Bolivia

Amid the joyous acclaims of a grateful people, who heralded him as the “Father of the Republic” and its “Protector,” Bolivar was inaugurated first President of Bolivia in the month of November, 1825, the young republic thus enjoying the prestige of having at the head of its government the hero whom all the world delighted to honor, the victorious chief of the army that had crushed the last remnant of Spanish power in South America, the invincible “Liberator,” the “George Washington of South American independence.”

With characteristic energy and execution, President Bolivar essayed to guide the first steps of his hija predilecta in the path of national progress and development. But military genius is not always associated with the qualities most desirable in the executive chief of a nation, and Bolivar was the brilliant soldier rather than the keen statesman. His administration was marked by an effort to accomplish more than could possibly be done with deliberation. Although he remained only a few months in the country to which he had been called as president for life, relinquishing the high office in January, 1826, to return to Lima, Peru, he instituted innumerable political and administrative reforms in that short time, as the national historian remarks, “with marked precipitation.” From Lima he sent a draft of the constitution, which was adopted by Congress. The limits of the new republic, as fixed by Bolivar, left much to be desired, and seemed a scant recognition of the noble part played by this brave people in the great war which had begun and ended on its patriotic soil; and although the country owes a debt of gratitude to the heroic but capricious soldier and legislator whose name it bears, it also owes him a great and apparently irreparable misfortune, which from the beginning has hindered its progress and which has been the cause of a series of disasters requiring the most devoted patriotism and the best statesmanship to avert dire consequences. The inadequate and seemingly unjust allotment of seaboard to the new republic may be held responsible for many of the evils which assailed it in the beginning, and of which the effects are only now being permanently overcome. Northward, Bolivian territory reaches twelve degrees south latitude, where it touches the eastern frontier of Peru at seventy-one degrees west longitude, according to Bolivian claims; the line following that boundary only reached the coast at twenty-two degrees south latitude, and at twenty-five degrees the Chilean boundary began. Later, as is well known, Bolivia lost even this small strip of seaboard. The history of this demarcation is an interesting one. In accepting the offer of the Bolivian Congress, Bolivar had promised not only to preside over the future destinies of the republic, but to use his influence with Peru to obtain the concession of the seaboard from the port of Arica, latitude eighteen degrees, southward to the limit of twenty-two degrees. This concession would have given Bolivia the two good ports of Arica and Iquique, and it would have endowed the country with the immense riches, then undiscovered, of the nitrate regions. The two ports left to Bolivia by Bolivar’s settlement of the limits, Cobija and Antofagasta, were very inferior, had no water or vegetation, and communication with the interior through them was difficult and costly. General Santa Cruz, who at that time was provisional President of Peru, opposed the concession to Bolivia of the limits asked for, and converted Bolivar to his opinion, though Santa Cruz was a Bolivian and later the president of his country. It has been suggested by some authorities on the history of these early days of the republic, that Bolivar, who had imbibed the pseudo-classical ideas of the French revolutionists, wished to make Bolivia an ideal country, a new Arcadia in the Western world. Whatever may have been the purpose of the great liberator, there can be no doubt that the industrial and commercial development of Bolivia was retarded and international relations were practically prevented by her lack of a good seaboard with excellent ports. But Bolivar does not appear to have given much thought to the future of his “best-beloved daughter.” The boundaries of the republic of Bolivia followed in general the limits that had been fixed for Alto Peru under the régime of the Audiencia of Charcas.

Before leaving, Bolivar recommended for the presidency of Bolivia his great general, José Antonio de Sucre, to whose efforts had been due the first organization of the government after the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. Although a Venezuelan by birth, General Sucre had already proved himself a friend of the new republic, and his election was a unanimous expression of the will of the people. The second Congress, which met in Sucre on May 25, 1826, and remained in session until January 11, 1827, was chiefly occupied in undoing much of what President Bolivar had so hastily done, and in making efforts to establish the government upon a firm basis. The French system of political division into departments, provinces, cantons, and vice-cantons was adopted; and the constitution was modified in some of its more objectionable features, which included “life tenure” and “irresponsibility” of the president. Education was encouraged by the institution of primary and secondary schools and universities, the University of the capital, henceforth called Sucre, obtaining some distinction. Hospitals were founded, jails built, freedom of the press was guaranteed, the financial system was perfected, and the national debt recognized. The payment of a million dollars was guaranteed to the Colombian and Peruvian soldiers who had fought at Junin and Ayacucho. The Indians have always been regarded rather as protégés of the government than as independent citizens, and they were not allowed a vote for Congress; they remained subject to the poll tax, and, up to the present day, they have shown little inclination to take part in political affairs, outside of municipal government.

In spite of the best efforts of Sucre to establish law and order in the new republic, and to govern in accordance with the high ideals which ruled all his actions, winning for him the title of the “philosopher soldier,” difficulties arose which finally resulted in his resignation from the presidency and his withdrawal from the country. It was not entirely the fault of the Bolivians that Sucre was so ruthlessly sacrificed. The neighboring republics plotted to accomplish his overthrow on the pretext that the Colombian troops who remained in the country were a menace to its freedom, and that the president had retained them because of his monarchical aspirations, which threatened the liberty not only of Bolivia, but of the neighboring republics. Notwithstanding the fact that the Colombian troops, which had become insubordinate, were banished at the point of the sword, Sucre was accused, with Bolivar, of having designs to establish a monarchy, and a secret party was formed to depose him. In 1828 the garrison of the capital mutinied, killing the officer on guard; Sucre, who hurried to the scene, was attacked and had his right arm broken. Colonel Lopez arrived from Potosí at the head of a small battalion in time to witness the cruel onslaught upon the president, and to crush the mutiny, but not in time to save the life of the brave General José Miguel Lanza, the illustrious guerrillero, who was killed while defending his beloved chief. Had Sucre really held the ideas attributed to him by his enemies, he might have made himself a dictator, which would, perhaps, have been a blessing for the country in that period of political confusion. But he quietly resigned his office and left Bolivia, delegating his authority to a cabinet council, and leaving in supreme command General José Maria Pérez de Urdininea, the president of the council. The story of Sucre’s life is brief and glorious. Born in Cumaná, Venezuela, on February 3, 1795, he was “a child of the revolution” from his tender youth. Consecrated to the cause of American liberty, and excelling in genius, he rapidly scaled the heights of fame until at the age of thirty he was one of the most eminent personalities of the independence, as the hero of Ayacucho. After his withdrawal from Bolivia in 1828 he returned to his native land, where two years later he was assassinated, at the age of thirty-five. His memory is everywhere revered in Bolivia, and many handsome monuments have been erected in his honor.

Meantime, Bolivar had tried to impose his Constitucion Boliviano on the Peruvians, who promptly rebelled, refusing to accept what they considered an effort to establish absolute authority. The constitution not only declared the presidency to be an office for life, but gave the president almost unlimited power. A strong party overthrew the constitution and the authority of Bolivar, and proclaiming its intention to save Bolivia also from the foreign power of Colombia, or as the party leader expressed it “to place itself between the victim and the assassins,” sent an army under the command of General Gamarra to take possession of the country. The mutiny at Sucre afforded the necessary pretext for an invasion and Gamarra marched on La Paz, Cochabamba, and Potosí, receiving everywhere a welcome from the disaffected politicians who looked upon the opponent of Bolivar’s party as an ally rather than an invader. After the departure of General Sucre, Congress elected as his successor General Andrés Santa Cruz, president. As General Santa Cruz was in Chile, Vice-president General José Miguel de Velasco governed in his absence. Disturbances were general during the period that followed General Sucre’s withdrawal. Anarchy threatened the young republic when suddenly deprived of the guidance of that master spirit, the statesman above reproach, who, in refusing to govern except according to the constitution, had found himself unable to govern at all. General Pedro Blanco declared his sympathy with the cause of Gamarra, and Colonel Ramon Loaiza, at Gamarra’s instigation, stirred up a revolt in the department of La Paz, which declared for autonomy under the name of Alto Peru; the uprising was quelled, as was also an invasion in eastern Bolivia led by the royalist Aguilera. General Blanco secured a following and succeeded in being elected president, with Colonel Loaiza as vice-president, but his term of office lasted only a week, when he was seized, imprisoned, and assassinated.

General Santa Cruz arrived in La Paz in May, 1829, where he inaugurated his administration, taking the oath of office at the hands of General José Ballivian, Prefect of La Paz, on the 24th of the same month. He set out almost immediately for Sucre, arriving there on the 29th of May. The administration of General Santa Cruz was one of the most important in the history of the republic. He was an able ruler, and possessed the combined qualities of soldier and statesman in a remarkable degree. His army was the best organized and equipped in South America. By the promulgation of the Santa Cruz Code, he gave to Bolivia the first legislative system perfected in a South American republic. His rule was despotic, but effective, the very character necessary for the establishment of order out of the chaos in which the government had been involved after Sucre’s withdrawal. His first act was to grant a general amnesty, but he retained the death penalty for sedition and executed it upon several occasions. In 1831 he convoked the fifth Congress in La Paz, it being the first time that the national legislature had met in that city since the proclamation of the republic. A second national constitution was promulgated, which remains in effect to the present day with few modifications, and a treaty of peace was signed with Peru. The national revenues, which had fallen from two million dollars under the viceroyalty to practically nothing, were regulated, and the new finance minister, Don José M. Lara, was able to show a revenue of one million five hundred thousand dollars, the chief sources of which were the customs duties, the sale of Jesuit landed property, the export taxes on ores,—then fixed at eight and one-half per cent ad valorem,—the production of the mint of Potosí, and the Indian poll tax. Reforms were made in education, and the universities of La Paz and Cochabamba were established, as well as a school of arts in the latter city. The province of Tarija was made a department, and a census of the republic was taken, showing a population of one million one hundred thousand inhabitants. The issuing of a debased coinage was one of the errors of Santa Cruz’s administration, resulting, as it did, in the discredit of the country financially, a condition of affairs which lasted for nearly thirty years, until, under the administration of President Achá, the present coinage system was introduced. Another mistake of the great statesman, or what is regarded as such by many Bolivians, was his refusal to consider a proposal from the government of Peru, through Gamarra,—who, although not president, was the ruling power in its politics,—that Bolivia should give up to Peru all Lake Titicaca, half of which came within Bolivian limits, and the peninsula of Copacabaña upon which is located a sacred shrine of the Virgin, in return for the cession by Peru of the department of Tarapacá with its excellent coast line and harbors. It is generally believed that, in the rejection of this offer, Santa Cruz had a motive that looked toward the carrying out of a much more ambitious plan of “expansion.”

The controlling desire of Santa Cruz’s life was to accomplish the union of Bolivia and Peru in a confederation, of which he was to be the executive and administrative chief. Taking advantage of the quarrels which at this time were going on in Peru between President Orbegoso on the one hand and Gamarra and Salaverry on the other, and under the pretext of lending aid to Orbegoso, General Santa Cruz marched into Peru in 1835 with his splendid army, leaving the government affairs of Bolivia in the hands of Vice-President Velasco. Gamarra and Salaverry were defeated, Salaverry was killed, and Santa Cruz assumed the Protectorate. Congresses met at Sicuani and at Huaura and decreed the division of Peru into two states, North Peru and South Peru, to which Bolivia was united by the decree of an extraordinary Congress held in Tapacarí, Bolivia, in 1836, which approved all that had been done and authorized the establishment of the Peru-Bolivian confederation. Santa Cruz appointed General Orbegoso president of North Peru, General Pio Tristan president of South Peru, and General Velasco president of the Bolivian state. Representatives from the three states met in Tacna, May 1, 1837, and signed the pact of the confederation.

It did not require extraordinary foresight on the part of the more patriotic Bolivians to judge of the probable outcome of such an arrangement; and the secondary position which Santa Cruz appeared disposed to give his own country raised a storm of protest in the capital, where Mariano Calvo had taken Velasco’s place at the head of the government. Congress met at Sucre, and the pact was rejected with the firm declaration that “it would never be considered!” In the meantime, the Peru-Bolivian confederation was regarded by the remaining republics of South America as a menace to the balance of power, and Chile and Argentina offered their aid to Gamarra to overthrow it. Chile sent two armed expeditions, the first of which was defeated, the second achieving complete victory under the brilliant command of General Manuel Bulnes, who overthrew the army of the Confederation at Yungay, January 20, 1839. Defeated at Yungay and receiving news at the same moment that a popular revolution, under the leadership of General José Ballivian and General Velasco of the “Restoration Party,” had been organized against his authority in Bolivia, General Santa Cruz resigned the Protectorate and embarked for Guayaquil. Here he made several ineffectual efforts to regain prestige in Bolivia, but, finding his position hopeless, he finally left South America for France. His subsequent career was uneventful, though he became a friend and counsellor of Louis Napoleon; and, in 1849, was appointed Bolivian minister in Paris. He died in 1865.

General Santa Cruz was one of the greatest presidents Bolivia ever had. He worked for immigration, recognizing the necessity for a larger population to develop the vast natural resources of the country, without which all efforts toward progress and prosperity must be slow and comparatively fruitless. He gave attention to its agricultural, commercial, and social interests; and, during the few years of peace that followed his inauguration, he rendered invaluable services to the republic. Had he been a devoted patriot like General Porfirio Diaz, of Mexico, his dictatorship might have permanently advanced Bolivia politically and socially beyond any other South American republic. But his thirst for conquest led him into expensive wars that cost the country more than was gained, and left it a heritage of military despotism which made it a prey to all kinds of political abuses. The destiny of the republic, through frequent subsequent administrations, rested in the hands of a military autocrat who imposed his absolute will upon the nation for good or evil, until some rival leader was able to wrest the supreme power from him. The progress of the country depended upon the character of its executive, and, although many of the presidents who succeeded Santa Cruz were patriotic and capable leaders, there were a few, as is the case in every republic, whose administrations are records of caprice and folly. In nearly all of the South American republics the success of the struggle for independence had brought in its train the evils that often accompany military prestige. The soldiers who had won glory on the battlefield could not be contented with the humdrum life of organized politics. This was particularly true in Bolivia, in consequence of the continued successes of its armies under Santa Cruz, when defeat had come so seldom that the idea of laying down their arms was thoroughly repugnant. When there was no longer a common enemy against whom to turn their practised weapons, they found cause for rebellion among themselves, the haughty spirit of the soldier,—Spain’s particular legacy to her offspring,—being with difficulty subdued; so that few of the presidents who came immediately after Santa Cruz completed their term of office, and many died in exile.

After the defeat and departure of Santa Cruz, General Velasco became provisional president, and, in 1839, Congress elected him constitutional president. This Congress adopted a fourth constitution, more liberal than any that had preceded it. Opposing the government of Velasco, who had committed some political indiscretions and had given offence by congratulating Chile on the victory of Yungay, in which so many Bolivians were killed, General José Ballivian led a campaign against the president, and, though it was unsuccessful, Velasco’s term of office was cut short a year later when friends of Ballivian, who in the meantime had been exiled to Peru, secured his recall and election to the presidency in 1841. Velasco, who, after his deposition had fled to Argentina, returned with an army to fight Ballivian, but the news that Gamarra was again invading the country with the determination to conquer and annex it to Peru so fired his patriotism that he gave up his troops to Ballivian to fight in the common cause. It was a noble act, which reconquered for him the hearts of the whole people.

The history of the celebrated battle of Ingavi, which was one of the most glorious in the annals of the republic, reflects great honor on the arms of Bolivia, as it was won against heavy odds, the Peruvians having six thousand troops in the field while the Bolivians had only four thousand. But General Ballivian was a genius in command, and he prepared his troops for a precipitate attack on the enemy, the trained guerrilleros making their “rush” in such an impetuous onslaught that the Peruvian ranks were broken; victory was assured, General Gamarra fell dead, pierced by two bullets; and General Castilla, one of the leaders, afterward President of Peru, was taken prisoner. At Puno, whither Ballivian pursued the retreating army, a treaty of peace was signed which stipulated that everything should be reciprocally condoned, without demands of any character on the part of either. With the victory of Ingavi, Bolivia closed the last scene in the struggle for independence, remaining henceforth secure in the right to govern the territory allotted by the liberator, unmolested by invaders. Ballivian was the hero of the hour, and his memory is enshrined in the patriotic hearts of his countrymen, who have forgiven the follies that grew out of his ambitious and despotic nature, and remember only that he was a true and loyal patriot, and the chief instrument of his country’s salvation in a great crisis. But though it is easy to forgive the faults of Ballivian after a lapse of half a century or more, his people found it impossible to support them at the time when they were in full activity. One of the first acts of Ballivian’s Congress was to repeal the liberal constitution of 1839 and to proclaim the constitution of 1843, which gave the greatest power in the government to the chief executive. This constitution was nicknamed the “Military Ordinance,” which its opponents said, “should be read only in the glitter of the sword of Ingavi.” It revealed the military spirit of the president in every line, and was one of the strongest influences in creating opposition to his power. On the other hand, the same dominating character that dictated a system of rigid discipline was strong to overcome the difficulties in the way of the country’s development, and new roads were built, exploring expeditions were sent to the Beni and to the Chaco, and the department of the Beni was created. An office of statistics was established, and a new census was taken, which gave Bolivia a population of more than two million. The military code was promulgated, and a military school instituted; the bishopric of Cochabamba was created. A new educational system was established, due to the efforts of Ballivian’s minister Don Tomás Frias, who was afterward one of Bolivia’s most distinguished presidents.

Ballivian was a man of letters and a friend of philosophers and poets. During his administration Bolivia enjoyed great prestige among other nations, and France, England, the United States, as well as the South American powers, sent diplomatic representatives to Sucre. At this time Bolivia was the only South American republic whose independence had not been recognized by Spain, and the government took advantage of the residence in Europe of Dr. José Maria Linares, one of Bolivia’s cleverest statesmen and a descendant of a noble family of Spain, to accredit him to the court of Madrid as its diplomatic representative, with power to negotiate the recognition of the young republic by the mother country, and to effect a treaty of peace and friendship. Dr. Linares secured the desired recognition and treaty in 1848, though the final ratification did not take place until some years later. The rigorous military discipline of Ballivian brought about his downfall. The final stroke occurred when one of his chief officers, Colonel, afterward General, Manuel Isidoro Belzu, was punished for insubordination by being reduced to the rank of a common soldier to serve in the little garrison of Obrajes. In strong resentment of this indignity Belzu roused the soldiers to revolt. Though the mutiny was quelled, the spirit of revolution had been spreading for some time among the partisans of Velasco, and they took advantage of the moment to break out in open insurrection; the populace rose in La Paz, and in the face of a general rebellion, north and south, Ballivian preferred resigning the presidency and leaving the country to plunging the nation in the horrors of a civil war. One of the revolutionary leaders, Eusebio Guilarte, was proclaimed president, but after ten days’ stormy experience in that uncertain post of honor, the mutiny of his soldiers forced him to flee, and he, too, left the country. Belzu was the idol of the soldiers and of the common people, and they demanded his election to the supreme office. But he deferred to Velasco, who, for the fourth time, became president of Bolivia, assuming the dictatorship until Congress should meet to confirm the choice of the people, which took place on August 6, 1848. Belzu was appointed war minister, and Don Casimiro Olañeta, “the silver-tongued orator” of the Independence, was also a member of the Cabinet. A continued conflict between these two leaders demoralized the politics of the government and opened the way for another revolution, which resulted in Belzu’s elevation to the supreme power. When Velasco found it necessary to take up arms in defence of his government he left, in his place, the president of the Congress, Dr. José Maria Linares, who, however, was forced to flee from the country soon after, in consequence of the victory of Belzu’s troops over those of Velasco in the battle of Yamparaez. After this defeat, Velasco retired to private life. Linares joined Ballivian in Chile, and they planned an attempt to defeat the “Belcistas,” as Belzu’s followers were called. An invasion was made from the south, but all efforts were futile to overcome the enormous popularity of Belzu, who represented the democratic spirit, as opposed to the aristocratic, for which Ballivian and Linares stood. Finding their position hopeless, Ballivian again left the country and went to Brazil, where he died of yellow fever two years afterward. Linares prepared his forces for the campaign which later gained for him the dictatorship of Bolivia, when he became one of the few admirable autocrats of South American history.

The government of Belzu, seized by force of arms, had to be maintained by continuous warfare. The various party chiefs kept up a series of revolts, and on one occasion Belzu was shot in the Alameda of Sucre. After his recovery, he convoked a Congress which confirmed him in the presidency. In the brief period of peace with which his term of office was blessed, he erected many handsome public buildings, revised the statutes, and promoted some important reforms. A clever orator, Don Evaristo Valle, achieved distinction during Belzu’s administration through his fiery philippics, in which he scored the “democratic despot” with brilliant emphasis and effect. But if the president’s enemies were bitter and unrelenting, his followers were devoted to him to the end, and the Belcistas, as his party was called, have always had representation in subsequent politics. In 1855, General Belzu, declaring himself tired of the struggle, resigned office in favor of his son-in-law, General Jorge Córdova. He retired at once to Europe. The presidency of Córdova was brief and stormy, and two years after his inauguration, a revolution, carefully planned by Linares, drove him from power and from Bolivia.

The dictator Linares, as he is known to posterity, in distinction from many presidents of his country whose government was more despotic, though less frankly declared, assumed the reins of power constitutionally in 1857, and as dictator next year, with the avowed intention of making a “clean sweep” of existing evils and reforming the whole political system. His keen intellect and sincerity of purpose made him respected, even by his enemies, and his patriotic principles were above question. Perhaps he was over-zealous. It is difficult to set the proper pace when a desire to effect numerous reforms impels the eager disciplinarian onward in the path of power. Linares began by creating a Council of State, with whom he conferred upon all matters relating to the administration. He decreed a reduction of the president’s salary and those of his advisers; he reformed the army; he changed the electoral divisions of the country, which he distributed in thirty-two jefaturas, or political districts, whose chiefs were directly responsible to the central government; he created or restored the municipalities, making them as independent as possible of the central power; he systematized the public accounts, introducing economies which improved the national credit; he reorganized the judicial system and established a new criminal code; and he ordered the founding in every diocese of seminaries for educational purposes, and the reform of the clergy.

Naturally, so many reforms raised up a host of enemies; even some of the dictator’s friends protested against the severity of his discipline, and the signs grew more ominous with each new evidence of despotism. He was unrelenting in the punishment of conspirators and insubordinate officials, and throttled the press with an iron censorship. The murmurs grew louder as the pressure became heavier; and when a coup d’état, under the leadership of his ministers José Maria de Achá and Ruperto Fernandez, aided by the commander Manuel Antonio Sanchez, suddenly divested the dictator of his power on January 14, 1861, and these persons constituted themselves a Junta de Gobierno, the popular voice was as ready to sanction his exile as it had been to welcome his accession to power. With a broken spirit. Dr. Linares left his country, and a few months later he died in poverty in Valparaiso.

The scent of the battlefield was still too sweet in the nostrils of the guerrilleros and their descendants to make a civil government permanent, under whatever form it might be established; and though the Congress, which was called together by the Junta de Gobierno a few weeks after the coup d’état, proclaimed as president General José Maria de Achá, who governed constitutionally and with a leniency quite the reverse of Linares’s strict discipline, he had to contend with mutiny and insurrection all through the period of his administration. President Achá was as earnest in the laborious task of governing his people as his predecessor had been, and, until the last unfortunate step of his official career, he seems to have shown greater tact. He introduced for the first time the use of postage stamps, created the engineers’ corps to superintend the opening of roads and building of bridges, established the first coach road between Cochabamba and the cities along the neighboring valleys, sent explorations to the Chaco, and perfected the monetary system. The mistake which closed his administration and drove him into exile was an effort to have General Agreda elected his successor. This was regarded by sensitive supporters of the constitution as a breach of prerogative, and, as one historian says, “it was resolved to break down by force the impositions of power.”

Whatever may be said in criticism of the Bolivian character as displayed in the events of the first fifty years of the republic, it must be admitted that there was plenty of vigor in the young nation; the great difficulty in directing it seemed to be to strike the medium between easy-going authority, which the military spirit of the times quickly nullified, and uncompromising despotism, which was never found strong enough to hold permanent sway over an independent and liberty-loving people. General Achá, one of the best of the presidents, came nearer to achieving the correct medium than many of his colleagues. He was succeeded by the ne plus ultra of despots, General Mariano Melgarejo, a reckless soldier who had risen from the ranks through sheer audacity, and who seemed to possess in an extraordinary degree that gift of tyranny which has been a picturesque attribute of autocrats in all ages. His absolute contempt for the rights of his fellow men and his resolute fearlessness were predominating traits. Once, during the six years of his rule, he was driven out of the capital by Belzu, who had returned from Europe; but, routed as he was, he returned to his palace, killed Belzu, and, presenting himself to the multitude, exclaimed: “Belzu is dead!—Who lives now?” The answering shout of the populace, Viva Melgarejo! proved how much better than Linares the new despot understood the rabble. In all parts of the republic, the news that Melgarejo had seized the reins of power, abrogating the constitution of 1861, and that he wished to impose upon the people the system of despotic government which had been the cause of so much bloodshed and misery in the past, roused up a spirit of revolt which threatened all the horrors of civil war. Melgarejo had none of the scruples which had led Ballivian to avoid plunging the nation into war by abdicating his position. When they rebelled, he sacrificed them ruthlessly. One of his decrees subjected to the death penalty not only those who took up arms against him, but those who refused to give him their services. He instituted a reign of terror, and his follies were as demoralizing to the national politics as the episodes of his private life were to the social well-being. Chile took advantage of the situation to secure, through flattery of the despot’s vanity, a revision of the boundaries and the final extension of her limits to twenty-four degrees south latitude in a strip running back from the ocean to the Andes. Brazil sent a clever representative, who bestowed on Melgarejo decorations from the emperor in exchange for leagues of Bolivian land on both banks of the Guaporé River, the principal tributary of the Madeira, thus losing Bolivia the right of navigation on one of the chief branches of the Amazon. The evils of Melgarejo’s government brought a train of terrible consequences to the country, from which it required a long time to recuperate. Not only was progress crippled at home, but the national credit was compromised and a heavy foreign debt incurred for the first time in the history of the republic. The coinage was debased beyond precedent, the Indian lands were illegally seized and sold, and there seemed no limit to the crimes perpetrated against the constitution. By sheer audacity, Melgarejo maintained his position for six years, until a revolution, headed by General Agustin Morales, of La Paz, brought about his downfall and banishment in January, 1872. His successor, General Morales, whose administration was an improvement on that of Melgarejo, and who showed a disposition to amend the evils of his predecessor, returning their lands to the Indians, and nullifying many of Melgarejo’s decrees, was not the man needed to guide the country through the stormy transition period of statehood. A far better fortune awaited the people in the election of the successor to General Morales, who was taken off by a pistol-shot during a quarrel between the president and one of his officers.

Out of the darkness of the crisis in which Bolivia had been plunged by the dictator Melgarejo, the light of a better day began to appear. Morales was succeeded by a man of scrupulous integrity and patriotism. Dr. Tomás Frias, as provisional president, which office he held only until the president elected by Congress in extraordinary session in 1873, Colonel Adolfo Ballivian, could arrive from London, where he was residing as financial agent of the Bolivian government. The election of President Adolfo Ballivian was carried out without bribery, undue influence, or martial pressure. It was the will of the whole people. Colonel Ballivian, a son of the hero of Ingavi, was highly educated, had travelled extensively, had a reputation for unsullied honor, and, having made a special study of political and social science in Europe, might be expected to bring political order out of his country’s chaos and lead it into the paths of peace and prosperity. Colonel Ballivian organized his ministry with some of the best statesmen of the republic, the names of Baptista, Bustillo, Calvo, M. Ballivian, and, later, the noted financier Dalence, being a guarantee of good government. But the broken health of the president made it impossible for him to attend to the affairs of state; and nine months after his inauguration, he died in Sucre on February 18, 1874. The entire nation mourned the loss of this beloved and distinguished son, whose death came as a blow to the most sanguine hopes. Vice-president Frias succeeded Ballivian; but his government was constantly disturbed by insurrections, until finally his trusted war minister, General Daza, organized a coup d’état and assumed the dictatorship, first imprisoning the president with his ministers and then banishing him. Don Tomás Frias was a statesman of unimpeachable honor and great simplicity of character. One biographer says: “He was the only man, of those we have known, who reached the greatest heights, the most important posts, without seeking them and perhaps even against his desire. His brain was never turned by exaltation, he was never intoxicated by adulation, and he never became arrogant with power.” Like so many of Bolivia’s best men, he died in exile, in Florence, Italy, in 1884. President Daza assumed the supreme power in 1876. His wise choice of ministers gave to his administration an importance which his own limited knowledge of statecraft would never have gained. Notable reforms were made in civil and criminal legislation and in the coinage; and a new constitution was framed, containing the most advanced republican principles.

The question of boundaries between Bolivia and Chile, which had been a threatening evil for many years, reached the acute stage during Daza’s administration. In 1876, Chile put pressure on Bolivia to make her sign a treaty, giving the latter half shares in guano and minerals to be discovered in the Bolivian maritime department. In consequence of this, a dispute arose between a Bolivian tax collector and an Anglo-Chilean nitrate company in Antofagasta about a small export duty of ten centavos per quintal—about three cents gold—decreed on nitrate, which the company declared Bolivia had no right to levy under the terms of the treaty, and which it refused to pay. The Bolivian government sent armed police to collect the money, the company telegraphed the news to Santiago; and Chile, without awaiting explanations or listening to proposals for arbitration, sent troops to occupy the port of Antofagasta. Bolivia presented a particularly favorable opportunity for Chilean “expansion” just at that time, as it was visited by a terrible plague, which decimated the country, while famine added to the horrors of the situation. In three weeks, over two hundred deaths from starvation were reported in the very heart of the agricultural region, and in other places the mortality was higher. Notwithstanding such tragic circumstances, Bolivia was obliged to declare war. A few years previous a secret treaty of defensive alliance had been made between Bolivia and Peru, during the administration of Adolfo Ballivian, for the purpose of checking the aggressive spirit of Chile, whose determination to get possession of the seaboard provinces to the north of her limits had become more and more apparent, especially since the discovery of the guano beds and the rich silver mines of that region. Remembering this treaty, Peru hastened to offer support to Bolivia; and Chile declared war on Peru and Bolivia on April 5, 1879. As soon as the Bolivian army could be organized, the order was given to march to Peru, and General Daza, with eight thousand men, arrived in Tacna early in May, having left the affairs of government in the hands of a council of ministers. Chile had been increasing and strengthening her navy for years, and her armies were well disciplined and in splendid condition. General Daza showed himself in a bad light from the beginning of the war, and the Bolivian soldiers, who performed miracles of heroism, were justly indignant and embittered over the apparent pusillanimity of their chief. He was replaced in the command of the army by Colonel Eliodoro Camacho, a valiant soldier, and in the government of his country by General Narciso Campero, a statesman of ability and patriotism. But the allies were not prepared for combat. The outcome of the war was a crushing defeat of their armies and the seizure by Chile of the whole seaboard of Bolivia and part of the Peruvian coast. In 1880 the government of the United States had offered to mediate between the belligerents, and a conference was held on board the United States gunboat Lackawanna, Señores Baptista and Carrillo representing Bolivia. But Chile rejected all proposals of mediation; and the war was renewed, with the well-known results. According to one of Chile’s most prominent statesmen, the acquisition of these northern provinces has been a curse rather than a blessing, paralyzing the other industries of the country by concentrating all labor in the development of its nitrate fields.

President Narciso Campero, assisted by his able finance minister, Dr. Eliodoro Villazon, now vice-president of the republic, distinguished himself by the honorable and efficient character of his administration. He chose his ministers wisely, and associated with him in the government were such statesmen as Don Nataniel Aguirre, who, as president of the National Congress of 1880, framed the constitution which now rules the republic; Don Antonio Quijarro, who had served his country at home and abroad with credit; Don Fidel Aranibar, and others of like distinction. Notwithstanding the depleted treasury, President Campero built new roads, established telegraph lines, and sent exploring expeditions to the Chaco. He reorganized the army, and established army hospitals, and homes for the widows of soldiers who had died in battle. He created a Supreme Council of Instruction, and brought about many reforms.

The tendency of the times was toward a complete change from the unsettled conditions which had so long played havoc with Bolivian politics. After the war two political parties came to the front, the Constitutional and the Liberal. Don Gregorio Pacheco, Don Aniceto Arce, and Don Mariano Baptista were the leaders of the Constitutional party, and Don Eliodoro Camacho was the chief representative of the Liberals. When Pacheco was elected to succeed Campero in 1884, it is related that one of the ardent followers of General Camacho, the defeated candidate, exclaimed, in the frenzy of the moment: A la revolucion! to which Camacho sternly replied: Mueran las revoluciones!—“Let revolutions die!” And from this period dates the installation of a new order of things, in which the predominating effort of all parties has been, as far as possible, to avoid revolutions. President Pacheco’s administration was marked by profound peace; and the financial condition improved, owing to the great wealth that poured out of the Huanchaca, Colquechaca, and other silver mines.

Dr. Aniceto Arce was elected president to succeed Señor Pacheco in 1888. A clever statesman and politician, he did much for the country’s progress. During his presidency the first railroad in Bolivia was built, from Antofagasta to Uyuni, soon afterward continued to Oruro, its present terminus. He ordered the improvement of coach roads and the construction of bridges, the Puente Arce being one of the handsomest monuments to his administrative enterprise. Telegraph lines were extended, and other facilities granted. General Pando explored the Territorio de Colonias. At the expiration of Arce’s government, Dr. Mariano Baptista was elected, in 1892. Conditions were not so favorable for progress under his administration, owing to the depreciation of silver and the unsatisfactory state of the mining industry, the chief source of the country’s revenue. But important expeditions were sent out to explore the regions of the Beni and the Territorio de Colonias. In July, 1893, the National Delegation of the Northwest of the Republic was sent to the Beni, under the direction of Señores Lisimaco Gutierrez, Manuel Vicente Ballivian, Román Paz, Colonel Juan L. Muñoz, Lieutenant Rosendo Rojas, and Pastor Valdivieso. The town called Villa de Riberalta was founded at the confluence of the Madre de Dios and the Beni, and political and judicial authority was established in these remote regions, where the rich rubber forests of the Acre, or Aquiry, as it is more correctly written, are located. The following year General Pando, the intrepid explorer of these regions, to whose indefatigable energy the state owes most of the important knowledge it has obtained regarding their wealth and territory, was commissioned to mark the limits with Brazil, a work he carried out with perfect satisfaction to his government. In 1897, during the succeeding administration of President Fernandez Alonso, General Pando headed another expedition to the rubber regions, making complete studies of the Peruvian boundary question, and laying the foundation for vast commercial development in that part of Bolivia.

President Alonso, who was elected in 1896, devoted especial attention to public works and the completion of many handsome public buildings was due to his energy. He is not regarded as a brilliant statesman, but rather as a clever lawyer and an orator of distinction. His administration was brought to an abrupt end through a dispute that arose over the question of the permanent residence of the executive. A bill was brought up demanding that Sucre be the permanent residence of the president and his Cabinet. It was approved by both houses. A request was then made for further discussion of the subject in an extra Congress, to be held in the neutral city of Cochabamba; and when this was denied, La Paz representatives protested and retired. A movement for separation was initiated in La Paz by Señor Fernando Guachalla, one of the most illustrious statesmen of the country, and after unsatisfactory efforts to conciliate the government, the people of La Paz declared for the Federation. A Junta de Gobierno was formed, composed of Señores Guachalla, Serapio Reyes Ortiz, José Manuel Pando, and Macario Pinilla; and as President Alonso advanced from Sucre at the head of his troops, General Pando took command of the revolutionary forces of La Paz, and the two armies met in several engagements, the last of which, fought near Oruro, April 10, 1899, terminated the revolution in a complete victory for General Pando’s army. The Junta de Gobierno convoked the national assembly to meet in Oruro on October 20, 1899, when General Pando was elected president, with Don Lucio Velasco and Don Anibal Capriles vice-presidents. The constitution of 1880 was adopted.

President Pando represented the enterprising spirit of the day, and in maintaining the claims of La Paz as a more suitable centre for the political government, he probably did so from a conviction that it is more accessible than Sucre, which has at present no railway communication. General Pando planned for the extension of the railway systems to all parts of the republic and, soon after his election, the line was commenced from La Paz to Lake Titicaca, through which transportation by rail and steamship was secured to the seaport of Mollendo. He reorganized the army and the finances, initiated the settlement of all boundary disputes by arbitration, and headed an expedition to the Acre to stop the Brazilian advances into that territory. A treaty was afterward negotiated at Rio de Janeiro, by which Brazil paid Bolivia two million pounds sterling in consideration of the cession of part of Bolivia’s territory.

The election of General Ismael Montes to the presidency in May, 1904, was one of the most popular in the history of the republic, and signalizes the firm establishment of peace and progress in this interesting country. President Montes is a son of General Clodomiro Montes, who is the head of the army, and a soldier and tactician of distinguished ability. One of the first acts of his government was the settlement of the dispute with Chile regarding the seacoast privileges, which had been going on ever since the close of the War of the Pacific. While Chile concedes no port to Bolivia, freedom of import is granted, an indemnity of three hundred thousand pounds sterling is paid, and Chile agrees to spend two million pounds sterling in building railways from her ports to the Bolivian interior.

Never in the history of the republic have conditions been more favorable, politically and financially, for national development and prosperity. Bolivia has no foreign debt. The only one which could have been considered such was a balance of claims to the amount of six million five hundred thousand dollars in gold, held principally by Chileans as indemnities on account of the War of the Pacific, and this was assumed by the government of Chile in agreement with the terms of the treaty recently signed between the two countries. On the other hand, Bolivia has at her disposal large credits in foreign banks. Of the two million pounds sterling which Brazil paid within the past two years as indemnity for the cession of a part of the Acre territory, one million pounds sterling has been placed on deposit with Rothschild and Sons in London, and one million pounds sterling with the Comptoir National d’Escompte of Paris. Both of these sums are reserved exclusively for the construction of projected railways, which, it is calculated, will cost from four to five million pounds sterling. In addition to these sums, Bolivia also has, in the Comptoir National d’Escompte of Paris, one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, paid by Chile according to the terms of the treaty previously mentioned. It is further agreed that Chile is to pay the same sum next year, and also to guarantee the interest, at the rate of five per cent per annum for thirty years, on capital invested in the construction of the following Bolivian railways: Uyuni to Potosí; Oruro to La Paz; Oruro to Cochabamba and Cochabamba to Santa Cruz; La Paz to the region of the Beni; Potosí to Sucre, Lagunillas, and Santa Cruz; this guarantee rests on the condition that the annual expenses of this obligation do not surpass the sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling. Chile is also obliged by the treaty to build a railway from the port of Arica on the Pacific coast to the Altos of La Paz. The maximum of the obligations exacted by the payment of the above interest and of the part of the railway to pass through Bolivian territory has been estimated at one million seven hundred thousand pounds sterling. The Bolivian section of the railway from Arica to La Paz will be ceded to Bolivia after fifteen years from the date of its completion. From this it will be seen that Bolivia, instead of being in debt to foreign countries, as are other South American republics, has important credits which have already attracted foreign capital, and must, in the future, continue to invite increased investments from foreigners.

The administration of President Montes places Bolivia in line with the countries which, at the beginning of the twentieth century, are combining their forces to make this the Golden Age of the New World. All eyes are turned now toward the Western Hemisphere, and although at the present moment universal interest is more absorbed in the northern than in the southern continent, the popular gaze is sure to be directed soon, with the same attraction, to the great land south of the Isthmus, and it may be expected to rest with especial concentration on the twentieth century Bolivia.