144 



CHILI. 



cealed arms fell into the hands of the authorities. 

 The disorders in Santiago were easily put down, 

 but the Minister of War, upheld by the Presi- 

 dent, decided to proclaim martial law in the 

 provinces of Santiago, Valparaiso, and Acon- 

 cagua. The rest of the ministers refused to take 

 the responsibility for this course, and on April 7 

 they offered their resignations. The persons 

 who engaged in this seditious plot were arrested, 

 except such as made their escape. Two of the 

 latter took refuge in the American legation, the 

 minister giving them the right of asylum, which 

 in South American countries has been regarded 

 as a diplomatic privilege, but is strongly objected 

 to by the present Government of Chili. On in- 

 structions from Secretary Gresham, Minister 

 Egan afterward withdrew the asylum. The 

 Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs complainad 

 that the American minister connived at the es- 

 cape of one of the refugees, Blondlott Holley, in 

 the disguise of a workingman, but the authorities 

 in Washington did not consider the surrender of 

 the accused persons to the Chilian authorities a 

 necessary part of the important step they had 

 taken in abandoning an established customary 

 right with the object of placing the United 

 States in accord with the Spanish American 

 States in questions affecting their standing as 

 civilized powers. The other refugee, Col. Puentes, 

 was captured while leaving the American lega- 

 tion. Several of the leaders of the conspiracy 

 were tried and condemned to be executed. The 

 United States consul at Valparaiso declined to 

 sign a petition for the pardon of Briceno, the 

 most prominent of these, as did all the European 

 consuls except the Spanish, on the ground that 

 he did not wish to interfere in the internal affairs 

 of the country. President Montt, with the ap- 

 proval of the Council of State, commuted the 

 sentence of Briceno to imprisonment for life. 

 This act of clemency drew from the leaders of 

 the old Balmaceda party a declaration of a de- 

 sire to obliterate past differences and work in 

 harmony with the Government in the common 

 cause of restoring Chili to her former prosperous 

 condition. The revolutionary attempt deterred 

 the Government from carrying out the policy of 

 conciliation which Congress had previously ap- 

 proved. The state of siege had been extended 

 by act of Congress till December, and when Con- 

 gress met in regular session on June 1, President 

 Montt in his opening speech lamented the fact 

 that the recent conspiracy prevented him from 

 granting a general amnesty yet. He hoped, how- 

 ever, in view of the expressions of loyalty made 

 by those who had opposed the Government, to 

 he able to issue a decree of amnesty at an early 

 date, and said that it was his earnest desire that 

 all the sorrowful memories growing out of the 

 civil war should disappear. 



The New Cabinet. President Montt de- 

 clined to accept immediately the resignation of 

 his Cabinet when it was proffered, and requested 

 the ministers to continue to carry on the busi- 

 ness of their departments until he could consult 

 with the presidents of the two houses of Con- 

 gress. He formally accepted the resignations of 

 the ministers on April 17, having induced Er- 

 razuriz to undertake the task of forming a new 

 ministry. The list was announced on the next 

 day as follows : Premier and Minister of the 



Interior, Isidore Errazuriz ; Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, Public Worship, and Colonization, 

 Joaquin Rodriguez-Rosas ; Minister of Finance, 

 Alejandro Viel ; Minister of Justice and Public 

 Instruction, Pedro Montt ; Minister of War and 

 Marine, Ventura Blanco Viel ; Minister of In- 

 dustry and Public Works, Vicente Davila-Lar- 

 rain. All the ministers were members of Con- 

 gress, and the Cabinet was a combination of all 

 the parties. There was a redistribution of port- 

 folios before the Cabinet was finally constituted 

 on April 26, as follows : Minister of the Interior, 

 Pedro Montt ; Minister of Foreign Affairs and 

 Colonization, Blanco Viel ; Minister of Justice 

 and Instruction, Joaquin Rodriguez-Rosas: Min- 

 ister of Finance, Alejandro Viel ; Minister of 

 War and Marine, Isidore Errazuriz ; Minister of 

 Public Works, Vicente Davila-Larrain. 



The question of redeeming the floating debt 

 and paper currency was taken up by the new 

 ministry and again brought before Congress. In 

 the President's speech at the opening he stated 

 that the estimated resources for 1894 were $60,- 

 000,000 in paper and 1,500,000 sterling, while 

 the expenses were estimated at $49,500,000 in 

 paper and 1,400,000 sterling, leaving $11,000,- 

 000 to pay the floating debt, exclusive of moneys 

 that were expected to be realized from sales of 

 nitrate lands. He expected that before July, 

 1896, enough bullion would be amassed in the 

 treasury to redeem $38,000,000 of paper, leaving 

 less than $30,000,000 in circulation. 



Chilian Claims Commission. A treaty be- 

 tween the United States and Chili provides for 

 the adjudication of unsettled claims between the 

 two countries by a Chilian claims commission 

 to be composed of three commissioners, one ap- 

 pointed by each of the governments and one ap- 

 pointed by a third party chosen by agreement 

 between them. Domingo Gana, the Chilian min- 

 ister at Washington, was appointed to act on the 

 commission as the representative of his Govern- 

 ment, and John Goode, of Virginia, was nomi- 

 nated commissioner for the United States, while 

 the Swiss minister at Washington, Alfred de 

 Claparede, was appointed by the President of the 

 Swiss Confederation as the third commissioner 

 and final arbitrator on matters on which the 

 Chilian and United States commissioners differ. 

 The task imposed on the commission was to pass 

 on all claims for damages inflicted by citizens of 

 Chili upon citizens of the United States or by 

 citizens of the United States upon citizens of 

 Chili. All claims were to be presented within 

 two months of the first meeting of the commis- 

 sion, unless the commissioners extended the time 

 for good reasons by virtue of express authority 

 granted to them to allow a delay not to exceed 

 two months. The commission must examine 

 and pass upon every claim within six months 

 from the time of its presentation. The expenses 

 of the commission are deducted from the sums 

 awarded. The American claims in some cases 

 date from the Chilian war of independence, when 

 arms and supplies were furnished to the insur- 

 gents which have never been paid for. Many 

 claims belong to various periods in the succeed- 

 ing fifty years of Chilian history, but the bulk of 

 the money claimed by American citizens is due 

 as compensation for property seized or destroyed 

 in Peru by the invading Chilian army during the 



