The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

PERU.

The revolutionary movement still continues, and draws
nearer the capital, the possession cf the vessels of war giving
General Vivanco a great advantage over the government,
in being able to move his forces from point to point. On
the 31st of December the steamer Apurimac and brigantine
Loa, bearing the flag of General Vivanco, made their
appearance in the harbour of Callao, to the great discomfi-
ture of the inhabitants of the town and of the government
party. Boats from the Apurimac were immediately sent to
the French ship Perseverante and the English steamer
Tribune, for the purpose of informing the commanders that
the object of Vkvanco's visit was not to bombard the tows
but to take possession of the steamer Ucayali. Various
demonstrations were made in the harbour during the day.
but no hostilities took place. At night the guard boa's,
one from the revolutionary and one from the government
ship, approached each other in making their rounds of the
harbour. The " quien wive" was given, and on the answer
being Apurimac, the officer in the government boat
ordered his men to fire, but it appears that instead
of so doing, they both pulled away from each
other as fast as possible, and in this brilliant
action no shots were fired and no lives lost. The
same day (says the anhelio —government organ—from
which we translate) at half-past six in the
evening the steamer Tumbes entered the harbour ant took
up her position along with the rest of the squadron. At
half-pas: eight the next morning a well armed boat left the
Apurimac and approached the mole, but returned spin
without attempting to land. At half-pist one, two boats
from the same ship took possession of the Peruvian ship,
Catalina Hayes, laden with charge/ (dried beef,) anchoring
her near the rest of the fleet. The schooner Hector entered
the harbour about the same hour, and was also taken
possession of. At four o'clock the Loa got up steam,
and having seven beats filled with armed men,
entered the bay to windward, with the intention of
taking possession of the ship Antonia Terry, which
was anchored about a musket shot from the mole. The
boats' crew then boarded the Terry, and made preparations
to lift her emitter. In the meantime General Castilla, who
was watching the operation, ordered the battalion of
Richincha to leave the arsenal with some pieces of artillery
and take up a position on the mole ; he then rode to the
Castle of the Independence, and ordered the commander to
open fire on the revolutionary vessels, which was done, the
Ucayali following the example. The Loa returned the &it
and the armed force that had boarded the Terry inime-
diately re-embarked, seeing that they were exposed to the
fire of the Ucayali, and to the cannons on the mole.
The firing continued for half an hour on both sides, and
resulted in five of the revolutionary party being killed and
seven wounded, the government forces suffering no damage.
At the commencement of the cannonading the English
steamer Tribune got up steam, and with the French ship
Perseverante-fired three blank shots each, thus intimating
that if the firing continued they would have to interfere to
protect the foreign interest. The Perseverante sent a boat
on shore, and an officer was sent on board her to know if
any of the shots had hit her, as one from the castle
was seen to pass near. General Castilla next sent to
Bellavista for three battalions and some artillery stationed
there, which soon arrived, and was posted at the custom
house and on the mole, but they took ho part in the action.
The Loa then retired, exchanging shots with the Ucayali
and the guns on the mole until out of range; the fire from
the castle was kept up against her until she reached the
place where the other vessels were anchored. The shots
from the Ucayali and castle were well directed ; the latter
tell short, only one hitting the Loa near the stern
Many balls and shells from the Loa fell in the city, but
did no material injury; some fell aboat the rail-
road station and others on the Playa de la Pampa. A
splinter of a shell from the Loa fell in the steamboat-
office, and a ball in the house of Lyons; the ship Rapido
was struck by a ball from the Ucayali, and the Terry wars
injured by the firing from the mole. In the Terry were
five hundred Chinatuoi.—The Peruvian ship Betsrin.
A mericau bark Juventa, British bark Branscombe, a
French ship and others were also slightly injured.—The
Apuriman took no part in the action.—During the
firing the townspeople remained quiet spectators. The
same evening_ the 'Tumbes left the port, aid nothing
further occurred that day. On the 3rd nothing of
importance took place. By order of General Castilla
the vessels in port moved from their anchorage, and the
ships of the revolutionary party also changed posiion,
approaching near to the Island of San Lorenzo. Previous
to the events just narrated (on the 28th) the Apurimac,
Loa, and Tumbes had been to the Chincha Islands, where,
learning that the Izeuchaca had sailed, they followed her,
and compelled her to return to the islands. The governor
of the island was removed, and a new one appointed, and a
circular was sent to the agents and captains of vessels, stating
that no change would be made iu the mode of conducting
business, It is said that the three steamers had 1,200 men on
board, General Vivanco issued a circular to the diplo-
matic agents stating, that he was in possession of the
Chinches, and that all countries would be respected.
President Castilla has issued a decree prohibiting the supplY
of provisions, &c., to the revolutionists, under penalty of
trial by martial law. On the night of the 7th, the Tumbes
and Catherine Hayes left Callao harbour with the greater
part of the revolutionary force, leaving the Apurimac only
in Celiac), anchore Ito leeward of the Perseverante. The
Tumbes is supposed to have gone to Islay for recruits.

CHILI.
From Chili we receive the usual satisfactory confirm/aloe
of peace, progress and plenty existine, throughout the
country, although the past season's crops have suffered from
the inclemency of the weather so as to make many articles
of consumptiou.-inconveniently high priced for the lower
classes. Iquique and Arica were in the hands of the
government, Islay and Arequipa in those of Vivanco. An
attempt was madj at a revolution in Cuzco, which was put,
down. General Lerzundi was killed! by a pistol
ball. General San Ramon was in command of the
Government forces there. Moquegua has agaie
fallen into the bands of the government. Business has not
been so brisk as usual during the fortnight in Valparaiso,
owing to the great scarcity of specie, caused by heavy
exportations of that article of late to Europe. So scarce
indeed has specie become that the government was investi-
gating the cause, with the view of adopting some remedy
against such a drainage in future.

CALIFORNIA.
We have advices from San Francisco to the sth
January. The San Francisco Alto California of
that date publishes the following summary of the
fortnight's news :

SinCe the departure of the steamer of the 20th Dec., the
country has been unusually. quiet, and free from events of
an exciting character. The principal topic of interest has
been, and, until settled, will continue to be, the
senatorial election. There lee a great degree of solicitude
and anxiety among politicians, and curiosity among all
classes to know the resu,t. The excitement which existed
at the time of the departure of the-last steamer, concerning
the state debt, has died away; whatever uncertainty racil
have been felt at the time having yielded to the unanimous
sentiment that the decision of the supreme court imposes no
obstacle, legal or moral, to the prompt and faithful
payment of every dollar. A bill has been already framed,
and will be introduced at an early day of the session of the
legislature, to refund the debt, and submit it to a vote of
the people, in conformity with the requirements of the
constitution. The bill will pass by a vote almost, if nell
quite, unanimous; anC when it comes before the peoples
there will be no opposition, but all men, of every shade of
politics, will emulate the excel ,ns of each other ia
its advocacy. Of course the refunding and constita-
tionalising of the debt will not render it any more
obligatory upon us to pay it ; but it will satisfy the holder*
of our securities that there is no disposition on the part of
California to mil herself of her own violation of her own
laws to avoid the payment of money which she obtained
contrary to her constitution. The heaviest snow storm
ever known here—if not, in fact, the only oue— occurred
on Monday, the 29th of December. The snow fell pro-
bably for an hour or two, and covered the summits of
the hills adjacent to the city. The Contra Costa range of
mountains was covered several inches deep, and the Imo*
has not yet entirely disappeared. The city was visited by'
a severe gale of wind and heavy rain on the night of the
30th. The waters of the bay were greatly agitated, but no
damage of serious character occurei to the shipping. Thera
were 63 fires in the city during 1356 ; loss 105,980 doles
less, we believe, than during ary previous year since 1848.
Under the present charter tie expenses of the city goveru-
ment have been decreased '25,937 doll. in six months.