 Section 10 of the South American Republic's Volume 2 by Thomas Clelland Dawson. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Piotr Natter. Part 2. Chile. Chapter 3. The War of Independence. Part 1. The last years of Spanish rule were the most prosperous Chile had known. A brisk coasting trade sprang into being. A small merchant marine grew up. The removal of the prohibition against free commerce with the rest of Spanish South America raised prices. The opening of Buenos Aires reacted upon her western neighbor and Chile ceased to depend on the Isthmus route. A spirit of enterprise was awakened by a freer intercourse with the outside world and by the immigration of hardy adventurers who came through Buenos Aires, the great American rendezvous of that day. Among these immigrants was the famous Ambroso Higgins. A poor Irish lad who landed at Buenos Aires, made his way to Chile, started as a peddler, became an army contractor, made a fortune, got a commission in the army, distinguished himself in an expedition against the Araucanians, ingratiated himself with everybody by his wit, courage and good-natured shrewdness, and finally was selected as captain general. He ruled the country wisely and well, until promoted to be viceroy at Lima. His successors were mostly able and honest men, and under their government the natural causes, making for the prosperity of Chile, had free scope. Wealth increased, and with it, love of display, honors and letters. Santiago became a real capital, the favorite residence of the land of aristocracy and a social center where fashions were prescribed. The English war into which France pushed Spain in 1796 much damaged Chilean commerce, but not sufficiently to stop the impulse already received. The old ignorant content with Spanish rule gave place by growing demand for the removal of all restrictions, and the appetite for commercial freedom grew with what it fed on. Chile was still comparatively poor and backward. The rude population were engaged in a harsh struggle with fierce savages and in laying the foundations of material prosperity. Most of these people were the descendants of Indians accustomed for centuries to implicit obedience to a rustic, unlettered aristocracy. The genius of the race was rather practical and ideal, and the long, careless government by men invariably chosen for their military abilities, rather than their qualities as civil administrators, had not tended to make Chile a fertile soil for the development of revolutionary ideas. Chilean society was less favorably constituted for sudden change than that of Buenos Aires, the boom town of that time, with its active commerce, its restless recently arrived population, or that of the northern vice royalties, controlled by professional and office holding classes and parish priests. Two or three hundred families held most of the lands of Chile, and the power of this aristocracy was especially predominant in the provinces around Santiago. In the southern provinces long wars had thinned the native population and dispossessed the original grantees. Estates were more widely distributed and opinion more radical, but in the rest of the country the newer immigrants had been forced to accept the system, and the comparatively few families who owned the land and thereby controlled the means of subsistence of the whole people enjoyed unquestioned ascendancy. But conservative as this aristocracy was, among its members there rankled a profound jealousy of the Spanish officials who wrong excessive taxes from their reluctant fingers, who enforced the Spanish regulations forbidding the culture of grapes, olives and tobacco, who until recently had closed the ports, cutting off the profitable sale of crops, and compelling the payment of extravagant prices for manufactured goods, and most irritating of all who still monopolized the lucrative offices. The news of Ferdinand's imprisonment and the invasion of Spain by Napoleon's armies reached Chile in the late summer of 1809, creating great excitement among the Spanish office holders and the Creole aristocracy. Sentiment was universal against submission to the French usurpation, and discussion at once began of how the government should be carried on during the king's captivity. Carrasco, the captain general, hesitated and vacillated between the conflicting suggestions. In preparation for an emergency, whose exact nature no one could foresee, the city authorities gathered arms, drilled troops and levied extra taxes. The property owning and governing classes divided into two currents of opinion. The government officials, with their friends and hangers on, saw that their interests would best be served by the recognition of the revolutionary juntas, which had assumed the at-interim direction of affairs in Spain. The leading Creole families proposed the establishment of an independent junta, pending Ferdinand's return over the definite defeat of the national cause in Spain. Although the latter party warmly protested their faithfulness to the mother country, at bottom they designed to secure for Chile and Chilean's virtual independence while Spain's trouble lasted, and the Spanish officials did not hesitate to characterize their opponents as rebels. Feeling rapidly grew intense, and in May 1810 the captain general ordered the arrest of several prominent Creoles. This arbitrary measure aroused such a fierce clamor that Carrasco lost his nerve and consented to the release of the prisoners. This indication of weakness encouraged the agitators, and when news came across the Andes that the people of Buenos Aires had deposed their vice-roy, Santiago broke into revolution. The captain general had summoned an open cabildo to enjoin obedience to certain orders received from Spain, but this assembly tumultuously demanded his resignation. Helpless against the popular outcry and the hostile attitude of the city government, he turned over his authority to Toro, a wealthy nobleman whose venerable age and pacific disposition seemed likely to preserve the peace. Nevertheless the Creoles persisted in their demand for an independent Chilean junta. Another meeting of all the qualified electors was called the arrival of a representative of the new junta at Buenos Aires, who strongly urged Chile to follow Argentina's example had its influence, and on the 18th of September, the day it observed as the anniversary of Chilean independence, Toro resigned his authority to the cabildo. The office of captain general was abolished and power passed to a junta of seven. Chile's ports were opened to all nations, quadrupling the customs receipts in a single year, and the country began a virtually separate existence, although the acts of the junta ran in the name of the Spanish king. However the junta's power rested upon a basis too narrow for stability. Representing only the Santiago aristocracy, there was no certainty that its orders would be respected in the provinces, or that independent junta's would not be set up in other cities. To remedy this difficulty a national congress was summoned, but the junta allotted to Santiago almost as many members as to all the other municipalities together. The elections took place in April 1811, and while they were going on, the Spanish officer in command of a detachment at Santiago revolted. A member of the junta, José Carrera by name, an active and ambitious young man who belonged to one of the most influential Creole families distinguished himself by attacking and defeating the Spaniard with an improvised force of armed patriots. When congress met, it voted many reforms, abolishing slavery, reorganizing the judiciary, freeing commerce of vexatious restrictions, decreeing the payment of the clergy out of the public treasury instead of by tithes, and conferring on the elective bodies of the municipalities the right to elect their own city officers. However, divisions soon arose among the members. The representative of the outside provinces bitterly complained of the unfairness of the apportionment. The radicals wished to reorganize everything while the conservatives insisted on preserving many of the old institutions. The Santiago representatives, chosen from the land at aristocracy, were mostly conservative, while the members from the south were largely radical. Under the leadership of Dr. Rosas the latter withdrew. The Santiago conservatives, left in undisputed control of congress, displaced the old junta, but Carrera and his two brothers had made themselves all powerful in the army by cleverly seizing its Spanish officers. He determined to ally himself with the radicals and assume supreme power. Marching to the hall of congress at the head of his troops, he compelled the selection of the new junta with himself as chief and expelled the members upon whom he could not rely. Rosas had meanwhile established a radical junta at Concepción and Carrera offered to associate him in the government. Rosas declined and the Santiago leader, now frankly a military dictator, advanced with an army to reduce the south to obedience. But the news that the Spanish party had gained the ascendancy in Valdivia and Chiloé intimidated him and he made peace with Rosas retiring to Santiago. His emissaries nevertheless continued to intrigue in Concepción and finally stirred up a riot which resulted in Rosas' expulsion. For nearly two years Carrera and his brothers remained in power, governing by military force, confiscating the property of their enemies, allowing their friends to loot the public funds and committing many enormities. Conspiracy after conspiracy was formed against them only to be detected and suppressed, while the Patriots divided into hostile factions, each selfishly ambitious for control. Meanwhile Abascal, the able and resolute viceroy at Lima, had succeeded in keeping Peru submissive, in crushing out the revolution in Ecuador and Bolivia and in repelling the northward march of the Argentine Patriots. He now prepared to send an army to re-establish royal authority in Chile. Early in 1813 a large force landed at Talcauano and advancing to Concepción was joined by the garrison of that place. Reinforcements came up from Valdivia and Chiloé and the Spanish general took the road for Santiago at the head of 4000 men. In the face of this imminent danger the pickerings of the Patriots were hushed. Carrera advanced to the south in command of 12,000 men, poorly armed and disciplined. On the Spanish side the officers were however suspicious and had little confidence in their raw levies. A sudden and successful attack on an outpost near the River Maula was followed by a panic among the royalists and they retreated in disorder but with no great loss to the fortifications of Cheyenne only 50 miles from Concepción. The touchments of Patriots pushed on to Concepción and captured that place and Talcauano. The Spanish army was completely isolated in Cheyenne but had found there an abundant supply of provisions and successfully resisted Carrera's efforts to take the place. His hastily gathered levies without means of sheltering themselves from the rain and cold melted away by desertion. Finally he retired toward Concepción followed by the Spaniards and the remnants of his army were only saved from total rout by the gallantry and steadiness of Bernardo O'Higgins. This military chief, an actual son of the old Irish Captain General and heir to his Cheyenne estates had made common cause with the Patriots at the beginning of the revolution and attached himself to the fortunes of Rosas, the leader of the Concepción radicals. When the latter was banished by Carrera O'Higgins retired from the army. The Spanish invasion had roused him. He offered his sword to Carrera and his dashing military talents sent him quickly to the front. Carrera's failure at Cheyenne cost him his prestige. His rivals at Santiago took advantage of his absence to expel him from the junta. His violent measures at Concepción exasperated its people to revolt and his own troops became mutinous. The new Santiago junta formerly nominated O'Higgins to the chief command and Carrera was compelled to withdraw. The new general inspired some vigor into the Patriot operations but the arrival of reinforcements from Lima gave the royalists an overwhelming preponderance in cavalry and artillery. The junta had recalled a large part of his forces to defend Santiago when an unexpected movement by one of the Spanish divisions resulted in the capture of the important city of Talca halfway between the capital and Concepción. Though O'Higgins and the troops left in the south managed to repulse an attack of the main Spanish army an army sent from Santiago failed to retake Talca and its destruction left the capital unprotected. O'Higgins by forced marches succeeded in beating the Spaniards to the Maula saving the city for the moment. Meanwhile a revolution had overthrown the junta responsible for the fatal Talca expedition and the new dictator entered into negotiations with the Spanish commander. The latter confronted by O'Higgins' army and anticipating a desperate resistance thought it best not to press his advantage too far. He agreed to an armistice and Chile offered to acknowledge allegiance to Spain sent members to the Cortes shortly to assemble and accept any constitution which might be promulgated by that body if the viceroy would recognize at interim the present Santiago government and withdraw the Spanish army within two months. One result of the armistice was the liberation of the Carreras from the Spanish prison in which they had been confined since their deposition the year before. They hastened to Santiago and started an intrigue for the overthrow of Lastra and O'Higgins. Such was their popularity with the troops in Santiago and the extent of their family influence that they got possession of the city and were preparing to dispute the supreme control of Chile with O'Higgins by force of arms when news arrived that the viceroy refused to sanction the compromise and that an army of peninsular veterans was on its way. Though Carrera and O'Higgins pretended a reconciliation each distrusted the other and took the field virtually independent. Under such conditions, Chilean success was impossible. O'Higgins's division was annihilated at Rancagua. Carrera abandoned the capital and fled with a few hundred followers over the Andes where he was joined by O'Higgins and the more determined patriots. This influx of the pick of the fighting ban of Chile was a valuable reinforcement for the army which San Martín was already organizing behind the shelter of the eastern foothills. Between the rival Chilean leaders Carrera and O'Higgins he chose the latter gave him his confidence and made him his chief lieutenant while Carrera, finding no place in San Martín's entourage went on to Buenos Aires never again to return to his native country. Both aristocracy and people in Chile were tired of the military misrule which they had suffered during the dominance of the patriot chiefs. A deputation of the most prominent citizens went to welcome General Osorio as he advanced to Santiago after the Battle of Rancagua. Within a month the Spanish power was securely re-established throughout the country. The leading revolutionists who remained in Chile were executed or banished more than a hundred being exiled to the desolate island of Juan Fernández. During two years and a half from 1814 to 1817 Osorio and his successor Marco del Ponte ruled Chile with a rod of iron. So far as possible everything was restored as it had been before 1810. The Spanish judges were reinstated elective municipal councils abolished the newspapers suppressed and all the liberal reforms revoked. Meanwhile San Martín behind the screen of the Andes and only a hundred and fifty miles from Santiago was forging a thunderbolt destined to shatter into fragments the edifice which Abascal had been so skillfully constructing through seven laborious years. The story of how the silent Argentine gathered and equipped the quote-unquote army of the Andes had already been told. In the chapter devoted to Argentina the reader will find a meager description of his marvelous march over the cloud high passes the descent into the plain of Aconcagua made so suddenly that the Spanish forces could not hurry up to bar his way. The prompt advance over the low transverse range forms the northern boundary of the plain where Santiago stands and the overwhelming victory in the gorge of Chacabuco against the pick of the Spanish veterans who confidently stood to attack never dreaming until San Martín was right upon them that his main body had had time to reach the spot. The Spanish authorities at Madrid and Lima had made the irretrievable mistake of underestimating the efficiency of his army. They thought the troops in Chile would be able to take care of any 4,000 men the Patriots could get together but San Martín's army was differently provided and organized than the undisciplined masses which had been routed at Waki, Villapucho and Trancagua. The Spanish generals were not so much surprised at his crossing the Andes as at finding the troops which reached the Chilean plains to be well furnished with artillery, cavalry and ammunition perfectly ready for an aggressive campaign and a match man to man for any force that could be brought against them. The royalists lost 1200 of their best men at Chacabuco. Only a thousand escaped from the field to fly in disorder towards Santiago. On the way they met the Spanish cavalry riding to join them but Captain General Marcot instead of rallying the 3000 men which remained under his orders carried out of town toward Valparaiso anxious for his personal safety. San Martín had expected to be obliged to fight another battle and kept his army together instead of pursuing and annihilating the dismayed Spaniards. More than half the latter managed to escape to Valparaiso where they embarked for Peru. Santiago received the conqueror with no great enthusiasm. The monit classes feared another prolonged civil war with its attendant confiscations, forced contributions and general disorder. The common people cared little whether a Spaniard or an Argentine occupied the governmental palace. However, no one dreamed of resistance. The partisans of the proscribed patriots and the votaries of independence and liberalism were delighted. San Martín with his host of hardy gauchos and Chilean exiles assumed full control of the capital. He summoned an assembly of notables who promptly and unanimously elected him quote-unquote governor of Chile with plenary powers. But this was not what the farsighted and patriotic soldier wanted. He realized that Chile could never give that unquestioning support so vital to the success of his cherished campaign against Peru so long as any stranger even himself governed by force. San Martín peremptorily declined the honor but intimated that he would be glad to see his staunch friend O'Higgins selected dictator and accordingly the enemy of the Carreras was placed at the head of the new Chilean government. With eyes fixed on a Peruvian campaign it was only natural that San Martín could leave immediate details in Chile to others. Though all central Chile submitted with good grace the south remained a stronghold of the Spanish sympathizers. Among its warlike people the royalist armies had been recruited and there lay the two strongest fortresses Talcauano and Valdivia both of them still in possession of the Spaniards. After two months delay las eras with a thousand men was dispatched but his force was inadequate and his advance slow. Before he arrived near Concepción enabled Spanish general Ordóñez who had fought side by side with San Martín in Spain had organized a division equal in numbers with which he retired to Concepción and there was joined by the 1600 troops who had escaped after the rout at Chacabuco and who had been ordered back to Chile the moment they made their appearance at Callao. The Spanish general now thought himself strong enough to annihilate las eras but the sortie which he led was beaten back in the battle of Gavilan. However this victory was in no way decisive and the Patriots were not able to make any impression on the fortifications at Talcauano or to advance south of the Biobio. Southern Chile remained hostile and Talcauano and Valdivia were open doors through which the Spaniards could send reinforcements and supplies as long as they held command of the sea. San Martín remained in Santiago only a short time after Chacabuco, prepossessed with the idea that Chile could not be safe or Peru won until he had organized a fleet to rest control of the Pacific from the Spaniards. He hastened across the Andes to arrange with his friends in the Argentine government for the necessary money. The Chilean campaign had saved Buenos Aires from impending invasion. The Argentine Patriots would certainly be crushed if Chile should fall back into Spanish hands. They could never feel secure so long as Peru and Bolivia remained royalist. Those which he asked were readily given on his agreeing that Chile should contribute $300,000 toward the purchase of a squadron on the Pacific and $40,000 for the support of the Argentine army on the Bolivian frontier besides taking the responsibility of the pay and maintenance of the army of the Andes. Argentina was to aid in purchasing the fleet and hold back the Spaniards on the Bolivian frontier. San Martín returned to Chile where he was shortly followed by an official representative of the Argentine government and the alliance created by Chacabuco received formal sanction. He found Chilean affairs in a very unsatisfactory condition. O'Higgins was hated by the powerful partisans of the Carreras and distrusted by Chileans generally as too much under Argentine influence. His power really rested upon Argentine bayonets. His appointment of Quintana in Argentina and San Martín's aid to camp as acting dictator at Santiago was bitterly resented. San Martín's presence did something to allay the feeling but as a matter of fact he had little sympathy for the Chilean people being a man who despised the arts by which popularity is gained and who made few friends. Meanwhile the three Carreras were actively plotting from their exile at Buenos Aires for the overthrow of O'Higgins in San Martín. Their friends and agents swarmed in Chile and preparations were made for a rising as soon as they should set foot in the country. The two younger brothers attempted to cross the Andes in disguise but were detected and arrested at Mendoza. Quintana ordered the imprisonment of many persons suspected of being Carrera partisans but his severe measures raised national feeling to such a height that it was thought safest to carry out San Martín's suggestion and appoint a Chilean as acting dictator in his stead. End of section 10 Section 11 of the South American Republics Volume 2 by Thomas Claland Dawson This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Piotr Natter Part 2, Chile, Chapter 3 The War of Independence, Part 2 In the Argentine the position of the patriot government was worse. With civil war actively raging in the one country and only halving check by foreign bayonets in the other and with both governments struggling against financial difficulties it is no wonder that the warships which were expected to sweep the Spanish frigates from the Pacific did not arrive. The delay cost the patriot's dear. In January 1818 four Spanish ships mounting 230 cannon and landed 3400 well-equipped soldiers, most of them peninsular veterans. San Martín, a master of the art of recruiting, had raised a second army composed principally of Chileans and nearly equal in numbers to the original army of the Andes so that his total force amounted to 9000 men while the Spanish troops did not exceed 5000. The Argentine general was in the dark as to where the enemy would land and already issued orders for Ohigins who was in command near Concepción to retreat resolved on concentrating his forces near Valparaiso. Even after the Spanish army had disembarked at Talcauano, San Martín was in doubt whether Osorio would not re-embark and strike at some unprotected harbor near Santiago. But the latter came up steadily by the land route encountering no opposition though somewhat hampered by broken bridges and the bareness of the country of horses and supplies. For the retreating Ohigins had left his track a desert. The farther the Spaniards penetrated towards Santiago the more difficult became the feeding of their army and the more certainly disastrous a retreat in case of reverse. Ohigins stopped at Talcauano to await orders and there on the 20th of January 1818 he defiantly made proclamation of Chile's absolute independence of Spain. Three weeks later the approach of Osorio's army forced him to abandon the place and he retired to form a junction with San Martín. The latter completed his concentration and advanced with an army of over 7000 men superior in all arms and especially in cavalry and artillery. About a hundred miles south of Santiago he met the Spaniards and won some cavalry skirmishes. The enemy retired towards Talca unwilling with inferior forces to bring on a general action where defeat meant annihilation and even contemplating a retreat to Talcauano. But behind them lay the deep river Maula and San Martín made a dash to reach it first. The two armies marched rapidly on parallel lines with the patriot cavalry harassing the Spanish rare. On the afternoon of the 19th of March the Spaniards wheeled into line in excellent position just outside the city of Talcauano with their west flank protected by a stretch of broken ground called the Cancha Rayada. San Martín was following close but the partial attack which he immediately made was interrupted by darkness before any decisive results were obtained. Hastily going into camp too near the enemy's lines and all unprepared for battle the patriots were surprised at about nine o'clock in the evening by the assault of the whole Spanish army. The alarm was given by the cavalry pickets but only a few had time to get into line of battle before the enemy was upon them. San Martín over on the extreme right heard a few volleys and then the noise of confused flight, scattering shots and the thundering hoof beats of the pursuing cavalry. O'Higgins had been wounded while trying to get his men into order and from that moment the patriots neighborhood thought of nothing but escape through the darkness. The center and left including the cavalry dispersed in the wildest confusion, abandoning the artillery. The right wing, composed of 3,500 infantry was not attacked and waited in stupefaction for two or three hours not clearly understanding what had happened. Its officers held the council, put las eras in command and by daybreak the division was 16 miles from the field of battle. In the meantime San Martín and O'Higgins had found each other and soon were busily engaged in collecting the scattered cavalry. The patriot loss in killed and wounded had been small but a third of their number had deserted and many of the remainder searched in vain for their regiments. However the royalist army had been nearly as badly dispersed in making the night attack as the patriots in receiving it effective pursuit could be made and San Martín retreated on Santiago practically unmolested. The first news of the disaster was carried to the capital by fugitive officers. They reported that San Martín was killed and O'Higgins mortally wounded and everything lost. Shouts of Viva el Rey resounded through the streets leading citizens opened communication with Osorio and the republicans prepared for flight to Mendota or Valparaiso. But the next day word came that San Martín himself was safe and the day following a despatch saying he had 4000 men under his orders. With O'Higgins' arrival in the city the revolutionary disorders were suppressed and soon San Martín rode into the city. Though half dead through loss of sleep as he drew rain at his horse he made the one speech of his life laconically assuring the people that he expected to win the next battle right soon. Not forgetting precautions which ensured a safety retreat to the northern provinces or the Argentine he devoted himself to reorganizing the army and within ten days after its dispersal had 5000 men together well provided and resolute to give a good account of themselves. He took a position on a low line of Chock Hills seven miles southwest of Santiago and waited for the enemy whose numbers were now slightly superior to his own. Meanwhile the Spanish officers were greatly disappointed at the negative results of Can Charayada. Mutual reproaches flew back and forth in their council of war many advocated maintaining the defensive and even retreating to the south to be nearer their base. Their indecision gave San Martín the needed opportunity to gather his dispersed forces and to inspire them with his own confidence. Finally however Osorio advanced cautiously on Santiago hoping that the Argentine would not risk another battle for the defense of the capital and maneuvering to the west so as to get between the city and the sea. In front of San Martín's position lay another line of Chock Hills separated from the first by a narrow stretch of low ground. At their western end ran the road from Santiago to Valparaiso. Like the Union position at Gettysburg this line of Hills was admirably adapted for a defensive battle and Osorio resolved to occupy it especially as he thought his left wing extended far enough west to command the Valparaiso road thereby securing him a communication with a new and more convenient base on the coast and giving him a line of retreat in case of a reverse. But San Martín's quick eye saw that this option was mistaken and that his opponent might easily be cut off. San Martín's tactical dispositions were admirably made on the momentous morning of April 5th, 1818. He divided his army into two divisions and a reserve, stationing the latter on the extreme east of his line. Under cover of a heavy artillery fire the west division rushed down the slope across the bottom and up the hills commanding the Valparaiso road. The counter charge of the Spanish horsemen was repulsed by the superior Patriot cavalry and the Spanish west wing was isolated from the rest of the army. Meanwhile the Patriot's east division composed of the bulk of their infantry had charged straight across the narrow part of the bottom and reached the high ground opposite without seeing an enemy, but there was made by a terrific charge from the royalist infantry and rolled in confusion back down the hills. Regardless of the artillery fire the Spaniards were pursuing triumphantly over the low ground when suddenly their eastern flank received the charge of the Patriot reserve which had advanced obliquely from its original position on the extreme east. This movement decided the battle. The Spanish infantry could not reform to meet it and were rolled up in helpless confusion. The flying Patriot infantry rallied and returned to the attack. Their cavalry already victorious at the other end of the line turned and charged the west flank of the Spaniards who simultaneously taken at both ends and in front were cut down by hundreds. A few managed to keep their formation and fell back to the farm of Espejo behind whose extensive buildings and garden walls they entrenched themselves determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Joined by their left wing which unable to reach the center where the hard fighting had taken place had suffered little loss they withstood the attack of the victorious Patriot army. But the artillery was brought up, the walls knocked to pieces and the position carried in the midst of the most frightful carnage. The infuriated Patriots gave no quarter until General Las Eras rode among them and begged them to desist from the inhuman slaughter. Maipo was the hardest fought battle in all the wars of South American independence. Of 5000 royalists 1200 were killed 800 wounded and 2200 made prisoners Only 800 escaped, flying south towards safety at Talcahuano of whom less than 100 held together until they reached the Spanish fortifications. Of the Patriots more than a fifth were killed or wounded. The greatest sufferers being the freed Negroes whom San Martín had recruited in the Argentine. Half of these brave fellows were left on the fields. Juan and Luis Carrera imprisoned at Mendoza had been an embarrassment and a menace to San Martín and Ohigins. The latter hated them too much to be willing to make terms and yet he feared that their execution would cause an insurrection by their family and party friends in Chile. A criminal prosecution had been trumped up against them and proceedings delayed on various pretexts. The news of the disaster at Cancharayada was their death sentence. Dr. Monteahudo Ohigins' representative, archting as judge, sentenced them to death at three o'clock one afternoon and sent them to the shooting bench at five. Every Chilean who did not belong to the Ohigins faction was profoundly shocked at this murder. Though the victims were agitators and revolutionists, they belonged to one of the most respected families in Chile. With their older brother they had been the leaders in the First War against Spain. Their devotion to the cause of independence was unquestioned and they had the national sentiment which opposed the Argentine armies remaining on Chilean soil. Pursuit of the Spaniards flying from the field of Maipo was hardly over when open opposition to Ohigins and his policy broke out. A cavalry corps, the Ussares de la Muerte, composed of Carrera partisans, had volunteered after the rout at Cancharayada and rendered valuable service at Maipo. Ohigins ordered it to disband. An open cabildonet which voted the dictator's deposition, but his soldiers arrested the Carrera leader, shot him in cold blood, and the citizens had no alternative but to despair and submit. Ohigins undertook to crush the opposition by ferociously persecuting his republican enemies and rapaciously confiscating the property of the royalists. This so occupied him that he was unable to pay much attention to the Spaniards in the south. Osorio gathered a small force at Talcahuano, easily beat off some desultery expeditions which the patriots sent against him and from May until September held the whole country south of the Maule. But after the slaughter at Maipo, the viceroy had all he could do defending Peru and Bolivia. Late in the year Osorio withdrew with most of his troops, leaving only meager garrisons in the fortresses of southern Chile. San Martin had remained only a few days in Santiago, harrying back to Buenos Aires to try to induce the Argentine government to carry out its promises of the year before and aid in the purchase of a fleet. Just before his departure, an East Indian man carrying 44 guns had arrived at Valparaiso and the Chilean treasury was emptied to pay for her. When he reached Buenos Aires, his friend Pueyrredon, the Argentine dictator agreed to raise a loan of $500,000 and sent around to ships of the Argentine Navy. San Martin immediately took the road for Chile, but at Mendoza a letter came forbidding him to draw on the Argentine treasury. He resigned, but the Argentine authorities, dismayed at the consequences of his withdrawal, finally gave him $200,000. The winter storms make the Andean passes impracticable and it was October before the general reached Santiago where, to his delight, he found that O'Higgins had already got together a considerable squadron. The East India man, bought just before my paw and manned by British and North American officers had succeeded in capturing a Spanish brig. Two American privateers were shortly afterwards brought by the Chilean government and their arrival was followed by that of an English vessel purchased by San Martin's agent in London. Others were on their way from the United States and two Argentine ships were reported to be coming round Cape Horn. A few days prior to San Martin's return to Santiago, Chile's two frigates with two small consorts had sailed south from Valparaiso in the hope of intercepting a fleet of transports carrying 2,000 troops and a great quantity of arms which the Spanish government had sent around the Horn from Cadiz convoyed by a 50-gun frigate. Stormy weather had, however, scattered the royalist fleet and more than half the transports gave up the attempt to weather the formidable promontory, though the frigate and the others succeeded. The transports evaded the Chileans and reached Kayao in safety, but the frigate was caught lying at Angkor at Talcauano and proved an important addition to the Patriot Navy. The object for which San Martin had been planning and working during two years was achieved. His naval force, manned by professional sailors picked from among the best sea-fighting people of the world, was too formidable for the enemy to dare to attack. Chile was safe from invasion and Peru lay open to a descent. San Martin's first care was to rest southern Chile from the Spaniards, to leave them in control of a fertile and populous territory where they could recruit troops, collect provisions and menace Santiago was not safe. Toward the end of 1818 he sent his lieutenant, Balcarfe and Argentine against them at the head of 3300 men. Such a force was irresistible. Cheyenne, Concepción and Talcauano were abandoned and the Spanish commander shut himself up in the fortress of Valdivia. But when San Martin came to face the question of organizing and equipping an army adequate for the invasion of Peru, he found the Chileans cold and indifferent. The success of their fleet had insured them against assault and they appeared to be chiefly interested in getting rid of the Argentine army of occupation. The soldiers had not received their pay and though O'Higgins issued a proclamation announcing an expedition to Peru San Martin waited around for months without receiving the promised aid. Finally he presented his resignation as general-in-chief of the proposed Peruvian expedition and withdrew the army of the Andes from Santiago, leading a part over the Andes to Mendoza and leaving the rest on the Chilean side near the entrance to the pass. This measure quickly brought the governments of both Chile and Argentina to terms. His presence east of the Andes intimidated the rebels against the authorities at Buenos Aires leaving the latter's hands free to aid him, while the O'Higgins party in Chile realized that it could not remain itself without his support. He required $500,000 for the equipment of an army 6,000 strong and Argentina the remainder and he returned to Santiago in the middle of 1819 to complete his arrangements. While actively engaged in preparations word came that civil war had again broken out in the Argentine San Martin was compelled to make his choice between deferring to an indefinite future an engaged expedition against Peru or abandoning his native country to probable disintegration. He remained in Chile and though the Argentine government under whose commission he was acting had ceased to exist, he did not shrink from the responsibility of disposing of the army of the Andes. His men cheerfully agreed to follow him, but months went by with little accomplished and it was not until late in 1820 that he was able to sail and then with only 4,000 men instead of the 6 he had counted on. With his departure his influence on the affairs of Chile ceased. Lord Thomas Cochrane a very able but very erratic British naval officer who had gone into politics and got into trouble in his native country arrived in November 1818 to take command of the Patriot Navy under his dashing and restless leadership no time was lost in pushing naval operations. The year 1819 was spent in expeditions to the Peruvian and Ecuadorian coast. Cayao was repeatedly bombarded and the Spanish fleet took refuge under the guns of the fortresses leaving the sea free to the Patriots. Failing in a desperate attempt to cut out the Spanish ships from under the very guns of the Cayao batteries, Cochrane sent all his vessels except his flagship to Valparaiso and sailed with her for Valdivia the last port held by the Spaniards on the Chilean mainland. The place was a very Gibraltar of natural strength and had been well fortified. Nine forts and batteries disposed on both sides of the narrow estuary were garrisoned by over a thousand men. Nevertheless Cochrane prepared to capture them by assault with his single ship. Stopping at Talcauano he took on board 250 Chilean soldiers and was fortunate in finding two smaller ships. His flagship stranded. He transferred the marine to the other ships and went on. Reaching the Valdivia bar he landed without giving the Spaniards a moment's time to bring up reinforcements and at the head of his soldiers and marines he attacked the outermost fort. Though defended by 360 men its resistance was short. While Cochrane's main body advanced up path drawing the garrison's fire a detachment found a neglected entrance in the rear through which they poured a volley on the defenders. Panic stricken the Spaniards fled to the next fort but the patriots followed so close that no stand could be made. One after another all the forts on the south side on the estuary were rushed. Next day Cochrane's two smaller ships sailed into the harbor under the fire of the northern forts and soon after the half disabled flagship made her appearance. Seeing the long boats filling with men and the cannons of the ships ready to open fire the Spaniards fled to the city and surrendered the following day. This capture deprived the royalists of their last base of operations in Chile and only the Chiloé islands and a few scattered guerilla bands among the Indians of Araucania remained faithful. End of section 11 section 12 of the South American Republic's volume 2 by Thomas Glelland Dawson. This Librivox recording is in the public domain, recording by Piotr Natar, part 2 Chile, chapter 4 the formative period. The long struggle against Spain accustoming Chileans to military service and uprooting the system under which the country had been ruled for centuries necessarily placed the control of government in the hands of the generals. Like all other spanish-americans countries, Chile had to pass through a period of irresponsible praetorian rule and the sterilizing horrors of wars in which one ambitious chief tried to displace another. But anarchy lasted only a short time the civil element was powerful even at the beginning and Chileans never acquired the revolution's habit. Her government has been stable longest and her political history the least checkered of any spanish-american country. To this result so happy for the internal prosperity and external power of the nation several causes have cooperated. First of all has been the existence of a powerful landed aristocracy whose interests lay rather in cultivating their estates in the security of peace and order than in trying to make fortunes by taxes rung from a poverty stricken, reluctant proletariat. The people are by climate and inheritance industrious, naturally inclined towards industrial progress agricultural rather than pastoral prolific and colonizing and though pugnacious they are not like the inert indians of the andean and central american countries to be bullied into following the first revolutionary chief who comes along. Further the country is geographically compact, a narrow strip of plain with easy communication between its provinces and unlike the argentine and colombia not divided into widely distanced districts, each with its isolated capital, its local chiefs, its ambition for hegemony and autonomy. In the throes of the first war of independence Carrera was hardly able to maintain himself and a civil revolution had as much to do with his overthrow as his military misfortunes. O'Higgins even while supported by son martin's army of argentine veterans, held control by a very precarious grip. During 1819 and 1820 there were no serious travels because attention was absorbed by the war against Peru and overcockrain naval victories but no sooner had son martin left than symptoms of discontent again appeared on the surface. Complaints against the arbitrary and corrupt practices of O'Higgins's ministers were loud and unrestrainable. The aristocracy opposed his measures and the very senate he had appointed to assist in the government openly obstructed him. Theoretically a radical, he called the national congress to establish the new nation on a democratic basis. However, even his own nominees moved slowly while Coquimbo, the northern and Concepcion, the southern capital were hotbeds of opposition. In the latter part of 1822 General Freire, the hero of the campaign which had redeemed southern Chile took the initiative at Concepcion. The southern provinces declared against O'Higgins Freire prepared to advance on Santiago Coquimbo followed an old Carrera partisan assuming the governorship. The northern revolutionists invaded the center while news came that Freire was rapidly coming up from the south. In January 1823 O'Higgins handed his resignation to a committee of Santiago citizens who appointed Temporari Junta and summoned the congress. A few days later General Freire landed at Valparaiso with 1600 soldiers and on his advancing to the neighborhood of capital congress very prudently offered him the dictatorship. The aristocracy and the people soon found that they had gained nothing in this exchange of masters. After a short spasm of reform the public finances fell into horrible disorder and the ruling clique enriched itself at the expense of the treasury. Freire permitted congress to promulgate a constitution which in effect recognized the aristocracy as the dominant political element but at heart he was a radical and an absolutist and the documents soon proved to be only so much waste paper. He showed his anti-clerical tendencies by refusing to come to any agreement with the pope's representative who arrived in 1824 charged with the reorganization of the Chilean hierarchy. He summarily banished the bishop of Santiago because of his royalist leanings and issued a decrease confiscating church property. In 1825 he dissolved congress and for some months ruled frankly as a dictator. When he issued rites for a new national assembly he solemnly promised not to interfere in the elections but so little confidence felt that outside of Santiago no one participated and from there only a few members were returned. Freire soon quarreled with this ramp parliament and its dissolution was followed by political confusion in which parties became daily more sharply defined and acrimonious. There were federalists who advocated provincial assemblies, peopleas who followed the strong liberal chief general Pinto, oigenistas who favored the return of the former dictator and finally the conservatives nicknamed pelucones from the peruques pelucas in Spanish which old fashioned Chilean gentlemen war. Only the military power and prestige of Freire coupled with his real abilities and resolution prevented attempts at forcibly displacing him. Early in 1826 the Spaniards who until then had held out on the island of Chiloé surrendered and this signal service to the country somewhat strengthened the dictator. In July of that year a congress met composed of men favorable to Freire and the majority of the members were federalists who divided Chile into 8 autonomous provinces but it soon became evident that such a system must encounter strong opposition. The provincial assemblies would pass laws at variance with the measures of the central government and in the next moment adopt resolutions enacting their delegates in the national congress to oppose the permanent establishment of a federated republic declaring emphatically in favor of national unity. Nevertheless the liberals persisted in their efforts to impose on their reluctant country a brand new form of government. Doctoriners and soldiers were still in the saddle and only close observation of the signs of the times revealed the fact that discussion was becoming broader and the military elements were in danger of losing their preponderance. By the beginning of 1826 Freire had sung to be little more than the doubtful leader of a fraction of a party. His administration was in horrible financial straits, the expenditures were twice the income and in May he resigned in favor of the vice president general Pinto. The latter was an eminent lawyer as well as a brave soldier who held very radical views. Continuing the policy of his predecessor he summoned the congress which swept away the old constitution and framed one that was frankly federalist and during 1828 and 1829 he and his party struggled to put it into application. But the silent resistance of the aristocrats and the rivalries among the jealous liberal leaders were too much for him. Party passion became so acute and politicians so irritated and aggressive that it became impossible to carry on any regular government. In November Pinto resigned and Vicunia, president of the senate tried his hand at holding the liberals together and suppressing the now confident and aggressive conservatives. Not only political but also social anarchy obtained throughout the country. Disorders were prevalent, robberies occurred daily, life was unsafe, foreigners were fleeing to Valparaiso. General Prieto commanding the army on the Araucanian frontier revolted and began a march on the capital. Vicunia harried to the northern provinces to try to hold them quiet while general Lastra went against Prieto. Under the leadership of Portales the ablest statesmen Chile has ever produced the conservatives at Santiago organized a junta and paid open defiance to the liberals. When Lastra and Prieto met there was no fighting. The two generals held a conference and arranged a compromise by which Freire was to be recalled. But affairs at Santiago were in more resolute hands than theirs. Portales absolutely refused to agree and back of him stood the conservative party well organized and knowing clearly what it wanted. The conservatives had the land, the wealth the prestige of social position the ardent support of the clergy their influence ramified everywhere they had been welded together during the long dominance of the liberals and best of all they followed a strong leader. The army could not be united in unquestioning support of any one general. Prieto decided to cast his lot with the conservatives and occupied Santiago. The congress which was hastily elected naturally proved frankly and aggressively conservative. The liberals flew to arms calling on Freire to lead them and the 2000 Chileans perished in a battle before the final and decisive conservative victory at Lircai, April 17, 1830. Freire fled to Peru Prieto was elected provisional president and Portales became vice president. Though he owed his elevation to his military successes the new president did not attempt to rule as a dictator and cooperated cordially with the vice president in organizing a parliamentary civil government on an enduring basis. Prieto played not illy the role of a Washington to Portales' Hamilton. Militarism, radicalism and federalism had been tried and found wanting and the great conservative statesmen took care that the new order should be tainted with none of them. Two years were spent in careful experiment and deliberation and the constitution framed in 1833 has remained with a few amendments the fundamental law of Chile to this day. The most aristocratic and centralized of American constitutions it has given Chile the strongest and stablest government in South America. The foundation of political power is the property holding class. No man may vote unless he possessed land, invested capital or an equivalent income from his trade or profession and congress may fix the amount of the qualification as high as it pleases. Political power originated in the oligarchy and its exercise was delegated to a president whose functions are even more extensive than those of the chief magistrate of the United States. Eeps of facto commander in chief of the armed forces free to select his cabinet and the chief functionaries of the state without the confirmation of a senate not subject to impeachment possessing an effective control over the judiciary given a practically absolute veto with the descendants of the provinces and the governors of the departments receiving from him their commissions and acting as his agents it would seem that the president of Chile is little less than an absolute and irresponsible ruler but from the beginning the executive was in practice dependent upon the oligarchy as represented in congress the instances in which a president has tried to rule in defiance of the wishes of the aristocracy have been rare and never successful. When Prieto's first term expired in 1836 many of the conservatives pressed Portales to accept the presidency but he was satisfied with his place as chief minister under his vigorous and intelligent direction the courts and clergy had been reformed the police organized a national guard created the budgets balanced the executive and congress worked harmoniously together peace and order had replaced confusion Chile's feet had been placed on the path of social and industrial progress the exiled Freire meanwhile was receiving aid from Santa Cruz who had recently created the Peru Bolivian Confederation with himself as its chief and whose ambitious designs included the installation of a government in Chile which would be his complacent and obliged friend with arms obtained in Peru General Freire made a descent of Chile but the rebellion was quickly suppressed war declared against Santa Cruz and the Peruvian fleet surprised and seized while the army of invasion was waiting for the order to embark a few companies engaged in a mutiny which brought about a horrible tragedy Portales had come to the camp to watch the preparations the mutineers seized him as hostage and fleeing to the interior carried him along locked in a closed carriage in the middle of the winter night they encountered a detachment of government troops and with the first volley the guards stopped the carriage a man got out walked unflinchingly to the side of the road a half dozen shots rang out in the still air and he fell when the first light of dawn illuminated the field the victorious national guards found a body lying pierced by four bullets it was Portales but his work had been too thoroughly done for even his own death to affect it he found his country feeble and divided torn by feud and faction he left her prosperous united possessing surplus vitality for a successful foreign war Prieto and the conservatives were not shaken the expedition to Peru proceeded and though the first failed the second won the battle of Jungai overthrew Santa Cruz and made Chile the dominant power on the pacific coast at the end of his two terms of five years each Porto was succeeded by General Bournes the hero of the war foreign commerce was increasing by leaps and bounds the growth of the customs revenue put government finances on a sound footing the expenses of the war against Santa Cruz had been provided for out of current income William Wheelwright had established the first steamship line on the pacific the political policy of Bournes was as repressive towards the liberals as his predecessors education and literary activity were encouraged a new university was inaugurated at Santiago in 1843 the opera and the drama flourished and society took on a more intellectual and cosmopolitan tone even religious doctrine and the relations of church and state were discussed with considerable freedom and warmth and everywhere were signs of an awakening a flowering out of the industrial, commercial and intellectual life of the nation German colonists were induced to settle in the forested valleys and mountains of the south and that part of Chile became and has remained more teutonic than Latin the discovery of gold in California opened a market for Chilean wheat and gave a fresh impetus to commerce and agriculture while the minds of Copiapo became to yield their inexhaustible wealth Bournes was re-elected without opposition in 1846 but a new Chile had grown up in the 15 years of peaceful order though the old liberals had disappeared a new party had arisen all the more formidable because its principles were moderate and it sought not dictatorships military government or federalism but only administrative reforms such as restraining the clergy and widening the suffrage by 1849 the liberals had a majority in congress and an agitated session ensued the conservative president was pushed into an attitude of uncompromising resistance to the liberal demands Manuel Montt, the intellectual leader of the conservatives a strong and ambitious man who was known to have the courage and firmness to maintain himself against odds was selected as Bournes's successor his elevation in the spring of 1851 was followed by an armed outbreak the government troops suppressed but in September the revolution flamed forth with redoubled fury from Concepción the liberal headquarters marched an army which gained several victories and even threatened the capital but the conservatives rallied and in December the issue was decided by a bloody battle of Longcomia in Chile a narrow plain shut in between the Andes and the sea losers cannot hide the forces enough civil wars cannot be prolonged in remote provinces or by the flight of the defeated to inaccessible deserts though the destruction of life and property had been frightful 4000 Chileans perished and commerce and industry being paralyzed for the moment peace was immediately re-established and the nation rapidly recovered a general amnesty buried the doings of the insurgents were not as members of the party which Mont and Varaz his able minister organized though their faces were set against political innovations they adopted many important administrative reforms the admirable civil code was given to the country replacing the complicated and confusing mass of the old Spanish laws by clear and systematic legislation the tariff was lowered as between foreign countries were abolished commercial courts were installed decimal coinage adopted church tithes converted into a moderate fixed tax treaties of commerce and amity negotiated with the great commercial nations missions established among the Araucanians and public libraries and schools were multiplied on the other hand Mont and Varaz relentlessly pursued a policy of centralization subjecting even the affairs of the municipalities to the control of the Santiago bureaucracy re-elected as a matter of course in 1856 Mont's second term was even more intransigent than his first many leading liberals were driven from the country and minor insurrections broke out more than once only to be sternly suppressed the landed aristocracy had however ceased to be unanimous against concessions its more progressive members belonged now to the liberal party and the Mont Varistas in congress were compelled to ally themselves now with the clericals now with the liberals in order to secure a working majority in 1858 Mont came to an open rapture with congress because it insisted on passing a law permitting the return of his banished political enemies meanwhile he had alienated the clergy by compelling the ecclesiastical authorities to submit to the decisions of the civil tribunals and some conservatives united with the liberals against him in the elections in the fall of 1858 his measures became arbitrary and oppressive newspapers were suppressed meetings dispersed and agitators imprisoned at the end of the year a great meeting was called in the capital to promote a reform of the constitution the government forbade it as a Venice to public order and the dissatisfaction was so widespread that Mont proclaimed martial law the liberals in the southern and northern provinces simultaneously rose in rebellion and for four months civil war raged furiously Gaillot, a young, rich and powerful leader was at the head of the insurrection in the north and at first he defeated the government forces and occupied Kokimbo but his hopes were crushed by the news that the southern liberals advancing from Concepcion had been repulsed at Ji'an enabling Mont to concentrate the whole army against him 4000 regulars routed the 2000 men who followed Gaillot and the remnants fled across the Argentine border defeated and banished the liberals in reality had won the seriousness of the rebellion had convinced the aristocracy that concessions must be made or a renewal of the conflict would be inevitable Mont did not seek re-election and it was necessary to unite on some men of high personal prestige and of distinguished family who had remained neutral in the recent struggle such a one was found in Pereth who accordingly received the unanimous vote of the electoral college and was inaugurated in 1861 that the new president's policy would be one of reconciliation and compromise was soon made evident by his procuring the passage of a law granting amnesty for political offences a coalition of moderate liberals and conservatives through Mont and Varaz with their party of nationalists into opposition along the radicals or reds under the leadership of Gaillot the curious spectacle was presented of two sets of men united in an alliance against the administration who only two years before had been fighting in the field and who now professed the most radically divergent political opinions fierce parliamentary struggle ensued but they were confined to the floor of congress and to changes in the ministry 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 colonization was fostered indeed no south american country had incorporated such a large proportion of dorth american blood and british, german and french names are common not only in commerce and industry but in the political naval and military services witness MacKenna, O'Higgins Boshev, Godoy, Mont Walker, Edwards McIver, Tapper, Pratt Leren, McClure, Koenig, Mathieu Steven, Ross Marchand, Cumming Day, Stefan 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 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 cannonate lasted nine tenths of it being on the waterfront and belonging to foreign merchants the Spanish fleet then withdrew although the original question remained exactly as at the outset 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 23rd an agreement which gave their country substantial claims in a region which shortly proved a marvellous producer of ready money the German colonization in the south continued on an increasing scale during the late sixties three 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 Pérez 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 this 40 years since Portales had fixed the form of the government in its aristocratic 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 favored by president Pérez the last failed to carry and the most the liberals could obtain was a law reducing the property qualification the election of 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 as presidential candidate to succeed Pérez 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 Errathurith changed as congress did and as soon found himself pushing liberal reforms the great issue was the amenability of the clergy to the civil tribunals though 15 years previously president Mont 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 Mont then sorth the conservative party ceased to be an important factor and the predominant liberals divided into factions who intrigued among themselves to organize 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 percent a year coal mines had been discovered in southern Chile railroad building continued and the finding of the rich caracal 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 neighbor 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 Errathuri's 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 felled 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 machena on a program which included not only religious freedom in its widest sense the extension of the common schools and the abolition of the Tabaco Monopoly but also railways and internal improvements enough to bankrupt the treasury the moderate liberals were opposed to machena and his program 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 favored by the outgoing administration his election was a foregone conclusion by this time the dispute with the Argentine over the possession of the southern extremity of the continent had become acute and public feeling in both countries had risen to a high perilous to the maintenance of the peace the only boundary treaty between Chile and Argentina that of 1856 provided that the limits should be as they had been during colonial times but these were not certain because throughout the Spanish occupation the territory now disputed had been uninhabited and neither the viceroy of Buenos Aires nor the captain's general of Chile had concerned themselves about it since independence Chile had always claimed to the Andes on the east end and to Cape Horn to the south including the region about the Straits of Magellan over to the Atlantic side as early as 1843 she had established a post at the eastern end of the Straits and Argentina at first did not seriously dispute her possession in 1870 Guana was discovered in the region and when Chile promptly proceeded to treat it as her own the Argentine government protested for ten years the two countries bickered but with the Peruvian war impending Chile thought it wiser to make some concessions and the dispute was finally settled by a treaty in 1881 by which the territory was divided Chile getting the more valuable part with the control of both ends of the Straits although this great inter-oceanic waterway was declared neutral and no fortifications may be erected there and of section 12 section 13 of the South American Republics volume 2 by Thomas Clelland Dawson this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Piotr Natter part 2 Chile chapter 5 Chile's greatness and the civil war since 1873 the low prices of Chile's chief exports wheat and copper had turned the balance of trade against her the government could not make both ends meet and in 1878 the banks were compelled to suspend species payments they resorted to the issue of more notes backed by the government's guarantee just at this juncture the Bolivian government levied a heavy royalty on the nitrate extracted by the Chilean companies operating in Bolivian territory this threatened ruin to the most promising enterprise in which Chilean citizens were engaged and was believed to be a manifest violation of the terms of the Treaty of 1866 the government determined not to stop short of war itself if necessary to defend Chilean interests though war on Bolivia also meant war on her ally Peru a meager description of the staring events of this contest will be found in that part of this volume devoted to Peru Chile's overwhelming victory not only profoundly affected her international position but also her internal condition the preparations of the spring of 1879 plunged the government into expenditure switch ordinary revenues were totally insufficient to meet a new issue of paper money was resorted to but the interest on the foreign debt was kept up the first nine months of 1879 were an anxious time for Chileans pitted against two nations whose combined population was nearly double her own her treasury empty while that of Peru was supplied by the marvellous nitrate deposits of Tarapacá the result appeared doubtful and the consequences of failure almost too horrible to face when the Peruvians lost their island plaid, independencia, hope rose but the ease with which the Huascar eluded the Chilean ships people again lose confidence in their navy and the coast towns were terror-stricken but the destruction of the dreaded iron plaid in the naval battle of the 9th of October changed in the twinkling of an eye fear into confidence apprehension of national ruin into the joyful assurance that the Chilean army would soon be in possession of the Golconda of the Pacific within a month the Chilean forces were landed in the nitrate country the Peruvians and the Polyvians had been chased across the desert and the Chilean collectors were receiving a million and a half a month from the royalties of the nitrate mines a net sum nearly equal to the total revenue which Chile previously had been collecting from all sources was added to her income and she was no longer driven to painful expedience in order to raise money to meet her military expenses although the issues of paper money were continued and prices consequently rose business flourished and a period of abundance replaced the hard times which had reached a crisis in 1878 the government was able to abolish the odious taba co monopoly and the war rather lightened than increased the burdens of commerce the centralized government of Chile proved an admirable instrument for times of war the president and his ministry backed by a compact congress wielded the whole force like a weapon fitted to the hand striking heavy and relentless blows until Peru lay prostrate after the complete destruction of the allied army by the Takna campaign in March 1880 the government confident that a treaty of peace would soon be signed delayed further aggressive operations for several months but the Peruvians were obstinate and later in the year it was resolved to carry the war to the center of the enemy's country Pima fell on the 17th of January 1881 and the glorious news was received while the liberals were contending over whom they should select as a candidate to succeed Pinto there was much striving among the rival chiefs and one convention had already adjourned without coming to any agreement Pinto ventured to interfere in a more decided way than any previous president had done and his influence was sufficiently powerful to induce the liberal party to unite on his personal choice Santamaria the opposition tried to rally around the candidacy of general Bakedano the greatest general of the war but the prestige of the administration was too powerful although his nomination had been bitterly opposed by many prominent liberals once in office Santamaria found means to unite in his support a great majority of congress the members who took their seats in 1882 were divided into three factions the liberals proper as the moderates were called the radicals and the nationals few in number but counting in their ranks some of the ablest and wealthiest aristocrats in Chile the conservatives no longer an important factor had abandoned their opposition to the civil reforms which the liberals pressed forward concentrating their efforts on a hopeless but desperate resistance to religious innovations Santamaria was in full accord with his party and his message of 1883 proclaimed that the time had come for the realization of the oldest and dearest aspirations of Chilean liberals civil marriage and registry entire liberty of conscience and the secularization of the cemeteries in the fierce discussion which followed the eloquent prime minister Balmatheda took the lead although educated for the priesthood he had developed into an intransigent radical a passionate advocate of the completest separation of church and state the civil marriage law was pushed through in spite of the silent resistance of the conservatives and clericals the women of Chile the old fashioned elements of society and the clergy would not accept the result the priests refused to perform a religious ceremony for any who had been married by the civil law and excommunicated the president and his cabinet devout Chileans of all classes would not yield on this point of conscience and cursed the liberal politicians as betrayers of their god all other political questions were held in abeyance urged by their wives and the priests the conservatives abandoned the attitude of abstention from politics which they had so long maintained and went to the polls to do what they could to secure a majority for their appeal of the law but ladies in treaties and priests absolutions availed little against the government's control of the election machinery and the law remained on the statute books opposition centered against the presidential candidacy of Balmatheda, the radical the antichrist, the uncompromising in vain Santa Maria tried to unite the four liberal groups the government liberals the radicals, the nationals and the new division caused dissidents they refused to meet in a general convention however a majority composed of the government liberals, the nationals and a portion of the radicals decided to support Balmatheda and he was triumphantly elected in 1886 the dissidents, conservatives and opposition radicals formed a formidable minority determined to obstruct his administration in the closing days of 1885 scenes were enacted on the floor of the Chilean congress which resembled recent sessions of the Austrian parliament the revenue and appropriation bills were about to expire and fresh ones for a new fiscal period had to be adopted under the regulations every member had a right to speak twice on each section and the minority feeling bastard until the constitutional periods for adjournment had expired Santa Maria would have to finish out his administration and Balmatheda begin his without supply bills under a strict construction of the constitution all government would cease but Balmatheda was not the man to shrink from enforcing the right of self-preservation inherent in all governments the executive calmly proceeded to collect taxes and pay expenses according to the provisions of the expired law until a new congress met shortly after Balmatheda's inauguration and this solution was peacefully accepted by the country Chile had never known a time of such material prosperity as the first three years of Balmatheda's administrations proved to be the revenues well now doubled by the nitrate and copper of the provinces rested from Peru were further increased by the flourishing condition of commerce and industry the administration initiated and carried forward many important public works large sums were voted for railways, colonization and schools public salaries were raised the Araucanian country colonized and the Indians finally incorporated as real citizens of Chile the clericals made the best of their defeat and the liberal majority in congress inspired by Balmatheda's energy pushed forward rapidly on the road of reform and change a new election law was passed and a beginning made toward making the constitution more democratic Balmatheda's first idea was to unite all the liberal factions conciliate the conservatives and devote himself to a policy of material development although owing his election to three political parties out of the six he was unwilling and perhaps unable to govern solely by their assistance instead of regarding himself as the chief of a combination of parties by it with the direction of affairs and under obligations to act in harmony with it he did not hesitate to accept the help offered by his former political opponents when that help was needed to carry into effect his personal ideas of what was best for the public interest on the other hand the party which had elected him was really no party at all it was only a temporary coalition of three discordant factions not necessary to follow the many changes in his cabinet the continual substitution of one group for another the details of the efforts which he made during three years to govern as he pleased and at the same time to govern in harmony with congress his difficulties lay not so much in reconciling conflicts of opinion on matters of policy as with the personal rivalries and ambitions of the factions suffice it to say that towards the end of 1889 he found himself without a majority in congress and with no prospect of obtaining one here to fore the rival groups had been only too anxious to trade their votes in exchange for a share of patronage now satisfied that the president was determined upon depriving them of their secular influence in public affairs all the factions of the ruling aristocracy fought him bitterly he feared that the president was plotting the formation of a personal party cemented by hopes of office responsible to him alone and that the system of parliamentary government which had grown up by tacit consent and long continued custom would be replaced by a real presidential government in which the executive would be the source of power and not merely its channel indeed circumstances and his own characteristics were rapidly forcing a feda into this position conscious of his own integrity and the disinterestedness and patriotism of his motives his irritation against the stubborn self seeking of the cliques ended in convincing him that the old interpretation of the constitution must be abandoned and the president in person in reality vested with all the powers given by the letter of the fundamental law he devoted the remainder of his life to an effort to free the presidency from the practical control which congress had exercised since the days of portales in january 1890 he threw down the gauntlet by appointing a cabinet composed exclusively of personal supporters the new ministers announced that considering their power to be derived from the president they would hold office so long as they continued to be satisfactory to him regardless whether or not they were supported by a parliamentary majority in may Balmatheda went a step further by selecting another cabinet at whose head he placed San Fuentes his own intimate friend and a man regarded with particular hatred by the president's opponents because it was understood that he had been selected as the president's successor pledged to the continuance of the same policy congress replied by passing a vote of senator Balmatheda suggested that the cabinet should remain in power congress refused to pass any appropriation bills and summoned the ministers to the bar of the house but the president was confident that he could carry the elections and sure of the ultimate victory felt that he could afford to make present concessions in august a compromise was agreed upon by which Balmatheda dismissed the San Fuentes cabinet and selected one composed of neutral men while congress consented to pass the appropriation bills the truth did not last long the new ministers soon found that they were mere figureheads and that the Balmathedist executive committee was the real power in the administration they resigned and Claudio Vicunia formed a ministry which was a re-edition of the May cabinet the announcement of its appointment was in effect a notification that the armistice was at an end congress accepted the gauge of combat and immediately began to organize for civil war the wealth, social distinction and professional classes of the country were mostly on the side of the congressionalists and all who were conservative and fearful of disturbance in the established order rallied against them the democratic elements the reformers, the radicals the dissatisfied supported Balmatheda but the great mass of the common people used for centuries the political subordination to the upper classes remained inert his opponents met with no encouragement in their efforts to suborn the army and General Bacchedano refused the leadership of the insurrection which they offered him however the officers of the navy recruited from among the aristocratic classes enthusiastically assured their undivided support and Jorge Mont who held a high position in the navy was chosen as chief of the revolution the congressionalists resolved to make the issue upon the point whether the president had a right to maintain any military force land or naval after the 31st of December the day upon which the existing appropriation law expired Balmatheda did not hesitate an instant but issued a proclamation that he would follow the president established in 1886 collect taxes and maintain the public service by executive authority until the assembling of the next session of congress he expressly disclaimed any designs of establishing a permanent dictatorship while expressing his firm determination not to permit the refusal of congress to interrupt the functioning of government the issue was sharply drawn neither side would recede either congress would cease to emphasize its immemorial control of the executive or would depose him five days after Balmatheda's proclamation the congressionalist chiefs embarked on board the warship lying in Valparaiso Bay and the civil war was on the army remained faithful to Balmatheda and he was in undisputed possession of the whole country although his opponents had powerful sympathizers elsewhere the latter's plan of campaign was simple when power on the sea was to decide the fate of the pacific coast the navy sailed away to the nitrite provinces a region separated from the rest of Chile by the impassable Atacama desert and to which therefore Balmatheda could not send reinforcements the small garrison under Colnel Robles made a desperate resistance but was soon overpowered and there the revolution established its base of operations the population of sturdy miners used to discipline under their bosses furnished an admirable supply of recruits and a revenue of two millions a month fell at once into the hands of the congressionalists possessing the seniors of war it was only a question of a few months to equip an army with the most modern weapons and have it thoroughly drilled and organized by experts the blockade of the southern ports intercepted Balmatheda's supplies and the congressionalist partisans escaped by hundreds to make their way up the coast and joined the revolutionary army by August they were ready with a force of more than 10,000 men in the meantime Balmatheda had been making desperate efforts to get a navy but ironclads cannot be improvised and the congressionalist agents in New York and Europe had money enough to outbid him and to command influences which eventually hindered prompt action in Chile itself he adopted stern repressive measures against the plots of his enemies and vigorously recruited his army putting into the field nearly 30,000 soldiers but the blockade prevented his procuring modern arms and they had to go into battle with old style rifles whose range was only half that of those carried by their opponents he was also at a disadvantage in that the enemy could strike where he pleased on the coast 900 miles long Balmatheda was obliged therefore to keep his forces divided 9,000 were at Coquimbo 350 miles north of Santiago as many at Concepción 400 miles south of the capital and 5,000 at Valparaiso 100 miles northwest at Santiago he kept the remainder as a reserve to be sent to the assistance of whichever of the three divisions might be attacked on the 20th of August the fleet of 17 vessels carrying the whole revolutionary army suddenly appeared a few miles north of Valparaiso Balmatheda had short warning and was not able to oppose the landing which was skillfully conducted by Colmel Canto the able strategist who commanded the congressionalist forces with the valuable assistance of Colmel Kerner a Prussian tactician of the first rank the services had been hired there was no time to get troops from Coquimbo and Concepción the congressionalist generals moved so rapidly that the best the president could do was to send the Santiago division which united with that at Valparaiso made a force nearly equal in numbers to the enemy the revolutionists landed with their russians in their haversacks and within a few hours were marching straight south on Valparaiso the Balmathedists tried to defend the passage of the Aconcagua river which enters the ocean 20 miles north of the city but they had hardly got into position on the heights which overlook its southern bank when the enemy was upon them the latter's artillery was twice as strong and his infantry more numerous besides being armed with longer range rifles in spite of the advantage of position and the fatigue of their opponents the Balmathedists were flung back in complete defeat by the volists of the Manichers and the furious cannonading from both batteries and ships the battle lasted the whole day and at its close 2,000 of the government troops lay on the field 3,000 had been dispersed or deserted to the enemy and scarcely 3,000 held together for the retreat to the neighborhood of Valparaiso where three regiments of the Santiago division who had taken no part in the fight were waiting Canto followed but failing in a tentative attack on the strong northern defences of Valparaiso he determined to make a circuit to the east cut the railroad between Santiago and Valparaiso and either take the latter place in the rare or march on the capital as seemed best the movement so masterfully conceived was skillfully carried out without a moment loss of time the essential thing was to act so promptly that Balmatheda could not concentrate his forces on the 25th the whole congressionalist army had reached Kyoto on the railroad 25 miles back of Valparaiso but Balmatheda had also been active and during those three days the Concepcion division had arrived at Santiago and reinforcements had been got through Valparaiso which raised the army to nearly 10,000 men 4,000 troops defended Santiago and more were momentarily expected from Kokimbo Canto resolved to give him no time for any further concentration but to fall upon the Valparaiso army before the railroad could be repaired and by destroying Balmatheda's largest force and the war a forced march across the country brought him to the old carriage road which comes into Valparaiso from the south in the 7th his army had covered the incredible distance of 40 miles and was within 6 miles of the government forces who occupied a strong position between the congressionalists and Valparaiso tired though the congressionalists were they were forced to attack without delay the only provisions which they could count on were the rations that they had brought in their haversacks and Balmatheda might at any moment receive reinforcements in Santiago so they advanced resolutely to the assault the Balmatheda's fought with little enthusiasm or hope the desertion of part of their cavalry and the inactivity of the rest discouraged the infantry and artillery but at first they met the charges with the steadiness characteristic of the race the battle was decided by a flank movement executed by Kerner who turned the Balmatheda's left while the cavalry charged endlessly up the hill thrown into confusion the government troops were simply swept out of existence by furious volleys and determined charges some had stood steady long enough to kill and wound a sixth of the enemy who charged up the hill but more than a quarter of their own numbers perished in the battle and the pursuit the fight was over at half past 10 in the morning but the news of the utter ruin of all his hopes did not reach Balmatheda until half past 7 it was his wife's saint's day and friends were coming to dine at his house characteristically he did not recall the invitations and not until the dinner party was over did he arrange to turn over the government of the city to General Bakadano then he quietly walked to the Argentine legation and received asylum Vicunia the recently elected president who would have succeeded Balmatheda on the 18th of September was in Valparaiso and fled to a foreign warship followed by the principal Balmathedas chiefs no further resistance was made and the congressionalist junta with Jorge Mont at its head assumed the supreme direction of affairs Balmatheda's fall was followed by some riots but the arrival of the responsible chiefs of the victorious party ensured the re-establishment of order like the Anglo-Saxon the Chilean fights desperately on the field of battle and when his blood is up he is relentless but when beaten he flagmatically accepts the consequences and when victorious he is not cruel the Chileans resemble their prototypes of the northern hemisphere in lacking the vivid imagination which makes the inhabitants of warmer climates vengeful slow, silent, serious, practical minded hard to themselves as well to others they turned at once to the work of reconstruction no one suspected that the defeated president was at the house of the Argentine minister it was supposed that he had escaped in disguise but on the 18th of September the day upon which his legal term as president expired the country was astounded to hear that he had shot himself that very morning the unhappy man feared that he might get his generous host into danger and his theatrical temperament could not bear the humiliation of the public trial or the risk of being torn to pieces by a mob in case he were discovered he offered himself as an expiatory sacrifice knowing that his death would save his friends from further persecution and hoping that it might do for the cause of democratic government in Chile that which his life had so signally failed to accomplish an election had been called and Jorge Montt chosen president of Chile with all due regard to legal forms the aristocratic and parliamentary form of government under which Chile had so long lived in peace, order and prosperity growing at home in intellectual and moral graces and in material welfare while abroad the nation had waxed great in the consideration of the world was restored as it had been before Balmaceda attacked it not only the arbitrament of battle but the verdict of the people so far as the latter can be gathered from the convinced enthusiasm shown by the congressionalists and inferred from the passiveness of the masses had decided that there should be no radical change that the president should be advised by the congress and to rule in harmony with its majority that the ballot should be guarded by both an educational and a property qualification the political evolution should proceed by slow amendment and not by radical innovation by experiment not by theory the last 12 years of Chile's internal political history offers little of special interest to the foreign student Jorge Montt though raised to power by force of arms proved a modest and non-aggressive president for two years the anti-Balmaceda groups managed to keep a majority together but incompatible ambitions rather than differences of principle soon divided them Balmaceda's old partisans quickly rallied and elected nearly a quarter of the members of the congress of 1894 holding the balance of power amid the warring factions curiously enough it was with the conservatives that the Balmacedist formed a combination and though they held no cabinet position in months time they were a principal factor in the coalition which elected Errazurith to the presidency of 1896 the jealousies among the rival factions of the liberals were too bitter to permit the bulk of that party to make any effective combination against the conservative Balmacedist liberal alliance and the latter remained in power during the most of Errazurith administration at its end the liberals having failed to agree that Balmaceda was nominated and elected by much the same influences over Pedro Mont son of the old president the present Chilean parties do not embody any definite and conflicting political principles each one derives its origin from some great conflict which took place under a former administration once welded together in battling for a common cause friendship gratitude the hope of mutual relations kept the members united the latter the Balmacedists are not enemies of parliamentary dominance the nationals are now classed as liberals though they started as ultra conservatives under Mont the conservatives do not especially oppose reforms though they defend the catholic universities against radical attacks the property qualification for suffrage is liberally constructed anyone who has an income of a thousand is legally entitled to vote and if the elector can read and write he is not rigidly cross-examined as to the exact amount of the wages he receives however this wide extension of the suffrage has not brought about any material change in the personal of congress discussion of the advisability of changing the present system is purely academic and if this satisfaction exists it ferments far beneath the surface like the English aristocracy that of Chile is truly representative wielding its power with a keen sense of its responsibility to the nation and rarely refusing to adopt a reform which is clearly demanded by the country Chile recovered with some difficulty from the industrial disorganization and tremendous expenditures caused by the civil war Balmacedos vast issues of paper money disturbed government finances and made the returns of private enterprise uncertain the worldwide fall of prices in the years following 1893 heard Chilean exports and an era of economy made necessary by closely balanced budgets succeeded the flash times meanwhile the marvelous material growth of the Argentine Republic began to make Chileans doubt if their country could retain the military and enable hegemony which she had possessed since her great victories over Peru and Bolivia shut in between the Andes and the sea on the north an uninhabitable desert and on the south the bleak Antarctic waste Chile naturally envied the limitless and fertile plains over which her neighbor might spread her population and the Argentine navy was fast approaching her own in size and efficiency by the year 1895 Argentina's revenue exceeded Chile's nearly 20% while the former's foreign commerce was 70% and her population 50% greater their rivalry, nonetheless real because tacit explains the seemingly unreasonable bitterness of the dispute over the differing interpretations of the treaty of limits that treaty fixed the boundary at the crest of the Andes but when the joint commissioners appointed to make the service reached southern latitudes where the range becomes ill-defined and runs off into the sea they found it difficult to determine just where the crest was the Argentines insisted on a line drawn between the highest peaks because that would give them more territory while the Chileans contended for the watershed between the two oceans another dispute also arose about the line which ought to divide the Argentine from the province which Chile had taken from Bolivia though in both cases the disputed territory was comparatively valueless national feeling rose to an extraordinary pitch and more than once war has been imminent the northern dispute was at length settled in 1898 by the arbitration of the American minister to Buenos Aires but though a similar method of settlement had been agreed upon as to the other and more important question its final submission was delayed from year to year and meanwhile each nation suspected the other of aggressions Argentina ordered new iron clads which she could ill afford Chile ordered still better ones and Argentina kept a pace in 1898 and again in 1901 the two countries were on the brink of a war which certainly would have ruined either one or the other happily better councils prevailed and arbitration by the English government was hurried forward resulting in 1902 in a settlement with which both parties are in reality satisfied and the fine iron clads building in Europe are now for sale end of section 13