THE INCAS A^D OTHER RULERS OF PERU. 23 



constituted more than two-thirds of the country's revenue. Very 

 large quantities of this substance still existed in the Chinchas 

 and Lohos Islands, and in some places on the mainland, when 

 Balta's presidency began. Exportation then began at a very 

 rajjid rate, as a consequence of the Dreyfus contract. 



The proceeds of the foreign loans were expended in a lavish 

 manner on railways and different public works, hastily and often 

 injudiciously designed, andjmid for at extravagant rates. Many 

 influential citizens came to the conclusion that the resources of the 

 nation were being uselessly scpiandored, and a strong i)arty was 

 formed in opposition to ]5alta's policy, headed hy Don IVIanual 

 Pardo. It became evident that Pardo would be elected president 

 in 1872, and the military party became anxious to retain powder 

 at any cost. As however President Balta seemed unwilling to 

 appeal to force, the minister of war, Tomas Grutierrez, seized and 

 imprisoned him, and ])roclaimed himself Military Dictator, and 

 dissolved Congress. This action was followed by a popular rising 

 in Lima. The army did not stand by Gutierrez as he had 

 expected, and some of the ti'oops began to desert. Then one of 

 Gutierrez's brothers, also an oflicer in the army, put President 

 Balta to death in the cell where he had l)een imprisoned, and by 

 this foul act turned the scale against his own party, for the mob 

 rose and actually tore the dictator and two of his brothers to pieces. 

 Then in August of the same year President Pardo, being duly 

 elected, assumed power, and remained in office until the end of 

 his constitutional period in 1876. He was murdered two years 

 later, when president of the senate, by a soldier who was on duty 

 as sentry outside the House. 



At the outset of his presidency, Pardo was confronted with 

 serious financial difficulties, the consequence of his predecessor's 

 extravagence. These difficulties only increased as time went on, 

 and his successor, General Prado, was compelled to suspend the 

 payment of interest on the foreign loan;--. The construction of 

 the railways was suspended, and the credit of the nation ruined. 



Such was the condition of the country when the war with 

 Chile broke out in April, 1879. And now at last the province of 

 Tarapaca and its staple (and in fact almost only) product nitrate 

 of soda for the first time came to the front in the politics of the 



