valiant soldiers returned to the shores of their country, leaving only friendly and grateful recollections behind them among the people of Ecuador, and also leaving the Ecuatorians at full liberty to settle among themselves their domestic difficulties, in which we had been very far from interfering.

It may be stated here that those difficulties, far from having been settled in a more or less pacific manner, have become more complicated from the interposition of an entity foreign to the country, to its political interests, to the popular views and tendencies, and even to the sympathies of Ecuatorian society in general. To this fresh element of disunion and disorder, to the exasperation of parties, to insidious and ignoble machinations, conceived in impotence and spite, will that unfortunate country owe the indefinite prolongation of the civil war, as well as disasters and devastations much more grievous and severe than those which might have been inflicted on her by an external war from which she has just freed herself.

To interest the people by playing upon their candour, and to inflame their passions to their own injury, recourse is had to fraud and imposture; by calumnies and absurd vulgarities it is sought to make Peru odious to them; Peru that has never given them aught but proofs of friendship, that has declined to interfere in their political affairs, that has never defrauded them, but, on the contrary, has poured immense treasures into their territory, whilst her forces were stationed on their shores; and that has finally conceded to them by Treaty such frank and generous conditions, that she has been exposed to some censure arising from a zealous feeling, excusable though excessive.

But neither Peru nor her Government will allow ignoble caprices and senseless aspirations to spoil and overthrow the work of conciliation and peace which has cost such labour and sacrifice, so much time and treasure; they will not allow the interests and rights, the dignity and honour of the nation, and the securities obtained for the future to be trifled with, by returning to the former position of infamous outrages and noisy scandals.

It is painful to inform you that the Cabinet of Bolivia, far from appreciating and showing itself grateful for the proofs of friendship and goodwill which it has ever received on the part of Peru and her Government at all times and under all circumstances; far from satisfying the Republic for the injuries and outrages with which it has so often transgressed our rights, breaking solemn compacts, inundating our markets with base money, and trying our sufferance with imperturbable tenacity in every way; not only has it always disregarded the justice of our demands; not only has it continued insensible to all the applications addressed to it in amicable and conciliatory terms, but setting forth imaginary complaints and

grievances to complicate and paralyze the matters in question, to put off and obstruct every definitive arrangement, and last of all, attributing to us hostile intentions, without being able to charge us with a single aggressive act that could give proof of them, it suddenly launched a decree of rigorous interdiction, which, though it at first injured the commerce of our adjacent provinces, will doubtless injure to a much greater extent the impoverished people and exhausted treasury of Bolivia; without, perhaps, preventing by those imprudent sacrifices, not the blows of Peru, which it pretends to fear in order to obtain support and a favourable reaction amongst its oppressed and exasperated people, but in reality those of a different nature and origin which it well knows and is afraid of.

The Government in the mean time will remark that the Cabinet of Bolivia presents itself before Peru and the whole world as a declared enemy; that it throws down the gauntlet as unexpectedly as arrogantly; and the Government will be prepared in any case to repel and repress any attacks, machinations, or sinister enterprises whatever; and it will not be surprising if the course of events should place it under the hard necessity of bringing an insidious and faithless Government to a strict account, not only for past injustice and wrong, but also for those of the present time. Nevertheless, the Government will still hope that the Cabinet of Bolivia may reflect upon and amend its policy, and we shall not neglect either the means or the opportunities that may occur for reuniting with us, a friendly, fraternal, and neighbouring people in bonds which ought never to have been severed.

With the powers beyond the seas we maintain friendly and courteous relations; we faithfully observe the Treaties which bind us to some of them; we do justice to their demands, and we receive their respective subjects with manifest proofs of goodwill and

esteem.

A question of simple origin, respecting a subject of the French Empire was about to become rather serious, on account of purposely falsified reports, by which endeavours were made to alter its nature, and give it a hateful character. But the Imperial Cabinet, prudent and moderate, came to the well adapted resolution of sending to the Government a noble, intelligent, and sagacious personage, with a commission to arrange the affair in a definitive manner; when this was thoroughly examined with due impartiality, the facts made known and plainly discussed and cleared up, it was not difficult to arrive at conclusions satisfactory and honourable to both parties; and it is to be hoped that we shall very soon receive notice of the Emperor's acquiescence therein.

Another question, that should have been still more simple, is still pending with the Cabinet of Washington, which demands indemnifi

cation from us for which in truth we are not legally answerable. Two North American vessels, infringing and contemning our laws, our political principles, and our rights and privileges as a sovereign nation, abstracted guano from our islands, taking it against express and decisive prohibitions, decrees and regulations still in force. Having been surprised and captured, they were tried and condemned according to the laws which rule in every civilised country, and in the full plenitude of right. Then an attempt was made to frustrate the action of the laws and to render the executory judgment nugatory; and recourse was had, as an extreme and desperate measure, to diplomatic proceedings, which are certainly free and quite applicable to matters of another kind, but are restricted by right and custom, by justice and reason, and even, it may be said by morality, from facts and cases of such a nature as the present.

But, notwithstanding that civilized nations of South America and of Europe have pronounced in our favour, and that the enlightened Government of Chile has justly and rationally acquiesced in the sentence of our tribunals in an identical case, wherein Chilean vessels had been guilty of the same offence, at the same time, and under similar circumstances, we have not been able to see the end of this strange and unpleasant question. But it is to be hoped that the impartial counsels of a cautious and equitable policy will at last induce the North American Government to acknowledge the incontestible justice which is on our side, either by not insisting on such a demand, or by submitting the matter to the arbitration of some power friendly alike to both Republics. This is an easy and customary means, adopted by all civilized nations to obtain an honourable and amicable solution of still more serious questions, when the parties have not been able to agree; a means the more acceptable and decorous in the present case, as the final object of the controversy is merely pecuniary. And in support of the ideas which I have just expressed, grounded on the caution and equity which must direct the proceedings of North American diplomacy, I think it right to tell you, that as the distinguished and able representative of that Republic is now in communication with the Government on the subject of the pending question, we may reasonably expect a satisfactory solution.

And here I must call to mind, Gentlemen, the disagreeable and humiliating position in which the Government frequently finds itself, from the imperious and violent manner in which strong Powers are accustomed to exact and wrest from it indemnifications, always exorbitant, and frequently not due. In this way Peru has been despoiled of immense treasures, of which no small part has been carried off in triumph by captious and basely covetous speculators, for whose advantage, and as a reward for having trampled on the laws,

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 enterprizes; 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