PRESIDENT FRIAS.(From a photograph taken at Cochabamba.)
PRESIDENT FRIAS.(From a photograph taken at Cochabamba.)
PRESIDENT FRIAS.
(From a photograph taken at Cochabamba.)
At the ceremony of closing Congress in November, 1874, Dr. Tomas Frias, the reigning president, who was, I believe, upwards of eighty years of age, carried himself right royally, and read his speech to the deputies with quite as muchhauteuras a crowned monarch might be expected to employ. He was answered by the President of the Congress, who congratulated the members upon the termination of their labours, which, as far as I could discover, had consisted mainly of squabbling amongst themselves and vilifying the government. The result of their labours soon proved to be disastrous in the extreme, for the country was again in revolution within less than a fortnight after the closing of the session. If the members could have agreed together upon a ministry to replace the then existing, one, peace would have been preserved; but though the majority worked well together in abusing all who were then in office under Dr. Frias, they could not at all agree as to their successors. Under these circumstances the government encouraged the Congress in wasting time in fruitless recriminations and discussions until the closing day came, when, as the deputies were anxious to return to their respective districts before the rainy season should set in and render the roads impassable, they easily succeeded in hurrying a short bill through the house, giving them powers to raise a revenue equal to that of the previous budget. The government were thus masters of the field, but were not left in peaceable possession very long, for as Daza’s battalion, which was then in Sucre, was the only onethat had received any pay for many months, the other battalions, termed the second and third, then stationed near Cochabamba, took the opportunity of the return of General Quevedo from Congress to revolt and declare him president of the republic, vice Frias, to be deposed in due course. It is quite possible that Quevedo thought the second and third battalions were not strong enough to fight “Daza’s Own;” but, anyhow, he refused to head the proposed revolution, and endeavoured to induce the revolted troops to remain quietly in their barracks, promising to represent their claims to the government at Sucre. But Daza, seeing an opportunity of ridding himself of one of his probable rivals for the presidency, managed to get the government to decree that Quevedo had incited the soldiery to rebel. He then made a declaration of steadfast attachment to Frias, and marched to Cochabamba to put down a revolution which would never have existed but for his violence. This was his programme, but his real object was to get Quevedo into his power, succeeding in which, he most probably would have had him shot without any trial; indeed, it was currently reported that he had said publicly that he would do so. This threat coming to Quevedo’s knowledge, made him pause while on his return to Sucre to lay the complaints of the soldiery before the government, and obliged him to take measures to secure his own personal safety. His partisans, in various parts of the republic, then very unwisely rose in his favour, and attempted to take possession of Oruro and Cochabamba; but, as they were very badly armed, totally undisciplined, and almost entirelywithout leaders, they were soon beaten and dispersed. There was a good deal of desultory fighting, and a number of the revolutionists, under a Dr. Miguel Aguirre, entrenched themselves in Cochabamba, where they were attacked by President Frias and General Daza. Daza’s star was, however, in the ascendant, and though the besiegers were driven to great straits for ammunition, so much so that if the Quevedistas had attacked vigorously they must have been victorious, after about a week’s fighting the revolutionists withdrew, and left the city in the hands of Daza, who shortly after followed up his victory so rapidly, that near La Paz, at the battle of Chacomo, the revolutionary party were utterly defeated, their leader, Quevedo having to fly to Puno in Peru, the usual sanctuary of losers in the political struggles of Bolivia. This crushing defeat of the revolutionists, who included partisans both of Quevedo and Corral, ought to have had the effect of firmly establishing the civil power of the state, exemplified in the person of the venerable President Frias; but Daza, who had probably fermented the rebellion even while he combated it, would not be satisfied with a settlement that did not fully realize his ambition. Revolution therefore again raised its hydra-head; and Daza, making terms with a Dr. Oblitas of Cochabamba, one of the most unscrupulous partisans of Quevedo, soon drove poor Dr. Frias from the country, and reaching the summit of a Bolivian’s aspirations, installed himself in the coveted presidential palace. Here we will leave him, hoping that the reports which have reached England of his changed demeanour now that he hasobtained the supreme power, have some truth in them, and that his country, as I fear it will, may not progress, land-crab fashion, backwards to the miserable state of tyranny and oppression under which it groaned and suffered in the times of Belzu and Melgarejo.