PERU. 



687 



Jauja in November, yet, although his array 

 was dispersed, he himself escaped. 



Another independent chief of rebels, Dr. 

 Puga, caused the Government a great deal of 

 trouble in the northern provinces early in the 

 year, but was caught in March and shot. In 

 June, Caceres even threatened Lima with 3,000 

 men, and peace overtures were made him of 

 the most liberal and equitable kind ; but in the 

 mean time Caceres attacked the Government 

 troops at Jauja on July 4, with heavy losses 

 on both sides, but no result. An armistice en- 

 sued, and Caceres took the peace propositions 

 into consideration, but before the month came 

 to a close he spurned them. On Aug. 15 Ca- 

 ceres defeated the Government troops at Canta, 

 and Lima was again menaced. Being short of 

 provisions, Caceres, though but sixty miles 

 from Lima, was compelled to withdraw to 

 Tarma, and there he heard of a revolt of part 

 of his garrison at Arequipa, and a portion 

 of his army was simultaneously repelled at 

 Cajamarca. Caceres gathered his forces at 

 Jauja and Huancayo, in October, for a decisive 

 struggle, and on Nov. 20 occurred the battle 

 of Jauja, at which Caceres, with 2,000 men, 

 was defeated so completely that the rebels 

 were dispersed. 



Congress. Congress met on March 1, and in- 

 definitely prolonged the full power of action 

 given to President Iglesias twelve months be- 

 fore. After the battle of Jauja, Caceres rallied 

 a force and took Chicla by surprise on Novem- 

 ber 23. He had, at the same time, after his 

 retreat across the river Huaripampa, complete- 

 ly circumvented the Government troops by cut- 

 ting off the expeditionary force. On Nov. 30 

 he threatened Lima, and the next day began 

 operations within the walls of the city. Presi- 

 dent Iglesias and his troops made a stand in 

 its center, where fighting continued till noon, 

 Dec. 2, when it became evident that the invader 

 had been victorious, and through the good of- 

 fices of the diplomatic corps the basis of a set- 

 tlement was promptly arrived at, Iglesias and 

 Caceres both agreeing to renounce executive 

 power. The opposing forces were disbanded, 

 a provisional President and Cabinet were ap- 

 pointed, and a decree was issued for general 

 elections on the second Sunday of March, 1886, 

 Congress to be opened on May 30. 



American Treaties. On April 11 the Secretary 

 of the Treasury at Washington received formal 

 notice that the two treaties of 1870 between 

 the United States and Peru would terminate 

 by notice from the latter, on March 31, 1886. 

 They are known respectively as the treaty of 

 friendship, commerce, and navigation, signed 

 Sept. 6, 1S70, and the extradition treaty of 

 Sept, 12, 1870. 



The American Commissioners* The commission 

 appointed by the President to visit the South 

 American countries, in the interest of the com- 

 merce of the United States, reported to the De- 

 partment of State, under date April 25, the re- 

 sult of its observations while at Lima. The 



commission expressed itself to the following 

 effect : 



T The people privately talk of annexation to tho 

 United States, the newspapers openly advocate a pro- 

 tectorate over Peru by our Government as the best 

 mode of securing internal peace, and many other sug- 

 gestions have been advanced in the same spirit. Our 

 commerce with this country has dwindled to almost 

 nothing in comparison with its former magnitude. 

 This is accounted for by the enormous decrease in tho 

 purchasing power of Peru, and by the fact that the 

 steamship company that enjoys a monopoly on the 

 west coast of bouth America uses its influence and 

 regulates its freight tariffs so as to direct trade to Eng- 

 land. It is the opinion of every merchant in Peru, and 

 of the members of the Government, that these condi- 

 tions can not be changed until there is direct com- 

 munication by steam between the ports of this country 

 and those of the United States. It is said to be cheap- 

 er to ship goods from New York by way of Liverpool 

 and Hamburg around the Horn to Callao than by way 

 of the Isthmus, while the passenger pays $375, Ameri- 

 can gold, for transportation from New York to Val- 

 paraiso. 



Finance. The total income of Peru during 

 1884 was $7,000,000, and on Jan. 1, 1885, there 

 remained a balance in the treasury of $3,000. 

 Neither debts nor loans had been contracted 

 during the year. 



On April 16 Congress passed a law reducing 

 debts on mortgages to 50 per cent, of their 

 nominal value, in view of the depreciation in 

 paper currency. 



By September the financial straits of the 

 Government had become terrible ; harbor and 

 railroad monopolies had been bartered away 

 for years to come, and the money obtained 

 therefrom was spent, together with the funds 

 accruing from the guano claim. 



The national treasury stopped the payment 

 of salaries to public functionaries and em- 

 pi oy6s, except the army and navy, many tri- 

 bunals were closed, and trade, even the retail 

 trade, was hampered for the want of cash and 

 credit. 



The Chilian Government issued, Oct. 31, a 

 decree directing the Treasury Department at 

 Santiago to pay to the Peruvian Government 

 $100,000, being its share in the proceeds of 

 the guano- sale. Furthermore, Chili declared 

 to the Peruvian bondholders in Europe that 

 she was quite willing to come to an equitable 

 arrangement with them. 



Congress modified notably the appraisement 

 value of some articles of merchandise in the 

 customs tariff, fixing them as follows, as appli- 

 cable to five of them : 



On other articles the hitherto adopted aver- 

 age appraisement value was taken as a basis, 

 and the duty raised thereon as follows : 



