1839.] EARLY HISTORY OF CHILI. 87 



command of General Osorio. This force was likewise 

 routed, at Maypu, on the 5th day of April, 1818, by the 

 Chilian troops under San Martin, O'Higgins, and other 

 patriot leaders. Still another effort was made by Spain to 

 regain her lost dominion, and a fifty-gun frigate, convoying 

 eleven transport ships, with twenty-five hundred men on 

 board, was ordered to Chili. This formidable armament was 

 met at Talcahuano, and captured, by a small squadron com- 

 manded by Captain Manuel Blanco, consisting of two armed 

 ships, a corvette and several trading vessels, hastily collected 

 and equipped, after the enemy had reached Cape Horn. 



This was the last attempt made by Spain to reconquer the 

 country ; and the independence of the latter being now per- 

 manently secured, a form of government was established. 

 The first government was dictatorial. General O'Higgins, 

 originally chosen Dictator on the 16th of February, 1816, 

 was continued in office, under the title of Supreme Director 

 of Chili, till the year 1823. He was succeeded by Ramon 

 Freyre, who resigned in 1826. Meanwhjle various factions 

 had sprung up, all evidently desirous of securing the advance- 

 ment of the country in prosperity and greatness. Civil dis- 

 turbances and dissensions naturally grew out of these politi- 

 cal divisions ; repeated changes were made in the Executive, 

 but the government does not appear, at any time, to have 

 been administered with sufficient firmness and rigor. In 

 1828, a republican constitution was proclaimed, and Gen- 

 eral Pinto was elected president. The latter shortly after 

 resigned, and was succeeded by Ramon Vicuna, then presi- 

 dent of the Senate. Vicuna soon became unpopular ; and 

 the friends of liberal institutions, under the lead of General 

 Joaquin Prieto, took up arms against him. The civil war 

 ended in the complete overthrow of Vicuna. The brief ad- 

 ministrations of Tagle and Ovalle followed, and in 1831, 

 General Prieto was elected to the presidency. After holding 

 the office two terms, of five years each, he gave place to his 

 nephew General Bullies, — the constitution of the republic 



