116 



CHILI. 



CHINA. 



population of nearly two millions but forty 

 thousand are qualified voters. The requisite 

 qualifications are to he of lawful age (twenty- 

 five years, or, if married, twenty-one) ; to be 

 able to read and write, and to have a certain 

 income of at least $200. The struggle was of 

 unusual significance, as the opposition to the 

 Government comprised a large portion of the 

 wealth and intelligence of Chili, and announced 

 as its platform, in addition to other reforms, a 

 determination to curb the power of the clergy 

 in political affairs, to secure entire freedom of 

 religion, and, of course, to separate ere long 

 Church from State. The Liberal (anti-clerical) 

 party nominated as their candidate JosS TJr- 

 menita, and the Conservative (clerical) party 

 Federigo Errazuriz. The extensive patronage 

 at the disposal of the Government was freely 

 employed in the interest of the latter, and, in 

 the opinion of the Liberal party, to this patron- 

 age his success was chiefly due. In Valparaiso 

 and Santiago the voting was conducted with 

 the greatest order ; there was little noise and 

 no disturbance. In some other parts of the 

 republic there was more disorder, but nowhere 

 a riot, and still less any attempt at revolution. 



The severest earthquake in Chili, since 1851, 

 occurred on the 25th of March, at eleven 

 o'clock in the morning. There were three 

 heavy shocks, lasting over a minute. As the 

 day was a religious holiday, the churches were 

 filled, when the walls and roofs commenced 

 swaying. The multitude, intensely terrified, 

 rushed wildly into the streets. No lives, how- 

 ever, were lost. The movement was from east 

 to west. Bells were rung by the force of the 

 shock, and much property destroyed at Val- 

 paraiso and Santiago. In the latter part of 

 the year small-pox raged in the department 

 of Los Andes and other parts of the republic, 

 and caused great losses. 



The Government of Chili strongly opposed 

 the annexation of St. Domingo to the United 

 States, and the press of the country urged that 

 the Government protest against it as the first 

 step toward annexing all the Spanish- Ameri- 

 can republics. 



Kich gold deposits were, in May, discovered 

 in Cordova. 



For the purpose of promoting the education 

 of the people, the Government established in 

 a number of provincial towns circulating libra- 

 ries. 



A new dispute as to the true boundary of 

 Chili and Bolivia has been occasioned by the 

 discovery of the Caracoles mines, which were 

 yielding abundantly. In November, Sefior 

 Frias, the Argentine minister, was appointed 

 umpire in the dispute between Chili and Peru. 

 At the close of the year the Government was 

 planning a scheme to effectually occupy the 

 Araucanian territory. 



Federigo Errazuriz, the President-elect, is 

 in the prime of life, and one of the prominent 

 men in Chili. He hag had a long and varied 

 experience in public affairs, and has served as 



the head of nearly every executive bureau. 

 He has been Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Minister ^ of the Interior, Minister of Justice, 

 and Minister of War, and a member of both 

 branches of the national Congress. 



CHINA,* an empire in Eastern Asia. The 

 Council of State is the highest official body, 

 and consists of four high dignitaries and 

 two assistants, selected from the Grand Col- 

 lege. It is the duty of the latter to guard and 

 protest against any decree which may be in 

 contradiction to the fundamental laws of the 

 empire, as contained in the holy books of Con- 

 fucius. The members of the Council of State 

 are called State Ministers. There are six de- 

 partments, to wit: 1. For the appointment and 

 control of civil officials throughout the empire ; 

 2. Department of Finance ; 3. Department of 

 Public Worship ; 4. Department of War; 5. De- 

 partment of Justice (highest criminal court) ; 

 6. Department of Public Works. Besides, there 

 is a college which attends to foreign affairs. 



The area of China proper is estimated at 

 from 1,294,000 to 1,548,000 square miles; of 

 China and its dependencies at about 4,700,000 

 square miles. The population of China proper 

 is about 420,000,000; of its dependencies 

 26,500,000. 



In March, the imperial authorities paid 

 200,000 taels indemnity for the French prop- 

 erty destroyed at Tien-tsin, and appointed a 

 Frenchman to the position of imperial inter- 

 preter, with a salary of $15,000 per annum. 

 These concessions, it was thought, would be 

 accepted as a full settlement of the Tien-tsin 

 claims. But the Bishop of Pekin objected to 

 the acceptance of the money ; holding that 

 when missionaries or Sisters of Charity devote 

 themselves to work in China they give their 

 labors and their lives, if necessary, but do not 

 sell them. The money which the Lazaristes 

 consented to receive he regarded as the price of 

 blood. The Chinese should not be allowed to 

 think that the blood of Christian missionaries 

 is of monetary value. He further wished to 

 discourage the view, too common among the 

 Chinese, that any difficulty with foreigners, of 

 what nature soever, can be settled by money. 

 As regards compensation for destruction of 

 property, the bishop would be willing to ac- 

 cept money on the following conditions: The 

 infliction of such punishment on the instigators 

 and perpetrators of the massacre as the foreign 

 ministers shall agree to be fitting ; the erection 

 on the actual site of the outrage of a substan- 

 tial monument, with an inscription blaming 

 the atrocity, and admitting the innocence of 

 the victims. The murderers of two Russians, 

 who were among the victims of the Tien-tsing 

 massacre, were executed. The Russian con- 

 sul, apprehensive that innocent persons might 

 be brought up, as is the custom in China, to 

 personate the guilty, insisted on a prompt exe- 

 cution, to prevent any such substitution. 



* See ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA of 1870 for an account of the 

 imperial family. 



