INTRODUCTION. 21 



so fearlessly did he deny or laugh at all who ventured to name them, 

 that all suspicion seems to have been lulled. On the night of the 

 14th of Nov., when Mackenna, the commander of the artillery, called 

 on Juan Jose in his quarters, he found the whole family assembled ; 

 the three brothers, Donna Xaviera, and the father : but as Juan 

 Jose seemed to be confined by illness, even the unusual appearance 

 of Don Ignacio in town, did not excite surprise. Jose Miguel 

 accompanied Mackenna back to his lodging, saying laughingly, " cer- 

 tainly now they will say that my father is come to town to place 

 himself at the head of affairs." The next morning, at daybreak, the 

 city was alarmed by the sound of beating to arms. The prin- 

 cipal officers of the artillery and grenadiers were placed under arrest. 

 Juan Jose remained at the foundling barracks, while Luis put him- 

 self at the head of the artillery and detached two guns to the aid of 

 his brother. Jose Miguel dispersed the senate and established a 

 new junta of which he was declared president, and all the offices of 

 government were filled by the Carreras and their connections. 



Such a government, however, where the chief power was in the 

 hands of a man of talent, it is true, but of so imprudent a character 

 that no one could trust him, — of so changeable a will that himself 

 knew not always what his own intentions were, — and so great a lover of 

 pleasure, that the slightest temptation allured him to forget the 

 gravest affairs of state in music and dancing, displeased all the pro- 

 vinces which were not in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital. 

 The juntas of Valdivia and Conception, in particular, made heavy 

 complaints ; the old claim of the latter city to be considered as the 

 metropolis was revived ; and a civil war appeared inevitable.* The 



* The account given above of the early life of Jose Miguel Carrera, and of the manner 

 in which he seized the government, was communicated to me by a gentleman who had 

 resided during the whole period at Santiago, who was tenderly attached to Luis Carrera, 

 his schoolfellow, and who evidently softened many things in his recital as much as possible. 

 Nevertheless, I print as an appendix Mr. Y.'s very interesting paper, entirely satisfied of 

 the truth of every part where Mr. Y. was an eye-witness, and knowing the rest to be the 

 story told by the family, who undoubtedly loved Jose Miguel with a warmth honourable 

 to him, although even his friends confess that he had no steadiness and little principle 

 even in private life. 



