ty in the chambers. Balmaceda now found himself in
the impossible position of being unable to appoint any ministry that
could control a majority in the senate and chamber of deputies and at
the same time be in accordance with his own views of the administration
of public affairs. At this juncture the president assumed that the
constitution gave him the power of nominating and maintaining in office
any ministers he might consider fitting persons for the purpose, and
that congress had no right of interference in the matter. The chambers
were now only waiting for a suitable opportunity to assert their
authority. In 1890 it was stated that President Balmaceda had determined
to nominate and cause to be elected as his successor at the expiration
of his term of office in 1891 one of his own personal friends. This
question of the election of another president brought matters to a head,
and congress refused to vote supplies to carry on the government. To
avoid trouble Balmaceda entered into a compromise with congress, and
agreed to nominate a ministry to their liking on condition that the
supplies for 1890 were voted. This cabinet, however, was of short
duration, and resigned when the ministers understood the full amount of
friction between the president and congress. Balmaceda then nominated a
ministry not in accord with the views of congress under Senor Claudio
Vicuna, whom it was no secret that Balmaceda intended to be his
successor in the presidential chair, and, to prevent any expression of
opinion upon his conduct in the matter, he refrained from summoning an
extraordinary session of the legislature for the discussion of the
estimates of revenue and expenditure for 1891. When the 1st of January
1891 arrived, the president published a decree in the _Diario Oficial_
to the effect that the budget of 1890 would be considered the official
budget for 1891. This act was illegal and beyond the attributes of the
executive power. As a protest against the action of President Balmaceda,
the vice-president of the senate, Senor Waldo Silva, and the president
of the chamber of deputies, Senor Ramon Barros Luco, issued a
proclamation appointing Captain Jorje Montt in command of the squadron,
and stating that the navy could not recognize the authority of Balmaceda
so long as he did not administer public affairs in accordance with the
constitutional law of Chile. The majority of the members of the chambers
sided with this movement, and on the