The church question, which had been made the paramount political issue in previous campaigns continued with unabated zeal and acrimony throughout President Pinto’s administration. In 1878 the Archbishop of Santiago died, and the government recommended the appointment of Don Francisco de Paula Taforo as his successor. The clergy of the country opposed the appointment, but the government maintained that inasmuch as the State supported the ecclesiastical officials, the civil authorities should name the church dignitaries. After a bitter contest lasting for several years an apostolic delegate was sent from Rome to make report on the affair. He was expelled by President Santa Maria, who succeeded President Pinto, and the victory was won by the government.
Throughout the administrations of Presidents Perez, Errazuriz, and Pinto the country made rapid advancement along the road of national progress and civilization. Previous to that time all reforms and advanced measures were initiated and directed by the executive, whose political power made him practically the government.
Neither the House of Deputies nor the Senate made any pretense to parliamentary rule or order. In both national and private life the poor but honest element predominated. People earned a legitimate livelihood by honest industry, and wanton extravagance was little known.
THE WAR OF 1879.
There are various versions of the causes leading up to the war between Chile, Peru and Bolivia, but the immediate cause of hostilities, which placed Chile in possession of the greatest nitrate fields in the world, was the cession by the Bolivian government to the Anglo-Peruvian firm of Gibbs & Company, of the right to work the nitrate deposits north of twenty-four degrees south, to construct a mole at Antofagasta and build a railway to some mines in the interior. Later this firm disposed of a portion of its concessions to a Chilean company, the “Compañia Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta.” When the Bolivian government discovered that Chilean capital and industry were developing the desert into a source of wealth, it laid an export bounty of ten cents per hundred weight upon manufactured nitrate of soda. The Compañia Salitres y Ferrocarril objected to paying export duties upon the products of its properties, and appealed to Chile for protection. Bolivia then threatened to seize all nitrate in the hands of exporters. The Chilean government protested against this arbitrary action and sent a fleet to blockade the ports of Antofagasta, Cobija and Tocopilla. On February 14, 1879, Chile took possession of Antofagasta and sent troops to the interior to protect the property interests of its citizens. General Hilarion Daza, President of Bolivia, then declared war, expelled some Chilenos from the country and confiscated their properties. Thus the fraternity and harmony of interests of the neighboring Republics were destroyed, the trumpets of war sounded, and the result was a change in the map of South America.
Peru tendered her services as mediator and sent special envoys to Santiago and La Paz. But Chile,—having knowledge of a secret treaty celebrated between Bolivia and Peru in 1873, the purpose of which was declared to be the mutual guarantee of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two republics, and mutual defense against aggression,—the proposition was looked upon by Chile with distrust. Peru proposed that Chilean troops should evacuate Antofagasta; that the three republics should guarantee a neutral administration of affairs. Chile demanded the annulment of the secret treaty of 1873, and that preparations for war on the part of Peru should cease. These propositions were rejected, and Chile declared war against the allies on April 5, 1879.
Hostilities began at once and in earnest, both upon land and sea, continuing until Chile gained her final victories in the battles of Miraflores and Chorrillos, January 13, 1881, and four days later the victorious troops marched into Lima and occupied the Peruvian capital. The campaign was a succession of brilliant victories and achievements for the Chilean arms.
Peru believed her navy superior to that of Chile, but she had not reckoned the valor, skill and zeal of the patriotic Chilean officers, whose feats won for them not only victory, but the admiration of the world, and established for Chile an international reputation as a fighting nation. Equally brilliant and successful was the campaign of the land forces. In the battles of Pisagua, Tacna, Arica, and finally at Miraflores the Chilean troops were invincible.
Among those who distinguished themselves in the navy during the war with Peru and Bolivia was Captain Arturo Prat, who gave up his life in the battle of Iquique, where, after his ship, the Esmeralda, had been disabled and was being rammed by the Peruvian cruiser Huascar, leaped from the deck of his own vessel to that of the enemy, and with his sword attacked single-handed the forces that confronted him in overwhelming numbers. There is in the Plaza Intendencia, Valparaiso, a handsome bronze monument erected to the memory of Arturo Prat, whose heroic deeds and valiant service form some of the most brilliant chapters in the history of his country. Admiral Patricio Lynch was another naval officer with a foreign name who distinguished himself in the war with Peru, and later received the title of general for meritorious service in the Chilean army. During the occupation of Lima, by the Chilean forces, Admiral Lynch was placed in command of the troops in the Peruvian capital, where he remained in charge until April, 1884, when the treaty of peace was ratified and Chile withdrew her army from the conquered country.
By the treaty of peace celebrated with Bolivia on December 11, 1882, Chile obtained all the latter’s seacoast, including the port of Cobija, privileges for constructing railways into the interior and twenty per cent. of Bolivian port customs.