The News And Observer

Balmaceda's Cruelty.

In a recent interview about Chilian affairs, Gen. Thomas O. Osborn, who has spent some years in Chili expressed the following opinion of Balmaceda:

'I know Balmaceda so well,' he said, 'that I can believe almost any story of cruelty that is told about him. He is a man of such determination that he would rather perish than give in an inch. He will never make peace until the revolutionists concede everything, and as they do not propose to do that the country will soon be devastated. He is far in advance of others of his race, as there is Anglo-Saxon blood in his veins, but there is enough of the Indian blood there to make him the most determined of men, and at the same time one of the most cruel. He has to take desperate chances now. If he were to falter his life would not last twenty-four hours after he had demonstrated any weakness. It is necessary for him to be a perfect demon or he is certainly lost.

'Balmaceda realizes this, and, with his 30,000 cut throats in the army, willing to obey his slightest wish, he knows he is powerful. The rank and file of the Chilian army are made up from the most vicious class in the Republic. All the murderers, lost thieves, burglars and criminals of all kinds are soldiers. Frequently in the last few years murderers who have been sentenced to death were pardoned on condition that they served the remainder of their lives in the army. When the revolution started the prison doors were thrown open and the occupants forced into the army. This is the class of fighters Balmaceda has at his command.

'Balmaceda has turned all the churches of Chili into prisons. He has no respect for religion. The majority of the men there are infidels; the women compose the religious element.'

The president in one respect at least shows how the revolution will end. Disaster will be the result, no matter what happens, but the revolutionists will never gain the power they seek until Balmaceda is dead.