Mr. Buck to Mr. Bayard.
Lima, Peru, September 19, 1885. (Received October 15.)
Sir: Through a budget of dispatches, letters, &c, recently intercepted on the person of the bearer while passing from the lines of General Cáceres towards Lima, the Government here has gained some important information concerning its enemies in the field and their abettors within this city.
Several arrests here have followed the disclosures, and there are reports of inquisitorial tortures inflicted by the Government on prisoners to extort confessions. These rumors were so widely spread that the Government ordered an examination of medical men, whose report published last night states that the bodies of prisoners are not marked by wounds or bruises, and that their condition is satisfactory. Among others, the consul-general of Honduras has been arrested and his exequatur canceled, because of his implication as a Cáceresta agent. He is, however, I think, a native Peruvian.
Among the letters intercepted, two from General Cáceres have been published in part, one dated September 1, directed to Colonel Ibarra, at Arequipa, admits information from the prefect of Cuzco, under date August 10, that his partisans were defeated, under Abarracin and Mendizabal, at Lucuani and Llanoca, towns in the southwest part of the department of Cuzco, and that in one of the fights Mendizabal was killed. In the same letter, General Cáceres directs that commissioners or agents be sent to Bolivia to acquire arms, &c., but expresses the conviction that little can be expected from Bolivia, since that country has sent a minister to the Iglesias Government. * * *
[Page 618]Another letter from General Cáceres deprecates dissensions between. San Roman and Ibarra in the south, and states that the nation owes him (General Cáceres) two months’ salary as President, and expresses a wish to have provision made therefrom for his family. He acknowledges gratefully the placing of the small sum of soles 5,000, or about $3,700, at his disposal, as coming in place handsomely, and states the want of medicines, and even of a case of instruments. The general tenor of these and similar revelations would seem to indicate the impoverished and needy condition of the army under the revolutionary leader; but his Indian followers need little money, and their wants are not, perhaps, to be measured by those which would seem imperative elsewhere.
News published from the interior as late as the 16th instant states that the districts of Calca and Moya, owing to exactions made for arms and money, refuse to acknowledge the authority of General Cáceres, and that Bartolome Guerra (with a force of 400 men), chief of the montoneros in Calca, Jarpa, and Chupaca, was defeated by the people of the province of Yanyos in an attempt to collect cattle, money, &c, and that his forces, except about 80 men, were dispersed. It is also said that the forces at Chosica had returned to Canta, and from there, on account of numerous desertions, they have been ordered back, towards Tarma presumably.
Meanwhile General Cáceres continues at the latter place, and has been regaled with several bull fights, on the occasion of which a drunken carousal resulted in several deaths. So, in substance, runs the news, from all of which it appears not only that General Cáceres is not abundantly equipped either with arms or other materials of war, but that general harmony in his favor does not exist in the interior.
Pachaco Cespedes is reported at Matucana with 200 mounted revolutionists, and 120 montoneros are said to be at Cocochacra. It is stated there are now no revolutionist forces at San Marteo or Chicla.
A letter from Arequipa, of September 11, states that the movement which was in prospect for the 5th instant, referred to in my No. 30, of September 12, having been revealed, resulted in the arrest of some 60 persons, who are still held in close confinement.
The troops which left last Friday on the Peru for Pisco returned on Sunday, the 13th instant, without accomplishing anything, and bringing news of the capture of lea by the montoneros, under Dr. Leon, on the 10th instant.
Prefect Braco de Rueda, the Government commander, with some 30-odd men, refused to capitulate. It does not appear what became of the 120 volunteers previously with him. He was attacked, and shutting himself in the barracks, these were fired by the revolutionists, from which the flames spread to various other buildings.
It is reported the montoneros indulged in great excesses after the capture of the town. It is stated the ammunition of both parties was exhausted, and the revolutionists not having other means for capturing the barracks, set fire to them.
The minister of finance has ordered that all goods deposited in the Callao custom-house previous to April 1 shall be withdrawn by October 1, claiming that the capacity for storage is exhausted. Pertinent to this, it may be suggested that it is said, and perhaps truly, that orders on said custom-house have been emitted and dues on them anticipated tor two or three months to come, so that such orders sell now at a discount of some 30 per cent.
In view of such facts as this, and the significant circumstances that the salaries of a large number of representatives in the last Congress [Page 619] remain, as is stated, unpaid, how is it to be expected that claims will be provided for?
A further discouraging circumstance for claimants may be observed in the decision of the court of arbitrators in Chile, to-day made known by cable, which announces the three principles—
- (1)
- Bombardment is permissible so long as there is resistance of a rifle.
- (2)
- Acts committed by soldiers or persons connected with the army without orders from their superiors in command do not compromise a Government.
- (3)
- Any proofs taken without notice to Government affected are not admissible as evidence.
It is to be presumed this will be seized upon as a precedent, at least in South America, and an announcement of Department’s views on the subject may be quite pertinent as affecting American citizens here.
* * * * * * *
I am, &c.,