The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-11-05

her search-light upon them, compelling them
70 desist and Withdraw. This has been found
to be untrue.
The second complaint is that while the Con-
gresSiOnalists were landing on the coast lust
previous TO their final victory, Admiral Brown
went down to the place Of landing in the Bal.i-
more, made an accurate count Of their men and
guns, and then steaming back 10 Valparaiso.
ielcgraphed the Information 20 BIlmaceda. In
reply to this II is said that while Admiral
Brown was undoubtedly iudiscreet in his mani
fe>taii0ns Of Interest in the struggle. aud did
inspect the landing aud movements, he never
communicated with Balmaceda, aud his private
letters show that all his sympathies were with
the COngressionalists.
The third complaint Is that our Navy vir-
tually blockadcd the ports OF Chile, 90 the dis
advantage Of the insurgents; that q bulle
was posted in the Chamber Of Commerce in
Philadelphia warning American ships against
entering the Congres,iOnalist port OF Iquique,
i'm consequence OF which the people Of that city
were deprived Of food supplies and would have
been reduced to the condition Of famine. had il
not been for the arrival Of English and Aus
traliau ships. 10 was at first charged that this
bulletin was inspired By the State Department
but this was disprovcd Then the Treasury
Department WAS charged with IL, with like re-
suit. Now IL is graveiy doubted if ever such a
bulletin was posted by anyone, as no trace
of IL can lie discovered
The fourth compliant is that this Govern
mcnt ordered the President Of the Central and
South American Telegraph Company to restore
communication between VALPARAISO and the
outside world, and this was done under duress.
The truth is that the CongIessioualists cut the
cable between lquique and Valparaiso, at the
time the telegraph company was seeking further
concessions from Balmacedn in order 10 extend
its line into the Argentine Republic Minister
Egan wrote, unoiicialIy, thatif thesc concessions
were desired the company had better make an
effort To restore communication with Valparaiso.
The company sent a vessel To- lift and repair the
cable. and while the work was being done tho
Baltimore remained in tho vicinity. The
President Of the company. not being able 90 Sc
cure his concessions from the dead Balmaceda,
now seeks 10 place the responsibility upon our
Government, IN order to make his peace with
the victorious faction, and secure his con-
cCssiOEs.
The last complaint is in regard 10 tho Itata
affair, which they claim was an Unnecessary and
uniriendly act. They are particularly streHu-
Gus against the bond exacted, and say that If
we were disposed 10 bo ut all friendly. we
should have been satisfied with the word Of the
COngressIOnalists, instead of exactIng a bond.
Against this our Government says that our
laws specifically require bond from vessels
violating our laws. and that the United States
was very lenicnt in regard TO the bond, only
asking for 100000, where it could have de-
manded the full value Of the vessel 5000. 600
in order that the bond might be easily secured
The Government has further shown its good
will by Offering to release the Itata upon the
mere payment Of the costs Of the proceedings,
an offer which Chile has not yet accepted.
oCR AVAILABLE FORCE
Any conflict with Chile must Of course be
primarily naval. The issue could hardly reach
a point involving land operations unless il
should become necessary TO crush the power Of
Chile completely as we crushed Mexico in
l5lG Il. Opinions differ to the suiIicicucy
Of our existing naval force TO make a successful
demonstration. The Chileaus have two iron.
clads. Tho AlmFaute COchrane is a broadside
ship carrying six heavy guns Of Armstrong;
make and comparatively obsolete pattern.
She has maximum thickness Of 10 inches Of
wTOught-iTon armOr on her Water-liue belt aud
her guns are protected by six-inch casrmates,
also iron. She fires two guns straight ahead,
two nearly straight asteFn and three on either
broadsde. Although they are called 300
pOunders,' tue COcnrans's guns arc much in
ferior in power 10 our modern 5-inch gun,
which throws a 25OpOund shot. The ma
nUverng speed Of the COchraue Is about nine
knots an hour She was built ia England in
ls77-78
The Huascar is an old single turreted monitor
captured from the PeTuvians in 1851 She is
of about the same offensive and defensive power
as our old siuge-turrefed monitors Of the
" Saugu5" class, used during the war Of the
rebellion. Her speed is five or six knots an
hour, and she can manuver at even that rate
only IN smooth water. She was built in 1861
and partially rebuilt in 1879.
The only unarmorcd cruiser Of any account
in the Chilean navy IS the Esmeralda, which,
with some notifications, formed the model on
which our cruisers Boston and Atlanta were
built. She differ from them in having twin
screws and no sail power. Her battery is two
l0-inch guns aud six 6-inch; while those Of
tho Boston aud Atlanta are two 5-inch and six
6-inch guns However, the American g.
inch gun Of this date is nearly, il not quite,
equal in power 10 the Armstrong l0-inch gun
OF 1880, which the EsmeFalda carries
In addition 10 this force Chile has two ex-
celent torpedo cruisers of about $50 tons each
and Of about 20 knots speed on their trial trips.
During the late revolution these boats adj
heIed to the cause Of Balmaceda aud demon
strated their efficiency by sinking the Congress
sOna ironclad Blauco Encalada, a sister ship
20 the Coehrane above described. However, it
must be borne in mind. that the Encalada was
helpless, being at anchor, with n crankshaft
aud other important parts OF her machinery on
shore for repairs 50 that she was unable 10 move
from her mOOrings. These two boats known as
the Lynch and the Condel. would doubtless
prove the most formidable part of the Chilean
navy in any contest with our ships at this time.
Chile has two other new cruisers Just built
Ina France-the Pinto and the Ewasuriz. but
they were still in the haTbOrs Of France al last
accounts, awaiting final settlement between
Chile aud the contractors who built them. II
is doubtful If they could be made available in