364 



RESUME. 



this certainly will be the best route of communication between Lima 

 and the Atlantic ; but earnest and enthusiastic men see no obstacles to 

 their favorite schemes ; and I must doubt if this road would, according 

 to his account, run for the greater part of its distance over a pampa or 

 plain. 



The portions of land granted by this decree are not sufficiently large, 

 a fanegada being only about two acres ; but I have no doubt that a 

 proper representation to the Peruvian government would set this matter 

 right, and very much increase the size of the grants. No man would 

 be willing to undergo the exposure, privations, and hardships of a dwell- 

 ing in the wilderness whilst he was clearing his lands, unless with the 

 prospect of having a large and valuable estate, if not available for himself, 

 at least for his children. The government should make legal titles to 

 each adult male settler of a tract of land at least a mile square. 



The decree says nothing in relation to toleration of creeds in religion. 

 The President could not grant toleration, for it would be contrary to the 

 constitution of Peru ; but he knows as well as I do that there will be 

 very little trouble in that country from that cause. The country will 

 afford room for every shade of opinion and every form of worship ; and 

 men will be too busy there for years to come to find leisure for quarrel- 

 ling on such trifling yet mischievous subjects. The decree refers in 

 several places particularly to Catholics, as if in contradistinction to, and 

 tacit acknowledgment of, a Protestant interest. 



In his letter to the council of state, asking its concurrence in the 

 appropriation by the executive of the $200,000 towards the establish- 

 ment of steam navigation and exploration on the Ucayali and Huallaga 

 rivers, and the colonization and settlement of the lands upon their 

 ba ks, Senor Tirado thus expresses himself : 



"Amongst the most urgent national obligations is that of procuring 

 the civilization of the savage tribes who dwell on the borders of the 

 Ucayali and in other parts of Eastern Peru ; and also that which binds 

 the republic to lay the foundations of the prosperity which may be 

 expected from commerce and communication with the rest of the world, 

 by means of the navigation of the Amazon and its confluents. 



" The Spanish government, and subsequently the independent, on ac- 

 count of divers circumstances, has applied but feeble means to the 

 accomplishment of the first of these objects. The wants and spirit of 

 the age now call for the full and immediate application of the care and 

 resources of the nation towards these places, subject to the territorial 

 sovereignty of Peru, which will soon see an influx of foreign merchan- 



