CHILI. 



133 



pu 



with his knowledge and approval. The 



Miati\'"-"f lira/il, France, and tho United 

 eepting the oilier i.f mediators, pro- 

 :!i.-it lioih parties should formulate their 

 ds and detnaiids, in order that the media- 



lld deduce concrete proposil ions t<> ser\e 



asis for negotiations. Tho Provisional 

 uncut consented, whereas Balmaceda's 

 mini-ter. Domingo (lodoy. refused to present 

 A> in writing until lie had seen tho con- 

 l>rojx)8od by his adversaries. At this 

 initiations were abruptly terminated. The 

 ntl^ of the insurgent commissioners were 

 ^nation and iinpeaehinent of Balmaccda, 

 -liandmeiit of army and navy, and reassem- 

 mg of tin- old Congress pending the election 

 a new one. 



<>n May 'JTth the Bolivian Government issued 

 decree recognizing the belligerent standing 

 id rights of the (-'hilian Junta at Iquique. 

 The Ituta. The sinking of the " Blanco En- 

 "a" did not end the war in Balmaceda's 

 ,vor, as he expected it would. The revolution- 

 ;. though disheartened, were morally, finan- 

 11 y. and strategically stronger than the Gov- 

 ment. The position would be reversed when 

 ie ships came over from Europe, or if Balma- 

 Government could use tne credit of the 

 nation. The naval blockade could not be long 

 continued, owing to the lack of coal, and to 

 d the force in the north provisions must be 

 ught from distant places. It was necessary 

 ^trike at Balmaceda in the center of Chili. 

 For this purpose an army must be raised and 

 nipped. Tne main want was arms and mu- 

 tton. All the rifles and cannons, and even 

 e clothes, of the Congressional army had been 

 ken from the enemy. There was no difficulty 

 recruiting an army from the best fighting ma- 

 rial in Chili While Balmaceda resorted to 

 e harshest kind of conscription, and forced 

 eruvian and Bolivian residents to join his 

 y. and even drafted into it the convicts in 

 e prisons, the Congressional leaders found two 

 u r er volunteers for every rifle they could fur- 

 i-li. In their seven battles in Tarapaca their 

 lit ing line was usually smaller than the ene- 

 y'> : but reserves were sent up from the rear 

 Miatch the arms of the men who fell and 

 ;p the ranks. To arm a force able to 

 ;'. almaceda's army, Ricardo Trumbull, the 

 ent of the Provisional Government, purchased 

 unit ions in the United States, some of which 

 lied Chili. Tho largest consignment, con- 

 st ing of 10,000 Remington rifles and 2,500,000 

 <art ridges, was taken out of San Francisco on 

 the American schooner "Robert and Minnie," 

 which anchored off the Catalina Islands on 

 April '>."i. The Congressional transport Itata," 

 one of the steamers chartered to the Provisional 

 o\ eminent by the Chilian Transportation Com- 

 ny, was then in San Diego harbor, taking on 

 -TO of meat, flour, and other provisions for 

 the army. The collector of customsat Wilming- 

 ton asked for instructions, and was told in a tele- 

 gram from Secretary Foster not to interfere with 

 the transfer of the arms to the " Itata," as it 

 ould be no violation of the neutrality laws. 

 he Attorney-General held a different view, and, 

 keep the "Itata" from carrying off the arms, 

 e was seized while in port by the United States 



marshal, who left his deputy in charge. The 

 commander of the Chilian steamer steamed out 

 of port when ho was ready, with the United 

 States officer on board. He was afterward put 

 on a pilot boat. The munitions were transhipped 

 at niglit, and the " Itata " put out to sea. The 

 question of the duties and responsibilities of the 

 United States Government was a matter for the 

 earnest consideration of J,he authorities at Wash- 

 ington. In the case of the "Alabama" the 

 United States contended, and the arbitration 

 court at Geneva decided, that a neutral Govern- 

 ment must use due diligence to prevent the 

 equipment or fitting out of armed cruisers or t he 

 use of its ports and waters for the renewal or 

 augmentation of military supplies or arms. In 

 the State Department it was held that the Gov- 

 ernment, having exercised ordinary vigilance and 

 exhausted the means at hand to prevent a viola- 

 tion of neutral obligations, although it might 

 have a right to take the vessel in outside waters, 

 was not bound by international law to make the 

 attempt. Tho Attorney-General and the Secre- 

 tary of State were of the opinion that the pur- 

 suit and capture, if possible, of the escaped ves- 

 sel, aside from the question of vindicating the 

 insulted authority of the United States Govern* 

 ment, belonged among the pacific duties of a 

 neutral and friendly state. Accordingly, the 

 cruiser " Charleston was ordered to give chase. 

 She was much faster than the " Itata," but the 

 latter had a long start, and her course and where- 

 abouts were unknown. The " Esmeralda " was 

 in Mexican waters, waiting to convoy the trans- 

 port, or to take off her cargo. The commander 

 of the Chilian cruiser .was Capt. Silva Palma, 

 who had navigated the " Itata, with an armed 

 force in concealment and guns masked, into San 

 Diego, and carried off the deputy marshal, re- 

 joining his vessel, while the " Itata " took a west- 

 erly course to elude pursuit. He made ready to 

 fight the " Charleston " as she came up. On 

 board the American war ship the guns were 

 manned, and officers and crew were eager for the 

 combat. Such a complication the members of 

 tho Junta were anxious to avoid, for it would 

 prove a more serious drawback to their cause 

 than the loss of the munitions. Through their 

 representatives in Paris, they had already offered 

 to deliver up the " Itata " to the American naval 

 commander at Iquique as soon as she arrived at 

 that port, outside which the American cruiser 

 " San Francisco " was waiting with orders to in- 

 tercept, her. She was met by the " Esmeralda " 

 off the Mexican coast, and was supposed to have 

 transferred a part of her cargo, and on June 4 

 arrived at Iquique ahead of the "Charleston," 

 and was surrendered to Rear-Admiral Brown, 

 commander of the American naval forces, in ac- 

 cordance with a promise previously made to him 

 by the Junta's Minister of Foreign Affairs. When 

 she was restored to the custody of the United 

 States district court at San Diego, the trial was 

 continued, with the result that the court dis- 

 mis-ed the libel on the ground that there was no 

 violation of the United States neutrality laws, 

 inasmuch as the Provisional Government in 

 Chili had not been recognized as a belligerent. 

 As this decision was at variance with the prin- 

 ciples laid 'down in the "Alabama" ca^e. the 

 United States Government appealed from it, in 



