44 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. [Mar. 



a proof of the liberality of the 

 system pursued by the United 

 Provinces, and of the pleasure 

 with which they hail the freedom 

 of their brethren. 



^Vhoever has observed the 

 spirit of this nation, in the act of 

 abjuring the dominion of the 

 Kings of Spain, the enthusiasm 

 and joy of every citizen, at the 

 new elevation of their country, 

 and the demonstrations of love 

 and gratitude to the state of the 

 Rio Plata, must agree, that 

 neither law nor time can oppose 

 the impulses of nature and jus- 

 tice, that the elevation of a firm 

 character has superseded the 

 degradation of a colony, and that 

 Chili will be no more the patri- 

 mony of the tyrannical and 

 arbitrary dyimsty of Spain, but 

 the asylum of liberty and the 

 country for all the men on the 

 globe. 



Let your Excellency glorjr in 

 an event so fortunate for the cause 

 of the Amei'icans, and while I 

 transmit you an account of the 

 various remarkable incidents of 

 this happy period, deign to re- 

 ceive the congi-atulation which I 

 offer to my country for the liberty 

 of this delightful region. God 

 preserve your Excellency for 

 many years, &c. 



Santiago de Chili, Feb. 16. 

 1818. 

 His Excellency Thomas Guido, 

 to his Excellency the Supreme 

 Director of the United Pro- 

 vinces of South America. 

 Proclamation of the Indepen- 

 dence nf Chili. — Force lias been 

 the supreme reason which for 

 more than 300 years has com- 

 pelled the people of the New 



World to venerate as a dogma 

 the usurpation of their rights, 

 and to seek in that usurpation 

 itself the origin of their greatest 

 duties. It was certain .that the 

 termination of this constrained 

 submission must one day arrive, 

 although it was impossible to 

 anticipate the exact period. The 

 resistance of the weak against 

 the strong gives a character of 

 sacrilege to their pretensions, 

 and often throws discredit on the 

 justice in which they are founded. 

 It was reserved for the 19th 

 century to see America reclaim- 

 ing its rights without the guilt of 

 having forfeited them, and to 

 show that the period of its suffer- 

 ing could last no longer than that 

 of its weakness. The revolution 

 of Sept. 18, 1810, was the first 

 effort that Chili made to fulfil her 

 high destinies, to which time and 

 nature impelled her ; her inha- 

 bitants proved at that time the 

 energy and firmness of their 

 determination, encountei'ing the 

 vicissitudes of a war, in which 

 the Spanish Government had 

 evinced that its policy with res- 

 pect to America would survive 

 the overthrow of all abuses. This 

 undisguised violence naturally 

 inspired in them the resolution of 

 separating for ever from the 

 Spanish monarchj', and proclaim- 

 ing their independence in the 

 face of the world. But the exist- 

 ing circumstances of the war not 

 permitting the convocation of a 

 national congress to sanction the 

 public wish, we determined to 

 open a register, in which all the 

 citizens of the state should freely 

 and openly vote for themselves 

 upon the urgent necessity of in- 

 dependence 



