Page:A history of Chile.djvu/349

 THE PERUVIAN WAR 317 During Pinto's administration the war with Peru had united all parties in patriotic support of the govern- ment. All classes loyall}' supported the cause of the war ; congress was in accord with the president and voted supplies and authorized such emissions of paper money as were from time to time found to be necessary. Several important laws were passed, such as the abo- lition of the tobacco monopoly and a law which de- clared judges separated from administration and party influences and made the judiciary somewhat more inde- pendent of both. The public interior debt had reached the sum of 130,000,000, but the receipts from the guano and nitrate fields enabled the government to meet its obligations, and, though the paper money raised prices and rents, the country recovered from its economical prostration and a period of abundance followed the crisis of 1878.