Los Angeles herald., 1892-01-29

ent.
Accept renewed assurances of nv
highest consideration.
JAMES G. BLAINE.
EGAN TO BLAINE.
SANTIAGO, Chile. Jan. %.
To Blaine Washington:
l have today received the following
reply to my note of the 22d inst:
SIR: The undersigned has had the
honor to receive your excellehcy's COM
municatioh, dated the 22d inst. received
in this department the Esd, and duly
authenticated copies of the instructions
which the honorable secretary of state
of Washington sent your excellency by
cable under dates of the 21st inst. and
the 23d of October, 1891. In the
instructions of the 21st inst. the
honorable secretary of state informs
your excellency that his excellency
President Harrison, after carefully ex-
amining all that has been submitted to
him by the government of Chile with re-
spect to the event which occurred in
Valparaiso on the evening of the 10Th of
October, aud taking into consideration
the testimony of the officers and crew of
the vessel Baltimore, and of others who
Witnessed the event, has arrived at the
following conclusions:
"First-That with regard to that as
sault there has been no change whatever
made in the character given to it by the
first report of the event; that it was an
attack upon the uniform of the navy OF
the United States, which had its origin
and motive in a feeling of hostility
towards that government and not in anv
act of individual sailors belonging to it.
"Second-That the public authorities
of Valparaiso evidently didsnot do their
duty in protecting those sailors, and
that part OF the police and some Chilean
soldiers and sailors rendered themselves
guilty of unprovoked assaults on sailors
OF the United States before and after the
latter were arrested, and that he be-
lieves Riggin was killed by police or
soldiers and
"Third-That he is consequently COM
PEELED to carry the question back to the
state in which it was placed by the hon
orable Mr.. Wharton, dated October Esd,
and to ask for suitable satisfaction and
some adequate reparation for the injury
done the government of the United
States.
"The honorable Secretary of State
Blaine regrets that the government of
Chile has not from the very first duly
appreciated the gravity of the question
raised, and that it has attributed to it
no other Importance than that of an or
dinary quarrel between sailors, adding:
NO government which respects itself can
consent to civil or military persons en-
ployed in its service being maltreated or
killed in foreign territory on account of
resentment for acts which it may have
committed, or which might be imputed
to it, without requiring adequate repara-
tion.'
1.-The Honorable Mr.. Blaine in this
connection recalls the fact that the gov
ernment OF the United States has volun-
tarily recognized this principle and has
accordingly, when injury has been COM
mitted by its people against any one
holding an official position for foreign
country, in consequence of acts which
had aroused resentment, never sought
words OF little or ambiguous meaning
in order to get reparation, but has con-
demned such acts in vigorous and ener-
getic terms, and has never refused to
give others adequate satisfaction
1.-The Honorable Secretary of State
Blaine states, moreover, it is not his
intention to discuss the details of the
incident of October, but to set forth the
conclusion at which his government has
arrived. The honorable secretary of
state says: we have given every kind
of opportunity to the government of
Chile during great part of the time
which has elapsed since the 10th of Oc-
tOber.'
He then adds that he is directed bv
his excellency President Harrison to
say that he has been compelled to take
notice of the instructions sent by Malta,
minister Of foreign affairs, to the Chi
lean minister at Washington, under
date December 18th, because although
they were not officially communicated
to his government, they had re-
ceived the greatest possible publicity,
and that consequently he demanded
an immediate withdrawal of said in
structiens, as to those parts which he
considers offensive, and adequate salts
faction in order that diplomatic rela-
tions between the two nations NAV not
be interrupted.
"Without any intention of opening
a discussion as to the facts referred to
by the communication from which /
have extracted, and confning himself
to the first part of the instructions of
the honorable secretary of state, the
undersigned must state to your ex-
cellency the regret which the govern
ment of Chile sees that his excellency
the president of the United States finds
reason to continue to regard the
incident of October 18th as an attack
caused by hostile feeling towards the
uniform of the navy of the United
States. That unfortunate occurrence
took place suddenly in district where
sailors of vessels lying in the bay of Val
paraiso are in the habit of assembling
without distinction as to nationality.
From the nature of the incident. IL
would be impossible to prove that there
was no doubt as to the special cause
which served as it origin or pretext.
But the undersigned can assert that the
cause was not hostile feeling towards the
United States navy, because the people
of Chile always esteemed and respected
that uniform. ever since the time when
it saw it figuring honorably in the ranks
OF the soldiers and sailors who, in a
glorious struggle, gave it Independence
and established the republic.
s'The undersigned admits that the oc-
currence of October 10Th was of greater
gravity than those which usually occur
in the same district between sailors
which frequent it, and the fact of know
ing that two deaths have resulted from
it among sixteen wounded men of
the Baltimore, has sufiiced to give an