financial affairs of the country into some order; he also concluded a treaty of commerce with Peru, and for several years Bolivia remained in peace. In 1835, when a struggle for the chief power had made two factions in the neighbouring republic of Peru, Santa Cruz was induced to take a part in the contest; he marched into that country, and after defeating General Gamarra, the leader of one of the opposing parties, completed the pacification of Peru in the spring of 1836, named himself its protector, and had in view a confederation of the two countries. At this juncture the government of Chile interfered actively, and espousing the cause of Gamarra, sent troops into Peru. Three years of fighting ensued till in a battle at Jungay in June 1839 Santa Cruz was defeated and exiled, Gamarra became president of Peru, and General Velasco provisional chief in Bolivia. The Santa Cruz party, however, remained strong in Bolivia, and soon revolted successfully against the new head of the government, ultimately installing General Ballivian in the chief power. Taking advantage of the disturbed condition of Bolivia, Gamarra made an attempt to annex the rich province of La Paz, invading it in August 1841 and besieging the capital; but in a battle with Ballivian his army was totally routed, and Gamarra himself was killed. The Bolivian general was now in turn to invade Peru, when Chile again interfered to prevent him. Ballivian remained in the presidency till 1848, when he retired to Valparaiso, and in the end of that year General Belzu, after leading a successful military revolution, took the chief power, and during his presidency endeavoured to promote agriculture, industry and trade. General Jorge Cordova succeeded him, but had not been long in office when a new revolt in September 1857, originating with the garrison of Oruro, spread over the land, and compelled him to quit the country. His place was taken by Dr José Maria Linares, the originator of the revolution, who, taking into his own hands all the powers of government, and acting with the greatest severity, caused himself to be proclaimed dictator in March 1858. Fresh disturbances led to the deposition of Linares in 1861, when Dr Maria de Acha was chosen president. In 1862 a treaty of peace and commerce with the United States was ratified, and in the following year a similar treaty was concluded with Belgium; but new causes of disagreement with Chile had arisen in the discovery of rich beds of guano on the eastern coast-land of the desert of Atacama, which threatened warfare, and were only set at rest by the treaty of August 1866, in which the 24th parallel of latitude was adopted as the boundary between the two republics. A new military revolution, led by Maria Melgarejo, broke out in 1865, and in February of that year the troops of President Acha were defeated in a battle near Potosi, when Melgarejo took the dominion of the country. After defeating two revolutions, in 1865 and 1866, the new president declared a political amnesty, and in 1869, after imposing a revised constitution on the country, he became its dictator.
In January 1871 President Melgarejo was in his turn deposed and driven from the country by a revolution headed by Colonel Augustin Morales. The latter, becoming president, was himself murdered in November 1872 and was succeeded by Colonel Adolfo Ballivian, who died inRecent history. 1874. Under this president Bolivia entered upon a secret agreement with Peru which was destined to have grave consequences for both countries. To understand the reasons that urged Bolivia to take this step it is necessary to go back to the above-mentioned treaty of 1866 between Chile and Bolivia. By this instrument Bolivia, besides conceding the 24th parallel as the boundary of Chilean territory, agreed that Chile should have a half share of the customs and full facilities for trading on the coast that lay between the 23rd and 24th parallels, Chile at that time being largely interested in the trade of that region. It was also agreed that Chile should be allowed to mine and export the products of this district without tax or hindrance on the part of Bolivia. In 1870, in further consideration of the sum of $10,000, Bolivia granted to an Anglo-Chilean company the right of working certain nitrate deposits north of the 24th parallel. The great wealth which was passing into Chilean hands owing to these compacts created no little discontent in Bolivia, nor was Peru any better pleased with the hold that Chilean capital was establishing in the rich district of Tarapacá. On 6th February 1873 Bolivia entered upon a secret agreement with Peru, the ostensible object of which was the preservation of their territorial integrity and their mutual defence against exterior aggression. There can be no doubt that the aggression contemplated as possible by both countries was a further encroachment on the part of Chile.
Upon the death of Adolfo Ballivian, immediately after the conclusion of this treaty with Peru, Dr Tomas Frias succeeded to the presidency. He signed yet another treaty with Chile, by which the latter agreed to withdraw her claim to half the duties levied in Bolivian ports on condition that all Chilean industries established in Bolivian territory should be free from duty for twenty-five years. This treaty was never ratified, and four years later General Hilarion Daza, who had succeeded Dr Frias as president in 1876, demanded as the price of Bolivia’s consent that a tax of 10 cents per quintal should be paid on all nitrates exported from the country, further declaring that, unless this levy was paid, nitrates in the hands of the exporters would be seized by the Bolivian government. As an answer to these demands, and in order to protect the property of Chilean subjects, the Chilean fleet was sent to blockade the ports of Antofagasta, Cobija and Tocapilla. On the 14th February 1879 the Chilean colonel Sotomayor occupied Antofagasta, and on 1st March, a fortnight later, the Bolivian government declared war.
An offer on the part of Peru to act as mediator met with no favour from Chile. The existence of the secret treaty, well known to the Chilean government, rendered the intervention of Peru more than questionable, and the law passed by the latter in 1875, which practically created a monopoly of the Tarapacá nitrate beds to the serious prejudice of Chilean enterprise, offered no guarantee of her good faith. Chile replied by curtly demanding the annulment of the secret treaty and an assurance of Peruvian neutrality. Both demands being refused, she declared war upon Peru.
The superiority of the Chileans at sea, though checked for some time by the heroic gallantry of the Peruvians, soon enabled them to land a sufficient number of troops to meet the allied forces which had concentrated at Arica and other points in the south. The Bolivian ports were already in Chilean hands, and a sea attack upon Pisagua surprised and routed the troops under the Peruvian general Buendia and opened the way into the southern territory of Peru. General Daza, who should have cooperated with Buendia, turned back, on receiving news of the Peruvian defeat, and led the Bolivian troops to Tacna in a hasty and somewhat disorderly retreat. The fall of San Francisco followed, and Iquique, which was evacuated by the allies without a struggle, was occupied. Severe fighting took place before Tarapacá surrendered, but the end of 1879 saw the Chileans in complete possession of the province.
Meanwhile a double revolution took place in Peru and Bolivia. In the former country General Prado was deposed and Colonel Pierola proclaimed dictator. The Bolivians followed the example of their allies. The troops at Tacna, indignant at the inglorious part they had been condemned to play by the incompetence or cowardice of their president, deprived him of their command and elected Colonel Camacho to lead them. At the same time a revolution in La Paz proclaimed General Narciso Campero president, and he was elected to that post in the following June by the ordinary procedure of the constitution. During 1880 the war was chiefly maintained at sea between Chile and Peru, Bolivia taking little or no part in the struggle. In January of 1881 were fought the battles of Chorillos and Miraflores, attended by heavy slaughter and savage excesses on the part of the Chilean troops. They were followed almost immediately by the surrender of Lima and Callao, which left the Chileans practically masters of Peru. In the interior, however, where the Peruvian admiral Montero had formed a provisional government, the war still lingered, and in September 1882 a conference took place between the latter and President Campero, at which it was decided that they should hold out for better terms. But the Peruvians
