Rock Island daily Argus., 1891-12-10
THE TROUBLE WITH CHILL.
Seizure of the Itata and the Attack on the
BaItimOre's Men.


The civil war with Chilli. which began in Jan
| uary last, continued but fortunately with
| 1nfrequeut and not important armed collisions
| until Aug. %, when the Congressional force
| landed near Valparaiso and, after bloody en-
| gagement, captured that city President Bal
maceda at once recognized that his party was
| lost and provisional government was speed
| lily established 10y the victorious party. Our
| minister WIS promptly directed to recognize
| government 50 soon as it should have estaip
| lished its d. facto character, which was done
| During the tendency of this civil contest FIRE.
| quent indirect appeals were made to this gov.
| ernment to extend belligerent rights to insur.
| gents and give audience to their representatives
| This was de- lined, and that policy was pursued
| throughout, which this government when
| wrenchcd by civil war, strenuously insisted
| upon on tho part of European nations. The
ltata, an armed vessel commanded 10y naval
| ofhcer OF tn lnSurgent fleet, manned by its
| sailors and with soldiers on board, was seized
| under proce = of the United States court. at
| San Diego, Cal, for a violation of our neutral
| ity laws. While in the custody of an officer of
| the court the vessel forCihlv wrested frCnl
! his control and put TO sea 1t would have been
| inconsistent vi h the dignity and self -respe I
| OF TINS government not to have insisted that
| the ltata shoIld he returned to San Diego u
| abide the Judgment of the court,
| Letter to Admiral Brown.
This 50 clear TO the iunta of the Congress
sional party established at lquiquc, that, before
| the arrival OF the Itata at that port the secre-
tary OF foreign relations of the provisional gov
| ernment ado ressed to Rear Admiral Brown,
| commanding the United States naval forces q
| communicate N, from which the following is an
extract:
| the cablegrarls Of the Associated Press that the
| transport tia a, detained in San Diego by order
| OF the United States for taking on board muni.
| tlonS OF war and in possession of the marshal,
| lett the port carrying on board this official.
| VINO WAS land at a point near the coast, and
| then continued her voyage If this news be
| correct, this government would dcplore the
| conduct of tho Itata and as an evidence that it
| is not disposed To support or agree 10 the in.
| al "a In ,f 4ha ff..1
| undersigned -akes advantage of the personal
| relations you have been good enough to main-
tain with him since your arrival in this port "a
declare 70 you that rs soon as she is within
| reach of our orders his government will put the
| ltata. with tn arms and munitions she took on
| board in SaI Diego, at the disposal of the
| United States ~
Neutrs Iity Laws Not Violated.
| A trial in tie district court of the United
/ States for the southern district of California.
resulted in decision holding, among other
| things, that, nasmuch the Congressional
party had not been recognized as belligeraut.
| the acts done in Its interests could not be a
| violation Of our neutrality laws From this
| lpdment the nited States has appealed. not
| that the condemnation of the vessel is matter
ot Importance hut that we may know what
| the present ST. te of our law is: for if this con
Strucuon of he statute is correct. there Is
/ obvious ncce-S ~ for revision and amendment
| Durlng the progress of the war in Chill L 5
! government rendered its good offices 10 bring
| ahout q peace adjustment, and il was mt one
| time hoped nat good result might he
| IeaCheu- nut IN TINS we We're diSapppin tea.
Inc lnstructlnns 10 our naval officers and 20
our minister Santiago. from the first 10 th,,
| last OF TINS struggle, en1oined upon them the
most impartial treatment and absolute non
| interference. am satisfied that these in
| s,ruction wer, observed and that our rcprp-
| SentatiycS wert, ALWAYS watchfuI 10 use their
| influence lmpa italy in the interest of human-
| lty, and on more then one occasion did so
| effectively. We could not forget, however.
| thai thls COVER uUCnt was in diplomatic rcl,t.
| tons with the hen established government of
! Chilli. A. ii is INV in such relations with the
| successor of that government.
y" OhiciaI Complaint.
| lam quite SIRE that President ATnntt who
| mas under clr' umStances of promise for tho
| peace of Chilli been installed as president of
| that republic, will not desire that. in the un.
| fortunate even of any revolt against his au-
| thority. the po icy of this government should
he other than tlat which we have recently ob-
served No on rial complaint of tile conduct of
| our minister or of our naval officers during
| the struggle has been presented to this govern,
| mcnt; and 1t Is q matter of regret that SO MANY
| of our people SHOULD have given ear To rnoffi
Ilai cHirSc; al complaints that manitestiy
had their origin in rival interests and in a wish
| 10 Pervcrt the relations Of the United States
| with Chill. Tho collapse of the government of
| Balmaceda hrou ght about condition which is
unfortunately too familiar in the history OF
| the Central and South American states With
| the overthrow If the Bamaceda government
| he and many of his councillors and officers he
| came at once fugitivcs for their lives and aI,-
| pealed to the commanding officers of the for
! eign naval vess is in the harbor of Valparaiso
| and TO the resident foreign minister's at san
| given, according to my information. by the
| naval vessels of several foreign powers and b,,
several of the cations at Santiago.
| Attack on the BaItimore's Men
Tho American minister. as we'll rs his col
| leagues acting upon the impulses of humSanity,
| extended asylum to political refugees whose
| lives were in peril have not been willing to
direct the der of such of these persons ne
Hrestil in the American legation without suita-
| hlo conditions. is believed that the govern
ment of Chill is OF in position. in view of the
| &c inff.it
| to broadly deny hat the right of asylum and
the correspondent ce has not thus far presented
any such denial. The treatment of our minis
ter for time WI such as to call for a decided
protest, and il very gratifying to observe
that unfriendly measures which were un-
dOubtedly the result of the prevailing excite
ment, were at once rcCinded or suitably
relaxed. On the 18th Of October an event 90
CURED in ValpaI also 81 serious and tragic in
its circumstances and results as to very Justly
excite the indignation of our people and to call
for prompt and decided action on the part of
! the sailors of the L. S. steamship Baltimore
then in the harlOr of Valparaiso being upon
shore leave and unarmed, were assaulted by
armed men nearl- simultaneously in different
localities in the city.
Result of the Attack.
One petty Officer killed outright and scv-
en- or eight seanen We're seriously wounded,
one of whom has since died. So savare and
brutal was the as Saut that several of our sail
ors received more than two and one as many
as eighteen stab ounds An Investigation OF
officers of the baltimore, and their report
shows that these assaults were unprovoked
that our men were conducting themselves in n
peaceabe and orderly manner and that some
of the police of the city took part IN the assault
and used their we tpons with fatal effect. while
a few others with some well disposed citizens,
endeaYored to protect our mem Thirty six of
our sailors We're arrested and some OF them
while being taken to prison were cruelty beaten
and maltreated. The fact that they were all
discharged, no criminal charge being lodged
against any one of them, shows very clearly
that they were innocent of any breach of the
peace.
SO far az ! have yet been able to learn no
other explanation If this bloody work has been
suggested than that il had its origin in hostil-
ity to these men sailors of the United States,
wearing the uniform of this government and
not in any individ nal act or personal animos-
ity. The attention of the Chlian government
was at once called to this affair and u state
mcnt of the facts obtained by the inyestga-
ton we had condu ted was submitted, accom-
panied by request to be advised of any other
or ualifying facts n the.pussession of the Chilli
an government that might tend 10 relieve this
affair of the appearance of insult to this
government. The Chilian government was al
so advised that If such qualiting facts did not
exist this government would confidently ex-