Maryland free press., 1866-05-10
Bumbardsaent and Bestruction Of VAL
.,, paraisO By the Spaish Fleet. f,.

E.,y.. If we make. the best Of it, lei..i -
lAG -iLhc. --7r-r-+----s-s-~--rt------r Il t-.
Bumbardsaeut and 'BestructieR Of VAL
,.aal Paraiso by the spaish Fleet. ,,.
The city of Valparaiso was bombarded
by the Spaniards, and the town and twenty
1 million dollars worth Of, property des-
troyed. Great Blaine is attached to the
British ana American admirals for not in
terfe,ring with their slips to prevent such a
wholeiale destruction, instead Of leaving
the -harboh lOW G4rLNl".t'iL.I
The Panama Stars correspondent, after
commenting Upon the barbarity of the
bombardment of Valparaiso-which was
defenseless- without d gun to reply or a
vessel to stand BY II, states that from ff-
teen to twenty millions worth Of property
is desEoyed, nearly all belonging to British
American, and other foreign merchants,
including all the commercial parts of the
town, the custom house, government build
ings,i Sc. The correspondent gives the
following particulars Of the bombardment.
It, is said. that the Spaish commander had
received orders from Madrid to destroy,
burn and desolste, to the utmost Of his
power, all Chilian and Peruvian towns and
property on the coast, and in pursuance of
these orders, on the 9th of March, he
sent on to the csmmandant Of Valparaiso
and notified the foreign, representatives
that, in four. days he would lombard the
city. The four days he allowed for the re-
moval of the. sick Against this every
foreign representative protested in the
most enSreetic manner The British resi-
dents were promised protection and the in
reference, Of Admiral Denmar and the
English squadron. ,...'.... ...,.
The American Commodore Rodgers
promptly placed his squadron for co opera
tion against Spain should the threatened
bombardment be attempted, and the repre-
sentative Of France was equally ready to
take the responsibility on his own part of
Joining With the American and English
commanders to prevent the atrocity. but
at last the English Admiral drew back.
He said he could not interfere except di-
plomatically, and British intrests must look
out for themselves on shore. .Eua
Commodore Rodgers shrunk from under
taking active resistance, to the. Spanish
fee when the British commander had re-
ceded from the position he had first taken
up. Earnestly and most urgently did the
American charge d'affairs General Kill
patrick) and Commodore Rodgers labor to
save the town, but all in vain. While
this was going on time was lost, and the
neutrals had still their property in the Gus
tom house and their stores. at "t
On the 31st the frigates Sutlej and
Leander, with the Devastation and store
ship Ncrons, left the bay to take a safe
anchorage outside. The American ships
had also to get out Of the way, and about
Is A. NJ. the enemy's vessels began to
take up positions over against the town.
The Resolution was placed opposite the
Central Railway station, the Vile de Mad
rid and Blanca. twelve hundred yards from
the custom-house, the Vencedora close in
shore to destroy the dwelling houses, and
the Admiral's ship Munancia remained out
side. signalling orders. a.
At 0 A. NJ. the Blanca opened fire on
the custom-hous to the cry of Viva Ia
Rcma." The others followed, each select
ing, some point on which to pour its share
Of destruction. For nearly three hours
the fire was kept up, without intermission.
At 10. 40, A. NJ. a shell from the Vence-
dora set FIRE to the baths adjoining the
Hotel de la Union. and the flames rapidly
in three streets, but the Vencedora did
not desist,. Her shot continued to rain on
that. part Of, the town up to the last moment
of the bombardment with terrible and fatal
regularity, -3oEtAaainl i"'e .ir'1 ..o 2
On the other side the custom-hOuse took
; FIRE at II As, but there was no cessation
of firing from the ships; indeed, the Span
iTds knew only one consideration, viz: that
valparaiso had been given up to them to
,, wreak their vengeance on it, At 1913
P. M.'the Munancia signalled to desist.
and the vessels of the squadron drew off.
4 The people of the town who had crowded
the surrounding hills during the lombard
ment, at once rushed into the town to ex-
tinguish the fires,