the Chincha Islands. Hostilities, however, were staved off for
a while by the action of the Spanish authorities, who stated that
Admiral Pinzon had exceeded his instructions. In the meanwhile the
capture of one of his smaller vessels by the Chileans had so preyed upon
the Admiral's mind that he committed suicide. He was succeeded in his
command by Admiral Pareja.

At the beginning of 1866 war with Spain was officially declared. The
Spanish fleet had now been strongly reinforced, and some naval
engagements took place between the Spaniards and the allied Peruvians
and Chileans, in the course of which the Spanish squadron was repulsed.
On April 25 the Spanish vessels, having already attacked Valparaiso,
appeared before Callao, and a week later they began vigorously to
bombard the town, which returned the fire. In this engagement both land
and sea forces suffered considerably. After this the Spanish fleet
sailed back to Europe, and the war came to an end. Peace, however, was
not declared for two years afterwards.

General Prado now became President of Peru, and proved himself an able
statesman. Nevertheless, the political disturbances continued, and after
a while the rival parties became too strong to permit him to remain in
office, and, resigning, he took refuge in Chile. The period which
follows is one of great unrest. At the same time, notwithstanding the
political disturbances, the commercial and industrial status of Peru was
advancing rapidly. The next President who was destined to remain for
some while in his seat was Manuel Pardo. He was elected in 1872, and
although various revolutions occurred during the tenure of his office,
these were successfully crushed by his authority. Indeed, he actually
completed his term of office--an exceedingly rare occurrence for a
President just at that period. Pardo was succeeded by General Prado,
who had returned from Chile for the purpose of the election, and proved
the popular candidate.

So complicated were the internal affairs of the nations at this time
that it would be impossible to follow them adequately without devoting
various chapters to this purpose alone. One of the blackest events of
the period was the assassination of the ex-President Prado, who had
proved himself a high-minded and efficient leader. This, as a matter of
fact, was the act of a dissatisfied non-commissioned officer, and not of
any political party.

During Prado's Presidency war broke out between Chil