Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-01
FACTS FROM THE DOCUMENTS.

While the last message of the President
on the Chilean question gives dates which
on the face of the matter clear away the
charge that he sent in the message after
the satisfactory reply of the Chilean Gov
eminent had been received, there are
| certain other facts which a study of the
documents disclose and which cannot pass
without due notice.
In the first place the documents accom-
panying the first message show that the
President had when he sent it to Congress
ever reason to expect an answer from
Chile Y2 uiSimatum to Chile was dated
January 2i, but it took two days to get it
into the hands Of the Chilean Minister of
Foreign Affairs. That Minister stated
that reply would be sent on Monday,
January 25, giving reasons why it could
not be sooner transmitted which were con-
ceded to be satisfactory by our Depart
ment of State. The reply was made on
January %, as promised, yet with that
promise before him the President took
care to send in his message before the
Chilean reply was received, with the sim
pie statement that he did not think he
ought to delay any longer in communi-
eating the facts to Congress.
Beyond that, in the light of the corre-
spondence accompanying the two mes
Sages, it is clear that the President had
every reason to believe that the Chilean
reply would be satisfactory In fact, both
the ultimatum and the message are placed
in anything but desirable light by the
disclosure that every avowal of the final
reply, now deemed satisfactory, had been
already given in separate communications,
and that the sole characteristic of the pa
cific reply consisted of combining and en-
phasizing the assurances of previous COM
munications. The sole important excep-
ton 10 this is the withdrawal of the re-
quest for Egan's recall, which involves a
right we have too often recognized to dis
pute in this case
Whatever Emergencies of statement
there may be between Mr. Blaine and
Senor Montt, it is clear that arbitration
had been frequently referred to as way
of settling the difficulty if agreement was
not possible, and Mr. Montt had Informed
our Government that he was authorized to
express Chile'S agreement to that mode of
settlement if necessity should arise The
correspondence shows that the Chilean
Government had twice formally expressed
its regret for and disavowal of
the Valparaiso riot; had sew
eral times protested its desire for
friendly relations with the United States,
and renewed the pledge given from the
first for the punishment of the guilty par
ties, and had signifed its willingness to
withdraw whatever was deemed by the
United States Government to be objection
able in the Malta note In short, with the
single exception noted above, everything
contained in Chile's answer to the ulti-
matum had been pledged in the CORE
spondence before the President hurled his
ultimatum at Santiago and sent his mes
sage to Congress, just in time to save it
from being reduced to waste paper by the
answer which he was assured was coming.
Under these circumstances, which are
matters of record, the fortunate termina-
ton of the Chilean controversy must be
credited to the calm and pacific action of
the Chilean Government; while the haste
of the President in launching his thunder
bolts is to be accounted for by hypothesis
that are far from satisfactory.