The South American Republics, Part 2 of 2

by Thomas Cleland Dawson

The country had now recovered from the commercial panic of the fifties and from the devastations of the brief civil war, and proceeded again on the even tenor of its prosperous commercial way. The railroad from Valparaiso to Santiago was completed in 1863; lines were extended up and down the great central valleys; the telegraph system was enlarged; Chilean capitalists began to push up the desert northern coast to engage in the guano business; the German immigration to southern Chile continued and European colonisation was fostered. Indeed, no South American country has incorporated such a large proportion of North European blood; and British, German, and French names are common not only in commerce and industry, but also in the political, naval, and military services—witness Mackenna, O'Higgins, Beauchef, Godoy, Montt, Walker, Edwards, MacIver, Tupper, Prat, Larrain, MacClure, Koenig, Mathieu, Stuven, Ross, Marchant, Cumming, Day, Stephan, and a hundred others.

In 1865 a war with Spain interrupted domestic progress, political as well as commercial. Engaged in a dispute with Peru, the Spanish government had sent an overwhelming fleet to enforce its demands, and seized the Chincha Islands. The Spanish admiral was reported to have justified this high-handed act upon the ground that Peru was still subject to Spain. If this was true of the one country it was of the other, and the Chileans believed their territorial integrity and even their independence menaced. Government and people manifested an active sympathy with Peru; Peruvian vessels were allowed to coal; newspapers were filled with abuse of Spain; and a riot occurred in front of the Spanish legation. In September, 1865, the Spanish fleet sailed into Valparaiso Bay and its admiral presented an ultimatum. Four days were given for a satisfactory explanation, an apology, and a salute to the Spanish flag. Failing this he would blockade the coast and procure indemnification by force. The Chilean government rejected the humiliating proposition; the blockade was established, and the administration, backed by the enthusiastic approval of the whole country, refused to make any concessions, though Chile's fleet consisted of one small vessel and her ports were at the enemy's mercy. The single Chilean steamer succeeded in capturing a Spanish gunboat, which so humiliated the admiral that he committed suicide, and when, in March, 1866, Chile refused even to disclaim an intention of insulting Spain, or to exchange salutes, the Spaniards proceeded to bombard Valparaiso. The town was totally without defences and open to cannon fire; ten millions of property were destroyed in the three hours and a half that the cannonading lasted, nine-tenths of it being on the water-front and belonging to foreign merchants. The Spanish fleet then withdrew, although the original question remained exactly as at the outset.

VIEW OF VALPARAISO.

An indirect result of the common danger of the Pacific nations was an agreement in 1866 between Chile and Bolivia as to their boundary on the coast. The line was fixed at the 24th degree, but Chileans were allowed to continue to exploit guano and nitrate as far north as the 23d—an arrangement which gave their country substantial claims in a region which shortly proved a marvellous producer of ready money. The German colonisation in the South continued on an increasing scale during the late sixties; free land was given to immigrants and their passage paid. The Araucanians, resenting the influx of whites so near their own territory, began to make trouble, and a war went on through 1868, 1869, and 1870, which finally resulted in their suing for peace. A line of forts kept them in order and they ceased to be a disturbing factor in Chilean affairs.

Perez had been re-elected in 1866, and his second term marks the beginning of a new era in Chilean politics. The dynamic elements had finally become stronger than the static, and the pressure for amendments to the Constitution could no longer be resisted. But in the forty years since Portales had fixed the form of the government in its aristocratic mould, political traditions had hardened into habits. No really radical changes had any serious chance of success. A measure forbidding the president to be re-elected was passed, and a desperate fight made to extend the suffrage to all who could read and write. Though favoured by President Perez the last failed to carry, and the most the liberals could obtain was a law reducing the property qualification.

The election in 1871 was warmly contested. The advanced liberals pressed hard on the conservatives, who resisted further changes desperately. The latter united with the moderate liberals upon Errazuriz as presidential candidate to succeed Perez, and receiving the support of the outgoing administration he was elected. At first the elements who had elected him controlled a majority in congress, but the aggressiveness of the liberals and rival ambitions in the government coalition soon overthrew the reactionary ministry. Errazuriz changed as congress did and soon found himself pushing liberal reforms. The great issue was the amenability of the clergy to the civil tribunals. Though fifteen years previously President Montt had compelled the reinstatement of two church dignitaries deprived of their places by the archbishop, the clergy had nevertheless persisted in their claims. The liberals now insisted on the adoption of a criminal code which would leave no doubt, and amid bitter opposition it was passed. The clericals were further outraged by concessions as to Protestant worship and the obligatory teaching of the Catholic religion in the state colleges. Though the bill establishing civil marriage failed, the anti-clerical movement went so far that the old-line conservatives withdrew in disgust from the alliance which had existed between them and the moderate liberals since the revolt against Montt. Thenceforth the conservative party ceased to be an important factor, and the predominant liberals divided into factions who intrigued among themselves to organise working congressional majorities, which supported ministries and controlled patronage. Political reform went on with increasing momentum. To curb the control of elections which the ministry in power exercised through the local officers who made up the voting lists, minority representation was provided for, but only after the moderates had forced the radicals to a compromise, which exempted presidential and senatorial elections.

Meanwhile material prosperity was steadily increasing and population growing at the rate of one and a half per cent. a year. Coal mines had been discovered in southern Chile, railroad building continued, and the finding of the rich Caracoles silver mines in 1870, lying near the northern limit of the jointly occupied territory, not only opened up vistas of wealth, but brought to the front the troublesome question of the Bolivian boundary. Peru became alarmed at Chile's rapid progress in the nitrate and guano business, Bolivia feared aggressions on the part of her powerful neighbour, and in 1872 these two powers entered into a defensive alliance intended to protect their joint interests on the Pacific coast. The reaction inevitably consequent on rapid commercial expansion came in the middle of Errazuriz' term, and was aggravated by a fall in the prices of Chilean exports caused by the world panic of 1873. The already burdened government finances quickly felt the strain; outgo exceeded income, and it was necessary to reduce expenses. Happily the debt, though large, was not excessive. Chile had gone in for no such reckless carnival of borrowing as Peru and the Argentine, and her bonds had been opportunely refunded at a low rate of interest.

As the time for the election approached the radical liberals put forward Mackenna on a programme which included not only religious freedom in its widest sense, the extension of the common schools, and the abolition of the tobacco monopoly, but also railways and internal improvements enough to bankrupt the treasury. The moderate liberals were opposed to Mackenna and his programme, so the party split. The convention of moderates was at first unable to agree on a candidate, but on a second attempt Anibal Pinto was nominated. Favoured by the outgoing administration, his election was a foregone conclusion.