rsted and forced to continue their retreat. The
important town of Arica was captured on June 7 after a peculiarly
sanguinary engagement. Port Pisco was the next to fall, and now Lima
itself, the capital of Peru, was threatened. So resolute was the Chilian
advance that no efforts of the defenders could succeed in preserving the
city, and on January 7, 1881, Lima fell into the hands of the Chilians.

After this the war was continued in a desultory and discouraged fashion
by the allies until at the end of 1883 peace was signed, and, as has
been explained in a previous chapter, Bolivia lost her coast-line, while
the Chilians took over the definite ownership of the provinces of
Antofagasta and Tarapaca. This latter country gained, moreover, the
right of dominion over the neighbouring provinces of Tacna and Arica
for ten years, after which period the inhabitants of these two provinces
were to decide by vote whether they should remain Chilian subjects or
become Peruvians. This portion of the treaty has formed the basis of a
series of disputes between Chile and Peru, but the provinces in question
have continued Chilian.

In 1891 the internal peace of Chile was shattered for a while, since in
that year occurred the only civil war in the modern history of the
Republic. The struggle succeeded an era of some political confusion, and
Balmaceda, who was President of the Republic at the time, went the
length of proclaiming himself Dictator, a step which his opponents--and,
indeed, the nation in general--refused to sanction. Balmaceda's party,
however, was powerful, and the war which succeeded was hotly contested.
After various fluctuations, Balmaceda's followers met with defeat, and
the President, yielding to the inevitable, blew out his brains.

Following this last period of unrest, which the Chilians rightly
maintain was both fleeting and exceptional, we come upon the quite
modern history of the Republic, which shows that the Chilians, although
admirably equipped for war, are now as anxious as any other country for
peace and progress. This they have proved on more than one occasion,
notably when the question of frontier delimitations brought about a
dispute with Argentina, a dispute which both nations consented to refer
to arbitration, and, an award having been given, both nations maintained
it with equal loyalty.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE REPUBLICS OF THE RIVER PLATE

The history of no other Republic immediately following o