The war between Chili on the one side, and Bolivia
and Peru on the other, tends, for the present, to the advantage of the Chilians, who are undoubtedly in the right. They had worked the nitrate mines of Bolivia under an agreement with that State that they should not be taxed, and worked them so well, that the Peruvians found their nitrate compara- tively valueless. Peru therefore instigated Bolivia to place a heavy duty, contrary to agreement, on the Chilian nitrate, and Chili, after remonstrating, defended her subjects by declaring war. The Peruvians, who have to fight the Bolivian battle at sea, Bolivia having scarcely any coast, were eager to attack the Chilian squadron—two wooden vessels, the Esmeralda ' and Covedonga,'—which were bombarding Iquique, and sent against them the `Independencia,' a large ironclad ram, carrying fourteen Armstrong guns, twelve 70-pounders, and two 150-pounders. They met off Iquique, about the middle of May (the date is nowhere given), and all three vessels sank in the engagement. It is probable that the wooden vessels, finding they could make no impression on the ironclad, rammed her; but nothing is yet known except that the ironclad did not defeat her far inferior foes,—a fact which may prove of importance in naval warfare. The one thing we as yet know with certainty about ironclads is that, if hit hard, they go down.
Previous page
