The war between Peru and Chile, 1879-1882

Front matter

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

Preface

The war on the west coast of South America between Peru and Bolivia on one side and Chile on the other has continued for nearly four years There have been naval operations of considerable interest, and there were three distinct and successive campaigns in different and widely separated regions, but all three on the Pacific coast.

The naval campaign is deserving of attention, because in it the armoured-ships of recent construction encountered each other for the first time, and because guns of extraordinary range, torpedo-boats and torpedoes, and other late inventions have, also for the first time, been used in actual warfare.

A study of the operations on shore, during the course of the three campaigns, brings the English reader' once more into communion with the descendants of those Spaniards and Indians of whom he has read, surely with more than passing interest, in the pages of Prescott and Helps. The battle-fields are in the land of the Yncas. The combatants belong to two races, to that race which was ruled over by vi Preface.

Atahuajpa and attained to the highest civilization of which aboriginal Americans were capable, and to that race which followed Pizarro in his career of conquest. The results of the war will permanently affect the welfare of those races. For this reason the campaigns on the Pacific coast should have an interest for readers in this country.

The authentic materials for a narrative of the war are now sufficiently extensive, although they are almost exclusively supplied from the Chilian side. The ground has been carefully described in a series of publications issued by the Chilian Hydrographic Department, entitled " Noticias sobre las provincias litorales." The official despatches, diplomatic notes, and reports of correspondents, are contained in the "Boletin de la guerra del Pacifico," published at Santiago periodically from April, 1879, to March, 1881.

The history of the three campaigns, has been written, in copious detail, by one of the most distinguished literary men in Chile, Don Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna." The author's powers of description, of delineating character, of critical analysis are of a very high order. His industry in collecting materials is extraordinary, and it is equalled by his ability in arranging them. Vicuna Mackenna is above all things an historical biographer. He could not, if he would, omit a trait or an incident, however much

' " Guerra del Pacifico ; " " Historia de la Campafla de Tarapaca " (2 vols. pp. 865 and 1189); "Historia de la Campana de Tacna y Arica" (l vol. pp. 1172) ; " Historia de la Campana de Lima " (1 vol. pp. I2i5). Santiago de Chile, 1S80, 1881, 1882.

Preface. vij their mention miglit tell against the view he advocates. His love of historical truth amounts to a passion. From no writer, since the days of Ercilla, are we more certain to get the good, equally with the bad points of an enemy. His work is, therefore, invaluable.

Don Diego Barros Arana, in his " Historia de la guerra del Pacifico," gives us the history of the three campaigns, as well as of the naval warfare. His narrative is less interesting and not nearly in such full detail as that of Vicuna Mackenna. We also have the Memoir of the Chilian Minister of War for 1 88 1,' which gave rise to an acrimonious paper war between the minister and the general commanding the army, and thus many things were made public. The general replied in a volume containing all the official despatches.' There are also a few monographs of special actions, such as " El Combate Homerico " and " Estudios sobre la vida del Capitan Arturo Prat," which are useful.

Chile, assuredly, has been fully heard. But Peru and Bolivia, apart from official reports, are silent so far as we are aware. If books have been published they have not become accessible here. The whole story, with the exception of private letters regarding the proceedings or the fate of individuals, and mere afficial utterances, is told by Chilians. Impartiality and common fairness, therefore, demand the utmost

5 " Memoria del Ministerio de la Guerra correspondiente al afio de 1881 " (pp. 193)- Santiago, i88i.

' ' ' Partes oficiales de las batallas de Chorrillos y Miraflores '' (pp. 420). Santiago, l88l.

viii Preface.

care in judging of the acts and motives of their opponents. If an unbiassed stranger does not adopt the Chilian view with regard to the causes of the war, the justice of its continuance, and the character of some of the events, he at least argues from the same premises. The facts have been supplied almost exclusively by one side ; and if the historian feels obliged to condemn the proceedings of Chilian statesmen and soldiers, he must, at the same time, commend the fairness of Chilian writers.

Contents

Dedication Preface .

^art h

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.

Chapter I. Peru Under The Yncas, And Under Spanish Viceroys

The war between the Republics of the Pacific coast has been an unmixed evil. Peru has been thrown back into a worse state of anarchy and confusion than she has known since the independence ; while the advantages secured by conquest may bring more evil than good to the successful belligerent. It is not a policy of aggression and foreign conquest which has hitherto secured prosperity to Chile. But there are useful lessons to be derived from this contest, from more than one point of view ; and the reader who has a general knowledge of the former history of the countries engaged in it, will find that the story of the war is not without interest.

B

Empire of the Yncas.

It will be well, therefore, to preface the narrative of military events of the last two years, with a brief review of the history of Peru and of her former dependencies.

The regions which were comprised in the Empire of the Yncas embraced every climate, and teemed with the products of every zone. Traversed by the Cordilleras of the Andes from north to south, from beyond the equator on the north to far south of the tropic of Capricorn, the great altitudes, with an arctic climate, supplied products of the frigid zone, while the lower slopes displayed in succession the richest pastures, crops of hardy, cereals and roots, harvests of Indian corn, cotton and fruits, down to the dense vegetation of tropical forests. The extent of the empire as regards latitude increased the variety of its wealth ; and the action of the trade winds was alike the cause of teeming forests to the east of the Andes, and of the arid deserts and rainless tracts of the Pacific coast.

This region, so marvellously favoured by nature, was the home of a civilized race whose rulers knew how to use all these varied, sources of wealth and comfort, and to adapt the forces of nature for the well-being of their people. The Yncas of Peru, commencing their system of administrative rule at Cuzco and in the lovely vale of the Vilcamayu, gradually extended it over the whole Andean region of Quito, Peru, and Chile, far into the eastern tropical forests, and along the Pacific coast. Roads were constructed along the dizzy precipices of the cordillera, and over the sandy deserts ; terraced cultivation converted the

GOVERNMf:NT OF THE YNCAS.

ravines into hanging gardens ; well-conceived systems of irrigation works, both in the mountains and on the coast, turned barren wastes into smiling valleys and rich pastures. The system of mitimaes or colonists provided for the supply of tropical products to the dwellers in the mountains, and of meat and corn to the settlers in the forests and on the coast. Carefullyconsidered rules secured the industrial prosperity of the agricultural labourers, the absence of poverty, the distribution of handicraftsmen, and the due supply of servants of the State for duties either in peace or war. Nor were the amusements' of the people neglected, and the institution of periodical festivals provided for their pleasure and relaxation. At the same time the gradations of rank and of duties in the civil administration fitted perfectly into the warlike needs of the empire ; and, without disturbing the economy of the •agricultural and manufacturing or mining interests, large disciplined armies periodically extended the limits of the empire. Conquest converted distant tribes from a savage state to a condition of order and well-being. The religions of the conquered people were neither persecuted nor uprooted ; their prejudices and traditions, which were not opposed to an orderly and well-regulated life, were neither discouraged nor ignored.

The accuracy of this description is shown by a consensus of testimony. The Ynca civilization excited the enthusiastic admiration of the best of the Spanish conquerors, and afterwards endured the test of a more critical examination by trained lawyers and administrators. So far as it was possible, the most

B 2

4 Responsibility for the War.

gifted of the Spanish rulers of Peru preserved or endeavoured to imitate the Ynca system. The empire whose people enjoyed this beneficent rule extended from the equator to the river Maul6 in the south of Chile, and from the shores of the Pacific far into the tropical forests to the east of the Andes.

Peru, Bolivia, and Chile (except the extreme south) were parts of the empire of the Yncas. The imperial race which created it, in spite of all the terrible wrongs and sufferings that followed the Spanish conquest, still forms the bulk of the people ; and the main point of interest, as regards the recent war, is the way in which its operations will affect the Ynca Indians. In so far as the Chilian conquerors have injured or slaughtered those long-suffering and once happy people, they and their works deserve the curse which. must for ever rest on the deeds of Francisco Pizarro and his worst followers. If the Chilians have sought for wealth and territorial aggrandizement, regardless of the sufferings which the attainment of those ends may entail upon an innocent people, they have been doing the accursed work for which history condemns Pizarro. It is from this point of view that the belligerents must be judged ; and it is on the results of their work, as it affects the people whom their ancestors, so foully wronged, that the republican Spanish-Americans must be acquitted or condemned.

It is 350 years since the empire of the Yncas was overthrown by the Spanish conquest. The once happy people, with their lands and possessions, were then parcelled out among the ancestors of those Peruvians and Chilians who have so recently shown their appre-

The Conquerors of Peru.

ciation of Ynca civilization by re-enacting the horrors of the conquest. The republicans who threw off the yoke of Spain some sixty years ago, are never tired of upbraiding the mother country for her colonial policy. But it is upon the settlers and their descendants that the real responsibility rests. They took the place of the original inhabitants, and from them the account of their stewardship must be required.

Let us then, with all impartiality, examine how the account stands. It is difficult to throw the whole blame on the actual conquerors, those gallant adventurers who performed deeds of such heroic daring that the whole civilized world was amazed ; some urged on by the excitement of discovery and the love of knightly achievement, others by baser motives. There is nothing in history more romantic than the story of Pizarro's. famous appeal on the Isle of Gallo. " Gentlemen," he said, as he drew a line on the sand with his sword-point, " on this side are labour, hunger, thirst, fatigue, wounds, sickness, and every other kind of danger that must be encountered in this enterprise until life is ended. Let those who have the courage to meet and overcome such obstacles cross the line, as a testimony that they will be my faithful companions. Let those who feel unworthy, return to Panama, for I do not wish to put force upon any man. I trust in God that, for His greater honour and glory. His eternal Majesty will help those who remain with me." The sixteen men who crossed that line were heroes, if ever men deserved that name. And there were still nobler spirits among the first conquerors of Peru. When the worst among them, led on by Pizarro and

The Conquerors of Peru.

Almagro, resolved upon the judicial murder of the Ynca Atahualpa, there were not wanting men of honour and courage who raised their voices against it. Their names are even more worthy of remembrance than those of the sixteen who crossed the line drawn on the sea-shore at Gallo. Foremost among them was Hernando de Soto, the future discoverer of the Mississippi. Next came the brothers Francisco and Diego de Chaves. The former, as true a knight as ever lived, fell in defending Pizarro from his assassins at Lima. Another was Bias de Atienza, who had reached the South Sea with Vasco Nunez, and had crossed Pizarro's line at Gallo. There were eight others. The body of conquerors was leavened with such spirits as these, and with this fact before us, we may assume that the true story of the overrunning of the Ynca empire is not quite so black as the picture which modern writers have painted. If further proof were needed, it is afforded by the sympathy shown in the writings of some of the earliest Spanish authors ; and by the conscience-smitten cry of such a man as Mancio Sierra de Lejesema. " We have destroyed the government of this people by our bad example," he exclaimed on his deathbed ; and this cry of remorse is a witness on the side of more lenient judgment for the conquerors.

Yet the story is black enough. Adventurers, inferior to the Yncas in civilization, but with an immeasurable superiority in material force, poured into the country, some with lofty aims, but the majority in the hope of fulfilling their dreams of wealth and power. Historical evidence proves, however, that the

Treatment of the Natives.

settlers were the oppressors, while the Spanish rulers strove constantly to restrain them. Mr. Helps bears testimony that " those humane and benevolent laws, which emanated from time to time from the Home Government, rendered the sway of the Spanish monarchs over the conquered nations as remarkable for mildness as any perhaps that has ever been recorded in history." Mr. Herman Merivale has stated his opinion " that, had the legislation of Spain in other respects been as v/ell conceived as that respecting the Indians, the loss of her western empire would have been an unmerited visitation." It is due to Spanish interference that the extermination of the Indians was not completed, while their decimation was the evil work of the settlers.

Pizarro was empowered to grant encomiendas or estates to his followers, and the exactions of these colonists were so intolerable that the Spanish Government enacted the code known as the " New Laws " in 1542, by which these encomiendas were to pass immediately to the Crown after the death of the actual holders, all forced labour was forbidden, and a fixed sum was ordered to be settled as tribute to be paid by the Indians. The promulgation of these just laws excited a howi of furious execration from the colonists. Gonzalo Pizarro rose in rebellion in Peru ; and the opposition was so strong that it was considered unsafe to persist in the attempt to enforce the " New Laws." They were revoked in 1545. The encomiendas were redistributed by the President Gasca, and they were granted for three lives in 1629. But the law prohibiting the forced personal service of the Indians

8 Treatment of the Natives.

was boldly promulgated by the royal judges at Lima in 1552. This was immediately followed by another formidable rebellion under Giron. It was not until 1554 that the Viceroy Marquis of Cafiete trod out the last sparks of revolt, by a mixture of severity and prudent conciliation. In this long struggle the Spanish Government was always on the side of justice and humanity ; while the settlers strove to maintain their evil power to oppress and enslave the natives.

Don Francisco de Toledo, who became Viceroy of Peru in 1568, was a ruthless politician, and his administration is stained by the judicial murder of the young Ynca — Tupac Amaru. But he was a great legislator, a statesman of considerable ability and untiring industry. Future viceroys referred to his enactments as to a received and authoritative textbook. The Indians admitted that the country had not been so well governed since the days of the Ynca Yupanqui. He fixed the tribute to be paid by the Indians, exempting all men under the age of eighteen and over that of fifty, thus putting a stop to arbitrary demands. He arranged that the natives should be governed by chiefs of their own race, who alone were empowered to collect the tribute and taxes, and who also exercised magisterial functions under the Spanish corregidors or governors. But, in deference to the demands of the colonists, Toledo enacted that a seventh part of the adult male population of every village should be liable to what was called the inita or forced labour. He made rules to limit the distance they might be taken from their homes, and to secure

Treatment of the Natives.

payment for their services. It was the abuse of the mita system, and the evasion of the rules which were intended to mitigate its horrors, which led to all the misery of the Indians under Spanish rule, and to the rapid depopulation of the country.

Anxiety for the welfare of the native population appears in the reports of successive viceroys. In 1615 the Marquis of Montes Claros impressed on his successor the importance of obliging all classes of Spaniards to treat the Indians well, and of chastising oppression with rigour. The Count of Castellar, in 168 1, stated that one of the points most dwelt upon in the instructions given to the viceroys, in repeated royal enactments, was the humane treatment of the Indians ; and he declared that he always sought to enforce these orders from the day he landed in Peru.

In 1660 the Count of Alba de Liste, in obedience to orders from Spain, assembled a Junta to consult respecting the instruction and good treatment of the Indians. As regards religion the native population enjoyed immunity from trial by the Inquisition/for it was decreed that all natives were catechumens and, consequently, incapable of heresy.

While these continuous efforts were made by the Spanish viceroys to protect the Indians from oppression, their ancient chiefs, descendants of the Yncas, were treated with respect and consideration. In addition to the official position they were allowed to occupy, they were exempted from personal service and the payment of tribute, and the Viceroy Prince of Esquilache reported, in 161 8, that many of them were rich and powerful.

lo Treatment of the Natives.

But side by side with this evidence of the good intentions of the Spanish Government, lies the testimony of the same viceroys that their efforts to enforce humane laws were fruitless, and rendered of no effect by the opposition of local governors, and almost all complain of the rapid depopulation of the country. In 1620 the Prince of Esquilache reported that the arm of the viceroy was powerless against the negligence and maladministration of the corregidors. In 1 68 1 the Count of Castellar said that he had to correct and punish the excesses both of the governors and the clergy. The Duke of La Palata, in 1697, speaks of the depopulation of the villages caused by the forcible detention of the Indians at mines and in the farms and factories of Spanish colonists. In the reports to viceroys one reads of the women and children of a village assisting each other in tilling the fields, and returning from their labours hand in hand, singing a melancholy song, and lamenting the cruel fate of husbands and brothers who were toiling in the mine^ and factories.

The tribute, the ?«2V<3,. the exactions of the clergy, and the excise duties called alcabala were all patiently borne. But another method of extortion at length exhausted the patience of the long-suffering Peruvian Indians. This system, called repartimiento, was ostensibly for distributing European goods to the natives, but it was converted into a means of wholesale robbery. The tribute fixed for villages when they contained a thousand men was continued the same when the population had decreased to a hundred. The mita was enforced so mercilessly that whole districts were

Treatment of the Natives. ii

left without a single adult male inhabitant. The clergy extorted exorbitant fees, and towards the end of the last century the oppression became unbearable.

There were several good men who steadily protested against this misgovernment. Don Ventura Santalices, the Governor of La Paz, devoted his time and fortune to the cause of the oppressed Indians. Don Juan de Padilla represented the state of things with forcible eloquence. Don Agustin de Gurruchategui. Bishop of Guzco, Don Ignacio Castro, Don Manuel Arroyo, names which ought not to be forgotten, lifted up their voices, but in vain. Their vigorous remonstrances bore no fruit.

The Home Government manifested a desire that the Indians should be justly and humanely treated to the end : but the rapacity of local authorities and settlers, many of whom were Spaniards, but quite as many Creoles born in the country, could not even be checked. At last, in 1780, the beginning of the end came.

Before referring to the uprisings against Spanish rule, some of the other results of the conquest and the colonization of the Chilian dependency must be touched upon. The Spaniards, while receiving maize, potatoes, tobacco, chilis, other valuable crops, and quinine-yielding bark, as well as precious metals from Peru, gave more in return. Llamas were the only beasts of burden of the Yncas. Their conquerors introduced horses and mules. Cows and bullocks, sheep, goats, and pigs rapidly followed. In 1550 the first bullocks were yoked to a plough in the valley of Cuzco. The wife of the good knight Diego de Chaves, already mentioned as having protested against the

12 Peruvian Creoles.

murder of the Ynca Atahualpa, raised the first crop of wheat in Peru. Barley came with the wheat. As early as 1560 there were vineyards in the warm valleys near Cuzco ; and the olive, the sugar-cane, and European fruits^ and vegetables were introduced soon afterwards.

Something also was done for the mental development of the Peruvians. The University of San. Marcos at Lima is the oldest in the new worlds The Prince of Esquilache founded a college at Cuzco for the education of Indians of noble birth. The schools of Peru produced a fair proportion of scholars and men of letters. The learned Dr. Peralta y Barnuevo of Lima has earned a place in Ticknor's " History of Spanish Literature." A list of Peruvian authors in viceregal times occupies a long chapter in Montalvo's " Life of St. Toribio," the Lima archbishop. Nor was Peru wanting in men of high scientific attainments. The expedition to measure an arc of the meridian in 1740, and the subsequent botanical expeditions stimulated such studies. Francisco Davila, a native of Lima, was a naturalist who had charge of the museum at Madrid in the reign of Charles IIL Dr. Cosme Bueno was a cosmographer and statistician whose geographical writings, 1769-70, were republished in 1872, and are still valuable. Dr. Gabriel Moreno, a native of Huamantanga, a little village in the Andes famous for the excellence of its potatoes, was an eminent botanist, who studied under Jussieu, and'died at Lima in 1809. The illustrious Don Hipolito Unanue, editor of the Mercurio Peruana, and author of an important work on the climate of Lima, was

Under Spanish rule. 13

born at Arica in 1755. Much that he wrote was made known to English readers by the publication of " Skinner's Peru," and the learned Peruvian has since found an able biographer in Senor Vicuna Mackenna. But the principal charges against the rule of Spain have been the commercial monopoly, and the deprivation of any outlet to ambition for the colonists, all high posts being given to Spaniards. As regards the short-sighted monopoly, it was more and more relaxed all through the eighteenth century, while the complaint that the colonists were shut out from all high appointments is opposed to facts. Among Peruvians alone, eighty-three families were ennobled ; one receiving a ■ dukedom, forty-six being granted marquisates, thirtyfive Peruvians were created counts, and one viscount. As many as 136 natives of Peru, during Spanish times, received the highest judicial appointments, not only in their own country, but also in Cuba, Manila, and other places. There were ninety-eight archbishops and bishops who were natives of Peru, and the sees over which they presided were not always in their own country. A native of Callao was Archbishop of Zaragoza, and a Limeno occupied the see of Aquila in Italy. Peruvians also attained to high rank in the army, and as statesmen and diplomatists. Several were generals, others were captains-general of provinces, ambassadors to European courts, and councillors of state, and one was appointed a viceroy. It is not true, therefore, that the colonists were cut off from these careers, and were not allowed an outlet for legitimate ambition. These complaints were not the real causes of the revolt of the Spanish colonies.

14 Spanish Creoles of Peru and Chile.

The great rising of the Ynca Indians was caused by the oppression of the conquerors, and both Spaniards and colonists were to blame. The subsequent rebellions were the inevitable consequence of the course of events in Europe, and the independence of the South American Republics must sooner or later have followed the increasing intercourse with Europe, and the abolition of monopolies under any circumstances. The republicans of the governing class in Peru and Chile, are in fact mainly Spaniards. Many^ especially in Chile, are of Basque descent. Some' are half-castes, and in Peru not a few pure Ynca Indians have attained to the highest posts in the State. It is, therefore, alike unjust and misleading to cast reproaches on the colonial policy of Spain for the evils which have been developed since the independence. It is nearer the truth to allow that the worst features of the colonial times were due more to the settlers, the ancestors of the present republicans in Peru and Chile, than to their Spanish rulers. The republics have improved upon the former rule in all respects, and have made great advances in spite of civil dissensions and disastrous wars ; but the improvements in the mother country have been equally marked, and her advances in material prosperity are quite as great.

Description of Chile. 15

Chapter II. Chile Under Spanish Rule

Chile is a long strip of coast-land pent in between the lofty chain of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, extending from the desert of Atacama which separated it from Peru, to the island of Chiloe ; its width varying from 40 to 200 miles. The principal part may be described as one broad valley running north and south, with narrow lateral intersecting valleys, each rising step-like above the other, to the foot of the giant wall of the Andes. These mountains have a mean height of 11,830, with peaks rising to 22,296 and 20,269 feet. In the north is the rocky and sandy region rich in mineral wealth, central Chile is agricultural, and contains the principal cities and ports, while in the south are the forests and lakes of a colder and more rainy zone.

Northern and central Chile formed part of the empire of the Yncas, and the tribes of Chile had enjoyed the advantages of the enlightened Peruvian rule for nearly a century before the appearance of the Spaniards. Professor Philippi tells us that the Ynca road to Chile still exists. The famous march of Almagro into Chile with a large Peruvian contingent under the Ynca Paullu, took place in 1536. Three vessels were prei6 Spanish Conquest of Chile.

pared to bring provisions by sea, but one only reached the Chilian coast. When the news of her arrival was brought to Almagro he sent the commander of his vanguard, a young soldier named Juan de Saavedra, to communicate. Saavedra found the little schooner in a port to which he gave the name of his own native village in Spain, a place called Valparaiso, near Cuenca, which he was never destined to see again. He was hanged at Lima by the cruel Carbajal. His leader, Diego de Almagro, abandoned the Chilian enterprise in 1538, returning to Peru to misfortune and death.

Pedro de Valdivia was destined to be the first permanent settler in Chile. In 1540 he marched southward from Peru, and founded the city of Santiago on the river Mapocho, on the 24th of February, 1541. After receiving reinforcements under Francisco de Villagran, he advanced south into the country of the wild Araucanian Indians, building several fortified posts. He confirmed the name of Valparaiso given by young Saavedra to the port of Santiago. The rising of the Araucanians, the treachery of Lautaro, and the final capture and death of Valdivia, form the most romantic episode in the well-known poem of Ercilla.

It seems probable that the inner valleys of Chile were inhabited by a people allied to the Araucanians, but with much mixture of Ynca blood, while a fishing tribe called Chancos dwelt along the coast. These tribes had been civilized by the Yncas, and they submitted easily to Spanish rule, but the Araucanians in the far south were indomitable. When the news of Valdivia's death reached Europe, Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, afterwards Marquis of Cafiete and Vice-

Spanish Conquest of Chile. 17

roy of Peru, was sent out, and he was accompanied by the young Biscayan soldier and poet, Alonzo de Ercilla, who served in the war from 1554 to 1562. . Never had a people fighting for independence such a poet to record their valour in the ranks of their enemies. He enlists the sympathy of his readers for the very foes who, in almost daily encounters, were seeking his life. His stirring cantos were written by the camp-fires, night after night, after the battles had been lost or won. No one who wishes to know anything of Chilian history should fail to read the "Araucana" of Don Alonzo de Ercilla.