CHILI. 



125 



:-.-h bishop of Chili for their spokesman, e\- 

 -i fnun him an agreement that, in order 

 \olutionary conditions, he would dis- 

 ' .ibinet and return to tho methods 

 t.f responsible government, and would permit 

 . atinl candidates to ho put forward as 

 lioiee of party conventions. After sev- 

 .nfereiiccs \\iih tin; citizens' committee, a 

 Cabinet \va.s named which gave general satis- 

 n, consisting of Itelisario Prats, Salustio 

 .udr/., (Jregorio Donoso, Macario Vial, Fe- 

 Kn-azuriz, and Enrique Focornal. The 

 IH-W ministers, after taking the oath of oflice, 

 entered tin- hall of Congress escorted by a throng 

 of citi/cns, and the Prime Minister announced 

 the programme that had been agreed on between 

 em and the President. There would be no 

 eial candidate for the presidency, and the 

 xecutive and all his subordinates would ab- 

 from interference with the elections. CIS- 

 Is disregarding this rule or molesting any 

 itizon for having opposed the President would be 

 .mi.. veil. Things ran smoothly for a short time. 

 Many bills that had been tabled were passed, and 

 the President acted in harmony with his minis- 

 The legal period of the session passed with- 

 out the passage of tho annual military bill and 



I 're 



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the appropriation bill. To have these passed the 

 ident convoked an extra session. Differences 



rose when the ministers proposed to change all 

 the inti'iiilrntes and governors, and when the ma- 

 jority in Congress and their friends outside began 

 to form committees of elections and canvass the 

 provinces, and entered into an electoral cam- 

 in which the remnant of the party still 

 ithful to Balmaceda were allowed no voice, 

 consultation with his old advisers, the Presi- 

 ent decided to make no removals, and prepared 

 lew for the contest. The popular agitation 

 ainst the President was renewed. Political 

 ions rose to a higher pitch than before the 

 ce. In the capital the intendente and the 

 chief of police- increased the police force and 

 took measures for the public safety. The Minis- 

 ter of the Interior ordered tho intendente to re- 

 move the chief of police, ancb when he refused 

 ppealed to the President, who sustained his 

 .bordinate against the minister. The minis- 

 rs called on tho President in a body, and in 

 swer to their demands, he said that appoint- 

 ments and removals were the prerogative of the 

 chief of the state; and that, having appointed 

 officers in whom he had confidence, he would 

 iot dismiss them at the dictation of Congress, 

 d would by no means take orders from his 

 retaries. This decision caused Congress to 

 shelve the bills recommended by the President, 

 'roviding for an increase in the salaries of cus- 

 m-house employes, treasury clerks, employes 

 the Department of Education and in the 

 >urts, and of army officers, and for a savings 

 k for public servants, water works and sew- 

 rs in the largo towns, railroad construction, and 

 it her objects. 



The ministry resigned, and a new one was im- 

 mediately appointed, with Claudio Vicuna at its 

 head as Minister of the Interior. When tho 

 Congress was informed on the following day, 

 the President of the Senate invited the new min- 

 isters before Congress to explain the intentions 

 of the President. They paid no attention to this 



summons, and when Congress passed a vote of 

 censure the chief of the Cabinet announced that 

 the ministers were responsible, under the Consti- 

 t ut ion, to the President, and would retain their 

 places as long as they possessed his confidence. 

 The Presidents of both houses sent a note to 

 1'roident Balmaccda, asking him to order his 

 ministers to appear and explain the situation. 

 His answer was the immediate closure of Con- 

 gress on Oct. 15. lie acted promptly in order to 

 forestall Congress, which had before it a motion 

 to impeach the Sanfuentes ministry. Under the 

 Constitution a ministry can be impeached while 

 in office, or within six months after it has retired, 

 on articles adopted by the House of Deputies; 

 and while the trial is proceeding in the Senate 

 the President has no right to prorogue Congress. 

 The Constitution of Chili provides for a pro- 

 visional chamber called the Comision Conserva- 

 dora, composed of fourteen members from both 

 houses, which sits during the recess to supervise 

 the acts of the Government, and possesses advis- 

 ory but no legislative powers. The two parties 

 in the constitutional controversy prepared for a 

 crisis. The elections took place in November. 

 Balmaceda's party, in districts where it was nat- 

 urally in a minority, either carried the elections, 

 or, if it lost, contested the results. This caused 

 great popular excitement, and led to the inter- 

 vention of members of Congress and questioning 

 in the Comision Conservadora, and the appoint- 

 ment of semi-official investigating committees. 

 The police began to interfere with freedom of 

 assembly and of speech. Without constitutional 

 authority the President declared Congress dis- 

 solved and the elections, postponed. The Presi- 

 dent was mobbed when he went to open the new 

 docks at Talcahuano, at Conception on his way 

 back, and a third time on his return to San- 

 tiago. Processes and prosecutions were insti- 

 tuted against army men charged with disaffec- 

 tion toward the Administration, and a feverish 

 activity was observed in the Ministry of War, at 

 the head of which was Gen. Gana, who had made 

 himself very popular among the officers. All 

 the ministers were known to be men of action 

 and of energy and deeply committed to the Presi- 

 dent's side in the controversy with Congress. The 

 President, as commander-in-chief of the military 

 forces, ordered the arms of the National Guard 

 to be collected in the arsenals, brought the stand- 

 ing army to the capital, replacing with militia 

 the garrisons in the provinces, and, on the pre- 

 text of maintaining peace, commanded the fire- 

 arms in the possession of private citizens to be 

 delivered up to the authorities. The Comision 

 Conservadora, which passed a resolution per- 

 mitting Senators and l>eputies to take part in 

 its proceedings, met daily to discuss the situa- 

 tion. According to the usual procedure, this 

 commission called on the President to summon 

 an extraordinary session of the Congress for the 

 purpose of voting tho animal budget and pass- 

 ing the regular army and navy bill. Balmaceda 

 declined to comply, saying that he would find no 

 difficulty in carrying on the Government. To 

 notes petitioning him to change his ministers, 

 and pointing oiit that after Dec. 81, according 

 to the Constitution, no salaries could be legally 

 paid out of tho treasury, no public works con- 

 tinued, no taxes or duties collected, and that the 



