BOLIVIA. 



63 



engage to render the Madeira navigable for a 

 distance of 400 miles, from its junction with 

 the Amazon to San Antonio, and no transit 

 dues of any kind would be levied by Brazil on 

 goods forwarded to and from Bolivia. There 

 was a rumor early in 1883 that a secret treaty 

 had been actually concluded between the two 

 governments to that effect as early as Septem- 

 ber, 1882. The real present outlet is to the 

 Atlantic, through the Argentine Republic. 



The President of the Republic is Gen. Cam- 

 pero (since June, 1880), the First Vice-Presi- 

 dent is Dr. Aniceto . Arce, and the Second 

 Vice-President, Dr. B. Salinas. The Cabinet 

 in 1883 was compossd of the following minis- 

 ters : Interior and Foreign Affairs, Sefior P. J. 

 Silvetti; Finance, Sefior A. Quijano ; Public 

 Worship, etc., Dr. P. H. Vargas ; War, General 

 J. M. Rendon. 



The United States Minister resident at La 

 Paz is Mr. Richard Gibbs. 



The Bolivian Envoy Extraordinary and Min- 

 ister Plenipotentiary at Washington is Dr. L. 

 Cabrera, with Dr. A. Aramayo as Secretary 

 of Legation. The Bolivian Consul-General at 

 New York is M. Obarrio; Consul at New Or- 

 leans, J. P. Macheca; and at San Francisco, F. 

 Herrera. 



In order to understand the position of Bo- 

 livia at the close of 1883, it will be necessary 

 to review chronologically the events in Bolivia 

 and Peru, of which the negotiation of a treaty 

 of peace between Bolivia and Chili was the last. 



The War on the Pacific in 1883. In December, 

 1882, a convention was made and ratified at 

 Santiago, between Italy and Chili, to the effect 

 that all claims of Italian subjects arising out of 

 the war in Bolivia and Peru should be deter- 

 mined by arbitration. 



On April 20, 1883, the Congress assembled at 

 Cajamarca closed its sessions after authorizing 

 the Government to order an election to be 

 held upon the basis of the census of 1882, for 

 the nomination of a Constituent Assembly. 



In May the partisan general Caceres had sev- 

 eral engagements with Chilian detachments, 

 being defeated in two of them, at Balconcillo 

 and Pampas de Sicaya, by Canto, and on May 

 22d in one at Larma by Garcia. 



On May llth a ra-ovisional treaty of peace 

 was signed between Jovino Novoa on the 

 part of Chili, and Lavalle on the part of Gen. 

 Iglesias, the Peruvian commander. (The con- 

 ditions submitted to by Peru will be found 

 under CHILI, in this volume.) 



On May 20th the opposition Congress of the 

 Calderon-Montero faction in Peru assembled 

 at Arequipa, on which occasion Gen. Monte- 

 ro delivered his message, in which he praised 

 the faithfulness of Bolivia, and declared that 

 he did not consider the time to have come for 

 making peace. The message contained this 

 passage : " At the time it became evident that 

 the belligerents would be unable to arrive at 

 an understanding through direct negotiation, 

 Peru accepted the good offices of the United 



States. But after a year's useless negotiations, 

 after the energetic and comforting assurances 

 of Gen. Hurlbut, the measured and diplomatic 

 utterances of Mr. Trescott, and the impudent 

 and hostile declarations of Mr. Logan, we be- 

 came convinced that the United States were 

 unable to be useful to us in any manner what- 

 soever." 



June 2d, the people of Oerro de Pasco ad- 

 hered to the Cajamarca peace proclamation of 

 Iglesias. June 3d, at a meeting held at San 

 Mateo (province of Nuarochiri) under the 

 chairmanship of Jose Maria Sanchez, Peru- 

 vian citizens there present pronounced in favor 

 of peace. A similar declaration was simul- 

 taneously made at Huaraz (department of Anca- 

 cho) and at Recuaz, for peace and Iglesias. 

 On June llth the Congress assembled at Are- 

 quipa confirmed the following nominations: 

 President, Garcia Calderon ; Vice-President, 

 Montero; Second Vice-President, Caceres. 

 And on June 16th a new Cabinet was formed. 

 A few days later Gen. Montero reviewed the 

 troops under his command, and soon after a 

 force was sent by him to Moquegua, under the 

 command of Canevaro, 1,200 strong, and in- 

 cluding 200 horse under the Cuban Cespedes, 

 to operate against Tacna. 



Toward the close of June the Chilian forces 

 evacuated Pacasmayo, and the Chilian colo- 

 nel, Y. Garcia, occupied Trujillo, where the 

 Peruvian flag was hoisted. 



Early in July the Chilian President, Santa 

 Maria, delivered his message to Congress, at 

 Santiago, containing the following passage : 

 " Prior to the war, Bolivia had become an in- 

 strument of Peruvian intrigues and greediness, 

 because that country had become dependent 

 on Peru, which, for the past fifty years, stood 

 as a sort of door-keeper of Bolivia, owning 

 as Peru did the province of Moquegua, and 

 thus, through the routes leading from Arica 

 and Tacna to La Paz, controlling the only 

 practicable communication between the inte- 

 rior of Bolivia and the Pacific. If the rela- 

 tions between Peru and Bolivia remained the 

 same as they were then in this respect, now 

 that the war has been carried by us to a safe 

 issue, we should at all times in the future be 

 exposed to the risk of seeing Bolivia attack 

 us again at the instigation of Peru. It is no 

 secret that politics are very uncertain in Bo- 

 livia, and any government capable of exercis- 

 ing efficient pressure on the latter may easily 

 render Bolivia amenable to its purposes. Un- 

 der these circumstances we owe it to our own 

 safety in the future to deprive Peru forever 

 of the means to do mischief in this respect. 

 This is the chief reason why Chili insists, not 

 on annexing the province, of Moquegua, but on 

 temporarily occupying, and eventually acquir- 

 ing the same from Peru by purchase. All 

 friends of a durable peace can not fail to ad- 

 mit that we have a right to insist on these 

 conditions which present a guarantee of real 

 tranquillity. These demands are not those 



