Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1854-05-05

tal Wnulu drop you an occasional line when there
was anything of interest to communicate but now I
only wish that could reverse the contract and OBJ
tain few pages of news from your own pen. for we
arc, as it to just arrived from the land Of
newspapers, shut out from the world and left to
speculate upon the truth of the thousands Of contra
dictory and bloody stories runor brings to our ears
from the United States and Europe We have dates
up to Feb. 10th, from the States l. e, we have on,
! Now York Heroh of that date. But there is album.
dance of excitement in this distracted country for us
who have not been accustomed to regard revolutions
and battles as everyday occurrences as well as
much that is new and interesting in the country
ITSELF if forget politics and the fact that it
necessary to carry pair of revolver. if you wish to
go on an antiquarian excursion. Of the present
political condition of Peru it is peculiarly hard to
speak, for the administration II, fac,o takes partici
lar pains to mstify every report that come, from the
insurgents and to make everything appear favorable
to itself The Government itself is prqfsss,Hy re-
publican, but realty military despotsiu Don Do.
mngo Elias, who with Gen. Castillo, Is the leading
spirit of the revolutoni'ts, formerly Governor
ofhe Chincha Islands unlcr the present admin .tra-
ton. He recalled being charged with embezre-
mcnt Of public money and severely rcprimanded
and degraded, exasporatcd by which he rctorted
upon the Government by exposing some Of its own
dishonest proceedings A. the eyes Of the people
were beginning to he opened to the fact that th,y
| mover had received any benefit from the immense
guano trade at the Chncha. and various other
sources of revenue. the statements Of Elias were
easily accredited, and the administration, catching
the alarm, construed his charges into treason and
| inn nod liz, do al. l
land to Tumbct with few of b, parlizau., and be.
ing closely pursued by body Of Government troops
took refuge in the house of Dir. Oakford. I. :.
Consul at Tumbez, representing himself and toll
lowers to be innocent pursued by a band Of
! lawlcs, mardnder,. The troops arrived and fired
into the house while tho I. :. flag was flying kill
| ing two of Elias mon. The remainder with their
leader made their escape, The Consul deemed this
insult to our IA; and ha applied to tbi, Goycrn-
mcnt for rcdrcs. through Ills Exccllency J. Ran
| dolph Clay |. : Minister to Peru, This demand
has been denied and the affair referred to our home
! Government The American citizen, here are
very indignant that -uch outragos thi. ono and
| that Of the bayonetting Of the American ship Mas.
tors at the Chincha Island, SO long since, .hould
still remain unsettled. The Peruvian Government
!
their representative at Washington aging that both
these affairs being amicaby settled but strange
to say, no dispatches communication, Of any kind
| in regard to the matter have been rccc, ed by our
Minister. The American ship Masters arriving
| from the Chinchas with guano, express Themselves
most bitterly in regard to the insults they are sub.
cccd there and threaten take the Law into their
own hands if something i. not done soon.
| But to return to the rcvolution-Ela, went from
Tumbcz by sea to P,co and gained Gen. Castillo
war-worn veteran and great fayoritc with the
[ people. to his They raised an in,urgent
force but owing to their want of money, were
unable to the numbers which fuckcd to their
standard and have to depend, in II great mea sure,
upon the slow hut sure method of gaining over the
people by spreading :hc seed. Of discomfort and re.
bcllion.
The Provinces Of Arcquipa, Puno, Mooucgnn and
Tacna have declared for Castila and the rumur now
l. that Elias Is in Lima with numbers of hi, rart.
sans preparing To rise when the proper time shall
come He does not aspire to the presidency himself
but support, Gen. Castillo The present adminis-
tratiou is evidently on the decline distracted as it
is by the war with Bolivia the Northern frontier
and the rcbcllious province. on the South Some
time since all the Government specie amounting to
over two millions of dollars, together with State
papers of Importance removed from Lima and
placed on board the Peruvian steam frigate ANA
lonia for security, and since have been transferred
on board the British stureship 'Naad," under the
protection of that flag. The last new. from the re-
bcls was that an action took place on the It'll of
March at Caiamarca between a body of 600 Govern
ment troops and 1900 rebels, only 500 of whom
armed and they very poorly. The latter said to
have been totally routed with loss of 30 killed.
Gen. Castillo remains strongly entrenched at Are
quipa in position from which it is said that it will
be impossible to dislodge him.
Peru is literally suffering under " war, pesti.
loncc and famine" The "Montencros," or black
robbers of tho mountains, have grown so
strong and bold since tho breaking out of
the civil that they mako descent, upon
whole towns along the coast. II is unsafe even to
make short excursion into the country without
being well armed, and instances of highway robbery
under the very walls Of Lima are Of every day oc-
currcncc.
We somewhat surprised the other day by the
sudden arrival of $50 Of our "felow citizens" in
an grant ship from Australia They started
with the intention of going to the head waters of
the Amazon but their ardor has so much cooled
during the voyage from Australia that only rs
Of them intend keeping to the Amazon, while
the remainder are intending to take the next steam
er for Panama, to 20 home across The Isthmus
and others to try their luck at gold digging once
more in California. They report twelve other
sells as having been chartered for this place by
Americans at the time they sailed aud they say
that not los, than 1000 Americans are now ON their
way from Australia to tho head waters Of tho ANA
ron found several Nennonters anon: the num-
Der of those already here and th,y are determined,
to man, "to make a straight track for the Green
Mountains and stay al home when they get there -
The fever, which has been raging with great vic.
lcncc in Callao and Lima, is abated in great mea.
sure, and it is hoped that it soon will be entirely
gone Strangers and persons unacclmatcd have
been the principal sufferers, and many a poor fel.
low, within the last two months, ha. laid his bones
on the lonely Island of San Lorenzo, as tho bar
barous laws Of Peru deny burial on the main
land to Protestant foreigners,
The Bay is crowded with shipping, principally /
American, this i, the port of Entry for the Chin
cha Islands, There cannot he less than eighty |
American vessels now lying here, and there are re-
ported 10 be above an hundred more at the Chin |
chas. The arrivals and departures of American
vessels at this port average over three day. Be
sides these vessels lying here, are numerous /
British, Gillian and Peruvian craft and the follow
ing men-ofwar Her Majesty's British frigate
"Trincomalee," Capt. Houston French frisate,
~ Eurydce :" Gillian sloop-of-war "Con,titu-
cion :" United States soop-of-war, "St, Marys,"
Rail ian
lonia - Peruvian steam brig aud Her British
Maje'ty's storeshp "Naiad." TheUnited state, fri
gate "St. Lawrence" the flag ship of Commodore
pulany, is expected here in the course of a month,
from Valparaiso,
Very truly, yours.
&C.