s defeated and exiled,
Gamarra became president of Peru, and General Velasco provisional chief
in Bolivia. The Santa Cruz party, however, remained strong in Bolivia,
and soon revolted successfully against the new head of the government,
ultimately installing General Ballivian in the chief power. Taking
advantage of the disturbed condition of Bolivia, Gamarra made an attempt
to annex the rich province of La Paz, invading it in August 1841 and
besieging the capital; but in a battle with Ballivian his army was
totally routed, and Gamarra himself was killed. The Bolivian general was
now in turn to invade Peru, when Chile again interfered to prevent him.
Ballivian remained in the presidency till 1848, when he retired to
Valparaiso, and in the end of that year General Belzu, after leading a
successful military revolution, took the chief power, and during his
presidency endeavoured to promote agriculture, industry and trade.
General Jorge Cordova succeeded him, but had not been long in office
when a new revolt in September 1857, originating with the garrison of
Oruro, spread over the land, and compelled him to quit the country. His
place was taken by Dr Jose Maria Linares, the originator of the
revolution, who, taking into his own hands all the powers of government,
and acting with the greatest severity, caused himself to be proclaimed
dictator in March 1858. Fresh disturbances led to the deposition of
Linares in 1861, when Dr Maria de Acha was chosen president. In 1862 a
treaty of peace and commerce with the United States was ratified, and in
the following year a similar treaty was concluded with Belgium; but new
causes of disagreement with Chile had arisen in the discovery of rich
beds of guano on the eastern coast-land of the desert of Atacama, which
threatened warfare, and were only set at rest by the treaty of August
1866, in which the 24th parallel of latitude was adopted as the boundary
between the two republics. A new military revolution, led by Maria
Melgarejo, broke out in 1865, and in February of that year the troops of
President Acha were defeated in a battle near Potosi, when Melgarejo
took the dominion of the country. After defeating two revolutions, in
1865 and 1866, the new president declared a political amnesty, and in
1869, after imposing a revised constitution on the country, he became
its dictator.

Recent history.

In January 1871 President Melgarejo was in his turn deposed and driven
from the countr