Meanwhile a double revolution took place in Peru and Bolivia. In the former country General Prado was deposed and Colonel Pierola proclaimed dictator. The Bolivians followed the example of their allies. The troops at Tacna, indignant at the inglorious part they had been condemned to play by the incompetence or cowardice of their president, deprived him of their command and elected Colonel Camacho to lead them. At the same time a revolution in La Paz proclaimed General Narciso Campero president, and he was elected to that post in the following June by the ordinary procedure of the constitution. During 1880 the war was chiefly maintained at sea between Chile and Peru, Bolivia taking little or no part in the struggle. In January of 1881 were fought the battles of Chorillos and Miraflores, attended by heavy slaughter and savage excesses on the part of the Chilean troops. They were followed almost immediately by the surrender of Lima and Callao, which left the Chileans practically masters of Peru. In the interior, however, where the Peruvian admiral Montero had formed a provisional government, the war still lingered, and in September 1882 a conference took place between the latter and President Campero, at which it was decided that they should hold out for better terms. But the Peruvians wearied of the useless struggle. On the 20th of October 1883 they concluded a treaty of peace with Chile; the troops at Arequipa, under Admiral Montero, surrendered that town, and Montero himself, coldly received in Bolivia, whither he had fled for refuge, withdrew from the country to Europe. On the 9th of November the Chilean army of occupation was concentrated at Arequipa, while what remained of the Bolivian army lay at Oruro. Negotiations were opened, and on 11th December a peace was signed between Chile and Bolivia. By this treaty Bolivia ceded to Chile the whole of its sea-coast, including the port of Cobija.
On the 18th of May 1895 a treaty was signed at Santiago between Chile and Bolivia, “with a view to strengthening the bonds of friendship which unite the two countries,” and, “in accord with the higher necessity that the future development and commercial prosperity of Bolivia require her free access to the sea.” By this treaty Chile declared that if, in consequence of the plebiscite (to take place under the treaty of Ancon with Peru), or by virtue of direct arrangement, she should “acquire dominion and permanent sovereignty over the territories of Tacna and Arica, she undertakes to transfer them to Bolivia in the same form and to the same extent as she may acquire them”; the republic of Bolivia paying as an indemnity for that transfer $5,000,000 silver. If this cession should be effected, Chile should advance her own frontier north of Camerones to Vitor, from the sea up to the frontier which actually separates that district from Bolivia. Chile also pledged herself to use her utmost endeavour, either separately or jointly with Bolivia, to obtain possession of Tacna and Arica. If she failed, she bound herself to cede to Bolivia the roadstead (caleta) of Vitor, or another analogous one, and $5,000,000 silver. Supplementary protocols to this treaty stipulated that the port to be ceded must “fully satisfy the present and future requirements” of the commerce of Bolivia.
On the 23rd of May 1895 further treaties of peace and commerce were signed with Chile, but the provisions with regard to the cession of a seaport to Bolivia still remained unfulfilled. During those ten years of recovery on the part of Bolivia from the effects of the war, the presidency was held by Dr Pacheco, who succeeded Campero, and held office for the full term; by Dr Aniceto Arce, who held it until 1892, and by Dr Mariano Baptista, his successor. In 1896 Dr Severe Alonso became president, and during his tenure of office diplomatic relations were resumed with Great Britain, Señor Aramayo being sent to London as minister plenipotentiary in July 1897. As an outcome of his mission an extradition treaty was concluded with Great Britain in March 1898.
In December an attempt was made to pass a law creating Sucre the perpetual capital of the republic. Until this Sucre had taken its turn with La Paz, Cochabamba and Oruro. La Paz rose in open revolt. On the 17th of January of the following year a battle was fought some 40 m. from La Paz between the insurgents and the government forces, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of a colonel and forty-three men. Colonel Pando, the insurgent leader, having gained a strong following, marched upon Oruro, and entered that town on 11th April 1899, after completely defeating the government troops. Dr Severo Alonso took refuge in Chilean territory; and Colonel Pando formed a provisional government. He had no difficulty in obtaining his election to the presidency without opposition. He entered upon office on the 26th of October, and proved himself to be a strong and capable chief magistrate. He had to deal with two difficult settlements as to boundaries with Chile and Brazil, and to take steps for improving the means of communication in the country, by this means reviving its mining and other industries. The dispute with Brazil over the rich Acré rubber-producing territory was accentuated by the majority of those engaged in the rubber industry being Brazilians, who resented the attempts of Bolivian officials to exercise authority in the district. This led to a declaration of independence on the part of the state of Acré, and the despatch of a body of Bolivian troops in 1900 to restore order. There was no desire, however, on the part of President Pando to involve himself in hostilities with Brazil, and in a spirit of concession the dispute was settled amicably by diplomatic means, and a treaty signed in November 1903. A new boundary line was drawn, and a portion of the Acré province ceded to Brazil in consideration of a cash indemnity of $10,000,000.
The long-standing dispute with Chile with regard to its occupation of the former Bolivian provinces of Tacna and Arica under the Parto de Tregna of the 4th of April 1884 was more difficult to arrange satisfactorily. In 1895 there had been some prospect of Chile conceding an outlet on the sea in exchange for a recognition of the Chilean ownership of Tacna and Arica. The discovery, however, of secret negotiations between Bolivia and Argentina caused Chile to change its conciliatory attitude. Bolivia was in no position to venture upon hostilities or to compel the Chileans to make concessions, and the final settlement of the boundary dispute between Argentina and Chile deprived the Bolivians of the hope of obtaining the support of the Argentines. President Pando and his successor, Ismail Montes, who became president in 1904, saw that it was necessary to yield, and to make the best terms they could. A treaty was accordingly ratified in 1905, which was in many ways advantageous to Bolivia, though the republic was compelled to cede to Chile the maritime provinces occupied by the latter power since the war of 1881, and to do without a seaport. The government of Chile undertook to construct a railway at its own cost from Arica to the Bolivian capital, La Paz, and to give the Bolivians free transit through Chilean territory to certain towns on the coast. Chile further agreed to pay Bolivia a cash indemnity and lend certain pecuniary assistance to the construction of other railways necessary for the opening out of the country.
See C. Wiener, Bolivie et Pérou (Paris, 1880); E. Mossbach, Bolivia (Leipzig, 1875); Theodore Child, The South American Republics (New York, 1801); Vicente de Ballivian y Rizas, Archive Boliviano. Collecion de documentes relativos a la historia de Bolivia (Paris, 1872); Ramon Sotomayor Valdes, Estudio historico de Bolivia bajo la administracion del General don José Maria Achá con una introducion que contiene el compendio de la Guerra de la independencia i de los gobiernos de dicha Republica hasta 1861 (Santiago de Chile, 1874).
(W. Hd.; G. E.)
BOLKHOV, a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, and 35 m. N. of the city of Orel. Pop. (1897) 20,703. It is prettily situated amongst orchards and possesses a cathedral. There is a lively trade in hemp, hemp-seed oil, hemp goods and cattle, and there are hemp-mills, soap-works and tanneries. The much-venerated monastery, Optina Pustyn, is close by.