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Show able to pay the sums due to the European Euro-pean contractors who hare been supplying sup-plying him with ships, arms and ammunition. am-munition. The writer of tho communication added that lialmaeeda, being unable to hire a private vessel to tr ansport the silver to Montevideo from where it was to be transferred to Europe, managed to persuade the comtnauder of 11. M. S. Espiegle to convey the silver to Montevideo Monte-video where tho money was landed Anf-. Kith. Tho Time cotn-ueniing upon this letter said it wns confident the commander com-mander of the Espiegle took this step without tho consent of the British admiralty, ad-miralty, adding that it seemed as though the British war ship had been made au accomplice of a downright robbery. The 'Timet said the matter demanded a full and prompt investigation. A CHEAT liATTLElSON The Rival Faotions in (file Now Clinched In Final Desnerate Struggle for the Mastery. THREE DAY3 OF HARD FIGHTING And iTksre are as Yet no Indications as L Who will Come Off Victor J iu the Contest, . Nuw Yolk. Aug. 2;!. The IL rabl prints a Valparaiso, Chile, dispatch as Mfi's' Halmaceda and the Junta de (lobifrno are clinched iu a liual, des-Tei',te des-Tei',te Btrnggla fur the mastery of tha repubiip of Chile. The battle ground is Id Mil Unew of Valparaiso. It has ' r,eeitrngiog for three days. The first ,-.hg:geme!it was at Mont Aconcagua : Vilijl'Viday nnd rosulUd iu a roverae to thel government. Thursday news came that an army of 8000 rebels had landed at (Jtiintern bay. Halmacerta was taken by surprise, but soon go iroops to the f rout to prevent if pos-bl the rebels crossing the Aeon-cagifii Aeon-cagifii tiver. Six insurgent warships anyhor.ed in Cosnon bay, at the mouth of tje river, and the rebels attempted a crossing under cover of the ships' guns. Th bt;le lasted nearly all dy. I "Tlie insurgents art'llery, aiiled by gut; fro.u the eli'.ps, v;w too much fur tile goTiiiaujeiii truups. and they uie to,ied to route, whiuii they del in good rirrfetij Tess than 2(J.uoo troops were engaged, and nearly oOOO were killed andj wounded. The commanding gon-eralTof gon-eralTof the government forces chose a strong position on the beach at 1'elinar as his second line of defense, and, leaving leav-ing force enough in front of the enemy to check his progress somewhat, took his plaee there yesterday, and went to work to strengthen it as much as possible pos-sible (. . The Insurgents steadily pushed their way forward, driving tho comparatively compara-tively small government forces before th"in.' it was a constant skirmish for fifteen miles over broken country. At every point of vantage the Halmace daoi made a stand and, while const con-st nlly forced to give way before superior su-perior numbers, they retarded the advance ad-vance and gave the main army a chance to better prepare itself for the decisive tight.' ' Late in the evening tho attacking party, atrived in front of Balmaeeda's main line of defense. It was then too .late to give battle. In the meantime Balmaeeda, himself in command, went to he front with over Ki.000 available men, while the insurgents bail only J'KMJ. At the back of the government jin is Fort Callao, whose heavy guns tiid good work in today's battle, raking Vie, army by land and preventing the 4i.rgont fleet from doing anything ..'r lt;ng range firing, Tho warships f !3vH their available men with rapid ' l-ip f o aid the land forces in the .nivta in balmaeeda's position, i The final test of strength is now being be-ing made at Viua Del Mar, a beach five miles from Valparaiso. Great excitement excite-ment prevailed in the city. eryone left here is anxiously watching the progress pro-gress of the battle. A heavy pall of smoke hangs like a cloud over the city. The most powerful glass cannot penetrato it, and only occasionally can the troops' movements be even guessed. There is a consunt stream of wounded being brought into the city from the scene, and temporary hospitals are being fitted up wherever possible. The medical force of the city has its hands full, and all the women have voluuteered as nurses. F'rom the wounded only the most fragmentary information as to the progress pro-gress of the light can be obtained, nnd it is utterly impossible now to form any judgment n,s to which side is getting the belter of it. Admiral Brown, commanding the American lleet and other foreign commanders com-manders have combined to protect the lives and property of foreign citizens, should the revolutionists succeed in defeating or repulsing tho government troops in the present struggle. They have to cross a small creek which separates sep-arates the beach from the village of Vina Delmar, and on taking possession of tho village would bo in the rear of Fort Callas. With the lleet on ono side of the fort and the insurgents on the other the fort would be untenable. Thus the northern defense of Valparaiso would fall, making the work of capturing cap-turing the city much easier. It is the universal belief that Val-pariso Val-pariso will be bombarded by tho lleet should Balamaceda fall and the victorious victor-ious army make a laud attack. If ou the other hand, Balmaeeda gains the victory, the lleet will cover tho retreat of the insurgents and be nucessary to re-embark the troops. All the government govern-ment officials hero are eoutidont that Balmaeeda will drive tho insurgents back, and, if he does not entirely destroy de-stroy them, compel the remnant to re-embark re-embark in their transports and return to the north. The fall of Vaipariso would mean the practical collapse of Balmaeeda's power. Outside the force now engaged there are no forces to oppose op-pose the march of the insurgents to Satiago, and they would, with that city at a base of operations, soon overrun over-run all the southern provinces. On the other hand, the defeat of the insurgents would mean a result little less decisive. For the Rebels have put forth all tho strength they have and, while Balmaeeda would not be able to follow up a vu tory hni lake dossession of Ljuique aud the northern Provinces uui.il the arrival of Ins ue war ships, tho "Erraairi," uud "Pinto," "Pin-to," it is hardly likely they could recover re-cover from a crushing dufoat ou Dol-mar. Dol-mar. HALMACEDA SEIZED TUE MILLION, And th. Commander or a Mrltlah Vei.el Mixed Up In tha Tli.ft. London, Aug. 24. A dispatch to the Tuixs published today from Buenos Ayres confirms the information contained con-tained in a letter from Lisbon to the effect that President Balmaeeda of Chile sent a million dollars iu silver to Montevideo for shipment to Firope, thanks to the good office of the captain of the British warship l'spiegle. President Balmaeeda, according to the story, being unable to borrow money, seized the silver bullion in the treasury at Santiago de Chile, which was stored there as security for the fiduciary circulation, in order to be f ! I i |