THE CIVIL WAR IN CHILI.

Evening Star, Issue 8608, 31 August 1891, Page 2

THE CIVIL WAR IN CHILI.

[By Elkotbio Telegraph—Copybiqht.] |Pbb Pbbss Association.]

LONDON, August 30. Official telegramß confirm President Bal maceda's defeat.

The news whioh we published to-day of the capture of Valparaiso by the insurgents in Chili will be received with satisfaction by all of our readers who take an interest in the the affairs of that country. Chili is far away; her intercourse with us is quite inappreciable ; and, were this contest of a similar nature to others whioh have recently occurred in South Amerioa, we could not care very deeply what the result of it might be. But the revolutions which often occur in South and Central America are very different from this one. Theae are usually simply the result of the rivalry of ambitious and self • seeking politicians, and take plaoe in a marvellously short period of time, without much feeling on the part of the great mass of the people either on one side or the other, and without much destruction of life and property, or damage to trade. Some of the most important incidents of this contest, however, put us in mind of the struggle between the Houses of the Parliament of England and Charles I. In both oases the quarrel arose from the head of the Exeoutive acting unconstitutionally. The causes of the great civil war in England we need not go into here. In Chili the first cause of the estrangement between the President and the Houses of Congress was the oonduot of the former in endeavoring by unconstitutional means to acquire a complete power over the elections. This was resisted by the Houses of Congress, and, after some fruitless endeavors on their part to get the President to act in accordance with the Constitution, an open rupture took plaoe m January of this year. The Congress having refused to vote the supplier Balmaoeda, on January 1, by his own simple decree, authorised taxes. This was followed by his deposition by the Congress of the office of President of the Republic, and then the war began. The Chilian navy, which contains many men who are connected with the leading and moat respected families in the country, took the side of the Congress. The army, which, as regards both officers and men, is composed of the very lowest olass, remained on the side of the President. The people almost all over Chili are in favor of the Congressional party, but any offensive action on their part in the places whioh were held by Balmaceda would have been useless in presence of the latter's disciplined troops. We have now reason to believe that the war is practically over. The insurgents will, we expeot, now march on Santiago, the capital of Chili, about ninety miles distant from Valparaiso, and we do not think it will be long before this city capitulates. Belmaceda has, we are told, fled to Buenos Ayres. There ought to be satisfaction in every civilised country that this tyrant, reports of whose terrible cruelties we have published from time to time, is no longer, or will soon be no longer, in a position of power. And we trust that the Chilian parliamentary party, after they have acquired complete power over the whole country, will take the necessary stops to prevent suoh a dictatorship becoming possible in future,