Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-07-14
ON THE VALPARAISO
soMBARDMENT.

We suppose it must 90
rs the statements of Mr.. Lsyard
80 ,he Dpke of Somerset in the English
Parliament, that Admiral Denman could
-, have in,erfered in conjunction with
our Commodore Rodgers, he having been
directed to observe the s%trictest neutral.
i,y towards the %coatending parties"
So that "he would have received censure"
from the home government had he inter-
fered. This so far transfers the response
bili,y from the Admiral to the govern
men,. The British merchants are as o
in their complaints as men well can be-
having lost altogether, it is said. twenty
millions of dollars worth of stores. After,
as they represent, the British Admiral had
given "positiye assurances" that he would
proven, a general b~ombardment BY force.
if necessary, he pleaded the inferiority Of
his armament. yet declined the assistance
of a powerful United States squadron.
In his dispatches, the Admiral denies that
he ever held out any hope to the mer-
chants Of his interference, and also mega
tives- the assertion that he declined the
proffered cooperation Of the United
States squadron. "In fact, the official
account Of the whole transaction differs
in many important respects from that
which first reached US, and which, it Is
right to add, purports to rest In part on
a letter from Commodore Rodgers him
self"
The real difficulty is. that the statement
officially made c~ontradicts most directly
that Of the British merchants on the one
hand and the American Commodore on
the other, and the question in England is
which the English public will be most
likely to believe. The men who have lost
their goods and who passed resolutions
thanking the American Commodore will
hardly like to submit to the official state.
msnt which "relieves Admiral Denman
from an impu,ation inconsistent with bis
well.known character. and throws on the
merchants themselves a large share Of
blame for neglecsing repeated warnings to
remove their goods beyond the reach Of
danger" II all. however. leaves no doubt
as to the direct responsibility Of the Span
,sh Government for this great outrage. A
poor consolation this. to get ga large share
of blame" in addition to the loss Of twenty
millions Of dollars, and this instead of
protection from the British Government.
All this while the merchants know and
feel, of course, that the official statements
are not true. Indeed. we cannot bu,
think that the British Government will be
compelled by public feeling to make Spain
responsible for the damages, if it costs
anything short Of a declaration Of war.
War had been declared by Spain in
March against Chilli upon a casus 6eRi so
trumpery as not wen to mask the agrees
sive designs of Spain. The English and
French Governments rendered their good
offices, which were accepted by Spain, but
the ship bearing the proposal to Chill did
not reach until a Spanish vessel had been
captured. Chilli accepted the arbitration,
but had to consult and act with other
republics, and Spain withdrew her accep-
lance, and in spite of the protests and
strong remonstrances of the English and
French Governments, determined to bonn
bard Valparaiso. 1.-THE reply was equiv
iLLt I~-vS;.-biv-.o.h e soVi
faith Of the Spanish Government" says
the Times, "for It now appears orders
had been issued under which the Spanish
commander felt compelled to act" Such
is the English Governments statement Of
their case in Parliament. We do not see
how she can look on quietly and see her
self deceived BY an equivocation and bad
faith, her merchants losing twenty mil
lions of dollars worth of goods. Yet
this is the present avowed position Of
things.