Chap. XVIII. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WARS. 293 



that of Guayaquil. This port has always been coveted by 

 Peru ; and the question of the frontier was further confused 

 by the civil jurisdiction in Peru and Quito, during Spanish 

 times, having been divided by one line, and the ecclesiastical 

 by another. The generally recognised rule for deciding the 

 frontiers between the South American Republics is the iiti 

 possidetis, as regards the former colonial juriscUctions, at the 

 time of the war of independence. 



These frontier disputes, carried on with feeUngs embittered 

 by former jealousies, led to a war between Colombia and 

 Peru in 1828,* in which the latter republic was worsted ; and 

 a campaign, ending in a treaty, between Peru and Bolivia at 

 the same time. 



The second and more disastrous cause for civil dissensions 

 was the question between a federal and a centralized form 

 of republican government. Peru enjoyed a period of peace 

 between the war with Colombia in 1828 and the year 1834 ; but 

 between the latter period and the year 1844 the unfortunate 

 country was subject to a constant series of civil wars and in- 

 surrections. The ten years between 1834 and 1844 was Peru's 

 most miserable time. Her public men were corrupt, pusillani- 

 mous, and selfishly ambitious ; she was given up to be torn and 

 distracted by wretched military adventurers; and the marches 

 of armies, with their system of forced recruiting, banished all 

 attempts at advancement or improvement from the country. 

 Yet even during this dark interval there was a space of two 

 years, when General Santa Cruz established his dream of a 

 federal republic under the name of the Peru-Boli^-ian Confe- 

 deration, during which the land enjoyed peace and some signs 

 of revived prosperity. The able and vigorous administration 

 of Santa Cruz, whose mother was an Indian chieftainess, was 

 the one bright spot in this drear}- waste of anarchy. 



For the following ten years Peru enjoyed a period of peace, 



^ The bcnind^ry between Ecuador I possidetis of 1810, and the treaty of 

 and Peru is now founded on the uti 1829. 



