FILIBUSTERING IN PERU.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 214, 15 February 1875, Page 4

FILIBUSTERING IN PERU.

The following account of the present rebellion in Peru is furnished by the Lima correspondent of the New York lie raid : The Talisman, a steamer of 154 tons register, was despatched from Glasgow on the 30th of July last for Cardiff, and, after having taken on board at that port 1030 packages of merchandise, cleared for Montevideo, under the English flag. Her cargo consisted of rifles, mitrailleuses, sabres, bayonets, powder, uniforms, and other articles of a warlike nature. A swift voyage across the Atlantic brought her safely to Montevideo, where she remained for a day or two, taking in a little coal and landing a couple of passengers. Prom thence she steamed onward to the Straits of Magellan, passed through that now frequented highway between the two great oceans, and quietly dropped anchor in the harbor of Coronel, in Chili. Here she rested for a mouth or six weeks, the crew and captain enjoying themselves after the dangers of the sea. But suddenly orders were received from a mysterious individual, to whom the ship was consigned, Mr Bulwer, to proceed immediately to Quinteros, a minor port about fifteen miles north of Valparaiso, where the conspirators, to the number of forty-seven, embarked, and the Talisman took her final clearance for Vancouver, with permission to touch in Caldera and a Peruvian port. At Caldera the ship was again supplied with coal, and now the real and active work of the expedition began. President Prado’s agents in Europe and Chili had provided him with such accurate details regarding the Talisman, that even a duplicate invoice of her cargo was in the hands of the Minister of War in Lima before the filibuster had reached her first resting on the west coast. The Huascar, ludependencia, Chalaco, Union, and, in short, all the available ships of the Peruvian navy were stationed along the seaboard, while the monitors guarded the entrance of Callao Bay. Early on the morning of the 22nd of October the Talisman entered the Bay of Pacasmayo, about three days’ steaming from Callao, and hoped to find there some adherents or sympathisers. Pierola sent the captain of the ship, an Englishman named Haddock, on shore, under the pretence of requesting permission to repair a broken piece of machinery. The movements of this officer were so extraordinary, and the fact that he was instantly interviewed by a wellknown revolutionist from Cajamarca, the head-quarters of sedition in the North, caused the captain of the port to detain him, after having discovered that the papers of the Talisman were not in order.

The chief authority of the port Captain Torres Ugarte, then visited the Talisman, followed by a launchload of soldiers. The Talisman still had the English flag at her masthead, No sooner had he reached her deck when he was made prisoner by the people on board, and the troops in the launch were fired upon and forced to retreat. Now commences the story of Ugarte, concerning whose liberation details will be given further on. The captain says that as soon as he placed foot on the quarter-deck he was astonished at the apparition of a number of armed men, who, presenting pistols at his head, threatened his instant death if the captain of the steamer, then detained on shore, was not delivered over without delay. Ugarte, forced by the pressure of circumstances, wrote a note to the commander of the troops stationed in the port, suggesting that the release of Haddock might be advisable. By this time the train from San Pedro, an interior town, but a short distance off, where the main body of the Government troops were quartered, had arrived at the port, and the reply of the Colonel commanding Santa Alaria was to the effect that he preferred the presence of the hostage to the society of Ugarte. Profoundly disgusted at this unexpected turn of events, the chief of the expeditionary party placed the second mate of the vessel in charge, and steamed out of the harbor of Pacasmayo at the rate of 11 knots per hour. Ugarte says that on board a good deal of pretended exultation was displayed—uniforms, epaulettes, grenadier boots, and high-sounding titles were the order of the day. Plenty of delicate food, abundance of fine wines and liquors, cigars, and cards, helped to alleviate the languor and monotony of the trip. But the prisoner was simply a witness of these delights. Before the open door of his cabin an armed sentinel paced up and down. Down steamed the Talisman to the southward, passing carefully the greater ports, far out to sea, until, on the 30th of November, she was according to reckoning, about 60 miles off the harbor of Ho, the coast terminus of the Moquegua Railway, and within 30 miles of the famous port of Mollendo. After much deliberation it was determined to effect a landing at Pacochas, a small town on the beach two or three miles from Ho to the south, on the morning of the 2nd inst. The point was reached and about one-third of the cargo was disembarked, when the smoke from the war ram Huascar was seen in the offing. “ Sauve qui peut!” was then the cry. A moment sufficed to disperse the few soldiers guarding the port, another was enough to enable the party to load a couple of cars with their arms and ammunition, and disabling the only remaining engine they could find, the road was clear to Aloquegua, a city 40 miles in the interior, to which they proceeded in the train without even going through the current custom of paying for their tickets. Ugarte was left on board the Talisman with the boat’s crew captured at the same time he was made prisoner.

Here ends the narrative of the Captain of fhe port of Pacasmayo. The reports from Moqnegua inform me that Pieiola fell upon the town like a thunderbolt, but a friendly thunderbolt. Instead of following the usual method of imposing forced loans, exacting billets, and calling upon the citizens to furnish the insurrectionary troops with cattle and forage, the Supreme Chief of Peru, as Don Nicolas styles himself, behaved in really a most creditable manner. In the first place, he gave passports to those officers of President Prado’s Government who thought it more convenient to leave such a dangerous neighbourhood; then he encamped outside of the city limits, and, disdaining the ordinary and somewhat monotonous system of proclamations and manifestoes, appeared in the public square, heralded by the bells of the churches and the noise of Chinese crackers, announcing the object of his crusade to the people, which object, by the way, is simply a matter of conjecture, as no reporter was present when the speech explaining it was delivered, and promising a hard dollar per day to every recruit who would take service under his banners. 1 have learned that he attracted about 300 men to his cause, possibly

from the generous terras conceded; but at the same time I know that the ideas and projects of the invaders have not met with a ready response from the principal people of Moquegua. This is the last news we have from the invaders up to the present writing. As soon as the Talisman, bringing the intelligence of her own fate and that of the movements of Pierola, arrived in Callao, late on the evening of the sfch of this month, President Prado, with his customary activity, lost no time in preparing his measures. At 12 o’clock meridian the next day, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company’s vessel, the Panama, left Callao Bay for the ports of Mollendoand 110 with the battalion Pichinta, fiOO men, rank and file ; a detatchment of flying artillery (pieces of 41b weight projectile, made expressly for mountain and mule-back travelling), and 150 men from the regiment garrisoning Callao, the Second do Mayo, commanded by Colonel William Z Smith, an officer, English by descent, but Peruvian by birth, who has notably distinguished himself on many occasions. This detachment of men. numbering in all 950, will immediately proceed to give chase or battle, as the case may be, to the followers of Pierola, and we have news of the safe arrival of Colonel Smith with his troops at, Mollendo, whence he will take passage to Arequipa to reinforce the small detachment under the orders of the Prefect, and of Colonel Rivarola, senior officer of the battalion Pichincha, at the same port, where he only stopped for a few hours, his destination being 110, the Government having directed him to attack the expeditionary party, and to cut off their retreat from the sea. The news from the south by the steamer yesterday is highly satisfactory. The great departments of Arequipa, Puuo, and Cuzco, are quiet, and in the usually rebellious town of Arequipa the people were hastening to the Prefect with proffers of aid and assistance should such be required. Lima and Callao are tranquil. A German steamer at Callao from Mollendo reports no change in the state of affairs along the southern coast. The regular troop; despatched by the Government had safely reached their destinations, and were marching on the enemy.