With his withdrawal peace was restored, except for the resistance which his partisans kept up for a short time in Arequipa, and this peace has never since been disturbed. The junta served until an election could be held, in which Pierola was chosen president by an overwhelming and really popular majority. In 1899 he was succeeded by Romana, an engineer who had been a member of the outgoing ministry, and he, in his turn, had as successor, Señor Candamo, who took his seat in 1903. Historically the new president represents the old aristocratic party founded by Pardo--a party which had been pushed to one side in the financial confusion which preceded and the civil disorders which succeeded the terrible Chilean war by the more radical and democratic elements known as Pierolistas and constitutionalists. The return to a participation in affairs of elements which include so large a proportion of the intelligence, self-respect, and wealth of the nation is one of the most hopeful signs of the times. The Peruvian aristocracy has learned its lesson in the hard school of adversity, and vies with the commercial classes in sober, serious attention to industrial and governmental matters. Each division of the people seems to wish to bear its share in the financial, political, and moral regeneration of their country.
Peruvian politics are conducted _en famille_. Economic and social questions are discussed and settled amicably among the ruling coteries and do not as in Europe and North America form the basis for the organisation of political parties. Though the country is steadfastly Catholic, clericalism is not, as in Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia, regarded as a menace by those who hold liberal views, and the provinces have never made any insistent demand for a larger share of autonomy, as in Argentina and Colombia. As a rule the elections are free and translate the popular will. Peru has long since passed the stage of pronunciamentos and military government; since Castilla's time the successful revolutions have been few, and have always been undertaken for the maintenance of the regular constitutional order--not its overthrow--or have been inspired by national feeling when the fatherland was in danger.