River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-02-17

| anterior 10 the 1ncaS. Inc town has
been the headquarters orseveral sic
ges or assaults upon Lima. Just in
front of it is the battlefield of La Palma,
where General CASTILLO overthrow
President RUFINo EcHINIQUE in 1854;
and the late President PRADo carried
Lima by a coup de main in 1864. from
Chorillos as a base. Between Lima
and Chorillos are hundreds of huacas.
or artificial mounds, the fortresses and
burial-places of an extinct race, more
than one of which rival in mass the
Pyramids of Ghizeh.
| Advices received from the seat of
war just before the battle at Chorillos
state that the Chilians were in force at
| Chilea and Lurin, the latter place be-
ing held by q 900 of the invaders, of
all arms. The various divisions which
| landed at Pisco united with the last
landed at Curayaco, and presented the
front of battle to the Peruvian army,
which had gone out to meet them.
The entire Peruvian army, except
1000 men under General La Cotera,
marched south during the closing days
of December, and took up what are
said to be good positions little north
ward of Lurin. The Peruvians were
said to number So 900 men, so that the
opposing forces were nearly equal in
number, though in experience in the
field, in discipline, arms, and trained
and experienced officers, the Gillian
| force may be deemed superior. Presi-
! dent Pierola commanded the Peruvians
an officer without practical service in
the field, though with great pretensions
as theoretical soldier. His right-hand
man was the venerable General Buen-
dia, whose alleged bad management
mt the battle of San Francisco led to
his defeat by force numerically in
ferior, and to the loss to Peru of the
valuable department of Tarapaca. The
| Chilians were commanded by General
Baquedano, dashing cavalry officer,
assisted by General Villagran, Minister
of War, Colonel Sotomayer, Colonel
| Lynch, and a number of others, who
have served throughout the war Gen
eral Baqedano is the hero of Tacna
and africa, and his officers have been
under fire.
Ever since the capture of the Huas-
car, in October, 1879, the war has been
a constant series of reverses for Peru
Early in November of that year, the
| CHILEAN General Erasmo Escola, with a
formidable army landed at Pisagua
| in the face of the enemy, scaled the
frowning cliffs, dispersed the Bolivian
brigade there encamped. and procC ed
ed inland along the railway. A few
DAYS later, November 10, 1879, the hos
tile forces met on the hill of San Fran
| Il ~, "a
| desert march of whole day, attempt
ed to carry by storm the Gillian head
quarters. The army of Buendia was
annihilated almost in moment, their
Bolivian allies crossing the Andes in
homeward flight. A momentary sue
cess gained by Buendia at the town Of
Tarapaca, November 26, was but the
prelude to his hopeless retreat upon
africa, where he was placed under ar
rest as responsible for the loss of two
armies and whole department.
Meanwhile General DAZA, who had
set out from africa with the main Boil
vain army to effect junction with
BuENDIA, had retreated from Camar-
ones on the second day before coming
within fifty miles of the enemy. This
proof of coward ice or treachery cost
him his dictatorship, by movement
ofhis own officers at Tacna in Deem
Der, when Colonel CAMACHO assumed
military command, and General
NARCIso CAMPERo was called to the
vacant Presidency at La Paz. General
PRADo, Supreme Director of the
War;" returned to Lima early in De
cember to reorganize the defense, and
on the 18th of that month, with as great
q secrecy as practicable, embarked for
New York and Europe on " special
commission" of great presumable i'm
portance, leaving the government in
the hands of the venerable Vice-Pres-
ident, General LUIS LA PUERrA, a vet
eran of the war of independence.
Soon afterward Colonel PIERoLA as
sumed the Dictatorship of Peru, and
proceeded to reorganize the army.
But disaster still followed the Peru
VANS In April, 1880, a formidable
CHILEAN army, under General BAQUED-
ano, gained possession of Moquegua,
and in May carried the city of Tacna,
africa. which had been supposed to be
invincible, was carried by easily co mp
de main in June. The CHILEAN squa-
dron meanwhile destroyed Mollendo;
and blockaded Callao and all the south
ern ports.
About two months ago, the long-an-
nounced expedition against Lima set
sail under command of General BAQUE-
DANO. Its landing at Pisco and at
Curavaco, its occupation of Lurin and
Canete and its victory at Chorillos have
been successfully chronicled within
few weeks. We now hear of the final
battle al the picturesque suburb of
Mirahores, the flight of PGERoLA, and
the unopposed occupation of Lima on
the 18th inst.
The war which has thus far resulted
so disastrously for the Peruvians, origi
mated in dispute about some nitrate
grounds belonging to Bolivia. In 1879
the Bolivian government had coded its
nitrate grounds of Antofagasto to the
lo-Peruvian house of Gibbs, by
whom part of it was sold to some
Gillian houses, and it was only after
the transfer of these grounds to the
Gillian merchants that the Bolivian
government laid a heavy export duty
on the nitrate, on the suggestion as 1t
was supposed, of the Peruvian govern
menu. Inc IllllldlI SON6llIItllt WIZ
not improbably only saw in this a good
opportunity for Il quarrel, took up the
cause of its merchants, and hence the
hostilities arose.
The disastrous defeats of the Peruvi-
ans by land and sea have been aggra-
waited by what seems very like treach
erous detection of their Bolivian allies.
The result is that Chill is now and will
remain in possession both of the Peru
Wan and of the Bolivian nitrate grounds,
both of Tarapaca and Antofagasto, and
that Bolivia may be rewarded for her
treason by the acquisition of some, to
her, most convenient Peruvian sea
ports-say africa, Pisagua, or Iquique-
rich compensation for what she may
have to give up to Chill. Had she
listened to proposals for a compromise,
she would have had easier terms.
Lima, In accordance with the old
custom which required thatgreat cities
should be built at some distance from
the seaport, in order to place them out
of the reach of piratical invasion, is
situated about two leagues from the
bay OF Calloa, on the banks Of the
Rin1ac. The site of the city was chosen