222 POLITICAL HISTORY OF CHILI 



the authority conferred upon me, I promulgate, by the articles forty- 

 third and eighty-second of the Constitution, sanction, approve, and 

 order the foregoing decree to be made public, through the press. 



PftlETCfc 



DlEGO- PoRTALES. 

 Santiago, 31st January, 183-7. 



This decree did not fail to renew the complaints of old parties 

 against the government as despotic, &c. To carry on the war, part 

 of two battalions of a veteran regiment from the south arrived at 

 Valparaiso, under the command of Colonel Vidaurre, a brave and 

 distinguished officer. They were ordered to Quillota, where recruits 

 were to join them, until the regiment should be full, and where they 

 were to be drilled and disciplined, for embarkation. Vidaurre was 

 appointed head of the staff of the army, under Admiral Blanco Enca- 

 lada, commander-in-chief. A regiment of one thousand four hundred 

 men was soon completed, and reported to be in fine order. The navy P 

 composed of seven vessels, was ready to sail. At this time Portales,. 

 being minister of war, came to Valparaiso, to hasten the departure of 

 the expedition, and to give his personal inspection to its materieL 

 Vidaurre was his protege, and an invitation to a ball, said to be about 

 being given in Quillota, sent by Vidaurre, was accepted by Portales, 

 who intended going there to examine the condition of the troops. At 

 the same time, he determined on carrying Vidaurre his epaulettes and 

 promotion as brigadier and chief of the staff. On the afternoon of the 

 3d of June, 1836, Vidaurre ordered the troops into the square for 

 Portales' reception. When all were assembled, Vidaurre made a 

 signal; some soldiers advanced, surrounded and seized Portales, who 

 whs not allowed to say a word, but was hurried to prison, and heavy 

 irons put on him. An acta, or declaration, was drawn up and signed 

 by about forty officers, all subalterns, containing the usual phraseology 

 of such documents, about tyranny, injustice, suffering country, &c. A 

 servant of Portales escaped unseen, and brought the astounding intelli- 

 gence to Valparaiso, soon after midnight, creating the greatest conster- 

 nation. It was naturally supposed that an officer of Vidaurre's energy 

 and character would push for Valparaiso without delay. If he had 

 done so, he could have taken it. Alarm-guns were fired, and before 

 daylight the militia were under arms, and not long after the squadron, 

 consisting of some seven vessels, were hauled towards the Almendral. 

 In the course of the day, some few hundred men, sent by Vidaurre, 

 were met and repulsed by a body of militia. Not long after, a flag of 

 truce was sent to the town, demanding the delivery of the " Port" and 

 vessels, threatening, in the event of a refusal, to execute Portales, and 



