The different provinces have held their electoral meetings, and General Prado
has been named by a large majority to be President of the republic for the
four years from the 2d of August next. He is expected here about the 17th of
this month from Europe.
On the 22d of March, at the town of Chuquibamba, in the province of Arequipa,
a rising was made by the followers of Pierola, and an attack on the town,
which was repulsed by the armed police under the lead of a sub-prefect.
About 25 were killed on both sides.
June 9 a more serious rising was attempted at the city of Cuzco, in which a
colonel, two sergeants, and others made an attempt to revolutionize the
city. The fighting continued about ten hours, when the movement was stopped.
On the part of the government about 20 were killed and a large number were
wounded; a number of the inhabitants were killed and wounded, among the
former four women. This attempt is supposed to have been started by the
followers of Pierola.
The republic is in a state of peace, and I think will continue so. The
opening of Congress will take place on the 28th instant, anniversary of the
independence of the republic.
I have no doubt that General Prado will take charge of the presidency on the
2d of August peacefully.
Up to the present, President Prado’s government has been very successful in
quashing at the start all attempts to revolutionize the republic.
President Prado is closing the term of his administration with a series of
banquets. The first was given on the 9th instant to the army, navy, national
guard, and police.
I inclose a report of his speech in Spanish, and a correct translation from
the South Pacific Times.
[Inclosure.]
banquet to the army and navy.
[From the South Pacific Times.]
The banquet given by President Prado to the army and navy, the civil
guard, and the police force, which came off on the 9th instant, was even
more successful than the warmest admirers of the administration had
expected it would be. The scene in the court-yards of Santa Catalina is
said to have been exceedingly brilliant, while the effect produced by
the two speeches delivered by President Prado was remarkable. The first
speech was specially to the men of the army, navy, civil guard, and
police forces, and in concluding, President Prado thanked them for the
loyalty they have shown to his government, and expressed the wish that
they would always observe the same course of conduct, and thus prove
their desire to serve the republic.
The second speech was directed to the superior officers of the different
corps, and during its delivery President Prado was repeatedly applauded
and cheered. In terminating his speech, His Excellency showed evident
signs of being strongly moved, while many of his audience reflected in
their features the effect the words produced on them. The following is a
translation of this speech:
“Within a few days I shall perform one of the most sacred duties imposed
by the republican system, and shall return to the representatives of the
nation the supreme authority with which I was invested for a
constitutional term. This sacred duty, as I considered it, is one which
is noteworthy in the history of nations, since its repetition possesses
innumerable meanings and exercises important influences on the life of a
people.
The change of government which follows the conclusion of the legal period
of my administration is in obedience to the law which governs society,
and proof of society, from the first of its magistrates to the last of
its citizens, submitting to the majesty or the law. It is peace, social
order, moral and political progress, and the predominance of all those
good social elements which elevate the character of a nation and render
it worthy of the esteem and respect of the civilized world. All these
advantages are embraced by the legal transmission of the supreme power,
because that cannot be effected unless the majesty of the law and the
predominance of those good elements have triumphed during the four years
in which they have had to maintain a constant struggle against the
elements of disorder to be found in all societies, and which are more
abundant, more troublesome, and more powerful, in proportion as
societies are well or ill constituted. In this arduous campaign, which
has been more arduous during the period now terminating than during any
preceding one, the principal glory has been yours, because you have
formed bulwarks against which all the attacks of the wicked have been
shattered, and because you are those whose breasts have protected the
institutions of our country from abuse, and because with all honor you
can to-day raise the standard of loyalty at witnessing him who has been
for four years your chief, descend with calmness and serenity the steps
of the presidential dais.
Gentlemen, the lessons of political morality which are taught by history
are elevated in the extreme. History holds up events to the inspection
of the different generations, and to us it teaches a recent and eloquent
lesson.
A period of wealth and abundance, sustained by a numerous army, was
terminated by a law-killer, who shattered the power of the government
and the army. A period of poverty and hardships, sustained by a small
army and exposed to the repeated attacks of its enemies, to-day
terminates with the triumph of the law, and exhibits yourselves, the
supporters of it, as the most powerful army ever yet possessed by Peru.
In view of this contrast, before which the mind trembles, but patriotism
and faith revive and feel renewed faith, allow me to take to myself the
modest part which is my due in the beneficial reaction. My glory has
consisted in feeling firmly convinced of the truth of principles, in the
patriotism of men, and in the virtues of peoples.
[Page 425]
For this reason I took care to organize the public forces upon principles
analogous to the elevated duties they have to perform. For this reason I
intrusted the defense of my government to the temper of the heart rather
than the temper of the sword. For this reason I sought those hearts not
exclusively under the uniform of the soldier, but also under the coat of
the gentleman and the blouse of the laborer, and I made their interests
one with those of my government, and intrusted to them the defense of
our institutions and our liberties, and of the rights and interests of
our country. For this reason I have established moral discipline in the
army, in place of fear and terror which formerly existed; have based its
reform in education and rivalry, in place of ignorance and favor; have
converted the soldier into a free man, in the place of a prisoner; have
established schools for officers and subalterns, which insure the
continuance of the system; and, finally, for this reason I have raised
the spirit of the army, and have trebled its real strength while
diminishing its number, and have rendered the military uniform esteemed
and beloved by all classes of society. At the time I thus spread
democracy in the army I created a military spirit in the nation. Yes,
gentlemen, I have produced such a spirit in the widest and most liberal
and generous sense of the word. I have converted it into an army of
soldiers by intrusting the defense of society to society itself, and by
charging all classes of it with the preservation of the constituted
authority and the guarantees of public liberty.
In this work of re-organization the navy has had but little
participation. The ability of its officers had already raised it to such
a standard that my government has had little else to do but to endeavor
to nationalize the crews and to establish schools, where the honorable
traditions may be remembered of those who have done much honor to our
flag.
The police forces, also, with their new organization, have been inspired
with new spirit, and they are now converted into skillful and watchful
protectors of the interests of all our citizens. This has been the work
performed by my government in its re-organization of the public forces.
What has been the manner in which you have responded to my labors and
desires? An entire book would be required to answer this question.
The nation has witnessed your parades, your struggles, and your
victories. The nation has witnessed the outbreak of a civil war; has
seen thirty-five battalions, impressed within a fortnight, scatter over
the country, quell a revolution within sixty days, and then again
disappear into the private life of the desk and the bench. What at first
was witnessed with incredulity has subsequently produced enthusiasm and
admiration. But I have seen more than this, because I have seen your
sufferings: I have seen your constancy, your loyalty and your
enthusiasm; I have seen the soldier fighting without pay; I have seen an
officer, wounded at Los Angeles, carried off crying “Long live the
government!” I have seen wealthy men desert their comfortable homes and
their business to take their places at the head of their battalions,
which they sustained from their own means because the treasury was
exhausted; I have seen the artisan close his workshop and leave his wife
and children without the means of support, and with his rifle on his
shoulder embark in ignorance of the destination to which he was ordered;
I have seen the policeman fall at his post at the hand of the assassin,
in defense of the life and property of the citizen, who awoke tranquilly
the next morning in ignorance that his sleep had cost the life of a
fellow-citizen.
And what more? I see you to-day meet here together in the full sense that
you each and all have fulfilled your duty to the country; and
surrounding a government which is on the point of terminating, after a
period full of opposition, and at an epoch when illusions cease and all
are undeceived as to results, you surround me to say farewell with the
same enthusiasm and esteem as that with which four years ago you
presented me your congratulatory salutations.
Gentlemen, for me, this circumstance is most satisfactory; but it is also
honorable to yourselves, since men who so organize and struggle to
sustain their convictions and their sentiments can only possess high
spirit, profound convictions, and noble sentiments. I say that this is
to your honor. It is, consequently, also more to merit the esteem of
such hearts, and to see that, on the last as on the first day of my
government, they consider me worthy of their support. One word more and
I have done. I desire that the memory of these four years of honorable
sorrow may always sustain you in the fulfillment of your duty and in the
love of our country, as it will always insure you a high place in the
esteem of your fellow-citizens.
Gentlemen, I trust you may always serve the republic in the same
manner.
Loud and long cheering followed the delivery of this speech, and when the
excitement abated it was determined that all present should escort the
President to his house on foot. The proposition was carried out, and all
present attended to take leave of him at his own door.
