CHAPTER V. 



THE GOVERNMENT. 



CITIZENSHIP. DEPUTIES AND SENATORS. CONGRESS. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. SENATE. CONSERVATIVE COMMIS- 

 SION. THE PRESIDENT. CABINET MINISTERS. COUNCIL OP STATE. PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT. THE M.MIM- 

 TRATION OP JUSTICE. TRIBUNALS, AND JUDGES OP COURTS. RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES. PUBLIC DEBT. 



To be entitled to the rights of citizenship in Chile, one must have been born within the 

 republic, or of Chilean parents temporarily residing in a foreign country. Strangers desiring 

 to become citizens may obtain letters of naturalization by special act of Congress ; otherwise 

 they are required to declare their intentions before the municipality in which they reside, and 

 undergo a probation of ten years, unless married and their families reside in the country, in 

 which case six years' residence entitles them to naturalization. If married with a Chilena, the 

 period is farther reduced to three years. 



Freedom of suffrage extends to every male citizen, twenty-five years of age, who can read and 

 write, and possesses real estate of a certain value (fixed by each province once in ten years), or who 

 has a trade or employment, the income or usufruct of which is equal to the annual rent of such 

 real estate. The limitation is now $200 per annum. These requisites being fulfilled, his name 

 must be registered in the archives of the municipality to which he belongs at least three months 

 before an election, and a certificate of qualification be taken out. His rights are suspended 

 when he becomes a domestic servant, when physically or morally incapacitated from exercising 

 free will, if a long-standing debtor to the treasury, and if under arrest for a crime involving 

 infamous punishment. They are forfeited when he becomes naturalized elsewhere ; when he 

 remains abroad more than ten years without permission from the President ; when he accepts 

 foreign service, distinction, or pension, without especial authority from Congress ; when guilty 

 of fraudulent bankruptcy ; and when condemned to infamous punishment. Besides the free- 

 holders and artisans who possess the requisite income, all who are enrolled as members of the 

 national guard are entitled to the right of suffrage. 



So far as the property and intellectual qualifications are concerned, the law is a dead letter, or 

 at least is openly violated at every election ; and thus, whilst there is nominal republicanism, and 

 a ballot-box through which public sentiment may be expressed, the result of every election is so 

 perfectly well known in advance at Santiago, that preparations are made for it in all confidence. 

 In the country there are neither small property-holders, nor moderate-sized estates, unless 

 the summer residences of a few wealthy citizens may be so regarded. These, the miners, and 

 the haciendados, who own thousands of acres, alone possess property outside the limits of the 

 cities. As for reading and writing, it may be safely asserted that not more than one in five of 

 the inquttinos or peons on the estates are able to tell one letter from another. To them the will 

 of the proprietor is paramount ; and as he furnishes them fictitiously with the property qualifi- 

 cation, they, of course, deposit the ticket he supplies. The few who can read or write are 

 without newspapers or books ; even the Bible is prohibited to them. Knowing nothing of 

 politics, or of the candidate or candidates, if by chance there be opposition to those chosen by 

 government, and, if possible, caring less, compliance with what is desired brings with it nei- 

 ther sacrifice of principle nor bitterness of feeling. There can be no doubt that all candidates, 

 even the presidential aspirant, was under control of the haciendados and miners a few years 

 ago ; but the law which gave a vote to each member of the national guard, and continued the 

 appointment of officers in his hands, will, for a while, weaken their power over him. 



Legislative power ite confined to a Chamber of Deputies, and Senate. The former is composed 

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