No. 61.
Mr. Adams
to Mr. Evarts.
La Paz, January 17, 1881. (Received March 2.)
Sir: I have the honor to report that on the 15th instant the Carrillo cabinet, whose probable dissolution after the failure of the Arica conferences was foreshadowed, went quietly out of office, and a new cabinet was announced, which consists of Dr. Nuñez del Prado, minister of government and public instruction; Señor Villazon, for treasury (retained); Dr. Aguirro for war, and Dr. Jiménez for foreign affairs and public worship. The latter, at present prefect of the province of Cochabamba, has as yet not arrived at La Paz, so that Dr. Nuñez del Prado is charged also with the business of the foreign department for the time being.
This cabinet may be considered representing the extreme war party, as Dr. Aguirro will be the soul of it, who, as a member of the late Congress, was daily and hourly advocating fresh measures for resistance and aggression, and has ever been opposed to President Campero’s policy of inaction and expectancy.
[Page 84]While Chilian cannon are thundering at the very doors of Lima, and all Bolivia is trembling for its fate and praying for its deliverance, this change of cabinet takes place, and with it a ray of hope comes from the south, from the government of the Argentine Republic, which at last has granted free transit for Bolivian arms and ammunition, and should the anticipated capture of Lima be delayed, Chili may find in a short time a Bolivian army in its rear occupying Tacna, Arica, and Iquique, which might force it to abandon its plans regarding Lima, and to fight again for the possession of Atacama and Tarapaca, which provinces it has already fondly considered its own by right of possession and conquest. I am also informed by the Peruvian minister that the government at Buenos Ayres has decisively declared its intention to oppose any annexation of territory in South America, and its press and public opinion have lately assumed such bitter hostility towards Chili, that even before you receive this the latter may have considered it wiser to abandon its position.
This city, although rumors of revolution are frequently circulating, remains quiet. The other day a plot of mutiny was discovered amongst the soldiers, and a sergeant promptly shot, and the editor of La Patria, who advocated peace with Chili at the expense of Peru, might have shared the same fate if he had not been granted asylum in the Brazilian legation, but had to leave the republic within twenty-four hours, which measures seem to have established General Campero only the firmer in his seat, so that I do not expect any serious attempts against him, unless events now taking place near Lima should deprive Dictator Piérola of power, and in sympathy should also affect Bolivia. * * *
I have, &c.,