THE PERU REVOLUTION.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1343, 18 November 1872, Page 2

THE PERU REVOLUTION.

A revolution, accompanied by shocking scenes, has taken place; in Peru. Accounts by the mail just arrived state that the; , two great parties struggling for supremacy^ in Congress were those of M. Pardo and ! . Dr. Arenas. On July 20, President Balta, seeing the popularity ajjd strength. ' of Pardb, resigned himself to the occasion/ and announced his intention to give up his office peacefully on the expiration ■of.-:.' his presidential term of August 2. As soon as this determination had been made known to Gutierrez, Minister of War, he filled the square in front of the QoYe'rnment Palace with troops and artillery, and forcibly took the President prisoner, sent him to r close confinement in, the,..military barracks, declared, himself the supreme chief) and placed Lima:. under martial law. Gutierrez failed in forming^ ' ' a Cabinet, no respectable man wishin* to be associated with him. Cgggreas del clared him an outlaw, the Ifrplomatib Corps, refused tp recognise him as Presi- ; dent, the army every moment .was being diminished by continued and heavy deser- ' tions ; the navy stood out to sea, and pro- ,' tested against the usurpation. The banks and commercial establishments were aty closed. Thus matters proceeded. ymii\ July 26. On that day Colonel Silvester r Gutierrez, the brother of the Dictator ' and his 'Minister of War, was assailed - with shouts of imprecations in the railway depot. Replying to the threats ' with his rovolver, he was instantly attacked with the same weapon, and killed. This news was carried to th© ; Dictator, and he despatched l orders to kill Balta. The President was discovered ill in bed when the assassins entered. The principal drew his pistol, and shot the President three time.s Each fcall inflicted a fatal wound,, and, by his orders, the soldiers accompanying Jrim pierced the inanimate body wWtfieir bayonets, Gutierrez called his remaining troops together, and on foot in their midst he marched, with pUtol in

hand, to Fort of Santa Catalina, in the' suburbs of the city. Colonel Herenciaza-; vollos, the Vice-Preßident, now himself at; the head of the masses, proceeded to Government House, the colonel assuming formal direction of public affairs, and appointing a cabinet, composed of the most distinguished men of the country, and took steps to preserve public peace.^ The Dictator defied his pursuers. Later in the evening it became evident to him that the remnants of his followers were deserting his cause. Wrapped in a oloak, and with a broad-brimmed hat, he emerged alone from the frontiers, and had proceeded through the city to the main street, when he was recognised. He rushed into a druggist's shop, where he was speedily surrounded by the crowd, and killed. The people dragged the body to the principal square, and hung it to a lamp-post. The naked corpses of Gutierrez and bis two brothers were afterwards ta'ten from the lamp-post on which they had been hung up, and were hoisted by pulleys up to the tower of the Cathedral in Lima. When about 100 ft high they were let go and then were rubbed with kerosene, and burnt in the publio plaza in front of the cathedral.