INTRODUCTION. J 7 



Carrera, the speaker or . secretary of the junta. The president was 

 allowed a casting vote. 



The first act of the junta was to levy an army, if we may call two 

 small bodies of raw recruits by that name. The first of infantry was 

 intrusted to Jose Santiago Luco, the agent for the junta of Old Spain, 

 and, under him, to Don Juan Jose Carrera, the second son of Don 

 Ignacio, and the other, a mounted troop, was placed under Torre, 

 the son of the president. The next object to which the junta directed 

 its attention was the assembling a national congress, to consist of 

 members from every township in Chile, and while means were taking 

 for carrying this desirable measure into effect, the Marquis de la 

 Conquista died in the month of November, and the more active 

 Rosas was elected president in his stead. It was not until the 11th 

 of April of the following year (1811), that the people of the different 

 towns met to elect their representatives, and on that occasion the first 

 blood was shed on account of the Revolution. The immediate cause 

 of this was as follows : — The royal party of Buenos Ayres had request- 

 ed assistance from Chile, and accordingly 400 men had been detached 

 from the army of the southern frontier under Don Tomas Figaroa by 

 sea, from Talca to Valparaiso, whence they were proceeding by land to 

 cross the Andes by the road of the Cumbre to Mendoza. They had 

 already reached Casablanca on their way, when the fifty dragoons of the 

 capital, alarmed at the electorial meetings, sent to Figaroa, entreating 

 him to hasten his march, and to take under his command, not only 

 their troop, but the recruits which were in training for the patriot 

 army, whom they engaged to secure. Figaroa, leaving his 400 

 men to follow, pushed on to Santiago, and putting himself at the 

 head of the dragoons, who had performed their promise of securing 

 the recruits, whom they forced sword in hand to join them, went into 

 the placa with the imprudent determination of dispersing the people 

 assembled for the purpose of electing their representatives. They 

 were not, however, to be deterred from their purpose, and turning 

 on the royalists, completely discomfited them and forced them to 

 retreat, leaving about forty persons of both sides deadin the square. 



D 



