Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/409

 1899.] South America. — Chili. — Bolivia. [401

Brazil and Bolivia, proclaimed a new commonwealth in August. Bolivia accepted the rectification of the frontier with Brazil in September, adopting the line of Cunha to Gomez. As to the Venezuela disputed boundary, it was declared that Brazil would officially protest against the award of the Paris Arbitration Tribunal respecting part of the frontier between the Cotingo and Taculu Bivers, as it was alleged that this territory be- longed to Brazil.

From and after January 1, 1900, the proportion of the Brazilian import duties payable in gold was to be raised from 10 per cent, to 15 per cent.

The United States gunboat Wilmington made a voyage up the Amazon above Manaos, the supposed head of deep navigation in April, without having obtained consent of the Brazilian officials at Manaos. Four days after a mob stoned the American consulate at that town, and tore down the consulate coat -of -arms. The vessel proceeded on its way, and returned to Manaos on April 22, having sailed up the river to Iquitos, 3,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and only 500 miles from the Pacific, and she could have gone 200 miles farther up the Amazon except for insufficient coal.

Chili. — Very severe storms destroyed much property in Valparaiso and Santiago in August. A tidal wave burst into Valparaiso Bay, August 8, causing damage to millions of dollars worth of Government property. A great part of the sea wall was destroyed, and many villages in the south were carried away.

A Ministerial crisis in September resulted in the formation of a Coalition Cabinet, with Seflor Sotomayor as Premier. At the end of November the Prime Minister resigned, and a new Cabinet was formed, with Seflor Elias Albano as Premier, and Sefior E. Errazuriz as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The shipments of nitrate for the current year were nearly 1,350,000 tons, and a slight increase was anticipated for the coming year.

Bolivia. — A revolution was in progress in January. In October the Congress elected General Paudo of the revolu- tionary party as President, and Colonel L. Velasco as Vice- President of the Bepublic. General Paudo had been in every revolution in Bolivia for years, and had spent much of his life in exile ; but he had the perseverance of Eobert Bruce. The excuse for inciting a rebellion against Dr. Alonzo, the late President, was found in the proposed removal of the seat of Government from La Paz to its original place, Sucre, in the interior. Paudo's adherents took advantage of the discontent among the Indians, and armed them with rifles, and they com- mitted horrible atrocities; but Paudo, to his credit, when he heard of the massacres, ordered thirty-five of the ringleaders to be shot. The revolution ended in April, by a decisive battle nearOruro. Goosle

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