7 FEBRUARY 1914, Page 1

A sudden revolution of the well-marked South American type took

place in Peru on Wednesday. In the fighting which occurred when the revolutionaries seized the Government the Prime Minister was shot, and there were about fifty general casualties. President Billinghurat, now called "the ex- President," who is of English origin, is said to he lodged in the penitentiary, and all the political prisoners whom lie had arrested have been liberated. As may be imagined, this coop d'aat has not been welcomed at Washington. It certainly increases the difficulties of President Wilson's Administration, for here ho is probably inclined to be against the revolutionaries. It is a very difficult and anxious task to take sides in South American revolutions, and President Wilson will, we venture to say, get stronger and stronger evidence of this fact of statecraft.