Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-01-29
APOLOGY OR FIGHT.
Presidents Message to Con-
gress on the Chilean Affair.
A REVIEW OF THE DISPUTE

Must BE respected--A Minister Egan's
course Sustained by President Harri-
son-rith Of the Correspondence Com
corning Ecan's Relations with the
chilean Government.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2G.-The presidents
message on Chile was received at the
house Monday at l2:41. The call of states
was suspended, and there was silence
throughout the chamber. Every member
was in his seat. The message of the
president was lisened to with profound
attention. At the conclusion of the read
ing there was loud applause at the
American sentiments it contained. This
applause was general on both sides of the
house, AID the r,"esoge was referred with
out discussion &. the committee on
foreign affal4. Pending the reading
General Cogs"ell rose to the quc.1on of
privilege and called attention to the fact
that the reading clerk had skipped the
p &c which contained the utimatum.
The following is the message and the
the correspondence:
The Message.
To THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPREsEN-
TATlvEs:
In my annual message. delivered to con-
gress at the beginning of the present SEES
sion. after n brief statement of the facts
then in the possession of this government
touching the assault in the streets of
Valparaiso Chile. upon the sailors of the
United States ship Baltimore on the even
ing of the 10Th of October last, | said:
"This government is now awaiting the
result of an investigation which has been
con ucted by the criminal court at Val
paraso. 1t is reported unoiiicially that
the investigation is about completed, and
it is expected that the result will soon be
communicated to this government, to-
gether with some adequate and satiSfac-
tory response to the note by which the at
tcntion of Chile was called to this Incl
dent. If these just expectations should
he disappointed or further needless delay
intervene. | will by a special message
bring this matter again to the attention
of gress for such action as may be
necessary
Submitting Our Ministerto Indignations
The president then goes on to recite
cases where our representative had been
deliberately nsulted by the Chilean au-
thorities because he choose to give asylum
to certain adherants to the Balmaceda
government: that the legation was a
VeritHble prison, surrounded by CHILEAN
detectives and spies: that they invaded the
precincts of the Legations bit the most
serious incident disclosed by the cor
rr~pondence of our minister was that of
the attack upon the sailors of the Balti-
more in the streets of Valparaiso on Oct.
Is last In my annual message. speaking
upon the Information then in my posses
sion, said: so far a. have yet been
able to learn, no other explanation of this
blDody work has been suggested than that
it had its origin in hostility to these men
as sailors of the United States. wearing
the uniform of their government, and not
in any Individual act or personal an
imosity.'
y Brief statement of the Case.
In my opinion the time has cona when |
should lay before the congress and the
country the correspondence between this
government and the government of Chile,
from the time of the breaking out of the
revolution against Balmacena, together
with all other facts in the possession of The
executive department relating to this mat
ter. The diplomatic cores pondence is
herewith transmitted, together with some
correspondence between naval officers for
the time in command in Chilean waters.
and the secretary of the navy, and also the
evidence taken at the Mare Island navy
yard since the arrival of the Baltimore at
San Francisco. do not deem it necessary
in this connection to attempt any full ana
lysis of the correspondence or of the evil
ience. A brief restatement of the inter
national questions involved and of the rea-
sons which the responses of the Chilean
government are unsatisfactory is all that
deem necessary. IL may he well at the
outset, to say that, whatever may have
been said in this country or in Chile in
criticism of Mr.. Egan, our minister at
Santiago. the true history of this exciting
period in Chilean affairs from the out
break of the revolution until this time.
discloses no act on the part of Mr.. Egan
unworthy of his position or that could
justly be the occasion of serious animal
version or criticism.
The Government Insulted.
We have now received from the Chilean
government an abstract of the conclusions
Of the fiscal general upon the testimony
taken by the judge of crimes in an investi
cation which was made to eNtenl over
nearly three months. ] very much regret
TO be compelled to say that this report does
not enable me to modify the conclusions
announced in my annual message | an
still of the opinion that our sailors were
assaulted, beaten, stabbed and killed, moi
for anything they, or any one of them
had done, but for what the government o
the United States had done, or was charged
with having done, by its civil officers anC
naval commanders. If that be the tru,
aspect of the case, the injury was to tn
government of the United States, not u
the poor sailors who We're assaulted in
manner so brutal and so cowardly.
Brief Incident of the Affair.
The incidents of the affair are briefly a
follows: On Oct, 10 last, Captain Schley
commanding thp limited States shi
Baltimore, gave shore leave to III petit
officers and sailors of his ship. Thes
men left the ship about 1880 p. IN No in
cdent of violence occurred; none of on
men were arrested; no complaint wa
lodged against them; nor did any coll
sion or outbreak occur until about
O'Clock p m, Captain Schley states tina
he was himself on shore and about til
streets OF the city until $50 p. m. that i
met very many of his men who wei
upon leave; that they were sober an