Alliance between Peru and BoliviaSecret Article
The Courts of Russia and of Prussia undertake to exchange, by
means of their military and civil organs, [all information] con-
cerning the direction of political currents as they affect the
Kingdom of Poland or the Grand Duchy of Posen.
Gorchakov
von Alvensleben
St. Petersburg, February 8, 1863.
3.1173 Alliance between Peru and Bolivia
Alliance Members:Peru and Bolivia
Signed On:November 5, 1863, in the city of Lima. In force until Feb-
ruary 6, 1873, when the allies replaced the current alliance with
another alliance treaty.
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:British Foreign and State Papers,vol. 55, p. 837.
SUMMARY
Isabel II’s Spain was undergoing severe decline as a world power and,
reeling from the maintenance of growing naval military expenditures,
sought sources of revenue from its former colonial holdings. Feeling
the pressure of Spanish attempts to reclaim Peruvian territory, this
alliance between two former Spanish colonies pledged cooperation to
“save their independence and their fundamental institutions.”
Within six months after the signing of the alliance, Spain seized the
guano-rich Chincha Islands off the coast of Peru. Conflict escalated
over the course of the next couple of years, with the allies joined by
Chile and Ecuador in war against Spain by December of 1865.
Alliance Text
THE Republics of Peru and Bolivia, desirous of putting a speedy
end to the differences which had unhappily been excited
between them, and convinced that their true interests demand
the settlement of a sincere and constant friendship, forming
close ties, not only between the Governments of both countries,
but between the people themselves, guaranteeing the principles
which serve as a basis to their institutions, and which should
form the foundation of the American public law, have agreed to
conclude a Treaty of Peace and Friendship. To this end his
Excellency the Constitutional President of the Republic of Peru,
General D. Juan Antonio Pezet, has appointed as Minister
Plenipotentiary the President of the Council, Minister of For-
eign Affairs, D. D. Juan Antonio Ribeyro, and his Excellency the
Constitutional President of the Republic of Bolivia, General D.
José Maria Achá, D. D. Juan de la Cruz Benavente, both to be
assisted by the Chief Clerk of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Peru, D. D. José Antonio Barrenechea as Secretary ; and they,
after having exchanged their respective full powers and found
them in good and proper form, have agreed to the following
Articles :
ART. I. The grievances which may have been inferred by
both countries are consigned to perpetual oblivion, being
declared as satisfied by the reciprocal explanations which the
Plenipotentiaries have given in the name of their respective
Governments. And the Peruvian Plenipotentiary having stated
that there was a special offence done to the flag of the Republic
by an officer of the Army of Bolivia, the Bolivian Plenipoten-
tiary explained, and it was mutually agreed to and accepted, that
that act, according to the documents presented, took place at an
anomalous time for his country, and was the exclusive
unpremeditated deed of a subaltern military functionary, in
which Bolivia did not take any part ; that, on the contrary, the
Republic and her present Government had highly disapproved
it, giving, after so disagreeable an occurrence, unequivocal
proofs of their goodwill and cordial friendship for Peru and her
Government.
II. In consequence of the declarations contained in the fore-
going Article, the relations of peace, friendship, harmony and
good understanding necessary for their common prosperity are
re-established between both Republics, and they bind them-
selves to guarantee them by all the means within their reach.
III. The two High Contracting Parties, convinced that their
independence and the maintenance of the American institu-
tions are indispensable conditions for their preservation and
progress, declare, that any external attack directed against any of
those inestimable benefits in regard to one party shall be con-
sidered by the other as an attack directed against itself, and they
stipulate that they will reciprocally assist to save their independ-
ence and their fundamental institutions.
IV. Both Contracting Parties, desirous also of drawing the
civil relations of their respective citizens closer, and of establish-
ing between them an intimate union for the common good,
declare that the decisions in civil matters issued by the tribunals
and courts of the one shall be fulfilled by those of the other, and
consequently that the definitive sentences in civil matters, with
the force of an adjudged case, passed by the Peruvian tribunals,
shall be executed in Bolivia, and reciprocally those of Bolivia in
Peru, provided that the said decisions or sentences be not in
opposition either in regard to matters or persons, to the consti-
tution or the laws of the country that has to execute them, and
that they be duly legalized. The execution can be effected at the
request of the parties, or in virtue of the requisitory commis-
sions of the respective authorities.
V. The citizens of each of the High Contracting Parties shall
have, within the territories of the other respectively, entire lib-
erty to effect their purchases and sales, transactions, and other
contracts, and to establish their legal conditions and fix the
price of the articles, merchandize, or other natural manufac-
tured or industrial objects, whether national or imported, and
whether they sell them in the interior or destine them for
exportation, but invariably conforming to the laws and regula-
tions of the country.
VI. The citizens of each of the two Republics shall have
within the jurisdiction of the other the right to acquire, possess,
and dispose of by purchase, sale, will, donation, exchange, mat-
rimony, or in any other manner, moveable and immoveable