failed in respect towards the authorities, committed shameful offences, provoked quarrels to make a profit out of the public fortune, and taken part in the domestic dissensions of the country which gave them the most ample and generous hospitality, arbitrary and humiliating fines have been imposed upon us.

The abuse of overpowering force never has been, and never can be an argument of justice. This impious abuse has been severely reproved and deservedly condemned, and exposed to public shame before the face of Europe and the universe, by exalted personages, honest and enlightened, impartial and just, in most clear and striking terms, with resplendent and vigorous logic, proclaiming immutable principles, and appealing to the conscience, the civilisation, and the honour of all powerful nations.

The relative weakness of the South American Republics, divided and isolated from each other as they are, is, in the opinion of the Government, the cause of their having been treated with but very little regard upon various occasions, as if the common law of nations had no existence for them, as if they had been states of Barbary.

The Government does not consider it compatible with the national dignity, nor with its own honour, that such an objectionable and depressing state of things should continue, and that forced concessions should be converted into a right, if such hateful and lamentable precedents be allowed to multiply and accumulate from day to day; but looks upon it as one of its principal duties to provide a safeguard for the honour and interests of the Republic, by appealing to the protecting and undeniable resources of justice and universal right; and the Government hopes that the representatives of the Peruvian people, with the enlightened patriotism that distinguishes them will co-operate to effect this purpose.

The Government willingly attends and does justice to rational and equitable claims; and the private applications and proceedings of the same nature, also meet with the best attention in the tribunals of the nation. Nothing is more easy than the settlement of a claim when it comes with the ingenuous appearance of truth and justice ; but the nation cannot keep its coffers open at the discretion of any one who may covet its treasures, in order to make, all at once, a fortune to which he has no right. Respectable and well educated persons, who come to the country to embark in speculations, or to carry on some kind of trade, and to acquire capital by lawful means, while they win public esteem and confidence, are certainly not those who stir up difficulties and raise unpleasant international questions; but it is those men of unknown origin, and perhaps of miserable antecedents, those dangerous adventurers who come here with the intention of making money at all hazards, without capital and without labour. An example of this immoral traffic, recently discovered

with all its scandalous details, by the good fortune of one of the sister Republics, tells much more than can be added here.

At last, by the force of events, the Government found itself under the necessity of coming to the resolution, perhaps imprudently delayed, of not admitting into the territory of the Republic any foreigner who did not submit himself to the laws in an express and positive manner, in the same way as the Peruvians are subject to them; and consequently of not paying to any foreigner any indemnification of any kind whatever which it is not obliged to pay to a Peruvian, in accordance with the laws of the country.

Notwithstanding the serious circumstances and complications. which constantly and in various ways have called for its chief attention, particularly in the region of high politics, the Government, always anxious for the welfare and aggrandisement of the nation, has not neglected the progress of important public works, such as the splendid pier of Pisco, the first in South America; other such works are already begun and will be pushed on as much as possible, and some are already far advanced, as the Penitentiary, a magnificent monument, which will do honour to the country, and of which the destination is highly humane and moral. To open roads, to construct bridges and canals for irrigation, to facilitate the passage of our mountains; to people them, to cultivate their fertile lands, to make available the rich and precious productions which are unknown and concealed in them; to attract immigration, and to regulate it discreetly, opportunely and fitly; to make the communication between the towns easy and rapid, as well as that between them and our copious rivers, which afford immense means of transport for industrial and agricultural produce, with short and easy access to the Atlantic, and beneficial commerce with other nations; to promote and encourage the development of agriculture, of mining, and of all productive works and euterprizes; to make use of those resources and elements with which our soil abounds for the quietude, aggrandizement, and repute of the nation; in one word to assure its future; such is the constant and vehement desire of the Government, and such, I am bound to say, is my aspiration, my personal

ambition.

We should have already made no inconsiderable advances in the path of progress, if fatal events had not intervened to distract attention, to paralyse efforts, to multiply difficulties, and to absorb. the public time and treasure. On internal and external tranquillity and peace, on the co-operation of the people and your own, it depends whether the Government can reckon on the time, the repose, and the necessary means to attain, for the good of the country, the realization of its extensive designs.

Some progress has already been made in regard to the postal

service, but it is still necessary to improve it, in order that the course of correspondence may be more easy and rapid; you will adopt such measures as you may consider fitting for the completion of this important department.

The judicial authorities act with perfect independence within their proper limits, and the Government effectually contributes to this by respecting them and causing others to respect them, and by giving them the requisite support for the execution of their judgments and orders.

But the administration of justice has met with considerable difficulties and obstacles in its course, which neither the zeal nor the ability, nor yet the integrity of the magistrates has been able to overcome; for there are defects and errors of great magnitude in our legislation in general, and particularly in the part relating to procedures, which delay and complicate causes the most simple and of most easy and brief determination, superfluously multiply the proceedings, and offer an ample field for unfair litigants. Well founded representations have been made by the tribunals, demonstrating these and other defects in our recent codes, and which you will no doubt take into consideration with a view to their indispensable reformation.

Truly disconsolatory is the picture offered by the criminal statistics of these latter times, and in particular the large number of atrocious crimes which keep society in a state of terror. plague of malefactors infests the country, their numbers and audacity augmented by reinforcements of foreign outlaws, and every day the necessity becomes more imperious for the adoption of severe and efficient measures to terrify the evil-doer and arrest him in his career of crime, instead of animating him by impunity, and leaving the life, the honour, and the fortune of the peaceful and defenceless citizen at the mercy of the assassin's poniard. It will be worthy of your examination to ascertain whether the evil exists in the legis lation, or in the immorality of a corrupted and degraded part of the population.

In the midst of the unfavourable circumstances before mentioned, public instruction has been attended to as far as posssible, by the establishment of schools where there were none, by increasing their number in various districts where they were urgently required, and by re-establishing others which had been closed; so that a considerable number of children of both sexes are now receiving instruction in all the public and private schools which are in operation throughout the wide territory of the Republic.

The first experiments of the central normal school have answered to a great extent the purposes of the institution, the expectations of the public, and the intentions of the Government in amplyfying [1861-62. LI.] 2 G

and regulating primary instruction, which has hitherto been very scanty, superficial, and defective throughout the country, especially in the interior provinces.

Rectors and professors of acknowledged ability have the direction of the national colleges; and the examinations which regularly take place in them, testify to the zeal and devotion of the masters, as well as to the perseverance and consequent advantage of the pupils.

The Government is not, however, satisfied with what has been done and is still doing in this department; it desires the propaga tion and the rapid progress of enlightenment; it desires that education, useful knowledge, and the study of the sciences, should become general; that there should be plan, system, and uniformity in the method of teaching; that there should be practical schools of arts and trades; that the Universities should arouse from the state of inertness, prostration, and complete nullity in which they are now; that instead of an illusory and fantastic existence, and of words. devoid of meaning, they should receive a real and active existence, and become the worthy and venerable centre of all scientific teachings and doctrines, in conformity with the ideas, the spirit, and the wonderful progress of modern times.

In harmony with the ideas of the Government on public instruction in general, some important works have been prepared, which will have to be duly applied very shortly.

The hospitals are at present in the best possible condition, by means of the support afforded to them in strict justice by the intelligent and pious zeal of the benevolent societies, and the delicate and anxious service of the Sisters of Charity. Among the establishments of this kind is to be distinguished the lunatic asylum for both sexes recently opened in the Cercado, where the patients were transferred a few months ago, and where from the extent, conveniences, and scrupulous cleanliness of the locality, the salubrity of the temperature, careful attention, and adequate moral and physical means which science and experience employ opportunely and sagaciously in the treatment of those unfortunate beings, it is to be hoped that at least some of them may recover the full exercise of their intellectual faculties.

Our army gives fresh proofs every day of its well-known valour, morality, and discipline; and its conduct in the late campaign of Ecuador was worthy of its name. Divided between the north and the south, conducted by intelligent, vigilant, and active commanders, well armed, equipped, and paid, it is on the alert and ready to proceed wherever the necessities of the public service may call it for the defence and protection of the honour and the rights of the country; hitherto the forces of which it is at present composed have

been sufficient, and although they are larger than ought to be kept up under ordinary circumstances, it has not been necessary to increase them to the number sanctioned by law.

The services which the national fleet is called upon by its noble destiny to perform, and which it continually does perform, are of too great importance and therefore too well known, to make it necessary to record them. The fleet guards our coast and our interests, and is, at the same time, a powerful element of internal order. It maintained an extensive blockade of foreign territory; it aided the army, both in transporting it, and in the movements and operations of the campaign, and won, like that, the sympathies of the Equatorian people by its moderation and worthy deportment.

The same law that authorized the Government to augment the army, also authorized it to call into service the fighting men of all grades; and this has been done, many having been incorporated into the army and navy, without distinction of party or political complexion.

To secure the Republic against every kind of surprise, to make its frontiers respected, to vindicate our rights and the honour of our flag, it has been unavoidable, although very painful, to devote thereto, in preference, a large expenditure, which the Government would have wished it possible to avoid, in order to apply it to many and most useful improvements of vital importance, which the nation urgently requires to attain that high degree of prosperity and aggrandizement to which it is naturally called. Exigencies, as pressing as they were serious, and that one no less serious and pressing of fulfilling with scrupulous punctuality the engagements of the internal and external debt, have made, it is true, a considerable inroad upon our coffers; but it is also evident that far from our credit having decayed, it maintains itself at such a height, in the country and out of it, as is shown by recent transactions, by the high price of the securities in the market, by the difficulty that has been met with in redemption, by the scarcity of bonds on sale, and by the general disposition of the holders to retain what they possess, by reason of the confidence inspired by seeing their capital secure and productive. Another flattering aspect of the actual state of our credit is, the assurance of our ability to obtain in the commercial centres of the world the funds which the country may require to undertake and complete works of the greatest importance, and which are now of urgent necessity.

Of the various branches which constitute the national revenue, the Customs and the guano of the islands are the principal; the former are far from producing so much as they ought, in proportion to the riches, the increasing population, and consumption of the country; there are reasons for believing that smuggling is practised