No. 67.
Mr. Adams
to Mr. Evarts.
Lima, Peru, June 14, 1880. (Received July 29.)
Sir: I have the honor to report my arrival at this place yesterday, the 13th instant. I was enabled to land at the blockaded port of Callao and reach this city without detention, through the assistance of Captain Brown, U. S. N., commanding the United States ship Alaska, whom by good fortune I met in the harbor of Chimbote, and who kindly placed his vessel at my disposal on its return trip from Chimbote to Callao. On entering the latter port I called with Captain Brown upon Admiral Rivera, commanding the blockading squadron of Chili on the coast, in order to inform him that in a few days I should land at Mollendo, a blockaded port further south, and request that the railway train which I would take there to proceed to La Paz be not fired upon from his ships, which request was granted readily and most willingly.
Captain Brown has informed me that in about a week he will be ready to take me to Mollendo, and I consider it really fortunate to have met him, as it would have been out of the question for me to visit Lima at all and place myself in communication with Minister Christiancy, which you considered advisable and of importance in your last verbal instructions, and which would have necessitated a land journey of several hundred miles through a desert, for which I was not prepared.
I will not endeavor to report upon events that have lately taken/place here, as without doubt you will be advised by those who, being on the ground, have had better facilities to know. I will only state that after the defeat of the allies at Tacna on the 26th ultimo, General C ampere, Provisional President of Bolivia, having lost half his army killed in the battle, separated from the Peruvian forces and with the remnant of his own soldiers took the road to Bolivia, promising however, that he would return with a larger force. On the evening before the battle, General Campero had resigned the chief command of the allied forces, which had fallen to him by virtue of the treaty with Peru, stipulating that if the President of either republic should be with the troops, he should be commander-in-chief of the troops of both republics, and had said when surrendering his command that on that day he ceased to be Provisional President of Bolivia, as the Congress of that country, called together to elect a constitutional President that day, had no doubt fulfilled its mission. The latest news from Bolivia, however, up to the 28th ultimo, is that, while said Congress had met on the 25th for the purpose of electing a President, it had failed to take a vote, adjourning from day to day [Page 80] and occupying the time with making patriotic speeches; evidently waiting for some news from the army. What may have happened in La Paz since that date it is impossible to say, and will be unknown probably for some time, but that perhaps another revolution with or without bloodshed has taken place may be imagined, when the hurried departure of General Campero from Tacna, his own candidature before the Congress for election as constitutional President, and the hesitation of this Congress to proceed to a vote, are considered.
I am anxious to reach my post, and shall wait no longer than the Alaska is obliged to remain off Callao before proceeding to La Paz, although perhaps no time would be lost by remaining here until such time as some result of the action taken by the diplomatic corps should be apparent.
Should the action taken have any result, and possible proposals of peace from Chili be not entirely rejected by the Government of Peru, the latter could not act without also considering the status of Bolivia, and in that case it may be advantageous for me to know the wishes, ideas, and actions of the neutral representatives here, in order to co-operate with them in Bolivia after my arrival. I shall be guided, however, in some measure by the opinion of Minister Christiancy, at whose request I attended a meeting of the diplomatic corps to-day, and who I find, not only understands the situation thoroughly, but also has considerable influence in the deliberations of the body.
I am, &c.,