360 JOURNAL. 



" law, might defend it from arbitrary rule. But by a misfortune 

 " which often attends the fate of nations, the government, which 

 " might have done the most good, wanted talent to accomplish it. 

 " Public discontent has broken through the barrier of oppression ; 

 " and the passions agitated in this impetuous shock against the for- 

 " mer government, threaten ills which, if they be not stopped be- 

 " fore they become irremediable, will hurry the country to its ruin, 

 " and blot out the records of twelve years of glory and of sacrifices. 



" To you, then, fathers of the people ! it belongs to avert the con- 

 f< fusion, the disorganisation, the dishonour of the country. This is 

 " the necessary and grand object for which you are called. The 

 "junta is not afraid to say it — Chile never was in a more dangerous 

 " state. Our revolution presents vicissitudes in which almost all the 

 " errors and inadvertencies of which the human mind is capable have 

 " been committed ; but in a government always concentrated, and in 

 " the strict union of the citizens, the country found a defence against 

 " the misfortunes that threatened to overwhelm it. For the first time, 

 " we have this day heard the cry of disunion ! a word even harsher to 

 " the hearts than the ears of true patriots. Prudence, and a generous 

 " contempt of petty interests, which are nothing compared with the 

 " general good of the state, and principles of exact equality and 

 " justice, alone will avert the disorders, the divisions, which might 

 " lead the people to curse the day when they shook off their peaceful 

 " slavery. 



" It is nearly two months since the votes of our fellow-citizens 

 " called us to take upon ourselves the administration of affairs, and 

 " no one day of that short period has passed that has not been 

 " marked by some circumstance to aggravate the bitterness of our 

 " hearts. In presenting to you the political situation of the state, we 

 " direct your eyes to a picture of present misfortunes and of fears 

 " for the future, which fill us with shame, and which we would con- 

 " ceal, in order that the internal miseries of Chile might not be known 

 " abroad, if the evil called less urgently for redress, and if it were 



