126 



CHILI. 



legal existence of the army and navy would cease, 

 the President sent no reply. During November 

 and December, army officers not in sympathy 

 with the President were removed from com- 

 mand, military men were placed in civil posts, 

 partisans of the President were promoted out of 

 turn, and the army was so manipulated that it 

 could be depended upon to defend the Govern- 

 ment if civil war should result. Changes were 

 made in the naval commands more cautiously 

 because the Opposition had many adherents in 

 that branch of. the service. Public meetings were 

 interdicted, and on Dec. 19 the Liberal and the 

 Conservative Clubs were both closed by the po- 

 lice. Macario Ossa, a young member of the Con- 

 servative party, in the fray that took place when 

 a meeting at the Conservative Club was sup- 

 pressed, was shot by the police. His funeral was 

 the occasion of a political demonstration. Diego 

 Barros Arana and the other members of the 

 commission to delimitate the Argentine frontier 

 resigned as a protest against the arbitrary acts of 

 the Government. The members of the Montt- 

 uarista, the Conservative, the Independent Lib- 

 eral, and the Radical parties united and organ- 

 ized and decided on a plan of action. 



Revolt of Congress and the Navy. The 

 year expired without the convocation of Con- 

 gress. On Jan. 1 the Opposition members of 

 Congress those of them who were ready to 

 proceed to extremities held what they calle'd an 

 extraordinary session, although the Constitution 

 provides that Congress, except in regular ses- 

 sion from June till the end of September, can 



only meet when it is called together by the 

 President. A solemn act was signed by all the 

 members present, which declared the President 

 unworthy of his post, and no longer chief of the 

 state or President of the republic, because he 

 had violated the Constitution and was guilty of 

 treason. The Congressional party had long been 



Ereparing their pronunciamiento. They had the 

 ind-holding aristocracy, the wealth, the clergy, 

 and the foreign element at their back, and had 

 secured the co-operation of the fleet, and still 

 had adherents among the commanders of the 

 army, who would be able, they supposed, to seize 

 the Moneda or old Spanish mint that serves as 

 the state Capitol, and permit a popular rising to 

 achieve a bloodless revolution. The 7th of Jan- 

 uary was the day selected. The Opposition mem- 

 bers of Congress went on board the "Blanco 

 Encalada," the commander of the fleet having 

 invited them to hold the session of Congress 

 there, since there was no safety on shore. The 

 ships sailed out of the harbor, and on the follow- 

 ing day returned and hoisted the revolutionary 

 flag that was expected to be the signal for the 

 overthrow of the Government. 



The Government had received timely notice 

 of the design from some officers of the army, 

 and Gpdoy and the other ministers and their 

 subordinates acted promptly and with energy. 

 People suspected of sympathy with the Opposi- 

 tion were arrested in hundreds. The Revolu- 

 tionary Committee barely escaped with their 

 lives some, in disguise, to the ships, and others 

 across the Andes to the Argentine Republic. 

 The President proclaimed martial law, and de- 

 clared the intendentes and governors his sole 

 representatives in the provinces. The fleet waited 



vainly in the harbor of Valparaiso for a favora- 

 ble response from shore. 



The lack of an army bill was exemplified by 

 the opinion of the procurator fiscal, or military 

 judge, that there was no authority to punish or 

 hold a deserter, because the army had no legal 

 existence from Dec. 31, 1890. The procurator 

 was removed, and one more subservient ap- 

 pointed, but the country applauded his firmness 

 and courage. The Supreme Court decided that 

 the President had no power to pay out money 

 without the consent of Congress, the question 

 having been raised by the directors of the Na- 

 tional Bank, who declined to honor Balmaceda's 

 drafts lest they should be held liable. In conse- 

 quence of this decision the judges were removed. 

 The Treasurer of the republic refused to pay 

 out money on the President's order, and was re- 

 placed by another man. Balmaceda, who had 

 always been noted for his urbane manners and 

 gentle disposition rather than for determination 

 and self-will, hesitated before plunging the coun- 

 try into civil war, and is said to have written out 

 his resignation. If he thought of yielding, he 

 was dissuaded by Juan Mackenna and other res- 

 olute and uncompromising counselors. Officers 

 of the army who asked to be relieved of their 

 commands because they thought the President's 

 attitude unconstitutional, were thrown into pris- 

 on. Lauro Barros, who retired from the Minis- 

 try of Finance, was succeeded by Antonio Munoz, 

 a subordinate official, who held the post only a 

 few days, giving it up on Jan. 6 to Julio Car- 

 rero, ex-Minister of Public Works. 



Balmaceda's Manifesto. The President 

 forestalled the revolutionists by issuing on 

 Jan. 1 a manifesto assuming a virtual dicta- 

 torship, although disclaiming the name of dic- 

 tator, and defending his acts on constitutional 

 grounds. His right to choose his Cabinet minis- 

 ters was based on the text of the Constitution, 

 which defines among the powers of the President 

 that of " appointing and removing at will the 

 ministers and the clerks of all the executive de- 

 partments." The parliamentary system upheld 

 by the coalition against him he declared to be in- 

 compatible with republican government. " The 

 parliamentary regimen is monarchical govern- 

 ment with republican ideas. A republic with 

 a parliamentary government is an idea that 

 finds no place within the experience and science 

 of modern public law. Parliamentary govern- 

 ment presupposes an irresponsible hereditary 

 sovereign. The chief of the executive in such 

 a government is practically the minister who 

 commands a parliamentary majority, and who 

 governs in its name. The Government of the 

 republic is carried on by a chief and responsible 

 ministers with temporary powers, and the Presi- 

 dent is elected, like Congress, by the people. 

 The chief of the executive power, practically 

 and by the Constitution, is the President of the 

 republic." Chili is governed under the repre- 

 sentative system, of which the characteristics 

 are a responsible chief of state, an administra- 

 tive cabinet, and the power to veto laws, not to 

 dissolve parliament, vested in the elective head of 

 the nation. If Congress had of deliberate pur- 

 pose omitted to enact laws necessary for the 

 legal continuance of the public powers, placing 

 the President in an irregular position, its mem- 



