Show AFFAIRS IN i CHILI President Jose Manuel Balm ceda and His Family f GHAVE POLITICAL COMPLICATION Sonic of the Causes That Lea Tip to It Life at Santiago War ut any Hoar Probable p SANTIAGO DK CUILI February 151891 Special correspondence of THE HrHAU > In view of the present serious disturbances disturb-ances this obstreperous little republic which considers herself fully capable of whipping the whole world is neither a safe nor pleasant placo for foreigners to visit just now but journalistically speaMnp is a seat of war by nomeans to be ignored However it makes little difference in what part of South America the scribe may pitch his moving tent for in every one of these miscalled repnblics political troubles are brewing always and liable at any time to bubble up in armed rebellion CHJII HAS 3OASTED MUCH of being the most peaceable of them all as well as the most prosperous and law abiding abid-ing Wo made hasty trip down here from Peru during last July the midwinter season sea-son on this side of the equator in the midst of the excitement then atfever heat which was really Lhe beginning of present complications compli-cations on purpose to study both sides of the questions at issue It is impossible tour to-ur e at u fair understanding of them at a distance because South American newspapers newspa-pers mostly printed in the Spanish lau feniaga are few JneulcJent and universally bought up by one faction or the other while the telegraph wires when not seized or torn down by resurgents arc owned and controlled by the government Indeed it is easier for you at tue distant north tore cesve reliable though tardy information concernin Cents occurring on tho southern south-ern cbntinent though private messages sent by foreigners engaged in business here to their houses in London Prance or j Kew York via Buenos Ayres than for people living in different divisions of the same country who must depend entirely upon local facilities OX THAT FIKST VISIT TO CHILI we came over to the capital on purpose to have aIr mteWiew with the president which was easily accomplished and to attend at-tend some of the exciting sessions of Congress Con-gress and it chanced by rare good fortune that we left Valpanso the very day before that dreadful 21st of July when for some hours the old seaport was in the hands of a howling mob and its streets were bathed in blood Even then prominent Chilians assured as-sured mo that the trouble was only a temporary tem-porary strike which might occur anywhere null Thnf thorn vns not thi rfimntpst rlnncrnv rif a revolution because the people vere o altogether al-together too patriotic to bring discredit on their beloved country It seems to be the fashion especially aoroad ainong those whose knowledge of Chilis affairs must be to say the least somewhat superncial attribute all the biame of the muddle to President Balma ci da and to characterize him as a tyrant and wouldbe dictator The truth is that if the executive had not been too pliant and anxious to please in the first place he would have crushed the rebellion in itsJnfancy before its ugly hydraheads had grown too strong for him The fault is principally with a DETEIUHXED AND UNSCRUPULOUS e political faction which unfortunately happens hap-pens to have a majority in the legislative chamber and whose primary object is to control the approaching presidential election elec-tion which can only be done by breaking tha power of the present incumbent The trouble began this way Ever since Chili has claimed to be a republic her constitution con-stitution has permitted every president to nominate his own successor and to practically practi-cally elect him with the cooperation of his ministers an unwise and foolish custom we of the north may think but having been firmly established by law and precedent there no ruason why Don Balmaceda should not exercise his constitutional prerogative pre-rogative in the matter the same as his pre tiecessors have done If the system is now at variance with popular feeling a peaceable peace-able change aught have been effected in the constitution without all this loss of life and property The disaffected Congressmen having cause to fear that the president would name his successor a certain cabinet officer who is obnoxious to them deliberately deliber-ately instigated revolts by obstinately refusing re-fusing to pass any presupuestas as the appropriations ap-propriations are called until Balmaceda should come to theic terms THE FIRST DEMAND being that he dismiss his ministers one and nil in order to get rid of the obnoxious one hud then appoint others more to their liking lik-ing This the president declined to do on the ground that the Chilian governmentlike that of every other repnblic gives the executive ex-ecutive the right to select his own immediate immedi-ate officers and to retain them unless they become guilty of grave offense that he had already changed his cabinet twice within lttle more than two years in the vain effort to satisfy them and to do so a third time for no fault of the ministers would not only be extremely unjust to those gentlemen gentle-men and render himself ridiculous in the i yes of the world as a party puppet with no uack bone but would establish a dangerous danger-ous precedent for his successors in all time Ito I-to come The revolts of seven months ago wore the dirert result of this refusal or rather of the means employed by Congress to make the president change his mind Even then had ie i adhered to his lirst decision or better btli had ho made and abided hj it when the 1rst change of officers was demanded ail might now be well with the country and if i t milder means for enforcing liis i rightful authority had not availed IT WOULD HATE 3CIST FAIC 1JETTEU for the country had he caused the arrest and I detention of the agitators as so many traitors trait-ors to the government Ail the world ad iiures a bravo men and prompt decided measures of that sort would have won more respect for Seflor Baimaceda than ho can now hone to enjoy To be sure such extreme ex-treme measures arc contrary to the spirit cf Republicanism so is armed rebel Lon the bombardmentof unoffending cities and the murder of hundreds of helpless women and children huddled together for safety as lately took place at Iquiqui by a posse of irresponsible cutthroats whose crimes were the result of the rebellious attitude at-titude assumed by the legislators Of course it is but just to add that at first Congress Con-gress probably had no idea that the dangerous danger-ous ball it set rolling would gather such oeadly proportionsand so might one argue in favor of the incendiary who deliberately lires a powder magazine without considering consider-ing what lives and property ho may destroy de-stroy They refused to pass the presupues las for the purpose of crippling the executive execu-tive knowing that at the same time they were ruining business of every kind and inciting in-citing the worst classes in the country to desperate deeds yO TAXES DUTIES OR OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS to the treasury could be collected even deeds or other legal documents could notbo recorded For a long time one could not buy a postage stamp in all Chili and sometimes some-times for days together the postofficcs would be closed Merchants could not get their goods out of the custom houses and quantities perishable goods spoiled in the keeping The army and navy could not be paid nor any other employees of the government gov-ernment however their families might suffer suf-fer Busines of every description except too pawn brokers was completely par nlvzed and exchange sank lower and lower lentil for every dollar of the United States one received 327 in Chilian currency Failures occurred on every hand and there were people actually starving Delegation after delegation of citizens waited upon the 0 president and to all of them he explained the situation assuring them that tho fault I was not with himself that ho would be glad to make any personal sacrifice to amelicrate I their condition or do anything in reason to satisfy the demands of Congress but that hunvould not make himself and the country a laughing stock for the world by again changing his cabinet and further that if ho acceded to THAT UNJUST REQUIREMENT there was no knowing what the next demand de-mand might be and he might just as well I let go the reins of government at once Congress was also importuned by numerous I numer-ous petitions but doggedly maintained its altitude judging rightly that Baimaceda would finally yield to their terms rather than ruin the countrythough one day a hungry rabblecoll cted around the chamber and gave soma of the deputies as they emerged a welldeserved Beating Then strikes and incipient revolutions sprang up all over the country mostly carried on by workmen whose families suffered most from the non passage of the appropriation The roustabouts laun men freight haulers seamen and other irresponsible persons who had nothing to lose paraded the streets of Valparaiso and other ports in drunken bands singing and howling like demons throwing stones at unshuttered windows firing shots right and left without any particular par-ticular target occasionally gutting a shop or store and threatening to pillage every house and burn it over the heads of the terrified people Valparaiso is mostly a wooden city with long narrow streets occupying oc-cupying a cramped space between tho hills and the sea and would burn like tinder and nothing but the IltOMPT AE1UVAL 01 GOVERNMENT TROOPS I prevented it from being served in the riots I of last July as Iquiqui was six months later At last to save further bloodshed the I president yielded the point and changed his I cabinet a third time l g But as he had foreseen the opposition arty were not satisfied and became more pronounced in their hostility toward the KO ernment until at length hoping to better bet-ter their condition a portion of the unpaid army and navy went over to their side with the disastrous results of which The I teiegraplis nave told you In the late purposeless pur-poseless but sanguinary conflicts several I thousand men have been killed a host of I children orphaned and millions of dollars I woth of property destroyed there have been business failures innumerable and I Chili has lost more than she can regain in fifty years ofprosperity all for no good j reason except that the spirit of revolution is in the Spanish blood and like murder will out I President lose Manuel Balmaceda was inaugurated on September IS 1SS6 for the constitutional term of nyc yearsand consequently conse-quently his time is nearly expired Previous Previ-ous to the election he had not FIGURED MUCH IN POLITICS but was a quiet welltodo citizen of the wealthiest and most aristocratic capital of Spanish America The questionable greatness great-ness was not particularly of his own seeking seek-ing but was in a measure thrust upon him His private fortune has been completely wrsciced in this disastrous five years and ho will retire from oftica a poor man with fewer friends than when he went into it Chili boasts that within her patriotic borders bord-ers there are no peculations in high places and loves to point to the case of a former president who was immensely wealthy in private life but through some unfortunate speculation lost all his fortune while in office of-fice and being too honest to help himself from the public fundsas he might easily have done in a hundred ways undetected gave up his splendid casa and horses and 001 < n n the > n n nf + 1 n + n n UUUI u v UL uc uu tired to cheap little rented house in the suburbs whore Uo still lives President Balmaceda is not yet forty years olda tall handsome welleducated man who has traveled a good deal and speaks some English but not enough to carry on an easy conversation His family consists of a wife and several pretty children chil-dren among the latter being THREE NEARLY GROWN DAUGHTERS who had already begun to pose as belles I before their flight It is not known to a I certainty where they are cone some say to Europe and others assert with equal conli dence that they were sent over the mountains moun-tains to the Argentine Republic At any rate the president has succeeded in spiriting spirit-ing them away to some placo of greater security se-curity while he remains to face the storm in hourly danger of threatened assassination assassina-tion Vhat a sad parting that must have been between the barrassed father and his gentle wife and daughters Mrs Balma ceda is spoken of by all as the most womanly woman-ly of women a devoted mother and a model housekeeper Meanwhile life in Santiago is a queer mixture of anxiety and social pleasure Nobody knows what terrible things may happen at any moment yet notwithstanding notwithstand-ing rumors of war and harrowing accounts of atrocities perpetrated in nearby places the majority of these proverbially lighthearted light-hearted happygolucky SpanishAmeri cans disport themselves in the same old ways The theatres are all well attended and as usual the boxes are filled with bareheaded barearmed bejeweled ladies dressed in the height of Parisian fashion ox NEW TEARS EVE according to long established custom there was a magnificent open air concert in the Quinta Normal spacious and beautiful garden in the suburbs of the cityassisted by several military bands The entire space with its splendid trees and lawns and beds of flowers was huugwith Chinese lanterns lan-terns and ablaze with electric light while its commodious restaurant buildinga second DelnioDicos and numerous dancing pavilions pavil-ions were crowded with happy people Tho sweet Spanish Dolores and the French Jo taime sung by a hundred voices was charming but more welcome to the ears of exiled Gringos as all AngloSaxons are called hereabouts were the strains of God Save the Queen sung at the English club where the young fellows made a night of it in memory of faraway friends and even the occasional shakey voice of some ever loyal though inebriate Yankee shouting Hail Columbia on his winding way through the streets On tho 4th of January as an expression I of popular sentiment against Balmacedaall I the cabinet ministers were expelled from the Union club the most swell organization of its kind in tho city by a vote of nine to one On the 5th 1 A DECREE WAS ISSUED I forbidding coaches and street cars to ply I after midnight an order which has highly II incensed the society people because notti I ing begins here until nearly the time of go I tag home in the north Santiago is liko Washingtuna city of magnificent distances ann thA hr1fl 1iMl 1110 ifll hn n n v vu I polled to remain at home or walk many a mile in their satin slippers Policemen mounted and on foot patrol at all hours and no gathering of any kind is permitted on the streets So vigorously is the order enforced that if three or four well known citizens chanco to stop in a group for conversation con-versation as is dail done in every community com-munity up steps a policeman and orders them to disperse In view of existing circumstances cir-cumstances these extraordinary precautions may be necessary but are nevertheless extremely ex-tremely irksome to well disposed people Who has seen tomorrow Is a favor lie Spanish proverb particularly applicable at the present time for any hour may bring shot and shell and carnage into this proud old capItal FANNIE B WARD I |