328 EVENTS SUCCEEDING THE ELECTION. 



preceding day, had been brought eighty leagues in twenty-five hours ! At the time his inform- 

 ant left the battle-field, Bulnes had drawn up his infantry without niusket range, and was 

 besieging the house, which he expected to destroy in a short time, if it did not surrender pre- 

 viously. 



Such intelligence was an unexpected shock to the opposition. Their hopes had risen very 

 high within a few preceding days, and they believed the triumph of their party almost abso- 

 lutely certain. Of course the news was rapidly conveyed through the city ; and among the crowds 

 to be met going towards the palace for verification of the rumors that came to them, there was 

 rarely a countenance that permitted doubt as to the party to which its possessor belonged. How 

 many an aching heart was there ! how many among them whose dearest relatives were com- 

 promised with one side or the other whose homes and subsistence depended on the result of 

 this one mortal combat ! Alas ! how great the horrors of civil war in a country where banish- 

 ment, breaking up of social ties, and sacrifice of property, are the certain consequences of failure. 



But few lingered near the palace, and these were principally rotos and peons. Each of the 

 others, as he learned the tidings authentically, hurried away to offer consolation or felicitation 

 at home ; and thus there were gravity and silence, apparently expressive of regard alike for the 

 feelings of those allied to the vanquished, as for those who trembled till they could learn the 

 fate of husbands, fathers, and brothers, on the battle-field. By nightfall the streets were 

 deserted, except by the Serenos and occasional patrols, and the street doors were very generally 

 closed before 11 o'clock. Distress, doubts, want of confidence, perhaps (and, it is to be hoped), 

 inspired each family to commune within its own circle. The wind had blown from S. W. all day 

 more freshly than usual, heaping up over the Andes masses of cumuli, which gradually ex- 

 tended across the plain towards sunset, making the night dark and damp unlike as possible the 

 serene evenings of summer. As the cool breeze ceased with the decline of the sun, the atmo- 

 sphere became sultry, and, according to our North American experience, threatened a rain- 

 storm an event which followed, with thunder and vivid lightning, soon after midnight. A 

 few years ago, rain in December, or thunder and lightning over the city at any time, were 

 phenomena to amaze the wisest. Since our advent, this was the third occasion of atmospheric 

 revolution ; and as many of the people of Chile have actually greater terror of lightning than of 

 earthquakes, it is no wonder that the roar and blaze of heaven's artillery at such an hour 

 should have caused more trembling among the multitudes of anxious watchers, than its iron 

 imitators had done to their countrymen on the field of Loncomilla. 



There was no public demonstration or other evidence offered during the night that government 

 had routed the main body of the men in hostility to it ; but early on the following morning cannon 

 were dragged up Santa Lucia, and a national salvo inspired new courage among doubting and un- 

 informed ministerialists, though it sounded almost like a death-knell to the anticipations of their 

 opponents. As most of the latter supposed that confirmatory intelligence had been received in 

 the night, which was thus announced, the salute was doubly depressing. Immediately afterwards 

 a military band paraded the streets playing the national hymn, halting before the dwellings 

 of one or two prominent members of the opposition, and in one case entering to perform in the 

 court-yard, if possible to mark their exultation more thoroughly. The absence of generous 

 feeling shown by such conduct, and the spirit dictating public rejoicing for an event in which 

 thousands of their own countrymen only (their brothers and neighbors) had lost life, bears little 

 token of humanity. Only vindictiveness and revenge could inspire the cruel mockery, and 

 among those who would participate in like celebrations the finer affections can never exist. 



A staff officer belonging to the army of Bulnes arrived towards noon of the 10th. He had left 

 the field of battle late in the afternoon ; but he either brought no written account, or its inform- 

 ation was of so doubtful a nature that the ministry dared not publish it. As a consequence, the 

 most contradictory reports were circulated as coming from him, respecting the losses and con- 

 dition of the combatants. All agreed, however, that the action had been long, obstinate, and 

 "bloody ; that nearly three thousand men, or one third of the entire force engaged, had perished ; 



