The foreign debt is 24,205,400 dollars, and the internal debt and compensation for slaves amount to a still larger sum. But the great drag upon the public treasury is the enormous army of 15,000 men for a population under two million, with upwards of 2000 officers, those who are unattached being still retained on full pay. This will give some idea of the number of families who are living in luxury and idleness on the public money, and of the distress that will follow the sudden stoppage of their incomes, which is inevitable when the guano comes to an end. It will be an embarrassing and difficult question for some future Government to decide upon the proper measures for the disposal of an unwieldy army and a crowd of hungry beggared officers. The best suggestion on this subject has come from the late General Miller, who, when governing Cuzco in 1836, proposed to establish military colonies in the forests to the eastward of the Andes, and thus convert a mischievous and dangerous tool for treason and faction into a means of enriching the country. The administration of justice in Peru, though the laws are excellent, and have been codified and ably edited, is so corrupt that it is better to pass over the subject with a hope that things may be better in a future generation; and the police administration, especially round Lima, is disgraceful. Much indeed will be required, and much I trust is to be hoped, from the rising generation of young men who are now about to enter upon public life. Many of them have been educated in Europe, a large proportion are well-informed, polished by travel and extensive reading, and ardently desirous of distinguishing themselves in the service of the State. In literature they have already displayed considerable industry and ability. The 'Revista de Lima,' a bi-monthly periodical, contains archæological, biographical, historical, and financial articles and reviews, generally very ably written, in an enlightened and liberal spirit, and by men who evidently take an earnest view of life. The contributors, among whom are the Señores Lavalle, Ulloa, Pardo, Flores, Masias, and the painter Laso, are all young men with a career before them. It is a good sign, too, that effective steps have been taken to edit and reprint historical materials which have long remained in manuscript, or in scarce old editions. Thus Don Manuel A. Fuentes has recently brought out six most interesting volumes containing reports of the administrations of several of the Spanish viceroys of Peru,[365] and a new edition of the 'Mercurio Peruano.' His 'Estadistica de Lima' is also a work which displays considerable merit: and Don Sebastian Lorente's well-known learning, and habit of careful research, promise that his history of Peru, now on the point of being published in Paris, will be a work of great value.