The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-03-25
THE CHILI-PERU QUESTION.
More About the Interview With
x-Secretary Blaine.
THE OPPORTUNITY OF A CENTURY
SACRIFICED BY AMERICA.

WASHINGTON, March 24-.The Post this
morning prints an interview with Mr.. Blaine
on the Chili-Peruvian question Mr.. Blaine,
in the course of the interview, said that the
general result was precisely what he had pre-
dicted when Mr.. Trescott's instructions were
revoked. said in January that Peru is to be
despoiled and destroyed, and that the profits of
the spoliation are to be divided between Chill
and the English bondholders and spectators
who furnished her the money and the guns
and the ironclads that destroyed Peru.
SIS this made evident in any authentic
way?" asked the reporter.
'Unquestionably," said Mr.. Blaine. "It is
so advertised in the Gillian newspapers by the
Treasury Department of Chill. They have is
sued decree, asking for bids for 1,000,0 900 tons
of guano, to be extracted from the guano beds
of Peru, now in possession of Chill. Every
| cargo must be paid for, SO the advertisement
| runs, in good sterling noney-English money,
mark you-at ninety days sight. One-half
| goes to Chill and one-half to the English bond.
holders and Chill binds herself to deposit so
| per cent. of the proceeds of the guano in the
| Bank of England"
"But," asked the reporter, "did Mr.. Tres
| colt agree to this?"
| "Mr. Prescott was forbidden" said Mr..
| Blaine "to say one word about it, and not per-
| mitted even to interpose protest. See, here
| is what my successor in the State Department
| previous instructions-rea from the re-
| Gently printed volume of Chilian-P Peruvian dis
| patches The President wishes in no manner
1 to dictate or make any authoritative utterance
| to either Peru or Chilli as to tho merits of the
| controversy existing between those republics as
| to what indemnity should be asked or given. as
| to change of boundaries, or as to the person
| mel Of the Government of Peru. The Presi-
dent recognizes Peru and Chill to be indepen-
| dent republics to which he has no right or in
| cllnation to dictate OF course, when Mr..
| Prescott was thus made powerless, Chill
! and the English bondholders had it all their
own way, with none to modest or make them
afraid
l. "Then it would seem as if Mr.. Trescott's
visit had turned out in the interest of the
| English speculators suggested the reporter.
"Undeniably," said Mr.. BLAINE "because
Mr.. Prescott, under Mr.. Frelinghuysen's in
structions, has stood there as the constant wit
| ness that the United States would not in any
| event intervene. If the indemnity demanded
| took the last dollar of Peru's property and the
last acre of Peru's territory, Mr.. Prescott was
specially instructed not to say one word in pro-
test or opposition"
How did Mr.. Trescott come to sign this re-
| cent protoco?" asked the reporter.
| II do not understand that he has signed any
protocol. The dispatches are little confuse
| but think the meaning is that Chill submit
| ted protocol containing terms of settlement
| between herself and Peru, and Mr.. Trescott
| was asked whether he would use his good Off
| ces to urge it upon Peru As he had been in
| structed to make no authoritative utterance on
| the question, he teegraphed the Stated epart-
| ment to know if his good offices should be so
used, and the department., judged from the
| published kilograms declined. But you will
observe that the result 10 Chill and Peru is ex-
| actly the same whether our good offices in aid
| Of the protocol should be used or not. 1t is
| merely question as to whether we would ac-
| lively aid or simply agree not to hinder
"Does not the protocol change at all the pre-
| vious demands of Chili?'
| ST think, said Mr.. Blaine, sit enlarges
| those demands somewhat beyond the indemni-
| ties asked before Mr.. Prescott arrived. Natur-
| ally enough, when Chill found that the Uni
4 ted States was sure not to interfere, she took
| all she wanted. She added, think, the dis
| trict of Tacna to her previous demands, be-
| sides large strip of territory north of Tarapa-
| ca. When these conditions were submitted to
| Mr.. Trescott he was gracefully told that his
| good offices would be accepted to urge them
| upon Peru, but if Peru refused to accede to
| them, then his good offices must be considered
| at an end.'
''That can hardly be courteous to the United
| States?" queried the reporter.
| "Why should Chill be courteous to the Uni
ted States?' replied Mr.. Blaine. Nations,
like individuals, depend for their position upon
| their power and will to assert. When Uriah
| Heep thanked God he was tumble Master
| Copperfeld took him at his word. When our
| Minister was instructed to make no authorita-
| tive utterance, but merely to be seen and not
| heard, and to act the part of meekness and hu-
| militv, Chilli naturally concluded that she
| could use the power of this great Government
/ as she chose and thus sought to make Mr..
| Prescott aid her designs upon Peru"
"But do not quite understand" said the
| reporter, show Chill came to advertise a mil
| lion tons of Peruvian guano for sale before a
treaty was concluded or any arrangement for
| peace made"
| "She did it on the old principle" said Mr..
| Blaine, ''that he shall take who has the power,
| and he shall keep who can. 1t is an absolute
| conquest She feels so sure of her possession
that she need not wait for treaty to be con-
cluded. She simply appropriates the property
| with the strong hand. When the United
| States refused to ask for Justice between the
| two republics and strong English power was
interested in the aggrandizement of Chilli,
/ Peru's fate was sealed. 1t is noticeable,
| moreover, that this million tons of guano is
| offered for sale in one block, and any bidder is
| required to put upa half million of dollars. so
| that the decree of sale is merely mode of get
ting this vast property in the hands Of the
| agents of Chilli and the English bondholders
\ 1t will be carried in English ships, making
| larger freightage than the cotton of the United
| States annually taken beyond the sea-"
"Mr. Blaine, do you think that the United
| States could in any event have prevented this
| result without WARP"
"With entire ease,' replied Mr.. Blaine,
"There never was such arrant nonsense talked
| as the possibility of war with Chilli The
4 difference in power of the countries renders
the idea of war ridiculous. We are too big
| to make war on Chill, and Chill is too small to
| make war on us. The moral power of the
| United States, judiciously exerted, could have
| saved the autonomy of Peru. As it is, Chill
| has taken $1,000, $1,000 worth of property
| from Peru merely by the strong arm, and the
| United States has stood by in the person of her
| special envoy instructed either to say nothing
or to say that it was all right. We have ac-
| quired the hatred of Peruvians to the latest
at 1ana ft,a ,fnr, ADf thn
| Chilirns. We have also secured the self
satisfied chuckle of the band of English specu-
| lators into whose hands the power of the
| United States has SO effectively played Great
Britain, with all her prowess, could not have
| advanced the commercial interests of her own
| merchants in South America so powerfully,
| and destroyed the interests of American mer
chants there so completely as has been done
| by the instructions with which Mr.. Trescott
| was bound and gagged. The first installment
| to British interests is the freight money on
million tons of guano and half the profits of its
sale in Europe, which of itself is a larger sum
| than the war expenditures Of Chilli
"But if the United States had INTERVIEWED,
i would not Great Britain also have inter-
| vened?"
| "WelI," said Mr. Blaine, cit would have
been worth while to find out whether, if the
| United States interviewed to save an American
| republic, Great Britain would have interviewed
| to destroy it, In my own judgment the for
eign policy of Great Britain will never take
that direction. 1t certainly will not SO long as
| British statesmen see that the United States
| can do by omission more for British in
terests than Great Britain can do by
| commission. The whole idea, however, of
British Intervention, is myth. The moral
power of the United States in South America
would simply have been irresistible. For
| American interests it was the opportunity of
| century land it was bnndly sacrificed. The COM
mercial interests of this country in South
| America will not in so years recover what has
been lost and what was in its power to ac-
| quire. Our interest are not only totally de-
stroyed in all Chill and Peru, but our prestige
| is impaired in all South America, indeed in
| Spanish America, both continental and insa-
| lar. The present generation will not witness
the recovery of that which has been lost with
| in the last 80 days"
"When you speak of commercial interests,
Mr. Blaine, do you mean the shipping inter-
| ests?"
| az mean that" said Mr.. Blaine, "but not
| that alone. 1 mean the entire interchange of
commodities, the supplying of manufactured
| articles and raw materials, the concentration
| in our commercial cities of a share of that
which will now 90 wholly to London and Liv-
| erpool. The trade of the west coast of South
| America from this time forward will be