rendered himself unpopular, and was seized and thrown into prison. He had come from Spain accompanied by an " audience" of four, who now undertook the government. Gonzalo Pizarro (the last in Peru of the family of that name), who had been elected cap- tain-general, now marched threatening!}' upon Lima. He was too powerful to withstand, and the audience received him in a friendly manner, and, after the ad- j ministration of oaths, elected him governor as well as captain -general of the country. The career of this adventurer was cut short bj' Pedro de la Gasca, who, invested with the powers of the sovereign, arrived from Spain, collected a large armj', and pursued Pi- zarro, who was eventuall}' taken and executed.
A series of pett}' quarrels, and the tiresome story of the substitution of one ruling functionary for an- other, make up a great part of the subsequent luster}'. The country became one of the four vice-royalties of Spanish America, and the Spanish authority was fully established and administered by successive viceroys. The province of Quito was separated from Peru ia 1718; and in 1788 considerable territories in the south were detached, and formed into the government of Buenos Ayres. At the outbreak of the War of Inde- pendence in South America, the Spanish government, besides having much declined in internal strength, was distracted with the dissensions of a regency, and torn by civil war ; nevertheless in 1820 the Spanish vice- roy had an army of 23,000 men in Pefti, and all the large towns were completely in the hands of Spanish officials. Peru was the last of the Spanish South American possessions to set up the standard of inde- pendence. In August, 1820, a rebel army, under gen- eral San Martin, one of the liberators of Chili, sailed for Peru, and after a number of successes both on sea and land, in which the patriots were most effectively assisted by English volunteers, the independence of the country was proclaimed, July 28, 1821, and San Mar- tin assumed the protectorate of the young republic. From this date to the year I860, twenty -one rulers, under various titles, held sway. For the first twenty- four years of its existence as an independent lepublic the country was distracted and devastated by wars and revolutions. In 1845 Don Ramon Castilla was elected president; and under his firm and sagacious guidance the country enjoyed an unwonted measure of peace, and ijecame regularly organized. Commerce began to be developed, and important public works were undertaken. The term of his presidency ended in 1851, in which }'ear general Rufino Jose Echenique was elected president. The country, however, was discontented with his government, and Castilla, after raising an insurrection in the south, again found him- self in 1855 at the head of affairs. Slavery, which, although abolished by the charter of independence, still existed, was put an end to by a decree dated October, 1854. In August, 1803, a quarrel had taken place at the estate of Talambo, in the north, l)et\veen some Basque emigrants and the natives, in which sev- eral of the disputants were killed or wounded. Taking advantage of this occurrence, the Spanish government sent out a "special commissioner" in the spring of 1864, who delivered a memorandum to the Peruvian minister, complaining of injuries sustained by the Spaniards, and accompanied by a letter threatening prompt and energetic reprisals should Spain be in- sulted or her flag disgraced. The "commissioner" left Lima on April 12, the day on which his memoran- dum and letter were delivered ; and on the 14th a Spanish squadron, under admiral Pinzon, who had been joined by the " commissioner," took forcible pos- session of the Chincha Islands, the principal source of the revenue of Peru. This complication provoked dis- turbances, not only in Peru, but in all the ancient Spanish states of South America. In January, 18G5, peace was concluded by the payment of sixty million reals to Spain as war indemnity ; but the Peruvians re-
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belled against this concession of their president. Pezet, and in November he was retired, a provisional govern- ment estalilishcd. and war measures inaugurated against Spain Ijv forcible seizure of the Chincha Islands. An alliance was agreed upon between Peru and Chili, Ecua- dor, and Bolivia, and war declared hj' these allies in January, 18()6 ; but only a month later all hostilities ceased. In 1867 the Peruvians adopted a new and more lil)eral constitution. Yet frequent revolutionary- measures have thus far failed to give perfect quiet to the countrj'. Thus as late as 1872 an attempt was made to take the life of the head of the government bj' a powder-plot.
The government of Peru is republican, and elects its president for a term of six years. He is assisted bv a Senate, consisting of two members from each province, and a House of Representatives, of whom there is one member for every 20,000 inhabitants. The ministers, together with senators chosen by the congress, fornj the cabinet. The countrj' is divided into 11 departments, and two provinces with the con- stitution of departments ; and the departments are sub- divided into provinces, the provinces into districts, and the districts into parishes. The arm}' consists of 1G,000 men, and the navy of 17 vessels, carrj-ing 84 guns. Of the whole population, 240,000 are whites, 300,000 Mestizos, 40,000 Negroes, and 1,620,000 Indians.