The Washington herald., 1920-04-06
Irish and English Figure "
Prominently Among Chilean
History's List of Great Men

StTOnB B-neduSu, anu sOOh diOuoco w
position, which forced his resigna-
ton and led to the formation of an
assembly. and Chile elected its first
President in 1881.
Admiral Cochrane was q hearty
English seadog. q little out OF
favor at home just then, and seek;
ing employment o'Higgins put him
to work. There were Spanish war
ships on the ocean. and a Spanish
stronghold at the Chilean port of
valdivia. with two small vessels
Cochrane sailed into Valdivia Bay.
trusting to bad Spanish marksman-
ship to get through-which he did.
Then he made g. night attack on
the forts, which the defenders con-
sldered an impossible feat in the
dark. and in the morning found
they had been captured. After that
he proceeded to clean UP the Span
ish navy. with the same success.
Cochrane was resourceful in war
devices, among other things being
one of the first to propose poison
gas, by using sulphur fumes and
the wind to make hostile ships and
forts untenable. His habit of doing
the unexpected thing profoundly
worried the Spaniards.
Spectacular Sen Battles.
Because the Chileno Is born
sailor, some OF his most spectacular
achievements have been performed
on sea. In the war with Peru and
Bolivia in 1879, the Chilean navy
had only a few old wooden ves-
sells, whereas. the Peruvians pos
sessed a couple of ironclads, bought
in Europe. Capt. Arturo Prat
tackled the Peruvian ironclad
Huascar with the old Chilean
wooden corvette Esmeralda. stood
up four hours, was rammed three
times and finally went down with
guns firing and colors flying. The
Peruvian admiral, Grau. sent a let
ter Of sympathy and admiration to
his adversary's widow. On the
same day the larger Peruvian iron
clad, Independence, ran on the
rocks chasing a Chilean schooner
OF 1000 tons and was destroyed. A
few months later the Chileans cap
tured the Huascar, ended the Pc
ruvian sea power: and subsequently
took Bolivia's ports, cutting her or
from the ocean. The high charac-
ter of the Chileno navy is further
illustrated by the fact that in 1891,
following Chile's only revolution in
recent times, the factions settled
upon Capt. Jorge Montt, of the
navy, as a sailor-president, and his
impartiality laid the foundations
for the peaceful progress that has
gone on in Chile the last thirty
years.
One Of Chile's greatest men was
the poet and scholar. Andres Bello.
Born in Venezuela, he spent his life
studying and writing, part Of It in
London. Then the Chilean govern
ment invited him to Santiago, where
he edited the Official newspaper
and conducted O school in which
literature was chiefly taught. and
from which a fine group of young
writer's emerged In a few years.
Then he reorganized the Unfver-
sity OF Chile, wrote the nations s
civil code and gave a tremendous
impetus to education. His learn
ing and character were such that
he was frequently called in as an
arbitrator when disputes arose be-
tween Latin American countries,
and in 1864 he settled one between
Ecuador and the United States
Upon his death the Chilean gov
ernment, which has always been
conspicuous for rendering official
tribute to 'benefactors, paid the ex-
penses of publishing his collected
writings in a dozen volumes.
Copyright 1920. Public Ledger Col