Revolution of 1851
The presidential elections that took place during July 25th and 26th of 1851 gave up Manuel Montt as the winner.
The decade of Montt started with a very active opposition, which questioned the authoritarianism and centralism of the government. Thus, a revolution began in La Serena and Concepcion, both cities in which the spirit of autonomy was the strongest.
In Concepcion, the revolt was headed by the ex presidential candidate Jose Maria de la Cruz, who armed a group of close to 4,000 men, among them were his followers and mapuches.
Before this situation, the government decided to send the ex president Bulnes to the zone to hold the revolutionary forces, occupying the cities of Chillan and San Carlos. He achieved his task on November 19th; however, De la Cruz and his troops did not surrender and advanced towards the north, to occupy Talca, but they did not made it, since they were defeated in the battle of Lonocmilla (December 8th). Days after (December 16th), De la Cruz signed the pact of Purapel, by which he submitted himself to the existing authority.
Meanwhile, in the northern part of the country, in the city of La Serena, the revolution was headed by Felix Vicuña, who organized a revolutionary militia called the “Restorers of the North”, commanded by Jose Miguel Carrera Fontecilla. The latter decided to depart along with the colonel Justo Arteaga and his soldiers to Santiago, but they were intercepted in Petorca by the government forces leaded by the colonel Juan Vidaurre.
Upon returning to La Serena, the disputes and fights between Carrera and Arteaga soon became uncontrollable, provoking the arresting of Carrera and the resigning of Arteaga from the revolutionary militia.
At that moment, Quintín Quinteros de los Pintos entered the scene, who directed the troops that battled from December 1st until the 31st against the forces of the government. Despite the numerical superiority of the Army of Quinteros, the government finally could occupy the city and defeat them, putting an end to the revolution.
Works of the government of Montt
During the presidency of Montt, the intense labor initiated during the government of Bulnes in regards of public works, education and colonization continued.
With the country at peace, the government could focus on carrying out an administration characterized by its advancement and progress.
In this way, many advancements were made in the area of public works; among them were, the inauguration of the first railroad of the country, ranging from Caldera to Copiapo (December 25th of 1851); beginning of the construction of the railroad between Santiago and Valparaiso (1852) and the railroads towards the south (1855), the arrival of the electric telegraph and gas usage for the public lighting system and the launching of the first animal traction tramway in Santiago (1857).
In the area of education, the first School of Preceptresses was founded (1854), the organic law of Basic Instruction was enacted (1860), the Basic Instruction Society was created (1856), and many private schools were founded (such as Sagrado Corazon, San Ignacio, and Mackay of Valparaiso) as well as basic schools and high schools in provinces (in La Serena, Concepcion, San Felipe, Chillan, etc.).
Economical Development
In the decade of Montt, the economy grew based on the production and exportation of copper, which strengthen the public finances. Many standards and institutions were also created which allowed the birth of the financial system. On august 29th of 1855, the Mortgage Fund it was created by law the, to promote the agriculture through the granting of long term loans. In addition, the same law authorized the creation of anonymous societies towards this purpose, which brought up the mortgage banks.
The first legally authorized bank started to operate that same year, the Valparaiso Bank, and in 1856 the first insurance company emerged.
In 1860, the issuing banks law was enacted, which allowed the production of paper currency (without state control) to about a 150% of the capital reserves of each bank. A year later, the Savings Fund was created by law, which belonged to the state.
The funds had to be invested in bonds in the Mortgage Fund.
The issue of the sexton
In 1856, the senior sacristan of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago, priest Francisco Martinez Garfias, expelled the sexton Pedro Santelices, who had supposedly slandered him, because he accused him of destroying the sacristy from a skylight with a stone, in addition of drinking the consecrated wine with some friends.
After being fired, Santelices went to the ecclesiastical court and the four priests who were members decided to put him back in his position. However, the substituting general vicar at the time, Vicente Tocornal, declared the expulsion as valid.
The representatives of the court, far from attacking the ruling, took the case to the archbishop Rafael Valentín Valdivieso to resolve it, but he was not there at the time, so his substitute, the vicar José Miguel Aristegui, ordered the canons of the court to put the ruling in effect. They did not give up and waited upon the return of the archbishop, who tried to convince them, but it did not work and confirmed the verdict of the vicar. Two members of the court, Meneses and Solis, appealed a procedural remedy, and the Supreme Court requested the records of the archbishop. The expedient went to the hands of the fiscal Manuel Camilo Vial, who accepted the procedural remedy and revoked the expulsion of the sexton.
The ruling of the Court was no recognized by the archbishop Valdivieso, who refused to put the sexton back in his position, rebelling himself before the ruling of the Court. In this way he was publicly exposed to be arrested or exiled. Due to this event, president Montt encountered a disjunctive. On one hand, he could not oppose to the execution of the ruling of the Supreme Court, and on the other hand, the situation favored his opposers, who were seeking for any excuse to rise against his government. For this reason, he asked the ecclesiastic members of the court and the sexton to cease the claim against the archbishop.
This request had a positive answer and in this way the problem was solved and Valdivieso was not exiled.
However, even though the situation was solved, a great division emerged inside the coalition of the government of Montt. The Conservative party (pelucones) divided between the defenders of the authority and the predominance of the State over the Church, who created the National or Monttvarista Party, and those who desired to end the presidential authoritarianism and were closer to the clergy, gave raised the Conservative Reactionist or Ultramontano Party.
In 1858, the Liberal-Conservative fusion was formed, which was integrated by conservatives who found support from the liberals who had been systematically excluded from the previous governments. The fusion opposed the authoritarianism of Montt and due to his conservative inclination, it also apposed to the existence of situations affecting the Catholic Church.
In the presidential election of 1861, this coalition resulted victorious, with Joaquin Perez as candidate.
Revolution of 1859
In opposition to the candidature of Antonio Varas to the presidency, the Liberal-Conservative fusion formed the Committee of Santiago, which prepared and executed the revolution that broke out in the north and south of the country in 1859.
The government of Montt rapidly answered declaring state of siege in the provinces of Santiago, Valparaiso and Aconcagua, closed down the newspapers and decreed many exiles.
In the south, the government concentrated its efforts to reconquer Talca and sent the War minister, the general Manuel Garcia. He took charge of the quartered forces in Monte Baeza and through a secret attack occupied the city, defeating the revolutionary troops of the general Jose Ramon Vallejos. In Valparaiso and Concepcion, the revolutionary movement also failed.
In the north, Pedro Leon Gallo, with an army of more than one thousand men, defeated the forces of the government in the battle of Los Loros (march of 1859), and continued through La Serena, city which he occupied militarily.
This news revived the revolutionary spirit and in a few days some of the leaders, such as Nicolas Terapegui, departed to the south, where they assembled a great quantity of mapuches with whom they marched to Chillan. In that city, the intendant, colonel Jose Manuel Pinto, organized the defense and defeated them.
In April, Gallo returned to attack in the battle of Cerro Grande (near La Serena), but was defeated by the military forces of the general Juan Vidarrue, thus putting and end to the revolution. Almost immediately, an economical crisis emerged, which meant a great problem to the last years of the government of Montt. Among the main causes were the civil war, the revolution and the closing down of two of the best markets of Chilean wheat, Australia and California, which caused a rapid and unexpected decrease on the exportations of this product.
The crisis was manifested in numerous breakings of companies, the impoverishment of many families and the paralyzation of private and public works.
On the other hand, as a result of the revolutionary conflict, Antonio Varas resigned to the presidential candidature that the government had offered him.
The only candidate was Jose Joaquin Perez, who won in the elections of 1861.
