ON THE COAST OF PERU. 
was communicated to me by the Vice Pre- 
sident, the morning after I was seized ; but 
it is fair to state, Flores and his govern- 
.ment had assumed my enmity to them as 
an axiom, from which they deduced, or in- 
terpreted every circumstance of my con- 
duct. In fact, this was owing to my being 
an Englishman, all of whom Flores consi- 
dered, and with some reason, his enemies, 
for we may trust there are stamped in the 
English character such indelible notions of 
right and justice in matters of government, 
that actively or passively they must be 
considered as the standing foes of op- 
pression. I had, besides, many friends 
among the young men of the country, 
whose society I cultivated in preference to 
that of their papas, for the sufficient reason, 
that they were much superior to them in 
manners, morals, or, to say all in a word, 
in education. It was the opinion of the 
illustrious Bentham, that great social or 
political improvements could, even in Eu- 
rope, be expected only from those, in whose 
breasts selfish and worldly calculations had 
not extinguished the generous enthusiasm 
with which most of us start in the race of 
life. This is true in an infinitely greater 
degree in South America, where the Spanish 
system of politics and instruction had im- 
planted little but imbecility and corruption. 
It is a very hopeless task to make an en- 
lightened patriot of an old selfish bigot. 
The young Venezuelans saved their coun- 
try from despotism; the Collegians de- 
stroyed absolute power in Bogata, and died 
for liberty in the battle of El Santerano. 
The Equator is that part of Colombia in 
which the elements of freedom are fewest 
and most difficult to be combined; yet the 
rising generation has not entirely remained 
uninfluenced by the spirit of the age which 
dawned on its birth. One of my young 
ote, D. Jose Murgeytio, when the Con- 
met in Quito, presented an energetic 
remonstrance to that body, demanding a 
trial of Flores, for his arbitrary conduct ; 
but the Congress was composed of old 
corrupted relics of former times; their 
pu fears would not allow them to Aear it, and - 
without hearing it they were on the point 
69 
of punishing the author for the audacity 
of its supposed contents. The tendency 
of youth is, however, still upwards ; and in 
any country, where the career of improve- 
ment has once begun, we have no reason 
to doubt, in spite of occasional checks and 
delays, its final progress. In fine, the 
reasoning of Flores with respect to my 
conduct and opinions may be thus summed 
up. As an Englishman I was his enemy, 
for all the English were so. I had many 
friends among the young Quitenians, and 
they were all his enemies, consequently I 
must be so too. I had already been im- 
prisoned for defending the rights of the 
people, as guaranteed by the Constitution ; 
I must be, therefore, a seditious |" 
and the enemy of all order.! The i 
cepted letter, too, though it d no 
treason, sufficiently evinced my contempt 
for his character and administration. All 
this, it must be owned, was more than rea- 
son enough for a despot.—I now continue 
my journey. In La Puna I met the lady 
of General Illingret, with her family; she 
is a native of Guayaquil, one of those fe- 
males whose character and energies are 
developed in times of trouble and revolu- 
tion, though in * the piping time of peace" 
might pass unnoticed, but for their loveli- 
ness; but tried by affliction, rise with a 
power like that of angels, of mingled 
strength and beauty. Ever since her mar- 
riage, she has seen her husband the victim 
of intrigue, calumny, and persecution. 
Three times banished, his honour aspersed, 
his life repeatedly plotted against, with no 
crime but that which tyrants deem the 
greatest—a life without Makers these 
repeated sufferings had ru health, 
and had set on her fine -— the seal of 
settled melancholy; but her spirit had fash- 
ioned itself to the times, and remained 
unbowed. It was a temple where the 
lighter architectural graces had been cor- 
ed, while its nobler form and proportions 
rose more conspicuous from the decay. 
! There is something ludicrous, and illustrative of * 
ir 
my excursion to Chimborazo, the government m ^us : 
