The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-12
REBELS GAINING GROUND.
Gillian Revolutionists Have Had the
Best Of the Fighting So
Far. /.
President Balmaceda Not at all
Likely to Live Through
His Term.
Virtually u Prisoner In His Own Capital
ChilIs Trade Rotations to the
United States.

SANTIAGO DE CHILI, April 28.-We hoped
for better news by this time from the seat
of war, but the clouds hat overhang un-
happy Chilli grow darker every day, and the
end OF the revolution appears no nearer
than ever. One thinc il certain, that the
rebels are gaining ground, though incl by
inch, and the resources OF the government
are slowly diminishing. President Balma-
ceda has only about four months moro to
serve, but his most sanguine friends hardly
expect that he will live to see his successor
inaugurated. Should he succeed in com
pletely defeating his foes (which is not
likely to be the CASEY, he would surely fall
by the hand of some revengeful assassin;
and in the event of victory by the opposi-
tion, his fate is sealed. It is said that even
the officers of the CHILEAN navy, many o3
whom the president formerly loaded with
favors, have signed n compact never to lay
Town their arms till they see Balmaceda
hung in the Plaza Major of Santiago.
During the last three months the presi-
dent has not once shown his face outside
the Moneda, but, having sent his family
out of the country, lives in ~strictest retire.
ment, eating and sleeping in the presence
of an armed guard Yet no place ia safe
from the traitor, and the assassin's steel
has been known to find its victim on the
very steps of the altar. As the close con-
fnement is telling on Belmacedn's health,
he is about to remove to the Quinta Nor
NAL, a beautiful public garden near the out
skirts of the capital; an unwise plan, one
would think. for his own security, and no
body in Chill would be surprised to hear Of
his death at any hour.
Some Of the atrocities of this unholy war
almost surpass belief-the shooting of
prisoners by both sides, the barbarous
slaughter of helpless women and children
n the wanton destruction of property.
Might makes right in Chilli, and while the
present state of anarchy continues nobody's
life is safe. The foreigners who have money
invested here are blue as blue can be and
are devoutly wishing that they had sunk"
1t almost anywhere else. Grave as the sit
uation is, it has its ludicrous side, and in
spite of the trouble a good deal of amuse-
ment ia occasioned by some of the United
States newspapers that stray down here,
containing The most absurd accounts of
CHILEAN affairs, and giving detailed reports
of battles that never occurred. These are
doubtless evolved from the brains of en-
terprising journalists who are ION the
spot" in the home office and serve the
double purpose of filling space and satisfy
ing that gullible individual, yclept the gen-
eral reader.
Unfortunately, other reports are also
spread abroad in the north, which, though
they contain much ruth, are too one.sided
to give the public n correct knowledge OF
the case. For example, one of the great
New York dailies boasts of having in Santi-
ago a native Especial correspondent" The
journalist aforeeaid-who was born in Chill
of an American father and a CHILEAN mother
lis himself a member of the opposition,
though by no means a prominent one. He
is an ''alternate' in the CHILEAN congress,
which means that he has Il seat there in the
absence of a certain delegate, and belonging
to the rsbellious faction, is altogether too
deep in the mire to accord any sort of JUS
tice to the other side. This hot-headed
young man paints Balmaceda in lurid colors
as a tyrant and dictator, and has a great
deal to say about how 1.-THE country has had
enough of one-man power" etc,
The sober truth is, however, that the
political clique who desire to usurp the
rights OF the executive would not be likely
% set up n better regime-judging from
their actions during the past half year,
which have cost thousands of lives and
millions of dollars and nearly ruined the
country-than the long established order
"nion nao Aaoe ohlll tne moss prosperous
of SouthrAmerioan republics. Nobody dis
putes that Balmaceda was the fairly
selected choice of the people, or accuses
him OF having ever gone beyond the rights
accorded hlm by the constitution. So far
from aspiring to overmuch authority, his
first great mistake was in holding the reins
too loosely. Thu opposition were deter
mined to find fault, on one pretext or an
other. Among other things, they have per-
sls.ently objected to Balamaceda's choice
of ministers, though like the head OF every
other republic he has tho right to select
his own. Desiring to preserve peace
at any, personal sacrifice, the presi-
dent changed his cabinet at the de-
mand OF congress-; and still the
latter body refused to be placated because
tho ministers appointed did not belong to
tins particular faction. A second time the
cabinet was changed, and then a third time,
but with no better result. Unfortunately
for Chill these cranky congressman possess
much power for i'll, and by refusing to pass
needed appropriations, in their attempt to
coerce the executive. brought suffering upon
many people that led to riots and eventu-
ally to organized rebellion. The president
made every concession to preserve peace,
short of rendering his government 4 farce,
but the further both parties became in
VOWED in the middle the more natural
pride and obstinacy prevented rctraction.
and SO things went from bad to worse. If
IHe opposition nad really nhu the interests
Of the country at heart, considering that
Balmaceda's term was SO nearly over, they
would have directed their efforts toward
electing n man to succeed him
after their own minds and to amend
ing the constitution so as to limit
what they term ''one-man power Thus a
handful of interruptions politicians are di-
rectly responsible for the butchery of many
thousands of their countrymen. men,
women and children, for business failures
all over the land, and for the hunger and
that has come upon II large pro-
portion OF the people, and every man of
them ought to be executed az a traitor.
At the best of prices, food il very high in
Chilli, because so much of the country is not
agricultural. and now that supplies can no
longer be brought in from abroad, the
prices are simply tremendous and distress
prevails. Think of paying $40 a pound for
tough beef. $50 a can FOR condensed milk,
$50 a sack for flour, and 800 for a fatted
pig. How are poor people going to live
Whose wages, when business is prosperous,
sSldom exceed 70 cents per diem.
Now that the Chilian steamers are ocou-
sHed as war vessels, there is only the Eng
lish limo to bring tho mails down from
Panama, hence letters from the United
come even less frequently than be-
fore. All postal matter from Chill, whether
bound for Europe or the northern CONT
a,t NJ Ia pnrt ,ua, tl~n A,l,, - .-.i.