Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880

No. 537.
Mr. Christiancy to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Lima, Peru, June 20, 1880. (Received July 29.)

No. 179.]

Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 177,^* upon the progress of the war and the question of peace, I have now to inform you that on the 14th instant (the day after the dean of the diplomatic corps and the French minister had called upon the Supreme Chief in the name of the corps, as stated at the close of my dispatch No. 177), there appeared in the Patria and in El Peruano the address or proclamation of the Supreme Chief to the nation, a copy of which I here inclose, marked, with a translation from the South Pacific Times.

On the 16th instant appeared in the Patria (official paper) the “Protocol of the preliminary bases of the federal union of Peru and Bolivia,” a copy of which, with the translation, I here inclose. Also the “Supplementary protocol of the preliminary basis of the union of Peru and Bolivia,” of which I inclose copy, with translation.

The proclamation is substantially in accord with the answer given by the Supreme Chief in person to the dean of the diplomatic corps and the French minister the day before.

* * * * * * *

It is the general opinion among the best informed Peruvians and foreigners here that such federal union, if carried into effect, will be highly and permanently beneficial to both Peru and Bolivia, though, in the meantime, revolutions may take place in Peru, and especially in Bolivia, which may prevent the union, but it is believed the general public opinion in Bolivia and Peru is and will remain in favor of the union, and such is my impression from the best information I can obtain.

The effect of the publication of these protocols has been to raise the market value of the paper currency here, which had fallen to 5 pence per sol, in exchange on London, and which is now freely granted by English houses here at the rate of 6¼ pence per sol.

* * * * * * *

I have, &c.,

I. P. CHRISTIANCY.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 179.]

[From The South Pacific Times, June 15, 1880.]

The Supreme Chief to the Nation:

Fellow Citizens: Our patriotism has just received a rude shock. The unexpected check sustained by our first army of the south, brought about by a series of errors, and which can only be explained by the impatience of our army to meet the enemy, has given to the latter, at great cost, the useless occupation of Tacna and Arica, after a most heroic and memorable resistance.

A people bold and firm, who feel that they deserve to triumph, receive with pride, as does Peru, those checks, which only dishearten the weak.

It is well! By the pain with which we count our victims will be forged the sword of justice with which we shall repel our invaders. The blood shed claims vengeance; and shall have it, ample and complete. The example of our martyrs makes soldiers spring up by thousands, and there is not in Peru one who does not feel proud of them. Chili, conqueror, will find its conquests very dear. Peru to-day is to be feared a hundred times more by Chili than at the commencement of the campaign, and recovers in misfortune the strength forgotten in the days of confidence and tranquility.

Chili does not understand, cannot understand, what to a generous and high-spirited people means hearths trampled under foot, the blood of its sons shed, and the majesty of the nation outraged by those who should tremble at its anger; and judging us by themselves, they have dreamt that they could obtain the peace they covet, in order not to succumb to our inevitable and legitimate triumph.

Yesterday Chili dreamt also in our intestine struggles, but Peru and Bolivia have to-day only one voice, one thought. Chili sought to destroy the alliance, and all that she has reaped is the making of two peoples one only. She attempts to hem us in by a blockade, but will only hasten the solution of our internal questions, and by so doing enable us to recover that strength which to-morrow she will look upon affrighted.

Chili is building up day by day with her ephemeral successes her own ruin, and by each of her costly blows wastes the strength which might be able to resist us at a future time. Our resources are untouched, but theirs are coming to an end. They are living on what they borrow, to their own ruin and to the undeceiving of the deluded persons who discount their barren triumphs. They have played in Tacna a stroke of fortune which is utterly useless to them, which prostrates them and makes, us, arise more vigorous and determined than before.

Let them burn, let them efface our undefended towns on the coast; let them lay waste our fields, if they can. We are determined to all, save the renouncing the vindication of our right, the ceding one inch of our soil, the asking from us, to save themselves, a peace which they will never be able to force upon us.

Fellow countrymen, you have confided to me the recovery of our national rights trampled under foot without even a pretext. My task, therefore, is to seek the recovery of our rights without rest, and seek it at any cost, seek it until it be obtained. Behind me stand six million men. And when I fall, fortune, which may deny to me the being present at the triumph of my country, will not deny me, I trust, the right to die in its defense, secure of victory.

Justice is with us. Victory has never been denied to those who fighting for their home and country become worthy of them by their determination and self-sacrifice.

Lima, June 13, 1880.

N. de PIÉROLA.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 179.—Translation.]

Protocol of the preliminary bases of the federal union of Peru and Bolivia

In Lima, capital of the Republic of Peru, on the 11th day of June, in the year 1880, the undersigned plenipotentiaries of Peru and Bolivia, having met in the hall of public audience of the secretary of foreign relations and worship, and after having exhibited to one another their respective powers and found the same to be sufficient and in due form to proceed to stipulate and agree upon that which may the better tend toward the object of drawing closer the bonds of fraternity which nature and historical events have created between the two republics; of consolidating their domestic peace and providing for their security abroad; of assuring the general welfare of their inhabitants and extending the blessings of independence and liberty to the present and future generations; of promoting, likewise, that prosperity and greatness to which by a common destiny the rich and beautiful regions embraced in their vast territories are called, in conformity to the aspirations generally manifested by public opinion in the two countries, respecting the necessities of adopting a new political organization which, modifying their present internal constitution and uniting at the same time their power and resources in one sale nationality, may fully and efficiently bring about these ends; agreed in the name of their governments, and in order that they may previously be submitted to the approval of the people of Peru and of Bolivia, upon the following bases of union of the two countries.

I. Peru and Bolivia shall become a single nation called the Peru-Bolivian United States. This union is based upon American public law, and is formed to confirm the independence, the inviolability, the internal tranquility, and external security of the States embraced therein, and to promote their development and prosperity.

II. The present departments of each of the two republics, saving such modifications as may be sanctioned by the constitutional assembly, shall be formed into independent states, having their own institutions and laws, not to conflict, however, with the constitution or laws of the union. Nevertheless, the departments of Tacna and of Oruro, of Potosi and Tarapacá shall form the States denominated Tacna of Oruro and Potosi of Tarapacá. The regions of the “Chaco” and of the “Beni” in Bolivia, and that called the “Montania” in Peru, as well as other territories which may exist in analogous conditions, shall form federal districts, subject to special legislation, and to the direct control of the government of the union.

III. The States shall constitute their sovereignty according to the principles of the republican representative system, to the declarations and guarantees of the national constitution, and to those laws of the union which assume to them the administration of justice, the municipal organization, primary education, and material progress, all to be supported out of their own resources.

IV. The union of the States is indissoluble, consequently no State can separate itself therefrom.

V. The States are equal in rights. That of citizenship is common to them.

VI. No new State can be formed within the territory of another or others, nor can one be formed of two or more, without the vote of the legislatures of each of the States interested, and the sanction of the national Congress, given in two sessions, with entirely renewed personality of voters.

VII. The States cannot make treaties, one with another, save for the furthering of the administration of justice, of economic interests or works of common utility, with the consent of the national Congress. They do not enjoy the right of asylum with respect to one another.

VIII. The States do not exercise the power delegated to the nation. Consequently they cannot represent it before other powers. Nor can they make laws concerning foreign commerce or navigation, nor establish custom-houses; nor coin money; nor charter banks of issue without the permission of the general government; nor alter the codes which Congress may sanction for the union; nor make laws regarding citizenship or naturalization, nor fit out ships of war or raise armies, save in case of invasion or imminent danger from abroad, giving in such case immediate notice to the national government.

IX. No State can declare or make war on another. Their complaints shall be submitted to the judgment and decision of the supreme federal court. Any act of hostility shall be deemed an act of civil war, which it is the duty of the national government to quell and suppress in the exercise of its attributes.

X. The governors of the States are the natural agents of the national government, to exact compliance with the constitution and laws of the union.

XI. It is obligatory upon the States to furnish the quota of troops corresponding to them, to form the national army in time of peace or war.

XII. The national government shall be vested in the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the union.

XIII. A Congress, composed of two chambers, one of National Deputies, and the other of State senators, shall exercise the national legislative authority.

XIV. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of representatives elected directly by the citizens of the States, which shall be considered, for this purpose, as electoral districts, the number of such representatives being determined in proportion to the population. Their term of office shall be four years.

XV. The Senate shall be composed of two senators from each State, elected by their several legislatures. Each senator shall have a vote and their term of office shall be six years. The functions of the Senate shall be permanent.

XVI. The national Congress shall meet, ordinarily, each year. Nevertheless, it may be convoked, extraordinarily, by the executive, and for determined objects.

XVII. The national executive authority shall be vested in a citizen, with the title of President of the Peru-Bolivian United States, assisted by ministers of state, and in case of the absence or impediment of the former, by a Vice-President, who shall be the president of the Senate, and who shall have no vote save in case of a tie. The term of office for the President shall be for five years, and he shall not be eligible for re-election until after the lapse of a like period. The ministry shall be formed of citizens of the two united republics, at least during two presidential terms, consulting, as far as may be possible, equality of representation.

XVIII. The President of the union shall be elected by direct voting by the citizens of the States, according to their several laws; but each one shall vote for two citizens, one of whom shall be of the State and the other not. Should no citizen obtain an absolute majority of votes, the federal Congress shall choose from among the three who may have obtained the relative majority.

XIX. The judicial authority of the union shall be exercised by a supreme court of justice and by such special tribunals as Congress may establish for the nation.

XX. The duties and their limitations of the high powers of the union shall be fixed by the national constitution, according to the principles of this system of government, consecrated by the practice of those nations which have already adopted it.

XXI. The constitutional assembly shall designate the place within the territory which is to be the capital of the union, and which shall be under the immediate authority of the President of the United States.

XXII. The national government shall provide for the expenses of the union from the funds in the treasury, which shall be formed by the product of import and export duties, of the sale or rental of government lands, of the natural products of the sale, of the post-office department, of general indirect tax, and of such other resources as may be voted by the federal Congress. The tax upon incomes and local contributions belong to the treasuries of the States or municipalities.

XXIII. The national government shall not intervene in the territory of the States, except to cause the constitution and federal laws to be respected, and at the request of their constituted authorities, to sustain or re-establish them, should they be threatened by invasion from another State, or deposed by sedition.

XXIV. Within the republic the circulation of merchandise produced or manufactured in the country, as well as that of the goods or merchandise which may have been dispatched through the custom-houses of the union, shall be free of duty. In this exemption are not included municipal taxes, the creation of which, however, must be submitted to the legislature of the State.

XXV. The vehicles, vessels, or animals carrying the articles mentioned in the preceding section, tools and materials for the construction of roads, river or telegraphic communication between the States, as well as the herds passing from the territory of one state to another, enjoy the exemption.

XXVI. The representation abroad of the union belongs exclusively to the federal executive, who will invite friendly nations to a revision of such treaties as they respectively may have celebrated with Peru and with Bolivia, in order to renew and unify the same.

XXVII. Peru and Bolivia owe nothing whatever to one another for account of the expenses which the war of both countries against Chili may have caused them up to the date of the union.

In witness whereof the undersigned plenipotentiaries, authorized ad hoc by their respective governments, signed and sealed the present protocol the day and date above written.

(In duplicate.)

PEDRO JOSÉ CALDERON

,
Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Worship.
Authorized ad hoc. [l. s.]

MELCHOR TERRAZAS

,
Minister Plenipotentiary of Bolivia.
Authorized ad hoc.

A true copy.

CALDERON.

[Inclosure 3 in No. 179.]

Protocol complementary of the preliminary bases of the federal union of Peru and Bolivia

In Lima, capital of the Republic of Peru, the 11th day of June, in the year 1880, the undersigned plenipotentiaries having met in the hall of public audience of the department of foreign affairs and worship, with the object of completing the bases of the federal union of Peru and Bolivia, which they have stipulated and agreed upon under this same date, with other points of accessory or transient character, in order thus to obviate the obstacles which might arise to the more prompt and effectual realization of an act so important to both republics, agree upon the following:

I. The preliminary bases of union shall be submitted to the acceptance of the people of Peru and of Bolivia, without which they shall be of no effect.

II. This acceptance, expressed in such form as circumstances may permit, shall moreover contain the declaration whether the establishing of the federal system shall be at once proceeded with or not.

III. In the affirmative event, and until the constitution and federal institutions by the constitutional assembly, which shall meet in the city of Arequipa on the 9th of December, 1881 (unless events arising from the war shall compel an anticipation or further delay, which shall be determined by a vote of the provisional Senate), there shall be a provisional federal system established upon the following bases:

• First. The federal government shall be formed of the Supreme Chief of the two nations, one being the President and the other the Vice-President of the union.
• A popular election of the said magistrates being impossible in the initial condition of the union, and in view of the motives of availability, the first named office is assigned to the Supreme Chief of Peru, and the second to that of Bolivia.
• Second. A. provisional Senate, composed of ten representatives designated by Peru and an equal number by Bolivia, shall undertake the drawing up of the constitution and organic laws of the union, especially the electoral law for deputies to the constitutional assembly, and shall act, likewise, as a consulting body for the central government.
• Third. From this moment the custom-houses between Peru and Bolivia are abolished, and the political and economic union of both republics fully established.
• Fourth. The provisional Senate shall prepare drafts of federal laws upon post-offices and telegraphs, upon custom-houses, upon money and banking institution, upon the railroads of the union, upon the appropriations for the same, upon literary and artistic copyright, obligatory military service, and other matters of general interest.
• Fifth. The federal constitution shall be in force provisionally during five years from its promulgation, within which time such amendments and reforms as experience may suggest shall be made. The last legislature of this period of five years shall put it definitely in force, and no alterations can thereafter be made in it, save by virtue of the provisions established therein for the purpose.
• Sixth. The States shall be governed and administered provisionally until the federal and their own individual constitution be sanctioned by governors appointed by the supreme chiefs of Peru and Bolivia, respectively, for those departments which are to become States in either country, and by common consent for those of Tacna de Oruro and Potosi de Tarapacá.
• These governors shall be subject to the laws at present in force in their respective departments, and to the instructions issued by the provisional government of the union.
• In the States of Tacna de Oruro and Potosi de Tarapacá, the government of the union, with the vote of the Senate, will decide as may be necessary such conflicting cases as may arise from the different legislations of the two countries to which the departments forming the said States originally belonged.
• The removal and substitution of governors once appointed shall be made by the provisional Senate.
• Seventh. A mixed commission shall undertake the fixing of the public debt of Peru and Bolivia in its different forms.
• Eighth. Another commission, likewise mixed, shall study and suggest the most proper territorial demarcation of the States, that the same may be submitted for the approbation of Congress within the period of provisional constitutionality.
• Ninth. The coat-of-arms of the Peru Bolivian United States shall be of Germanic form; it shall have in the center a sun of the color of gold, surrounded by stars of the same color, upon a purple ground, and in the upper part a condor resting upon and seizing it with his talons.
• The war flag of the said States shall be of rectangular form, the contiguous sides of which shall be in the proportion of one to two-thirds, and it shall bear in the center the same sun and the same stars as the shield upon a similar ground.
• Tenth. In case of vacancy of the office of the provisional President or Vice-President, it shall be filled by election by the Senate, to be made—each member thereof voting for two citizens—one Peruvian and one Bolivian.

The models of the coat of arms and flags are annexed to this protocol.

In witness whereof the undersigned plenipotentiaries signed and sealed the same on the day and date above set forth.

(In duplicate.)

• PEDRO JOSÉ CALDERON.
• MELCHOR TERRAZAS.

1. Published with the peace conference correspondence, Senate Ex. Doc., No. 26, Forty-sixth Congress, third session.