Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-02-05
BENJAMIN HARRISON
Official Answer From Chile.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29.-The CORE pond
ence mentioned by the president in
his last Chilean message to
was Ch1lls answer to the uIu1m T Ill
dated Jan. S6, and received at the tate
department at 9 a. m. Jan. 26. 1t war
transmitted by Egan and was a copy Of
Foreign Minister Pereira's answer to
Secretary ..Blaine's ultimatum. After
acknowledging the receipt Of Mr..
the substance Of the ultimatum and con-
tinues with the following language:
Without any intention of opening a dis
cussion as to the facts referred to by the
communication, which l have extracted,
and combining himself to the first part of
tho instructions of the honorable secretary
of state, the undersigned must state to
your excellency the regret with which the
government of Chill sees that his excel
lency, the president of the United States,
finds reason to continue to regard the Incl
dent of Oct. 16 as an attack caused by a
hostile feeling towards the uniform of the
navy of the United States. That unfor-
innate occurrence took place on Il sudden,
in a district whore the sailors of the YES
sells lying in the bay of Valparaiso are in
the habit of assembling, without dis
t~inction of nationality.
From the nature of the incident it would
be impossible to prove that there was no
doubt as to the special cause which served
as its origin or pretext. But the under
signed can assert that that cause was not
a hostile feeling towards the uniform of
the navy of the United States, because the
people of Chill nave always
Esteemed and Respected That Uniform
ever since the time when it saw it figuring
honorably in the ranks of soldiers and
sailors in a great struggle which gave it
independence and established the repub-
lie. The undersigned admits that the &C.
currenoe of Oct. IL was of greater gravity
than those which usually occur in the
same district between the sailors which
frequent it, and the fact of knowing that
two deaths have resulted from it among
the sixteen wounded men of the. Balti-
, more, has suficed to give an extraordi-
nary character and to induce the govern
ment Of Chill to hasten to adopt the meas
ures necessary to discover and punish the
guilty parties, to offer in due time, if there
should be ground for 80 doing, reparation
as might be due.
The preliminary examination was COM
menced on the morning which. followed
the night of the conflict some days before
you presented your complaint. But the
Investigation could not be finished with
the rapidity which the government of
Chill desired, because the rules of pro-
ceedure in criminal matters which are
established by our laws are of slow appli-
cation. and it was not possible for the
president to modify or set them aside
This delay, which was inevitable owing to
the Independence with which the judicial
authorities must act, has compelled the
government Of the undersigned to delay,
greatly to it's regret, the settlement of the
difficulty pending with your government
and a spontaneous offer of %reparation for
any injury done to the sailors Of the Balti-
more and that might be attributed
% CHILEAN soldiers and sailors, or
that might affect the responsibility
Ilrs