CHAPTER XVI
CIVIL WAR AND ITS RESULTS

The successful conclusion of the war with Peru and Bolivia began a new era in Chile. The control of the nitrate fields meant an immense revenue for the government, and everyone wanted a chance to reap some profit. Politics absorbed the public attention, and the holding of office became the most popular occupation. Material prosperity followed. The Chileans believed themselves invincible on land and sea. With outside troubles settled for the time being internal dissensions arose, and the fight between the clergy and the anti-clericals broke out with renewed energy. The time seemed ripe for the settlement of disturbing questions arising out of the union of church and state.

A new presidential election became necessary soon after the capture of Lima, and while the victorious troops were still in possession of that city. Through the influence of President Pinto, Don Domingo Santa Maria (which, in English, means Sunday Saint Mary) was chosen as his successor. The opposition tried to centre on General Baquedano, the popular hero of the recent war, but the prestige of the government was too powerful. He was a liberal and had been banished for his opinions by President Montt. The conservatives by this time were in a great minority. Santa Maria was bitterly opposed to clerical influence in political affairs, and this led to bitter opposition from that quarter. The President proclaimed that the time had come for absolute liberty of conscience, civil marriage and the secularization of the cemeteries. Heretofore the priests alone had charge of the registers of births, deaths and marriages, were alone able to perform marriages, and in the cemeteries only those baptized into the Roman Catholic church were permitted interment in consecrated ground. All other political questions were held in abeyance during this controversy, and feeling became intense. The President was obliged to use all his official prestige in order to secure a majority in Congress, but he succeeded in passing a law requiring civil marriage, freeing the cemeteries and establishing a special official for the registration of births, deaths and marriages. These were, indeed, valuable reforms, and reflect credit on the administration of Santa Maria. Serious disorders resulted as the 1886 election approached, in which several persons lost their lives. Several men had the presidential bee in their bonnets and were backed by an active following. Nevertheless, in spite of all opposition, Santa Maria’s chief cabinet officer, and the man who had been most active in carrying out his program, Balmaceda, was chosen to succeed his chief, through the active aid of the administration and its official influence.

Since the close of the war with Peru, the most noted name in Chilean history is that of José Manuel Balmaceda. He was inaugurated President on the 18th of September, 1886, and his term was destined to be marked by stirring events. This man was, as a contemporary describes him, “about fifty years of age, six feet in height, of spare build and broad sloping forehead, with a good, humourous eye and wears generally on his face a half-playful, half-cynical smile.” His opponents call him a tyrant, a usurper and a dictator, but historians generally credit him with being a man far ahead of his time.

The first position of prominence held by Balmaceda, except as a member of Congress, was in the cabinet of President Santa Maria. Educated for the priesthood, he had been saved from that career by the opposition of his father, and later he became one of the most radical opponents of the Church, and one of the leaders in the fight for the separation of Church and State, which had been carried on during the term of his predecessor. He had been one of the most active and influential advocates of the radical programs of the reformistas. At the time of Balmaceda’s election the country was divided into no less than six different parties, ranging from the fiercest radicals to the most conservative churchmen. The civil marriage law, which had been inaugurated during the term of Santa Maria, as well as some other anti-church legislation, had aroused the opposition of all the clergy. The priests went so far as to refuse to perform a religious ceremony for any one who had been married by civil officers, and had even excommunicated the President and his cabinet who supported that measure. The women, who were especially under the domination of the priests, used all of their influence in opposition to the new marriage law. Nevertheless, with all of this opposition, ladies’ entreaties and priests’ absolution could not prevent the election of Balmaceda, who was chosen by a coalition of the radical elements, even though they were somewhat loosely cohered.

Balmaceda took the reins of government at an exceedingly unfortunate period. I have already had occasion to state the predominating influence of Congress in the government, and the possibilities it gave for an obstinate Congress to embarrass the President. It had become one of the unwritten laws that the resignation of a ministry should follow an adverse vote on any measure. In other words a ministry could only hold office when it represented a majority in Congress. As no power was given the President to dissolve that body when an adverse majority existed, so that an appeal might be made to the country, the President was greatly hampered. The last year of Santa Maria’s administration had brought about a serious condition of affairs. Violent scenes were enacted in Congress in the fight between the supporters of the President and his opponents. The revenue and appropriation bills had expired, and a filibuster on the part of the opposition had prevented new ones from being enacted.

It was at this crisis that Balmaceda was inaugurated. He faced the situation courageously, and proceeded to collect the taxes and pay the expenses in accordance with the provisions of the expired law. This situation was accepted by the country, for a prosperity had fallen upon Chile such as the country had never known. In spite of reckless expenditures the revenues from the nitrate fields, which had been taken from Peru, mounted up so rapidly that the surplus soon reached immense sums. Mining industries of all kinds were exceedingly flourishing. Balmaceda, who was both clever and capable, as well as sincere, entered upon a campaign to educate the people, and no less than fifteen hundred public schools were established by him. Hospitals, health offices, fire brigades and other progressive institutions were aided liberally. Many public works, including railways and colonization schemes, were fostered, salaries were raised, and the Araucanian Indians were admitted as citizens of the republic. New election laws were passed, which had for their purpose the development of real democratic government.

Nevertheless beneath the outward prosperity a smouldering fire was burning. The slogan of Balmaceda “Chile for the Chileans” aroused the opposition of foreign interests. The reduction of ecclesiastical fees and stipends, and the enforcement of the civil marriage law, kept the opposition of the clergy alive. The jealousy of the old families, who had heretofore been supreme in the government, to the new democratic measures advocated by Balmaceda were aroused. Furthermore the election of Balmaceda was really not by a party, but the result of a temporary coalition of three discordant elements. By 1889 Balmaceda had succeeded in arousing the enmity of practically all the parties. The progressive elements had split into nationals, liberals, dissentient-liberals and radicals. Continual changes in his cabinet followed, and one group was substituted for another every few months. It had been the ambition of Balmaceda to unite all the liberal elements into one party, but in this he had signally failed.

Balmaceda soon found himself without a majority in Congress, and with no prospect of securing one. Heretofore a majority had sometimes been acquired by the trading of votes among the different factions in exchange for a share of patronage. Even this method no longer availed. The idea gradually became prevalent that the President was plotting to build up a strong personal following, in order to establish a dictatorship and replace with it the power of Congress. Circumstances, as much as anything else, practically forced Balmaceda into this position. He believed in himself and his own motives, and the selfishness of the different liberal groups irritated him. All of this turmoil was galling to a man of the character of Balmaceda. Reformation of various evils was his aim, but he found himself thwarted at every turn. He soon grasped the fact that if he could control Congress, he could settle the vexed questions which, in his opinion, retarded the development of his country. Furthermore, he gave a wider interpretation to the constitution in relation to the powers of the executive than did the legislative body.