The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-30 00:00:00

The Blockade of the Chilian PortE.

(From the Times' Correspondent)
SANTIAGO DE CHILI, Oct. 13.
The steamer which left Valpariso on the sth inst.
will before this reaches you have made known to
Europe that on the 25th of last month Chili for-
mally declared war against Spain. As the causes
which have led to this result, as well as the condi-
tion and prospects of the interesting country which
has thus boldly dared the vengeance of one of the
most ancient monarchies of the Old World, may, I
apprehend, be but imperfectly known to many of
your readers, I submit the following in the hope
that it may help to correct any erroneous impres-
sions which may exist.

Since the close of the War of Independence, now
more than 40 years ago, commercial and political
relations between Chili and the other maritime na-
tions have exhibited an extraordinary development.
Occupying one half of the west coast of South Ame-
rica, with innumerable harbours offering every faci-
lity to foreign trade, Chili, which under Spanish
rule, was considered the poorest and most backward
of her colonies, earnestly applied herself to turning
these advantages to the best account. Possessing a
fertile soil, with inexhaustible mines of coal, silver,
and copper, she soon became known to foreign na-
tions as a thriving people, less disturbed than other
South American States by the ambition of military
chiefs, and only anxious to make the most of the
advantages nature had so liberally bestowed upon
her. A few years of anarchy, indeed, followed the
overthrow of Spanish power; but for more than 30
years the country has been disturbed but by two or
three revolutionary attempts, which, being promptly
suppressed, left the authority of Government more
firmly established than before. So completely, in-
deed, has the revolutionary spirit been crushed by
these repeated defeats that for some years past the
most fiery reformers have abandoned all hopes of car-
rying out theirviews by violence, and have apparently
honestly entered on a course of legal agitation
for the removal of the more objectionable features
of the ruling Constitution. To this Constitution,
faulty as it in many respects is, Chili undoubtedly
owes the prosperity she has long enjoyed. A strong
centralised power, capable of subverting at the out-
set the plans of men who have no idea of any re-
form but that brought about by violence, has been
the great want of all her sister Republics. Happily
for Chili, the founders of her Government, having
no base interests to serve, or, if they had, the pro-
perty of her Exchequer precluding their gratifica-
tion, from the first applied themselves to her in-
ternal organisation ; and, considering the materials
with which they had to work, have left behind
them a monument alike honourable to their talents
and their patriotism.
In order to show the progress Chili has made
since her emancipation from the rule of Spain, I
have gathered the following statements, made dur-
ing a debate a few months ago in the Chamber of
Deputies, on a motion for a reform of the Constitu-
tion ; also some others from the annual reports of
the Cabinet Ministers :—ln 1810, the first year of
the War of Independence, the population of Chili
amounted to, it is supposed, as no regular statistics
were then ever thought of, between 600,000 and
700,000 people. Santiago had a population below
30,000 ; Valparaiso between 5,000 and 6,000, and
the latter so poor that they could not afford to pay a
salary to their parish priest. The Customs revenue
did not amount to $60,000 ; and there was but one
passable road, that between Santiago and Valpa-
raiso, about 90 miles long. The exports of produce
had never risen to $1,000,000. Since then, not-
withstanding:a desolating war, not entirely con-
cluded for 15 years, in order to drive out the Spa-
niard, and seven or eight years of domestic troubles,
with something over 30 of peace, the population,
according to the census taken this year, has in-
creased to a fraction less than 2,000,000. Santiago
has more than 120,000, with entire streets of sump-
tuous private residences. Valparaiso has close on
80,000, and increases with amazing rapidity, some
of its most important establishments being con-
structed on ground over which the ocean not long
since rolled. Roads have been opened in every
direction, under the superintendence of skilful en-
gineers, both native and foreign, and although in
this branch much still remains to be done, still the
results already obtained are highly encouraging.
Bridges are still scarce, owing to the want of funds,
but have been erected in the more important points.
There are some 600 miles of telegraph, 330 miles of
railway have been opened to the public, 100 more
ought to be finished at the end of this year, and
another 100 miles are about being immediately
commenced. The railways already finished have
cost something over $16,000,000. The Customs'
revenue last year amounted to $4,047,787 ; impor-
tations from foreign countries, formerly confined to
a few arrivals from the Viceroyalties of Peru and
Buenos Ayres, amounted last year to $18,867,365,
exportations to $27,242,853, England with her
colonies standing at the head of both buyers and
sellers. The coasting trade for the same period was
$28,896,783. The educational movement, though
not so gratifying, is still worthy of attention. The
jealous policy of Spain in endeavouring to strangle
every attempt at education in her colonies is well
known, and to it more than to any other cause
may be attributed the many calamities which have
befallen the Governments which have succeeded her.
In Chili the only establishment for education was
the University of San Felipe, in which a limited
number of students imbibed a small amount of bad
Latin, together with an unlimited supply of such
scholastic divinity as was in vogue in the middle
• ages. Some primary schools must, no doubt, have
existed in the larger towns, but all recollection of
them and of their system, if they had any, has long
since passed away. Women were jealously shut
out from all means of improvement ; to a few
reading was permitted, but writing was a thing
not to be thought of. At present public instruc-
tion is presided over by a Cabinet Minister.
The University of Santiago has at its charge the
inspection and direction of the provincial lyceums
and the primary schools. In the capital city of
each of the fourteen provinces there is a lyceum,
and the primary schools are scattered over the whole
republic. According to the Minister's report, there
on 611
year in operation
were last schools for gratuitous
education, supported by Government funds, and
352 private establishments for education—in all 993
primary schools. In the former the number of n-
and 12,744 girls
gular attendants was 26,492 boys,
—total, 39,236. The latter attended by 8,630 boys,
and 2,941 girls—total, 11,571; making in all 50,807
of both sexes---a result highly gratifying and very
creditable to the zeal of the authorities when one
considers the many difficulties the poor seeking after
knowledge have to encounter in a country stretching
over more than 25 degrees of latitude, with not a
twentieth part of its surface peopled, and with as
yet very imperfect means of communication with its
settlements at enormous distances from each other,
and even neighbouring ones often separated by ut-
terly impassable mountains ; added to this the
scarcity of funds and the almost total impossibility
of securing proper localities for schools in the poorer
and more remote districts.
Nothing, shows more the honourable character of
the men who have directed the destinies of Chili
than the economy they have introduced into all the
branches of administration. With an army of 3,000
men, well equipped and carefully disciplined ; a Na-
tional Guard, tolerably well organised, which can
at any time be raised to 90,000 or 100,000 men,
who in national and civil Wars, and under the ccm-
mand of good officers, have of ten proved themselves
steady and reliable soldiers ; a navy which, though
now reduced to few almost useless vessels, in times
not very remote, and led by Cochrane, Blanco, and
Simpson, has carried her flag triumphant through
the charges of
fight,
many a bloodyadministration,
together with the interest on:the public debt, have
been all met and punctually discharged with a re-
venue which has never exceeded $7,000,000 (about
£1,400,000). kThis well-known probity of her rulers
and the energetic character of her people have long
given Chili an influence among her less fortunate
sisters far beyond what her population or resources
could entitle her to. Instead of wasting her little
revenue on armaments or jobbery, she has carefully
devoted it to her internal organisation, her harbours,
her roads, and the development of her agricultural