PRESENT STATE OF PERU. 



we may be allowed to judge from what we saw and heard dur- 

 ing our stay in the country. The Chilian army was still 

 quartered in Lima, at the expense of its devoted inhabitants. 

 Public confidence was destroyed, commerce at a stand, the 

 mines were neglected, the people looked discouraged, and war 

 with Bolivia was inevitable, unless Gamara, the present in- 

 cumbent and usurper, placed by force in the Presidential-chair 

 by the Chilians, was removed. The most uncompromising 

 hostility is evinced by the Bolivian government towards the 

 administration of this president ; and we were assured, both 

 by intelligent natives, and foreigners, that until he shall be 

 banished from the country, no reconciliation of affairs can take 

 place between the two governments. The English, also, were 

 very clamorous, and threatening to sieze upon the revenue of 

 the country, if their claims were not speedily attended to. 

 Indeed, it seemed to have every trouble before it. 



The people are as yet in infancy as regards self-govern- 

 ment. Instead of taking matters in their own hands, they 

 allow themselves to be governed by a faction of military men, 

 whose only desire is their own self-aggrandizement. A few 

 months since they met to make some new elections, but they 

 allowed Gamara to overthrow them, and by force of arms 

 destroy their ballot-boxes ; and nothing is more common than 

 to hear of officers being exiled, and rich citizens stripped of 

 their wealth, merely for their political opinions. Nor is this 

 all : — The depraved morals of the church are proverbial in 

 Peru ; and there is scarcely a crime perpetrated, of which its 

 members are not guilty. Even on the Sabbath the priests 

 may be seen resorting to the theatres, billiard-rooms and 

 gambling-houses. The public revenue of this fine country is 

 imposed in the most oppressive manner, and impoverishes the 

 people from whom it is collected. The hordes of robbers it 



