No. 522.
Mr. Christiancy to Mr. Evarts.
Lima, Peru, December 23, 1879. (Received January 22, 1880.)
Sir: Since my dispatch No. 93, of last week, several important facts have occurred with reference to the Peruvian Government.
On the afternoon of the 18th instant President Prado, without any previous notice or suspicion, but with the full knowledge of the minister of war and the minister of foreign affairs, and probably of the whole cabinet, left Lima; went to Callao, and about 4 p.m. embarked on the English [Page 820] mail steamer Payta for Panama, as it was given out by his friends, with the intention of visiting the United States, and perhaps Europe, in the interest of Peru. But the general belief here among all classes seems to be that it was a desertion of the post, which, under an accumulation of calamities, he felt he could no longer hold with advantage to himself or to the country. I have no decided opinion as to which is the true version of the affair. I am inclined to judge him leniently, because he has been more favorable to constitutional government than most Peruvian politicians, and yet the difficulties of his position were so overwhelming that it is possible the most unfavorable explanation of the cause of his leaving may be the true one.
I inclose herewith a correct translation of his decree on leaving, taken from the South Pacific Times, merely remarking here that the resolution of congress of the 2d May, to which he alludes, was that which was intended to authorize him to command, the armies of the republic in the south.
I inclose also a translation from the same paper of his address to the nation and the army on leaving.
General La Puerta, the first vice-president, was thus left as President, and though all the old ministry tendered their resignations, he refused to accept them, and they all continued in office; General de La Cotera, minister of war and marine, continuing as president of the council, and virtually the head of the government, and though for years known to be a Pierolist, yet, like a true and gallant man, as he seems to have been, he felt bound to sustain the constitutional government. But immediately upon the departure of Prado a spirit of inquietude and want of confidence in the government seemed to pervade the public mind, and it was not difficult to discover that there was a general wish that Piérola should assume the dictatorship, all seeming to have more confidence in his intelligence and capacity than in any other man, and I must also say that the large majority of American citizens here (of whom there are perhaps one hundred in Lima) seemed to sympathize with this Piérola movement, though, like true Americans, they carefully abstained from taking any active steps in that direction.
Martial law having been already declared in Lima and Callao, on the 19th appeared a decree prohibiting the assembling in the streets of more than four men at any one place. But the inquietude still continued to increase. I could not avoid feeling the effects of a terrible premonitory swell about to sweep over the land like an earthquake wave.
Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, while writings a private letter, about half past 4 p.m., I began to hear the tramp of infantry, and soon after of cavalry, in front of the legation. I supposed it to be a review, and kept on writing. But the tumult increased. I went to the balcony (which no one can understand who has not been in a Spanish town, and which is a projection in the second story over the street, some five feet wide, with sash and glass front and ends, from which you can see all along the street), and then I saw about one thousand infantry forming in line and some cavalry at each flank. The number was soon increased to about two thousand, and presently I saw mules and donkeys hurrying up with ammunition, and I began to be interested. I soon learned that two battalions of infantry, who had refused to obey the orders of the minister of war and whose colonels the government had attempted to remove, had mutinied and declared for Piérola, and their quarters were in the palace of the inquisition, on the opposite side of the Plaza de Bolivar (or Plaza de la Inquisition), and adjoining buildings exactly the opposite side of the same block on which the legation is situated.
[Page 821]In a few minutes after 1 had noticed this position of forces, and learned the object of La Cotera, to reduce the mutineers, the battle opened, at first only with small-arms—a constant roar and sheets of flame. General La Cotera (at the southwest corner of the plaza), fully exposed to the fire, on horseback, giving his orders with as much coolness as upon a dress parade. Soon there arrived upon the ground two mountain howitzers (they had no heavy artillery) and a Gatling gun, which kept up a constant roar. The mutineers being on the housetops, all of which have flat roofs, and many of them a kind of parapet near the eaves, rising from 2 to 4feet, were effectually protected from the shots of the assailants, while the government troops, in the open streets, were fully exposed to their shots. The mutineers were but about 600, who had declared for Piérola, but the advantage of their position made them more than equal to the (about) 2,000 government troops. The soldiers fought well on both sides, except that come of the government troops, in the midst of the action, went over to the mutineers (as I learned afterwards; but it was around the corner and out of my view), and some of them whose officers were Pierolists disbanded and dispersed. But I saw not the slightest evidence of cowardice. The private soldiers on both sides are substantially all Cholos Indians, and a few negroes and mixed blood. These Indians are a mild, gentle, amiable, and very industrious people, who do about all the labor that is done in Peru except by Chinese and negroes; and, though kept in slavery for more than three hundred years (and many still living who have been slaves), they are as good material for the rank and file of an army as can, I think, be found anywhere. They are small, wiry men, capable of much greater endurance than any white race I have ever seen, and only need to be well commanded to make most formidable armies. There was no shrinking as they fought in the streets exposed to the terrible fire from their almost invisible foes. I saw many wounded and carried away; saw several fall and one man killed instantly about five rods from my balcony on the street of Abancay, along which the main force of the government troops were placed—the lower or north end of the Plaza de Bolivar, where the hottest of the fight was, being in full view and about twenty rods from my balcony.
But these details are of no interest to you. I will only further remark that the battle continued from about twenty minutes before five until dusk. The mutineers were not dislodged. Continual defections had been going on among the various other regiments of the government troops elsewhere in the city, one after another going over to Piérola, and by the time that La Cotera returned to the Grand Plaza (on the north side of which the government palace is situated) he found Piérola in full possession of two sides—the east and south. He ordered his cavalry to charge, which they did, but they melted away before the terrible Remingtons of Piérola’s infantry. But the government troops kept the north side plaza and the palace. This was early in the evening. The government forces seemed everywhere to be rapidly going over to Piérola, and about this time he received information that the city of Callao had declared for him, as well as the officers of the principal forts and batteries; and though he might, in a very short time, have triumphed in Lima and taken the palace by continuing the fight, he wisely determined (and I hope and believe from motives of humanity) to march with his forces for Callao, which he did, where he was hailed as a deliverer, all the forces, forts, and batteries declaring for him. He took possession of both railroads to Lima. No trains were run during that day. He was simply waiting for the remaining government forces [Page 822] at Lima to disintegrate or to declare for him; and he judged rightly’ knowing the powerful in influences at work.
The Catholic bishops, with whom Piérola has always been a favorite, went yesterday afternoon to the acting president, La Puerta, and satisfied him that, as the great mass of the people as well as the army were in favor of Piérola, to continue the contest longer would be a wanton waste of life. But La Cot era was the last to yield, and he was only made to yield by the officers of the regiments in the palace itself going to him late yesterday afternoon and assuring him that they could no longer be accountable for the fidelity of their men, and had themselves determined to yield to Piérola; when, mounting his horse in the patio of the palace, with a few faithful friends as a guard, he rode out of the palace hissed and jeered by the rabble, but undismayed, and, with the rigid features of a bronze statue, scorning the servility of the crowd, rode off to his own house in Lima, preserving his honor and fidelity to the last, and commanding the respect of the thinking Class, even of his enemies, who could not fail to see in him one of the last survivors of the proud and chivalric hidalgos of the Spanish race in its better, or, at least, its more heroic age. And yet, among the more intelligent men of all classes, the general verdict is that he was a man of more courage and chivalry than mental capacity.
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Piérola, as is now supposed, will proclaim himself dictator. He is admitted on all hands to be a man of great mental capacity, of boldness, and decision, and it is generally believed that his inclinations are kind and humane. But he most thoroughly believes that in time of war, or any great national crisis, the law of self-preservation is superior to any written constitution. He is now to be tested, and so much is expected of him that it will be hard to meet all those expectations; and it is quite possible he may fail, and, in the course of a year, become as unpopular as Prado is to-day. In the mean time, however, since he has found that the whole responsibility rests upon him, he grows circumspect. He might have come in here last evening (Monday), and taken quiet possession of the palace and the government, and there was none to oppose him. But he waited, was expected to-day, and his friends telegraphed him to come, to which he replied, just before noon, in substance (I saw the dispatch in the telegraph office when it came): “Let all the military officers sign a document stating to whom they acknowledge obedience, so that I may know what orders to issue”; and up to this time, 6.30 p.m., he has not yet arrived in Lima. No one, however, seems to doubt that he will proclaim himself dictator.
I inclose you his letter of last evening, published in his paper this morning in Spanish, and if I can get the time before the mail will translate it.
December 24—11 a.m.
Piérola at 7 p.m. came up with a large body of officers and took quiet possession of the palace and the government, and to-day for the first time in three days the doors of the various places of business and of the private dwellings are open, the police are again on duty at every street corner, and all seems quiet and peaceful.
The revolution in this part of Peru is an accomplished fact.
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You will see by my dispatch No. 88 that I had anticipated the present state of things, and asked instructions, which, for the present, I shall await.
I have expected to see before this hour some proclamation or promunciamento [Page 823] issued by Piérola showing his general plan of government, but up to this hour, 12 m., none has appeared.
I am, &c.,