The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-22
The ARMY and NAVY OF Chilli
compal ed With Uncle Sans
Means Of Warfare.
The Little Republic Has n Splendid Navy
With More Vessels Building, hut tho
United States Should Easily Overcome
Her on Land or Sea-Chili's Resources.
Crippled by tho Recent Civil War.

The Gillian army is formidable only
on paper. In 1Ss3 it contained two regi-
ments OF artillery, ten battalions of in
fantry and three regiments of cavalry.
with 1,023 officers and l2,45O men. Bv
tho law of 1854, however, this establish
ment was reduced and limited to 1O.41O
men at most.
In 1901 the strength of the standing
army on paper had fallen to 397
officers and 5,719 mon. organized i'm
elght battalions of infantry, two regi-
ments of field artillery, three regiments
OF cavalry. one battalion of sappers, and
one battalion OF coast artillery. The
effective strength of this army, how
over, was estimated by German colo
mel last year as only 2,3O5 men, for dur
ing 1890 no fewer than 1,l5S had de-
serted
Besides its a,3O5 regulars the Gillian
government has, in times of peace. n
national guard of 4S.G men and e,119
officers, to which every Gillian able to
bear arms is supposed to belong. The
national guard, like the regular army,
is much more considerable on paper
than in reality At, tho BEGINNING Of
last year it was estimated to contain
$1,000 men ana 1,055 officers, poorly
drilled and armed and almost undiscip-
lined. This force is divided amonr
thirtY-four regiments of infantry, three
separate companies, eleven souadrons
of cavalry, and n few old fashioned bat
teries.
Tho organization of the Gillian
army, wrote German military author
ity last February, 'is pretty wretched
affair, and patriotic Chilians have long
n nCh ".
is hardly better than the organization.
So for instance, the cavalry is drilled
according to the Spanish system of SO7.
On the other hand, the weapons of tho
regular army are sufficiently modern.
The field artillery has Krupp guns, and
the infantry has Mannlicher rifles. Tho
ammunition factories and repair shops
are under the supervision of German
officers"
Not tho least of the seri ous defects of
tho CHILEAN army is that it has an
amazingly largo number of commits
stoned officers. Every battalion has ono
colonel, two majors and two captains.
The change, moreover, from tho peace
formation to the war 70, ma ton has boen
in no way provided for.
The weakness Of the CHILEAN army is
more the result of poor management OF
war ministers and inspectors general
than OF lack of good material. The
Chilian soldiers are fair fighters, as 5O,-
600 of Thorn showed in the war with
Bolivia and Peru some twelve wears ago.
They arc, besides, hardy and uncom-
planning, and of phe nomenal endurance.
In the last war the CHILEAN infantry did
some astonishingly good marching.
Marches Of thirty or thirty three miles
day, beyond the power OF thu highly
trained European troops, were for them
nothing extraordinary. The cavalry
showed similar ability to withstand
fatigue. Marching day and night / t
several times covered sixty or more
miles at stretch. The secret Of this
endurance of tho mounted soldiers is
that every CHILEAN is at home on horse.
back and that every horse, when ridden
at gallop, the only gait of the Gillian
cavalry, has almost ineXhaustible
strength.
THE GILLIAN NAVY.
Chii's best war vessel, and the only
one which gives our navy any concern,
is the Captain Pratt, and fortunately this
has not yet come into her possession
being still under construction ut Les
forgeS ct ChantierS de Ia Mediterranee
OF Toulon. Tho Pratt is an armored steel
battle ship Of G,900 tons displacement, a
little larger, therefore, than our Maine,
and was launched December 20, 1890.
| 1t Is believed that she is now complete,
with the exception Of receiving her bat
terry. She has belt of IL inches of
steel and is credited with speed Of 10
knots. Her powerful armament in
cludes, in the first place, four 916-inch
Canet breech-loading rifles mounted in
barbette turrets, one forward, ono aft
! and ono on each side amidships.
| The question whether she will be deliy-
cred to Chilli by her contractors before
| tho outbreak of hostilities, supposing
that war should actually occur, is II
highly important one. If she should
not be SO delivered, she would be OF no
use TO the Chilians, since she would un-
doubleday DO detained by the French
government
Two other new vessels, launched at
La Seyne in June and September. 1890,
are the Presidente Errazuriz and Presi-
dente Pinto. These have been deliv-
cred 10 Chill, and are ready for service.
They arc protected cruisers OF 1850
tons displacement or just about that of
the Detroit and her sister ship launched
recently at Baltimore. They have q
length OF eos feet by breadth of
1914, and are built for speed
The Errazuriz. in trials under in
duced draught, ran six times
over tho measured course OF 1861
nautical miles, and her average speed
was IS 2-5 knots.
The Esmeralda was considered in her
day the best all-around cruiser OF her
| type atioat. She was launched in June,
1885, at tho establishment OF Sir VIII
| liam Armstrong 81 Co. She is q pro-
tected cruiser OF 2,Sl0 tons displace-
ment, and originally carried two 10-inch
nx,l ~, a.. tanl