Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/491

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BATTLE OF MIRAFLORES.
449

The Peruvian losses were estimated at 6,000 killed and 3,000 wounded, but owing to the confusion the exact figures were never ascertained.

The battle of Miraflores decided the fate of Peru, though it was some time thereafter before the war came to an end. Expeditions were sent to various points in the interior, and there was considerable fighting, though no battles of consequence took place. In January a treaty of peace was made between Chili and Bolivia, by which the latter surrendered her coast provinces to Chili and agreed to break off relations with Peru. In the following year, after long negotiations, Chili and Peru agreed upon terms of peace, the latter ceding her southern provinces and paying a war indemnity that left the country sadly impoverished. Peru was already heavily burdened with debt in consequence of her enormous expenditures for railways and other public improvements. She is slowly emerging from the depressed condition in which she was thrown by the war, but it will be many years before she recovers her former position among the republics of South America.