102 



CHILL 



HE.VDQ'S OF HER CATHOLIC MAJESTY IH THE PACIFIC. 



Manifesto to the Diplomatic Corps resident in 

 Santiago : The memorandum addressed by his late 

 excellency, General Pareja, to the governments of 

 the Spanish American republics, on the 24th of last 

 September, and the circulars of later date of his ex- 

 cellency Don Manuel Bermudez de Castro, Minister 

 of State, must have well informed the corps of which 

 your excellency is the worthy head, of the causes of 

 the war between Spain and Chili, and doubtless 

 must also have made manifest to it that the nature of 

 those causes left open to Spain no other road (amends 

 for the offences which constituted, and still consti- 

 tute, these very causes, having been refused by Chili') 

 than that of appealing to the ultimate recourse of 

 governments to obtain them. 



While the dire necessity still existed, the Govern- 

 ment of Spain and its representatives in these waters 

 carried away, it may be said, by the proverbial gen- 

 erosity of the Spanish nation a generosity natural 

 in a people which feels itself noble and great desired 

 to employ their means of coercion with all possible 

 lenity, in the belief that the superabundant strength 

 of these means, and the generosity with which they 

 were employed, being appreciated at once and the 

 same time by Chili, the amends which most justly 

 she has owed and owes to Spain would be obtained 

 a justice ostensibly recognized by two of the first 

 powers of Europe from the moment in which, in or- 

 der to put in practice their good offices, they agreed 

 with Spain upon certain conditions which demon- 

 strate without any room for doubt whatever that 

 justice ; and according to which an end might be 

 put to the conflict decorously for both parties. The 

 blockade of Chili was established and carried on 

 with so much generosity that neither neutrals nor 

 enemiss of Spam can ever fail to recognize that it 

 was impossible to keep it in stricter limits within 

 those imposed by the laws of war. There cannot, 

 perhaps, be found within the annals of war up to 

 the present date among civilized nations greater lenity 

 or more tolerance. Perhaps, also, this lenity and 

 this tolerance may have given rise to the belief in 

 the mind of an enemy, which is so unfortunate as 

 not to comprehend them, that she may with im- 

 punity refuse that which justice demanded and still 

 demands of her. If this be the case, as every thing 

 induces us to believe, Spain will appear on this 

 occasion acting in accordance with the dignity of 

 her character ; history will ever say that she com- 

 mitted upon this occasion the error which elevates 

 more than any thing else a country in the presence 

 of civilized nations. 



And that this opinion of the manner in which the 

 blockade has been practised, and is being practised, 

 is in accordance with the strictest truth, is demon- 

 strated by the unanimity on the part of the ministers 

 and agents of neutral nations in thus recognizing it. 

 But it was not sufficient for Spain, assisted as she 

 was and is by justice and by force to sustain it, to 

 carry her moderation even to the most extreme 

 limits. From the moment in which they were pre- 

 sented by France and England she accepted the good 

 offices which both nobly tendered her, to terminate 

 the conflict in such a manner as might leave un- 

 sullied the honor of the two countries, which could 

 only be engaged in war by a blindness like that of 

 Chili, punishable by the law of nations. Prior to the 

 breaking out of hostilities, and after their commence- 

 ment, there is not a single act which does not fully 

 demonstrate the disinterestedness of the conduct of 

 Spain, and her constant desire to reestablish peace. 

 Evidences as respectable as irrefutable thereof are 

 in America that which the United States can give ; 

 n Europe, that which can also be given by the other 

 two nations cited. 



"With such antecedents it is impossible for Spain 

 to carry further her forbearance. Countries which 

 have a consciousness of the justness of their cause, 

 and of their power to sustain it, may sacrifice upon 



the altar of that moderation, which both things im- 

 pose upon them, their legitimate desire of obtaining 

 at once, by their own hands, the amends which un- 

 justly are denied them ; but they cannot, by any 

 means, pass the limit beyond which their powet 

 would be wounded, and a prestige sullied, which a 

 history, each one of whose pages relates a glory, has 

 secured for them. Spain has arrived at that limit, 

 and it is necessary, indispensable for her, conse- 

 quently, to break definitely with the Government 

 which comprehends so badly the duties which civil- 

 ization imposes upon it, in its relations with others ; 

 which interprets so illy those which that same 

 civilization prescribes to every country in its in- 

 ternal government, since it does not hesitate to 

 cause Chili to suffer the evils of a war unjust on her 

 part ; with a government in fact which fails to rec- 

 ognize that which the dignity of others claims. 

 Affairs being in this situation, Spain has done what 

 honor indicated : she notified her vessels in the 

 Pacific to seek their allied enemies, and this instruc- 

 tion has been complied with, two of them having 

 compromised themselves, nautically speaking, in re- 

 gions thickly strewn with all sorts of difficulties, 

 even greater through the uncertainty of their situa- 

 tion ; passing where others of their size had never 

 passed, up to the extreme point of nautical temerity, 

 to place themselves in the view of their enemies who, 

 situated in a point perfectly well chosen, and with 

 obstacles which prevented touching them, only re- 

 ceived such injury as, although considerable, could be 

 caused by a fire at long range. But yet neither these 

 difficulties, or yet lo speak better, these continued 

 dangers of the locality, nor the very frequent fogs 

 which it may be said daily covered them, intimidated 

 us ; and another new expedition went in search 

 of the enemy, who, not thinking himself sufficiently 

 safe in the position he had occupied, had sought 

 salvation in the numerous and narrow sinuosities, 

 which formed not only an impassable bulwark for 

 him who hid behind them, but also rendered it im- 

 possible to attack him with the class of vessels com- 

 posing the Spanish squadron in these seas. 



Consequently the impossibility of getting within 

 gunshot of vessels which sheltered themselves be- 

 hind the impassable local barriers, and the per- 

 sistence of Chili in refusing the amends justly de- 

 manded of her, imposed upon Spain the painful but 

 unavoidable duty of making her to feel all the weight 

 of rigor to which that country exposes itself which 

 absolutely refuses to recognize the duties imposed 

 upon the civilized communities of the world ; and 

 in this view, and for reasons of war, the cannon of 

 the Spanish squadron will bombard the city of Val- 

 paraiso, and any other which they think proper ; an 

 act of hostility which, although terrible, is legiti- 

 matized by the "irrefutable reasons already enumer- 

 ated; a legitimacy which will place upon the Gov- 

 ernment of the republic all the responsibility of the 

 damage which may be caused to neutral interests ; for 

 the placing of which in this port in safety, four days 

 are granted, at the expiration of which, said bom- 

 bardment will take place. 



On board of the frigate Numancia, in the bay of 

 Valparaiso, March 27, 1866. 



C. MENDEZ NUNEZ. 



On the same day the admiral officially in- 

 formed the commandant of Valparaiso that ho 

 would open fire upon the city on March 31st, 

 and requested the commandant to order that 

 the hospitals and other buildings dedicated to 

 charitable purposes should have some flag or 

 signal that might distinguish them, so as to 

 prevent them from suffering the rigors of war. 



The foreign residents held a public meeting, 

 and implored the representatives of their gov- 

 ernments for protection. On March. 28tt> Gen- 



