justice of its continuance, and the 

 character of some of the events, he at least ar- 

 gues from the same premises. The facts have 

 been supplied almost exclusively by one side ; 

 and, if the historian feels obliged to condemn 

 the proceedings of Chilian statesmen and sol- 



diers, he must, at the same time, commend the 

 fairness of Chilian writers." 



From the book of Mr. Markham we bor- 

 row the passage on " Peruvian railroads and 

 finance " : ** On August 2, 1868, Colonel Balta 

 was elected President of Peru. Led on by 

 speculators and contractors, he was unfortu- 

 nately induced to enter upon a career of ex- 

 travagant expenditure with the help of foreign 

 loans. He pushed forward the construction of 

 railroads and other public works with feverish 

 haste. In 1870 he raised a loan of 11,920,000 

 at 6 per cent, and in 1872 another of 36,800,- 

 000 to increase the old debt, and for the con- 

 struction of public works. Colonel Balta also 

 guaranteed a loan of 290,000 for a railroad ; 

 so that the whole liabilities of his government 

 became 49,010,000, besides an internal debt 

 of 4,000,000. It seems almost incredible that 

 these loans could have been raised, when the 

 revenue of Peru was notoriously small and pre- 

 carious. The speculators who undertook to 

 advance such sums, only a portion of which 

 ever reached Peru, must have known perfectly 

 well that the continuous payment of the inter- 

 est on them was simply impossible. These 

 matters are not intelligible to an outsider ; but 

 the historian will consider the unhappy people 

 of Peru, not the exceedingly clever financiers 

 who arranged the loans, and were well able to 

 take care of themselves, as the victims. The 

 railroads are largely in the hands of English 

 capitalists. From Payta, the most northern 

 port of Peru, there is a railroad, sixty-three 

 miles long, to the city of Piura, facilitating the 

 shipment of cotton - crops. Farther south a 

 line, forty-five miles long, connects the port of 

 Pimentel with Chiclayo and Lambayeque. The 

 rice-crops of the Terrefiape Valley are brought 

 to the port of Eten by a line fifty miles in 

 length, which is said to be entirely the prop- 

 erty of an English house. The railroad from 

 Magdalena to the port of Pacasmayo, ninety- 

 three miles long, taps the fertile valley of Je- 

 quetepeque, and is a state enterprise. The su- 

 gar and rice estates of Chicania reach the coast 

 by a line of twenty-five mites from Ascope to 

 Malabrigo. The city of Trux'illo is connected 

 with its port of Salaverry by a line of eighty- 

 five miles. The city of Huaraz, between two 

 ranges of the Andes, is to have a railroad to 

 the coast at Chimbote, one hundred and sev- 

 enty-two miles long, but only fifty-two are as 

 yet finished. The capital was connected with 

 its port of Callao by a railroad, in 1851, and 

 with the fashionable watering-place of Cho- 

 rillos in 1858. Another line, forty-five miles 

 long, goes from Lima to Chancay. South of 

 Lima the vineyards and cotton estates of lea 

 are joined to the port of Pisco by a line of forty- 

 eight miles. The railroad from Mollendo to 

 Arequipa was completed in 1870, and runs over 

 one hundred and seventy miles of desert. In 

 order to supply Mollendo with water, a pipe 

 was laid alongside the line for eighty-five miles, 

 starting near Arequipa, 8,000 feet above the 



