Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-05

had declared for the opposition (on the 9th
of January last), the President shut up all
the telegraph and telephone Offices, and all
the newspaper establishments in Santiago,
except one, which is under his own immedi-
ate control; so that even the citizens of the
capital know little of what is going on in
other parts of the Republic.
Neither Side Is Gaining.
During the last fortnight neither side
seems to have gained much advantage, and
the muddle still remains in statu quo. All
the Chilean ports are in possession of the
rebels, and in the most important of them
blockades have been established, thus COM
pletely paralyzing business of every kind.
OF Ofcourse, all foreign shipping had to leave
at once, or take the consequences and the
same would be true of foreign residents and
business houses In case of bombardment. :
BY order of the President, all the clubs Of
Santiago are closed, and the saloons and
cafes must shut their doors at 10 P. NJ. No
coaches or street cars are allowed to run after
midnight, and more than half the railway
trains have been stopped because, owing to
the blockade, Goals are becoming scarce and
scarcer. Unless some arrangement can
shortly be made, no trains at all can run,
and Santiago will soon be without gas and
in total darkness at night-s nice state Of
affairs amid the dangers of war, with kero-
sene at 81 25 per gallon in cheapest time,
and not much of 1t to had at any pricel
A letter received to-day from an English
friend who is engaged IN business in Chile's
capital tells ME that half Santiago is hiding,
and the prisons are crowded to Overfowing.
more than 600 reputable citizens being in
carcerated as suspected abettors of rebellion.
Day and night the streets are patrolled by
soldiers and armed policemen on horseback,
and the trembling and desolate city, under
strictest military law, is virtually in state
of siege.
In the Hands of q Few.
There is no telling how long the present
trying condition of affairs may continue, as
neither the President nor the opposition
know which way the remainder of the regu-
lar army may turn. The outcome of all
this trouble practically hinges on the will
of few commissioned ofhcers, and that the
President is somewhat doubtful about their
remaining with him is shown in the extraor-
dinary efforts he is making to raise new
troops by force. Mails can no longer go
northward from Chile by the usual route
up the Pacific to Panama, thence across the
1sthmus and to New York, via the Allan
must be sent overland to Buenos Ayres.
from Los Andes over the mountains and
across the Argentine Republic, requiring at
least ten days or more time in transit from
Santiago or Valparaiso to New York.
My correspondent, who is the most quiet
and fastidious of gentlemen, tells me how
he barely escaped spending night In Jail
himself. 1t happened in this way. The
clubs being closed, one evening after din
ner, accompanied by two other young En-
glishmen, he strolled into the Cafe Santiago
to learn the latest war news.
Confronted With Swords
They remained perhaps half an hour,
chatting with acquaintances and watching |
the crowd in the patio, where two or three |
hundred citizens were congregated, discuss
ing (probably minus the first syllable of the |
word), the deplorable situation. When the |
English trio started for home they were
amazed to find the gates guarded by squad |
of mounted policemen with drawn swords, |
who had orders to allow no one to depart. |
Though it went much against the grain of |
loyal Britons, they were compelled to SUBJ
init, and were kept there until midnight |
uncertain as to what their fate might be; |
when, it having been proven that they were
English subjects, who had taken no part in
Chile's political affairs, they were at last
permitted to depart In peace, but with dire
threats as to what would happen to them if
they were again caught in crowd
AS for the discussing citizens in the patio,
they were all marched off en- masse to San
Pablo, the common prison for the lowest
class of criminals, and kept there until
morning, as solemn warning not to do SO
any more.
The Trip to Tacna.
Though the railway journey to Tacna is
only 40 miles long, it requires nearly four,
hours to make it; partly because the latter
city stands 1000 feet higher and therefore
.he grade is in some places very heavy. The
route leads over waste of sand that shows
no semblance of life or verdure, except at the
halfway station named Ell Hospicio, where
l few scanty shrubs are kept alive by a sub
'erranean flow of water. The entrance to
'he green and fertile valley of Tacna is
marked by one Of those sudden transitions
rom desert waste to luxuriance of vegeta-
lion SO frequently met with in this part of
he world. The azequias, or irrigating
1itches, are always carried high up to the
extreme edge of u valley, and thence the
water is so freely distributed as to make
positively startling the contrast between
fields and environing desert
TaCna has mona of the Oriental aGpeof