La Paz was left to José Iriondo, while Belisario Salinas was in Sucre exercising his duties as deputy. Casimiro Corral, who had left Bolivia earlier, had been inciting rebellion from Peru, and returned after he was elected deputy during the legislative election of May 1874. Corral’s return to La Paz was worrisome for the government since his very home had become a place of daily anti-government meetings. This greatly troubled the public, which feared that a conspiracy was unfolding. The night of September 7, the Prefect of La Paz ordered the conspirators at Corral’s house to disperse. Corral followed the instruction, however, the following morning an even larger number of plotters met at his house. A mob began forming in the streets of La Paz, being serenaded by Corral from one of his windows. At 8:00, the Prefect sent the police to disperse the crowd. Refusing the Prefect's demand to disperse and give up weapon, Corral's denial was followed by a loud applause from the crowd. Then, the chief of police, Espectador Rivas, ordered Corral’s house to be surrounded. Corral shut his door, however, it was forcefully opened by the police, who captured him and 26 other conspirators. This controversy created a nationwide debate on whether Corral should be tried for treason or not. Nonetheless, on October 23, the government decreed a general amnesty to the conspirators involved in Corral’s plot. 1874 Boundary Treaty Border conflict between Bolivia and Chile From the time of the Incas, the Atacama Province, known as Litoral during the Republican era of Bolivia, had been a part of their vast empire. Even once the Spanish colonized the region, the 25° parallel was recognized as the southernmost point of the Peruvian Viceroyalty. This fact was evident in the capitulations celebrated between the Crown of Spain and the conquistadores Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. When Pedro de Valdivia had been made captain-general of what became Chile, the range of the territory was to be between the 27° and 41° parallels. Centuries later, the Royal Ordinance of Intendants of 1782, decreed by the metropole, announced the Atacama Province was invariably and permanently attached to the Province of Potosí. On October 10, 1803, the Spanish Crown affirmed that the Viceroyalty of Peru was the rightful owner of the Atacama Province as far as the Paposo River, which has since dried out. When guano was discovered in the Litoral