8. CASE OF U. S. S. BALTIMORE, AND OTHER CASES,

$ 1029.

"The civil war in Chile, which began in January last, was continued, but fortunately with infrequent and not imBaltimore case. portant armed collisions, until August 28, when the Congressional forces landed near Valparaiso and, after a bloody engagement, captured that city. President Balmaceda at once recog nized that his cause was lost, and a provisional government was speedily established by the victorious party. Our minister was promptly directed to recognize and put himself in communication with this Government so soon as it should have established its de facto character, which was done. During the pendency of this civil contest frequent indirect appeals were made to this Government to extend belligerent rights to the insurgents and to give audience to their representatives. This was declined, and that policy was pursued throughout, which this Government, when wrenched by civil war, so strenuously insisted upon on the part of European nations. The Itata, an armed vessel commanded by a naval officer of the insurgent fleet, manned by its sailors and with soldiers on board. was seized under process of the United States court at San Diego. California, for a violation of our neutrality laws. While in the custody of an officer of the court the vessel was forcibly wrested from his control and put to sea. It would have been inconsistent with the dignity and self-respect of this Government not to have insisted that the Itata should be returned to San Diego to abide the judgment of the court. This was so clear to the Junta of the Congressional party, established at Iquique, that, before the arrival of the Itata at that port, the secretary of foreign relations of the provisional gov ernment addressed to Rear-Admiral Brown, commanding the United States naval forces, a communication, from which the following is

an extract:

"The Provisional Government has learned by the cablegrams of the Associated Press that the transport Itata, detained in San Diego by order of the United States for taking on board munitions of war and in possession of the marshal, left the port, carrying on board this official, who was landed at a point near the coast, and then continued her voyage. If this news be correct, this government would deplore the conduct of the Itata, and, as an evidence that it is not disposed to support or agree to the infraction of the laws of the United States, the undersigned takes advantage of the personal relations you have been good enough to maintain with him since your arrival in this port to declare to you that as soon as she is within reach of our orders his government will put the Itata, with

the arms and munitions she took on board in San Diego, at the disposition of the United States.'

"A trial in the district court of the United States for the southern district of California has recently resulted in a decision holding, among other things, that, inasmuch as the Congressional party had not been recognized as a belligerent, the acts done in its interest could not be a violation of our neutrality laws. From this judg ment the United States has appealed, not that the condemnation of the vessel is a matter of importance, but that we may know what the present state of our law is; for, if this construction of the statute is correct, there is obvious necessity for revision and amendment. During the progress of the war in Chile this Government tendered its good offices to bring about a peaceful adjustment, and it was at one time hoped that a good result might be reached; but in this we were disappointed.

"The instructions to our naval officers and to our minister at Santiago, from the first to the last of this struggle, enjoined upon them the most impartial treatment and absolute noninterference. I am satisfied that these instructions were observed and that our representatives were always watchful to use their influence impartially in the interest of humanity, and, on more than one occasion, did so effectively. We could not forget, however, that this Government was in diplomatic relations with the then established Government of Chile, as it is now in such relations with the successor of that Government. I am quite sure that President Montt, who has, under circumstances of promise for the peace of Chile, been installed as President of that Republic, will not desire that, in the unfortunate event of any revolt against his authority, the policy of this Government should be other than that which we have recently observed. No official complaint of the conduct of our minister or of our naval officers during the struggle has been presented to this Government; and it is a matter of regret that so many of our own people should have given ear to unofficial charges and complaints that manifestly had their origin in rival interests and in a wish to pervert the relations of the United States with Chile.

"The collapse of the government of Balmaceda brought about a condition which is unfortunately too familiar in the history of the Central and South American states. With the overthrow of the Balmaceda government, he and many of his councilors and officers became at once fugitives for their lives and appealed to the commanding officers of the foreign naval vessels in the harbor of Valparaiso and to the resident foreign ministers at Santiago for asylum. This asylum was freely given, according to my information, by the naval vessels of several foreign powers and by several of the legations at Santiago. The American minister, as well as his colleagues,

acting upon the impulses of humanity, extended asylum to political refugees whose lives were in peril. I have not been willing to direct the surrender of such of these persons as are still in the Ameri can legation without suitable conditions.

"It is believed that the Government of Chile is not in a position. in view of the precedents with which it has been connected, to broadly deny the right of asylum, and the correspondence has not thus far presented any such denial. The treatment of our minister for a time was such as to call for a decided protest, and it was very gratifying to observe that unfriendly measures, which were undoubtedly the result of the prevailing excitement, were at once rescinded or suitably relaxed.

"On the 16th of October an event occurred in Valparaiso so serious and tragic in its circumstances and results as to very justly excite the indignation of our people and to call for prompt and decided action on the part of this Government. A considerable number of the sailors of the United States steamship Baltimore, then in the harbor of Valparaiso, being upon shore leave and unarmed, were assaulted by armed men nearly simultaneously in different localities in the city. One petty officer was killed outright and seven or eight seamen were seriously wounded, one of whom has since died. So savage and brutal was the assault that several of our sailors received more than two, and one as many as eighteen, stab wounds. An investigation of the affair was promptly made by a board of officers of the Baltimore, and their report shows that these assaults were unprovoked, that our men were conducting themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner, and that some of the police of the city took part in the assault and used their weapons with fatal effect, while a few others, with some well-disposed citizens, endeavored to protect our men. Thirty-six of our sailors were arrested, and some of them, while being taken to prison, were cruelly beaten and maltreated. The fact that they were all discharged, no criminal charge being lodged against any one of them, shows very clearly that they were innocent of any breach of the peace.

"So far as I have yet been able to learn no other explanation of this bloody work has been suggested than that it had its origin in hostility to these men as sailors of the United States, wearing the uniform of their Government, and not in any individual act or personal animosity. The attention of the Chilean Government was at once called to this affair, and a statement of the facts obtained by the investigation we had conducted was submitted, accompanied by a request to be advised of any other or qualifying facts in the possession of the Chilean Government that might tend to relieve this affair of the appearance of an insult to this Government. The Chilean Government was also advised that if such qualifying facts

did not exist this Government would confidently expect full and prompt reparation.

"It is to be regretted that the reply of the secretary for foreign affairs of the Provisional Government was couched in an offensive tone. To this no response has been made. This Government is now awaiting the result of an investigation which has been conducted by the criminal court at Valparaiso. It is reported unofficially that the investigation is about completed, and it is expected that the result will soon be communicated to this Government, together with some adequate and satisfactory response to the note by which the attention of Chile was called to this incident. If these just expectations should be disappointed or further needless delay intervene, I will, by a special message, bring this matter again to the attention of Congress for such action as may be necessary. The entire correspondence with the Government of Chile will at an early day be submitted to Congress."

President Harrison, annual message, Dec. 9, 1891, For. Rel. 1891, VI.

"I am directed by the President to say to you that he has given careful attention to all that has been submitted by the Government of Chile touching the affair of the assault upon the crew of the U. S. S. Baltimore in the city of Valparaiso on the evening of the 16th of October last, and to the evidence of the officers and crew of that vessel, and of some others who witnessed the affray, and that his conclusions upon the whole case are as follows:

"First. That the assault is not relieved of the aspect which the early information of the event gave to it, viz: That of an attack upon the uniform of the U. S. Navy, having its origin and motive in a feeling of hostility to this Government, and not in any act of the sailors or of any of them.

"Second. That the public authorities of Valparaiso flagrantly failed in their duty to protect our men, and that some of the police and of the Chilean soldiers and sailors were themselves guilty of unprovoked assaults upon our sailors before and after arrest. He thinks the preponderance of the evidence and the inherent probabilities lead to the conclusion that Riggin was killed by the police or soldiers.

"Third. That he is therefore compelled to bring the case back to the position taken by this Government in the note of Mr. Wharton of October 23 last (a copy of which you will deliver with this), and to ask for a suitable apology and for some adequate reparation for the injury done to this Government.

"You will assure the Government of Chile that the President has no disposition to be exacting or to ask anything which this Government would not, under the same circumstances, freely concede. He regrets that, from the beginning, the gravity of the questions involved

has not apparently been appreciated by the Government of Chile. and that an affair in which two American seamen were killed and sixteen others seriously wounded, while only one Chilean was seriously hurt, should not be distinguished from an ordinary brawl between sailors in which the provocation is wholly personal and the participation limited. No self-respecting government can consent that persons in its service, whether civil or military, shall be beaten and killed in a foreign territory in resentment of acts done by or imputed to their government without exacting a suitable reparation. The Government of the United States has freely recognized this principle, and acted upon it, when the injury was done by its people !· one holding an official relation to a friendly power, in resentment of acts done by the latter. In such case the United States has not sought for words of the smallest value or of equivocal meaning in which to convey its apology, but has condemned such acts in vigorous termand has not refused to make other adequate reparation.

"But it was not my purpose here to discuss the incidents of this affair, but only to state the conclusions which this Government has reached. We have given every opportunity to the Government of Chile to present any explanatory or mitigating facts and have had due regard to the fact that the Government of Chile was, for a considerable part of the time that has elapsed since October 16, upon a provisional basis.

"I am further directed by the President to say that his attention has been called to the note of instructions sent by Mr. Matta, secreary of foreign affairs, to Mr. Montt, under date of the 11th ultimo. Mr. Montt very prudently, and, I must suppose, from a just sense of the offensive nature of the dispatch, refrained from communicating it officially to this Government.

"But, in view of the fact that Mr. Montt was directed to give it to the press of this country, and that it was given the widest possible publicity throughout the world, this Government must take notice of it. You are therefore directed to say to the Chilean Government that the expressions therein imputing untruth and insincerity to the President and to the Secretary of the Navy in their official communications to the Congress of the United States are in the highest degree offensive to this Government.

Recognizing the usual rules of diplomatic intercourse and of the respect and courtesy which should characterize international relations (which he can not assume are wholly unfamiliar to the Chilean foreign office), the President was disposed to regard the dispatch referred to as indicating a purpose to bring about a suspension of diplomatic relations; but, in view of the fact that Mr. Matta was acting provisionally and that a reorganization of the Chilean cabinet was about to take place, and afterwards in further view of the ex