The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-09
PERUVTANS AND BOLIVIANS
 CELEBRATE GREAT VICTORY

On this beautiful Summer day-for it is Summer now below the equator the people of Peru and Bolivia will celebrate the eighty ninth anniversary of the battle of Ayachuco, in which the patriots under Gen. Sucre defeat ed and all but annihi1ated the army of Spain. For Peru, and to a lesser extent for Bolivia, that battle ushered in a period of peace. prosperity and liberty, broken only by a disastrous war with Chile and a few minor rev. o1utions The last message to Con- gress of President Senor Don Gui1- lermo D. Billinghurst, which was pub lished as advertising at the expense of the Peruvian government in sev- era1 North American papers, appar- entIy shows that Peru is now riding on the top wave of prosperity, and is highly hopeful of vast benefits to be derived from the opening of the Pan- anna canal. This opinion is apparent ly shared by North American, Eng fish, German and French capitalists. who are covering the ancient country of Pizarro with network of rail- ways. Two months ago the Peruvian Congress abolished the section of the Constitution which made Roman Catholicism the state religion and prohibited the exercise of any other religion. For many years the gov ernment has permitted the building of Protestant churches and schools, 1n spite of the constitutional prohibition, but the latter has now been removed. President Btllinghurst is of English descent, and was elected by the pro- gressive party.
 General Sucre. the hero of the bat tie which drove the Spaniards from Peru and Bolivia, was rewarded with the presidency of Upper Peru, now Bolivia, and the capital was named after him. San Martin, the Argen- tine patriot, assisted by the Chilean navy under Admiral Lord Cochrane, the immortal English sea fighter, had previously driven the Spaniards from a large part of Peru, and, when Su- ere finally crushed the Roya1ists at Ayacucho on Dec. g, 1924, a republic had already been established with It's capital in Lima, Pizarro's ancient City of the Kings.
 
 ha1f-ancient capital, to-day's celebra- tion of Ayacucho will enter in the Boulevard of the Ninth of December, the fashionable thoroughfare of the city, named to commemorate Sucre's victory At the end of the avenue, however, there stands statue which comnemorates the name and fame of one whose immortal glory was gained in the hour of defeat and death. It is the sad and tragic bronze figure of Col. Francisco Bo1ognesi, who com manded Peru's legions at the battle of Africa during the war with Chile. With less than 2,O00 men in his ar my. he was surrounded by double that number of ChiIeans. "A1 ulti- mo cartucho's-"To the last car tridge," was Bolognesi's battle cry. The Peruvians held the heights of Africa until their ammunition was ex- hausted, and then engaged in a ter rib1e hand-to-hand struggle. Bolog- nese fell with the flag c1utched in his fingers. His lieutenant, Ugarto rath- CT than surrender, rode his horse off the cliff and was dashed to death hundreds of feet below. Every Pe- ruvian fought until killed or morta1ly | wounded, and only few survived their wounds. Later, Lima fell before the Chi1eans, and Peru was forced to pay, not only the blood of it's heroes, but what has proved to be the largest indemnity ever exacted from any na- ton in the history of the world.
 Small wonder that Peruvians weep when they pass that tragic figure st