READY FOR A BIG FIGHT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3648, 26 January 1899, Page 2

READY FOR A BIG FIGHT.

THE REPUBLIC OF CHILI WANTS A WAR WITH ARGENTINE. •

Santiago, Chili, Nov. 11.-—There _ is great danger of a war breaking out between the Argentine Republic and Chili within the next three months. The masses of the Chilians want it, and popular meetings are held all over the country demanding it. Not long ago the secretary of war resigned from the cabinet, telling the president that he accepted the place because he supposed Chili was going to fight Argentine, and if there was going to be no war he preferred to resign. The president and his administration would like to avoid a conflict if possible, but the feeling of the people is such that the least overt act on the part of the Argentines would inflame them beyond control. The government appreciates this, and it has for mouths been making military and naval preparations.—The national guard has been called out, and at this writing 30,000 men are under arms and soldiers are being rigidly drilled in every part of Chili. I saw them first in the northern province. At Valparaiso I found the alameda filled with young men going through the military evolutions of the German army many hours a day, and the drills of the artillery, cavalry and infantry are. to be seen daily in the parks of Santiago. In the meantime every one is talking war. It is heard in the clubs and on the streets. Congress sits in secret sessions on. the subject, and at a convention, held a few weeks ago resolutions asking the administration to declare :war were adopted and sent to the president. At the same time the people of Argentine are also much excited oyer the situation and the newspapers of both countries are filled with war editorials. J

The trouble between the two countries is as to just where the boundary between Chili and the Argentine Republic lies. This has been the subject of diplomatic discussion for years, and it ban again and again threatened to cause war. In 1876 the relations of the two countries were so strained over this _ matter that an armed conflict seemed imminent, and it was only avoided by the governments negotiating for a joint commission of experts to mark out the boundary lino. The present excitement as the result of the conflicting interpretation of the treaties made through these negotiations.

WHY CHILI MUST EIGHT NOW, It is hardly probable that those troubles can ever.be finally settled without a war. Both countries realise this, and the Argentines know that their best policy is to put the conflict off as long as possible. The Chilians must fight soon, if at all. They cannot stand the expenses of their present war establishment. lam told that , the army and navy are now costing about 80,000 dollars, gold, a day. Enormous sums have been spent for arms and ammunition, and during a visit I made this week to the various military establishments here I found that the guns and equipment are of the finest and the most recent makes. The soldiers are armed with Mauser rifles. In the artillery barracks I was shown mountain guns made at, the Krupp works in 1896, and other arms of the same date. The soldiers are well uniformed, and their.drill is as good as that of any army of Europe., ■ They have Prussian army officers as-instructors, and the most rigid discipline has been enforced- The most arduous gymnastic exercises. are practised, , so that the bodies of,the men are like iron, and to-day there is not an army in the world that is more ready, and hotter fitted to, take the field than that of Chili.

PATRIOTISM OP CHILI. ' • I have not yet seen the soldiers <of the Argentine, but I doubt whether their army will compare with this for effective work. The Chilians arc natural soldiers. They would rather fight than eat, and 'When the call was made for the members of the national guard between the ages ■ of 17 and 20 to come to the field for the ! present drill more than 50 per / cent, above the quota asked for applied. Business men fell me that thousands wore ready to enter the ranks who could not get in. It is said that Chili: could put 150,000 soldiers into the field within : a-, week, and.by, the reorganization of the national guard according to the, law of 1896 .every Chilian from 20 to 40 years of age must serve. By this system the fighting force of Chili is now over. 432,000, and the 20,000 and more young fellows now in training are under those ages. The Argentine militia and .national guard are more numerous than that of Chili, but it, is believed here that the men are not such: good soldiers, and that they are anxious to escape service, while the Chilians courfit. At a recent call of troops in the Argentine about half of the number failed; to appear. : The Argentine has about 1,000,000 more people than Chili, but among these there are tens of . thousands of Italians who have been warned by their , home government to keep out of the Argentine; army. There are tens of thousands‘of Germans who still hold their allegiance to the Kaiser, and tens of thousands of English who are out here to make money and who will not fight for anything else. Buenos Ayres alone has; more than 100,000 people of English blood, and these have almost no patriotic regard for the country. Here in Chili there are comparatively few. foreigners and every Chilian is a patriot. There is no country .of the world-which has so many flagstaffs on its houses as this, ahd’the people’are wild with enthusiasm for everything Chilian. This, is. especially so among the higher classes, the people who run the government, who own almost all the property and are the leaders- in everything. They are as in-; telligent'and as well educated as wo are. Few of them have any Indian blood ■ in them, but they are to a man ready to fight for Chili. THE NAVIES OF THE TWO • COUNTRIES. : It is believed that if war occurs it will be largely naval. In order to prevent war it was suggested by some of the statesmen here at the time that the United States was buying up vessels for our fight with Spain, that both Chili and the Argentine give up their ships to the United States for something like their cost on the understanding that the United States would aid them in case of foreign complications. This was also proposed- as to the Chilian navy alone, but it never got further than the presi■dent/s council chamber. At this time the United States made a proposition to Chili to buy her fine armoured cruiser O’Higgins,, which has just been finished in England, but on account of the danger from the Argentine. Chili did not (hire to sell. At present Chili has an excellent fleet and one which is believed here to be far superior to that of the Argentine. It., consists of five, armour clads, five .cruisers, . eleven gunboats and nineteen ‘torpedo boats. It has four destroyers, which were launched in 1896, and all of which have a sped of more than thirty knot. The Chilians axe excellent sailors, and they have in addition to their navy a commercial fleet of over 150 vessels of more than 100 tons each. They have twenty-five steamers and they have an English steamship line, the'Pacific Steam

NaVlgatioh'Company, which they subsidize. MIGHT INVOLVE OTHER COUNTRIES. If this war occurs it will hardly be confined to Chili and the Argentine. All of the adjoining countries will probably be forced to- take part. Peru hates Chili .with good reason, for Chili has taken the "best of her money producing territory and has made her bankrupt. She has looted her public buildings and has butchered her people by the tens of thousands. The Chilians scraped the Peruvian territory as with a fine tooth comb for things valuable. , They wiped out villages and demolished cities. They destroyed plantations and burned factories. They sacked Lima and brought away everything of value. The books in the public libraries, the art in the museums and even the animals in the zoological gardens were carried to Santiago. At the end of the struggle Chili demanded the nitrate fields as one of the prices of peace and she is now getting a great part of her revenues from the export duties which she collects from what was once Peruvian territory. Bolivia would join Peru and-the Argentine for much the same reasons and also because the. Bolivians think, as do also many of the Peruvians, that if Chili is victorious over the Argentine she will at once push her conquests .further north, swallowing up all of the countries on the west coast and making Chili extend from Capo Horn to the Isthmus of Panama.

The Argentines on the other hand fear that Brazil will unite with Chili. The Brazilians and the Argentines are old time enemies, and the Argentines despise and hate the Brazilians. They fear that in case of war the Brazilians will demand back some of the territory which President . Cleveland as arbitrator awarded them in a dispute during His administration and that in case of a union with Chili and: their own defeat that the Argentine .would bo.carved up to suit the two. Ono thing that is holding Chili back from declaring war is the large amount of property in . the Argentine belonging to foreigners, The best things of the Argentines are - either mortgaged to or have been bought by Europeans, and Chili does not see whore-she could-got enough stuff in the country to pay the expenses of the war. Said one of the most influential of the Chilians; a man! who is very close to the'president, to me last night'; “If the Argentine had any available assets we would ri’.ako war at onco. If there was anything there that would pay the expenses of our army wo would go in and take it, but there is not, and wo don’t see whore wo can come out whole. It is like entering into a law suit for damages with a pauper. Ho may give you a hard fightj and if you succeed you can collect nothing. The Argentine has a debt of almost half a billion gold dollars, and it now runs behind some millions of dollars a year, With the foreign .influ-, encios against us we would find it hard to get anything out of the nation should We succeed, and should we lose they will carve us to pieces. They will take the whole of lower Chili for themselves and will allow Peru and Bolivia to have what wo captured in our waAwith Peru.”— Frank G, Carpenter in the “Detroit Free Press.”