The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-05-20
PAW PAW, MICH, MAY 20, 1891.
The Chilean Rebellion.

can not better answer these queries
than by copying the following article
printed in the Detroit Journal of Mon
day last;
The civil war in Chilli, which has laid
waste if not ruined that recently pros
porous and progressive country, dates
back to the election of its president,
Balmaceda, five years ago.
For sixty previous years the admins
tration was controlled by large land
lords and by priests constantly recruit
ed from Italy and Spain. The president
was elected for only one term of five
years by indirect suffrage. He had an
executive council, of whom six MEM
bers were elected by congress and five
appointed by the president The two
houses of congress were recruited from
the aristocratic families.
No government in South America was
less democratic. Although the presi
dents were confined to one term, they
contrived to prolong their administra-
ton by electing relatives to succeed
them.
But the victory of Chill over Peru
aroused the national pride, the political
instincts and activity of The people. Ac-
cording to President Balmaceda's de-
tenders, he was the leader of the masses
against the classes. He displaced the
priestly and land-ownng Office holders
with lawyers and politicians; secular
lied the cemeteries, and had other acts
passed of a popular nature.
When the aristOcratic Conservatives
found that Balmaceda had will of his
own, and was determined to elect
Liberal as his successor, they intrigued
with various factions until they secured
an anti-Liberal majority in congress.
They passed vote of want of conf
dence in the ministry, and refused to
vote supplies unless ministry agreea-
BILE to themselves was appointed
1t is claimed that this was unconstitu-
tional, because the CHILEAN system is the
American system-which gives the APP
pontment of the cabinet to the execu
tive-and not the parliamentary system,
which puts the appointment of the
ministry into the hands of parliament.
Hence Balmaceda dissolved congress
and forced them either to submit to an
election controlled by his agents and
officials, or take up arms against him.
His followers claim that he is now de-
Tending the country against a revolt of
the aristocratic families, the foreign
born priests, and the English residents;
is fighting the battle of the people
against the land barons, and is defend
ing republican constitution against a
monarchical idea.
But the congressional party, on the
other hand, say he is self-willed and
arbitrary dictator; unwilling TO relin-
qush his Office surrounded by a cor
rupt ministry, and determined to seat,
as his successor, a disreputable polite
elan with scandalous record. BY dis
solving congress and deferring the cleo
tons, he has defied public opinion and
established military dictatorship.
He has removed governors, bribed
army officers, and got the public mach
inery all in order to carry the elections.
He prohibited public meetings and es-
tablished press censorship. Soldiers
attacked and assassinated members of
the political clubs When all constitu-
tional means of resistance were ex.
hausted, the revolution was planned
and its proclamation read on the vessels
of war in the harbor of Valparaiso.
The navy declared for congress; the
army for the president. A civil war of
great cruelty and destruction has been
carried on with pretty uniform success
for the presidential side on land, but
the navy has blockaded the ports and
assisted in the bOmbardment of towns
on the coast attacked by the few land
forces the congressional party has been
able to muster.
At the very outset, Balmaceda took
vigorous measures, his enemies say.
Martial law was proclaimed; the insur-
gent fleet denounced as pirates; prisons
were filled with suspects; private houses
searched; men logged for refusing to
reveal the hiding places of prominent
revolutionists; estates of members of
congress plundered and their houses
burned; political leaders driven into
exile; election laws modified to suit the
purposes of the ministers; business par
alyzed; disorder in the currency; rise in
the price of food and cost of living; pub
lie order maintained by rigorous re-
preston, and terrorism the order of the
day.
These contradictions make it impos-
sible to decide which side deserves the
sympathy of the people of the United
States. The military situation is equal
ly complicated The congressionalists