No. 477.
Mr. Gibbs
to Mr. Fish.
Lima, Peru, July 20, 1875. (Received August 11.)
Sir: There is nothing of importance to report politically, except an apparently small affair at Islay, some four hundred and fifty miles southeast from here, on the coast.
[Page 1002]Islay is a port of entry in the province of Arequipa. From the official reports, it appears more like a raid for plunder than for political effect. At midnight of the 14th instant, one Enrique Bustamante, native of Colombia, an ex-officer of customs, with some thirty or forty persons, attacked the custom house, seizing the treasury-box, but finding only some 700 soles, they left, taking nothing. No resistance was made and no one injured. They left the town of Islay and went to the port of Mollendo, some twelve miles distant from where the railroad starts for the principal city of that portion of the republic, Arequipa. The force of the insurgents had increased to some fifty or sixty men mounted, armed with rifles and muskets, headed by Bustamante and one Arevalo, the Prussian, so called, having served, in the late Franco-Prussian war. They attacked the town about 7 a.m., met with a very slight resistance, and soon had command, two policemen only being wounded; went to the railroad and forced the employés to get ready a train, leaving at 10. Shortly afterward the subprefect of Islay arrived with a force of twenty-live or thirty men in pursuit of the insurgents, got ready another train, and followed at 1 p.m.
By later news it appears that on the arrival of the insurgents at Arequipa, they received little or no assistance from the inhabitants, and were soon dispersed, Arévalo, the chief, being wounded and a prisoner.
The foregoing is official, as published in the journals of Lima. The President has sent several steamers with artillery and infantry to Mollendo, and the general opinion is that this disturbance will not amount to anything of importance,
I have, &c.,