The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-07-22

issued a proclamation to the effect that
they would conduct the government I'M
til new president could be elected, but
the thousands who had become electri-
fed by the magnetic name Of Pierola
had decided not to wait for the pres
ident, but to put their new idol at the
head of affairs without delay.
Before morning there had been col
hsion between Pierola's adherents and
body of loyal troops The loyalists were
defeated and the entire city, with the
exception of the palace wherein the
ministry was intrenched, was in the.
hands Of the revolutionists Next day
the city of Callao declared for Pierola,
and so did the ships in the harbor. Be-
fore three days had rolled away the
ministry had yielded and Pierola was
declared dictator of Peru. Then came
the war with Chile, resulting in Peru
Wan defeat and the sweeping of Pierola
and his adherents from control For
years after that he was an exile. Later
he returned at the head of an army Of
enthusiastic adherents and was again
made the chief executive. This time
no was dominant for even a shorter Pc
Rod than before, being again sent into
exile, disgraced and discredited.
Three or four months ago he struck
for supreme power again and won. For
more than three years he had been at
work in the Peruvian highlands organ
izing an army of mountaineers, and so
we'll did he do his work that when his
men met the regular troops in brief
engagement, news of which was cabled
to North America at the time, the reg
ulars, though numbering twice as many
as the insurgents, were easily defeated,
and Pierola marched to the palace over
the bodies of 200 slain.
So far as his power for organization
and his personal magnetism are con-
cerned Pierola is the sort of man to
whom the title 1.-THE Napoleon of South
America" may be fittingly applied
But he has not yet achieved anything
Napoleonic in the way of conquest out
side his own country, doubtless because
no has never yet had all the people of
Peru at his back. He has thrice defeated
his opponents in military contest, it is
true, but he has never had a majority
of voters and he has never had the con-
sentative elements of the Peruvian
body polite with him either.
Nicolas de Pierola is said to be a
charming man and to make friends as
fast as he makes acquaintance. Every
time that he has been in power he has
made the beginnings of broader policy
than any adopted by his predecessors in
the presidential chair, but every time
his broadened policy has been neutral
lied by opposing factions Of men who
claimed his sweeping pronunciamentos
to be really evidences of mind unba1-
anced by success at arms and filed with
chimerical schemes. It is true, indeed,
that he is. first of all, military man,
and that while he has shown what may
be termed positive genius for the or
ganization of an army and the conduct
of a quick, decisive campaign he has
never yet demonstrated his ability to
carry forward the affairs of civil gov
| eminent satisfactorily. His friends
claim that this is true only because he
has never yet had proper opportunity,
and that if he can but maintain himself
long enough to secure that opportunity
| he VII now be able to prove his abili-
! ties as chief executive as thoroughly and
conclusively as he has already proved
his military power.
With the mountaineers Of Peru Pier
ola is popular almost beyond belief.
| Nothing has ever happened to lessen
their love for him or shake their con-
fdence in his integrity and his ability.
They are by all odds the best fighters in
Peru, and who has not their adherence
cannot hope to win in Peruvian civil
war.