CHILI. 



COCHIN- CHINA. 



223 



The next census will not be taken until 1864, 

 but according to a reliable estimate, made in 

 1857, the population in that year amounted to 

 about 1,600,000. The northern frontier is still 

 an object of controversy between Chili and 

 Bolivia ; the latter demanding the extension of 

 its southern frontier to lat. 25 S. ; while 

 Chili claims possession of all the territory as 

 far as lat, 21 48' S. 



On the south, Chili lays claim to all the east- 

 ern coast as far as the Straits of Magalhaens, 

 but its possession is only nominal. Its claims 

 have been especially resisted by the Indians of 

 the province of Araucania, a country which in 

 its manners, its customs, its organization, and 

 its local government has remained as thorough- 

 ly Indian as it was at the time when the Span- 

 iard Ervilla made it the subject of his epic. It 

 has always been in a degree independent, and 

 the successive governments of Chili have in 

 vain attempted to complete its subjection. At 

 the beginning of the presidency of Mr. Perez, 

 who was inaugurated in September, 1861, 

 another attempt was made to enter into nego- 

 tiations with the Araucanians. The governor, 

 of Nacimiento was charged with sending com- 

 missioners to the Indians, in order to convoke 

 their chiefs to a conference, but the Indians 

 refused to come, and the chief cacique, Guen- 

 tecol, wrote to President Perez a very haughty 

 letter, which indicated anything but a disposi- 

 tion to submit. Suddenly the controversy be- 

 tween Chili and the Araucanians took a singular 

 turn. A Frenchman, M. de Tounens. who lived 

 among the Araucanians, succeeded in making 

 them believe that he would be able to defend 

 them against Chili, and was consequently elect- 

 ed by them king under the name of Aurelie 

 Antoine I. The new king formed a constitution, 

 and although his movements at first created a 

 great deal of merriment in Chili, the govern- 

 ment now found it necessary to devise means to 

 get rid of him. Early in 1862 disguised Chil- 

 ians were therefore sent into Araucania, who 

 reached the place where the king held his 

 court ; a policeman seized him, put him on his 

 horse, and in full gallop escaped with him from 

 the pursuing Indians. He has since been con- 

 fined in a prison of Chili. 



Chili is celebrated for the tranquillity which 

 it has enjoyed since the establishment of the 

 republican form of government. Subsequent 

 to the adoption of the constitution in 1833 

 there have been only three presidents, each one 

 serving two terms (of five years each). The 

 last presidential election took place in 1861. 

 On June 25th, the people chose electors ; these 

 met on July 25th for the election of the Presi- 

 dent : on August 30 the assembled Chambers 

 opened the returns and officially announced 

 the result, and in September the President 

 elect. Jose Joaquin Perez, was solemnly induct- 

 ed into his office by his predecessor. Mr. Perez 

 had been elected unanimously; of 216 electoral 

 votes, 214 were cast for him, and the two elec- 

 tors who were absent, declared that they would 



likewise have voted for him. The new Presi- 

 dent belongs to one of the first families of the 

 country, and is about 60 years old. He com- 

 menced his political career, in 1829, as secre- 

 tary of legation in France. A few years 

 later, when Chili was involved in war with 

 the new Peru Bolivian Confederacy Perez 

 was sent to Buenos Ayres to effect an alliance 

 with the Dictator Rosas. He has since been 

 successively, councillor of state, minister f 

 finances, of the interior, of foreign affairs, pres- 

 sident of the Chamber of Deputies and of the 

 Senate. 



The aim of the new President was to effect 

 a fusion of the conservative and the liberal 

 parties. He therefore proposed to the Cham- 

 bers a law of amnesty, which was adopted by 

 them unanimously on Oct. 7th and 8th, 1861. 

 His cabinet consisted partly of conservatives 

 and partly of liberals. This conciliatory policy 

 was, however, attacked by partisans of both 

 parties, and led, on June 20th, 1862, to a 

 change of the cabinet : yet the new one was 

 again composed of conservatives and liberals. 



CHINA. See TAE-PIKG REBELLION. 



COCHIN-CHINA, or the EMPIRE OF ANAM, 

 is a state occupying the eastern portion of the 

 peninsula of Farther India, in S. E. Asia. It is 

 separated from China on the north by a pro- 

 longation of the Himalaya Mountains, and its 

 northern boundary nearly follows the line of 

 the Tropic of Cancer ; on the east the Gulf of 

 Tonquin, or Tong-king, as the natives call it, 

 and the Chinese Sea wash its shores, the latter 

 forming also its southern boundary ; on the 

 west the Laos Mountains separate it from the 

 Kingdom of Siam, and at the X. "W. from the 

 Burmese Empire. Its population is about 

 13,000,000. Its area is probably not far from 

 320,000 square miles. Aside from the moun- 

 tain ranges which form its northern and 

 western boundaries, a chain of considerable 

 height, the mountains of Moi or Anam range, 

 traverse the whole length of the country from 

 Tonquin to the river Saigon, following the trend 

 of the coast, and at a distance of fifty to sixty 

 miles from it, and spurs from the Laos Moun- 

 tains extend eastward to the valley of the Me- 

 kong river, in the interior. The country is 

 everywhere well watered: from the eastern 

 slope of the mountains of Moi. numerous short 

 streams, rarely navigable, find their way to the 

 Gulf of Tonquin and the Chinese Sea : while the 

 interior is abundantly irrigated by the great 

 Me-kong, or Cambodia river, one of the great 

 rivers of S. E. Asia, and its affluents. This river, 

 which is also the outlet of the great lake of 

 Tali-sab in Siam. enters the Chinese Sea and the 

 Gulf of Siam by ten or twelve principal, and 

 many small channels, and has formed an im- 

 mense delta of rich though marshy soil, form- 

 ing nearly one half of the state of Lower Cochin- 

 China. This delta yields in great profusion, 

 rice, sugar, and other semi-tropical and trop- 

 ical products, while the mountainous districts 

 furnish vast quantities of the finest ship timber, 



