POSTSCRIPT. 361 



" not in our own power to mend our fate, and to be respectable and 

 " happy when we truly desire it. 



" In the beginning of last November, Chile formed one indivisible 

 " republic: the towns, distressed by the weight of oppression, with- 

 " drew their obedience from the director of the state, and established 

 " assemblies which might unite the representation of each respective 

 " province. This generous effort, directed solely against the citizen 

 " who governed arbitrarily, could not be a revolt against ourselves ; 

 " it could not have had for its object to impugn the unity of the nation. 

 " The Director, during the last days of his command, in order to 

 " restore that peace to the country which he could not maintain, offered 

 " to the representatives of Conception (who were said to act in con- 

 " cert with those of Coquimbo), to abdicate his supreme direction of 

 " the state which he had exercised, in favour of a person to be pro- 

 " posed by them, in order that the change might not affect the 

 " dissolution of the republic. The city of Santiago, ignorant of this 

 " proposal, and which, besides, could not believe that the provinces 

 " would accept offers from the chief against whom they were armed, 

 " and of whose influence they were jealous, hastened to complete the 

 " revolution, in order to unite itself with the rest of the nation. 



" Permit, Gentlemen, to the junta a species of vanity which, 

 " although the characteristic of weakness, is that which reflects least 

 " on the reputation of honest men. Its members had the satisfac- 

 " tion to believe, that by taking on them the provisional government 

 " they might collect the will of the nation. The constant enemies 

 " of despotism, and consequently of the late administration, fear- 

 " less defenders of the rights of the people, and having given proofs 

 " of their disinterestedness, they were persuaded that if the provinces 

 " had taken up arms solely against the person of the Director, in 

 " order to procure a congress, the deposing of the former and the 

 " calling together of the latter would satisfy the general wish. Be- 

 " sides, what evils had been suffered by Conception and Coquimbo 

 " which had not been felt still more heavily by Santiago ? What 

 v ' advantages could they promise themselves from reform that San- 



3 A 



