No. 50.
Mr. Carlisle to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
La Paz,
Bolivia, September 10, 1888.
(Received October 15.)
No. 36.]
Sir: I have the honor to advise that the national
congress of Bolivia in ordinary annual session met in Sucre and perfected
its organization on the 6th of August last.
The returns of the election held on the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th of May,
for president and vice-presidents of the Republic, for the constitutional
period of four years, were then canvassed and verified by that body on the
13th of August, as follows:
For president: Anicito Arce, 25,396 votes; Eliodora Camacho, 7,183 votes;
scattering, 1,839 votes; total, 34,418 votes.
For first vice-president: José Manuel del Carpio, 21,537 votes; Belisario
Salinas, 6,353 votes; Julio Mendez, 998 votes; Antonio Moreno, 657 votes;
scattering, 4,873 votes.
For second vice-president: Serapio Réyes Ortiz, 21,995 votes; Demetrio
Calbimonte, 6,260 votes; scattering, 6,163 votes.
And in conformity thereto a congressional decree was issued same day
proclaiming as elected president, Aniceto Arce; first vice-president, José
Manuel del Carpio; second vice-president, Serapio Réyes Ortiz, and fixing
the 15th of August for the ceremonial of investiture.
The ceremony took place on that day, and the President elect pronounced
before congress, on receiving the insignia of office, a discourse, which I
inclose herewith in newspaper copy, with translation.
The first executive decree, issued August 15, continued the members of the
cabinet in their respective offices for the time being.
I may be permitted to add that the present administration begins its
functions in the light of abundant promise. The revolutionary party, in the
overwhelming defeat of Camacho, is broken up and the country, under the
capable and firm guidance of its present executive, is about entering upon
an era of profound peace and prosperity.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure in No.
36.—Translation.]
Discourse pronounced by Dr. Aniceto Arce on
receiving the insignia of supreme power.
Mr. President, Honorable
Representatives of the Nation:
Agreeably to constitutional mandate you have completed the work of
investing me with the insignia of the supreme power to which the
suffrage of my countrymen has elevated me; and in accepting it I
appreciate the sacred obligations which the solemn oath I have just
taken imposes upon me, in the presence of the God of our country, that
lie may favor my sincere designs, and before the worthy representatives
of
[Page 52]
the nation, to the end that
by their well-directed acts and abilities they may unitedly further the
patriotic purposes of the Government which you have inaugurated. To
accomplish and make good the law is the synthesis of the responsibility
of the mandatory, and the moral force of the nation increases when these
duties are performed on the part of the authorities and of the
people.
Invested with the insignia of head of the nation, I cease to be a party
leader, and burying in the pit of oblivion the incidents natural and
logical in the election contests of a democratic people, I invoke the
support of all those citizens, lovers of their native land, to the end
that they may assist me to build up the prosperity of the country.
Thus the preservation of public order as a source of the general good
should be the work of those who were before of opposite political
parties, and you, legislators, could peacefully provide for the
necessities of the different means of public administration, and the
Government execute your mandate with decision and patriotism.
With an earnest, constant desire I shall maintain the pleasant relations
which now bind us to all the nations, and those especially ought to be
fraternal which we should observe toward the neighbors which surround
us.
The questions should be discussed in peaceful harmony and their
determination placed upon the ground of strict justice.
Honorable senators and deputies, allow me, in this moment of a sacred and
patriotic effusion of my soul, to render homage of gratitude to the
illustrious mandatory who has just delivered the authority, full of
glory, for having; wisely preserved the public order without any
interruption during his period of office, transmitting the power which
the representatives of the people had intrusted to him in the midst of
the peace which we now enjoy; glory and honor for having guarded the
exercise of the public liberties, making them practical, especially the
most precious of these liberties, the liberty of the press, even in its
surprising and grievous misguidance. High honor it is for him to leave
to the nation an army, moral and disciplined, meritorious defender of
his native land, worthy supporter of republican institutions.
Honorable representatives, from your august presence I speak also to the
people whom you represent; and in promising upon oath the performance of
my arduous duties before you, I do so with the same entireness before
them, in order that my course of action, so many times disclosed, may be
faithfully carried out.
I pray that God and the representatives of the nation will aid me in this
great work.
Aniceto
Arce.
Sucre, August 15,
1888.
