Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-01-28
READ DTOCONCRESS
The Presidents Special Mes
sage on Chilean Affairs.
STORY OF THE CONTROVERSY.
Injury, Insult aud Brutality the Chief
Points af offense by the Southern Re-
pubiie-ai mister Egan'a Course Upheld.
The Diplomatic corres spondence.

fhe Diplomatic Correspondence.
WASHINGTON. Jan. e5.-The following
is President HarIison's message on the
Chilean situation, sent to congress:
70 the Senate and House of Representatives:
In my annual message delivered to
congress at the beginning of the present
session, after brief statement of the
facts then In the possession of this gov
ernment touching the assault III the city
of Valparaiso. Chile, upon the sailors OF
the United States ship Baltimore on the
evening of the 18th of October last,
said: This government is now awaiting
the result of an investigation which has
been conducted by the criminal court az
Valparaiso. 1t Is reported unofficially
that the investigation is about colnplet-
ed, and it is expected that The resultwiil
soon be communicated to this govern
ment, together with some adequate and
satisfactory response to the note by
which the attention of Chile was called
to this incident. Ii these Just expecta.-
tions should be disappointed or further
needless delay intervene, will by d
special message bring this matter again
to the attention of congress for such ac-
ton as may be necessary.
In my opinion the time has now
come when | should lay before congress
and the country the correspondence be-
tween this government and the govern
ment of Chill from the time of the
breaking out of she revolution against
Balmaceda, together with all the other
facts in the possession of the executive
department relating to this matter. The
diplomatic correspondence is herewith
transmitted, together with correspond
enCe between the naval officers for q
tiEle i'll command i'll Chilean waters. and
also the evidence taken at the Mare
Island navy yard since the arrival of the
| Baltimore at San Francisco.
Egan's Course Upheld.
! 1T may be well at the outset to say
that, whatever may have been said i'll
| Is country or in Chile in criticism of
| T. Egan, our minister at Santiago, the
/ true history of this exciting period in
/ Chilean affairs from the outbreak of the
revolution until this time discloses not
an act on the part of Mr.. Egan unworthy
of his position. or that could justly be
| the occasion for serious animadVersion OF
criticism. He has, 1 think, on the
whole, borne himself in every trying
circumstance with dignity, discretion
and courage and has conducted the cor
respondence with ability, courtesy and
| fairness. 1t is worth while, also. at the
beginning to say that the right of Mr..
Egan to give shelter in the legation to
certain adherents of the Balmaceda gov
ernment who applied to him for asylum
has not been denied by the Chilean au-
thorities, nor has any demand been
made for the surrender of these ref.
ugees.
That there was urgent need of asylum
is shown by Mr.. Egan's note of Aug. "A,
1891, describing the disorders that pre-
vailed in Santiago and by the. evidence
of Captain SehleY as to the pillage and
violence that prevailed at Valparaiso.
The correspondence disclosed, however,
that the request of Mr.. Egan for safe
conduct from the country in behalf of
these refugees was denied. The pre-
cedents cited by him in the CORE
lspondence, particularly the case of tho
revolution i'll Peru III 1855, did not leave
the Chilean government in position to
deny the right of asylum to political ref
ugees, and seemed very clearly to sup
port Mr.. Egan's contention that safe
conduct TO neutral territory was a neces-
sary and acknowledged incident of the
asylum. These refugees have very re-
Gently, without formal safe conduct,
but by the acquiescence of the Chilean
authorities, been placed on board
the Yorktown, and are now be-
ing conveyed to Callao, Peru.
This incident might be consid-
cred wholly closed, but for the disre-
spect manifested toward this govern
ment by the close and offensive police
surveillance of the legation premises
which were maintained during most OF
the period of the stay of the refugees
] = l. of ha dor Df InI
message and up to the time of the trans
fer of the refugees to the Yorktown.
The legation premises seem to have been
surrounded by police in uniform and po-
lice agents or detectives in citizens
dress, who extensively scrutiniZed per-
sons entering or leaving the legation and
on one or more occasions arrested men,
! bers of the ministers family.
Il Commander Evans, who by my di-
rection recently visited Mr.. Egan at
Santiago, in his telegram to the navy de-
partment described the legation "a ver-
liable prison and states that the police
agents or detectives We're after his ar
rival withdrawn during his stay. 1t ap-
pears further from the note of Mr..
: Egans of Nov 20, 1891, that on one oc-
easion at least these police agents, whom
he declared TO be known to him. invaded
I titt
windows, using insulting and threaten
ing language toward persons therein.
, This breach of the right of minister to
freedom from police espionage and re-
straint seems to have been SO fragrant
the Argentine minister. who was dean of
the diplomatic corps, having observed it,
felt called upon to protest against it to
, the Chilean minister of foreign affairs.
The Chilean authorities have, as will be
observed from the correspondence,
charged the refugees and the inmates OF
the legation with insulting the police
but it seems to me incredible that men
whose lives We're in jeopardy and whose
, safety could only be secured by retire
| ment and quietness should have sought
> to provoke collision which could only
end in their destruction, or to aggravate
, their condi, ion by intensifying a popu
lar feeling hat at one time so threatened
the legation as to require Mr.. Egan tC
appeal to the minister of foreign affairs
r The Baltimore Incident.
! "But the most serious incident dis
1 closed by the correspondence is that o.
0 the attack on the sailors of the Balti
more in the streets of Valparaiso ON the
: 10th of October last. We have now re
, ceived FROM the Chilean government ar
abstract Of the conclusion of the tisca
general upon the testimony taken by thu
:; Judge of crimes in the investigation
| which was made to extend over nearly
y three months. / very much regret to bt
e compelled to say that this report do
| not enable me to modify the conclusion
announced in my annual message. / an
(. stili of the opinion that our sailors wer
assaulted, beaten, stabbed and killed
not for anything they or any one O
u them had done, but for what the gov
t ernment Of the United States had done
or was charged with having done, by it
civil others and naval command<>s. /
= that be the true aspect of the case, tn
injury was to the government Of tn
United States, not to those poor sailor
@ ETho were assaulted in manner g
brutal and SO cowardly,
Il Before attempting to give an outlin
a of the facts upon which this conclusiol
rests, | think it right to say word o
II two upon the legal aspect of the case.
Tile Baltimore was in the harbor o
Valparaiso by virtue of that general in
yitation which nations are held to ex
tend to war vessels of other power
> when they have friendly relations
k This invitation. | think, must be hel,
C ordinarily to embrace the privilege o
: snch communication with the shore a
k is reasonable, necessary and proper fo
r the convenience Of the officers and mel