No. 418.
Mr. Gibbs
to Mr. Evarts.
Lima, Peru, June 26, 1878. (Received July 15.)
Sir: I have the honor to refer to my dispatch of May 27, No. 255, in which I mentioned the resignation of the cabinet. This act was repeated and accepted 18th instant, when a new ministry was formed by Señor Loayza, to whom the matter was intrusted, and consists of the following:
President of the council and minister of justice, Dr. Dn. José Jorge Loayza, a lawyer of great renown in the Peruvian courts, and who has held various high official positions, forming part of the cabinet of President Pezet in 1865, minister of foreign affairs during the presidency of Balta, and formed part of that administration at the time of the Gutierrez revolution in 1872, and is said to be a strong partisan of Pierola.
Dr. Dn. Manuel Irigoyen, minister of foreign affairs, was deputy in the Congress of 1860 that reformed the political constitution of 1856; has served his country abroad as minister to Belgium, and was minister [Page 731] to Brazil and the Argentine Republic, from whence he has lately returned.
General Don Pedro Bustamante, minister of war and marine, was part of the first cabinet formed by the actual President, and resigned with his colleagues on account of the Huascar incident, June last. This is the third time that he has held the position of minister of war.
Dr. Dn. Manuel A. Barinaga, minister of the treasury, has occupied the position of first auditor of the treasury department for some time, also as professor of law in the university, and to-day is dean of the faculty of jurisprudence, but this is the first time that he has appeared in political life.
Dr. Dn. Fernando Palacios, minister of the interior, which includes religion, instruction, and police, is also a new man in politics, his occupation previously being for years a lawyer of ability and great legal acquirements.
The press, with the exception of the government paper and the church organ, La Sociedad, look unfavorably on the cabinet, and it is generally considered as being Pierolist and leaning toward ultramontanism, but conceded by all parties to be composed of gentlemen of worth and intelligence.
I am, &c.,