_Baltimore_ on the evening of the 16th of October last, I said:

This Government is now awaiting the result of an investigation which
has been conducted by the criminal court at Valparaiso. It is reported
unofficially that the investigation is about completed, and it is
expected that the result will soon be communicated to this Government,
together with some adequate and satisfactory response to the note by
which the attention of Chile was called to this incident. If these
just expectations should be disappointed or further needless delay
intervene, I will by a special message bring this matter again to the
attention of Congress for such action as may be necessary.

In my opinion the time has now come when I should lay before the
Congress and the country the correspondence between this Government
and the Government of Chile from the time of the breaking out of the
revolution against Balmaceda, together with all other facts in the
possession of the executive department relating to this matter. The
diplomatic correspondence is herewith transmitted, together with some
correspondence between the naval officers for the time in command in
Chilean waters and the Secretary of the Navy, and also the evidence
taken at the Mare Island Navy-Yard since the arrival of the _Baltimore_
at San Francisco. I do not deem it necessary in this communication to
attempt any full analysis of the correspondence or of the evidence.
A brief restatement of the international questions involved and of the
reasons why the responses of the Chilean Government are unsatisfactory
is all that I deem necessary.

It may be well at the outset to say that whatever may have been said
in this country or in Chile in criticism of Mr. Egan, our minister at
Santiago, the true history of this exciting period in Chilean affairs
from the outbreak of the revolution until this time discloses no act on
the part of Mr. Egan unworthy of his position or that could justly be
the occasion of serious animadversion or criticism. He has, I think,
on the whole borne himself in very trying circumstances with dignity,
discretion, and courage, and has conducted the correspondence with
ability, courtesy, and fairness.

It is worth while also at the beginning to say that the right of
Mr. Egan to give shelter in the legation to certain adherents of the
Balmaceda Government who applied to him for asylum has not been denied
by the Chilean authorities, nor has any d