CI1ILI. 



CHINA. 



105 



days, and those being of the holy week, was too 

 sliint ii time for the end indicated; and more so, if 



, inn-tan. <> is tak.'ll into eo|i>i(leriltiou tliut 

 tliis city i> our of inoiv tliuii M'vrnty thousund nouU, 

 mill ill at it << >n 'ains rn< >riiH >ns deposits of merchandise. 

 That the bombardment of Valparaiso was an act con- 

 trary to the ]iriiirijil<"< of humanity which rcgulutu 

 (In- rumliirt <if ri'vili/.ed nation* toward each other. 

 That it-hint; upon tin- humanitarian sentiments of 

 the commander of her Catholic majesty's squadron, 

 we had flattered ourselves that he would only make 

 use of projectile* incapable of causing a lire in that 

 quarter of the city toward which lie might direct bia 

 -hois. That we must acknowledge with pain that 

 this hope \\ as not realized, as the vessels of the said 

 Kiiuadron have discharged shot of every description 

 on the city. 



Tlio manifesto then specifies the principal 

 acts of the squadron during the bombardment, 

 and concludes as follows : 



It is a notorious fact, witnessed by the whole popu- 

 lation, that one of the frigates stationed in front of 

 Planchada Street, mostly habited by French com- 

 merce, fired directly on that part of the city, and at 

 a distance of about one hundred and fifty metres from 

 the governor's house, at which building another ves- 

 sel \\as directing her shots. It is equally notorious 

 that another frigate, occupied in firing at the railroad 

 station, situated at the extreme east of Valparaiso, 

 fired her whole broadside on two separate occasions 

 on the centre of the part called Almendral, distant 

 about half a kilometre from the railway buildings, 

 which part of the city included no government prop- 

 erty, but contains the hospitals and charitable insti- 

 tutions, which were under the safeguard of the word 

 of the commander of her Catholic majesty's squadron. 

 It is not licit to presume that the above-mentioned 

 commander has wished to break his word ; but, as 

 the fire of her Catholic majesty's ships was not re- 

 turned from shore, and the commander of each one 

 of the vessels could take up his position at will, and 

 without reserve or fear of being attacked, there is no 

 reason to suppose that the above-mentioned facts 

 could have originated in a false movement or have 

 had such fatal consequences. In support of this ex- 

 position it is the duty of the undersigned to mention 

 that various projectiles struck the civil hospital. 

 Among them a grenade, which, happily, did not ex- 

 plode, fell in the room where the sisters of Mercy 

 were collected together with the girls from the Asy- 

 lum of Salvador; that the flag hoisted by the Argen- 

 tine consulate-general has been traversed by a ball; 

 that various shots have passed the site where the 

 buildings of the French priests are situated ; that the 

 Matriz church, serving on that day as an infirmary, 

 has suffered considerable damage, caused by various 

 projectiles, and that all the above-mentioned build- 

 ings are situated at long distances from any State 

 property. 



On April 14th, Admirnl Nufiez informed Com- 

 modore Rodgers that he had raised the blockade 

 of Valparaiso. At the same time it was an- 

 nounced that the blockade of Callao, Peru, 

 would commence on April 27th, six days from 

 that date being allowed for neutral vessels to 

 leave the port. (SeePmiv.) The whole Spanish 

 fleet left the Chilian waters,. and no further hos- 

 tilities against Chili were committed during the 

 remainder of the year. The efforts of France 

 and England to mediate in the war and bring 

 about a conclusion of peace, remained, how- 

 ever, fruitless. 



On May 28th, the Government of Chili is- 

 sued a decree, ordering all Spanish subjects to 



leave the republic within thirty dnyt, or toko 



out naturalization j.aj.er-;. s-'ui. .-<.. 



term was extended one month. Nearly ; 

 Spaniards in the country availed themselves of 

 the opportunity to become citizen-. Most of 

 those who preferred to leave went to J'ut-noh 

 Ay res. 



An election for president took place on Jane 

 LT.ih, nnd resulted in the rei'leetion of I 'resident 

 I 'ere/, by u majority of two-thirds of the 

 tors. The mode of conducting the election i-, 

 very similar to that in the United States. One 

 member of Congress is allowed to each twenty 

 thousand of inhabitants, and three presidential 

 electors aro provided for each congressman. 

 The qualifications of voters are the attainment 

 of twenty-five years of age, the ability to read 

 and write, and an annual income of four hun- 

 dred dollars. The judges of election aro ap- 

 pointed by the municipal bodies of the respec- 

 tive cities and districts in which the polls are 

 opened, and the voting is done by ballot, at 

 tables generally placed in the plazas and pro- 

 tected by soldiers. A residence in the country 

 of five years is necessary for a foreigner to be- 

 come naturalized, unless he marries in Chili, 

 when he can take out his papers in two years. 



CHINA, an empire in Eastern Asia. Emperor, 

 K5-Tsiang (before his accession to the throne 

 Tsai-Sung), born in 1855; succeeded his father, 

 Hieng-Fund, in 1861. The estimates of the 

 area of China Proper vary from 1,294,000 to 

 1,548,000 English square miles ; and of the area 

 oif the dependencies of China, from 3,012,000 to 

 3,118,000 English square miles. The popula- 

 tion of China Proper was, in 1812, estimated at 

 361,993,179; in 1842, at 41'4,686,994 ; and in 

 1866, at 450,000,000. The population of the de- 

 pendencies of China is estimated as follows: 

 Mantchooria, 3,000,000 ; Mongolia, 3,000,000 ; 

 Thian-Shan-nanlu nnd Thian-Shan-pelu, to- 

 gether, 1,000,000; Thibet, 11,000,000; Corea, 

 9,000,000 ; the Lieu-Khieu Islands, 500,000. At 

 the head of the department of Foreign Affairs 

 is Prince Kong. The Chinese army, according 

 to a recent statement (Moyer, "Recollections 

 of Baron Gross's Embassy to China and Japan," 

 London, 1860), consists of about 600,000 men, 

 scattered throughout the empire. Besides, there 

 are about 200,000 Tartars at the immediate 

 disposition of the Government. The soldiers, 

 when not on duty, practise some trade at their 

 residences, so that it may bo said that China 

 has no standing army. 



The relations of China with foreign coun- 

 tries are every day becoming more friendly, 

 nnd intercourse is steadily increasing. An ar- 

 rangement was made, in I860, whereby tele- 

 grams for transmission, via Kiatcha, by being 

 delivered to the Russian consulate at Tien-tsin, 

 or the Russian telegraphic agency at lYkin, 

 can be transmitted to all parts of Europe. The 

 tek-irrams will be dispatched from Pekin to 

 "Kiatcha by the earliest opportunity after re- 

 ceipt, a messenger leaving regularly once a 



Week. 



