96 INTRODUCTION. 
printed his manifesto himself. His spirit was gay and cheerful, and 
his body indefatigable ; but he had little prudence and no reserve, so 
that he was as little to be trusted with the plans of others as de- 
pended on in his own, which, however, were always conceived with 
precision and energy, and bore directly on the point he aimed at ; 
but then he proclaimed them too openly. He wanted education, 
for he had: neither principles nor reading to direct him; and his 
character altogether appears to me to resemble no one so much as 
that of Charles the second’s Duke of Buckingham. It is no wonder 
therefore that he did not succeed in placing himself, or rather in 
keeping himself at the head of any of the newly freed states of South 
America. His love of pleasure led him into expenses which swal- 
lowed up the means of either bribing or paying followers, and his 
careless, easy nature prevented his securing those who might be 
dangerous to him. 
After his death, his principal followers and some of his nearer 
connexions were put in close confinement, others were banished, 
and some escaped to the woods and mountains, where they lived 
precariously till they were either able to get to some friendly place, 
or till the act of oblivion of September, 1822, allowed them to return 
to their houses. 
The fortune of Chile was thus delivered from the dangers arising 
from that powerful and active family. The father had died shortly 
after the execution of his other two sons, and now the last and 
greatest of his house was gone. Of those bearing the same name, 
Don Carlos, a quiet citizen, lived at his farm at Vifia a la Mar, near 
Valparaiso, without meddling in politics, and of his three sons, one 
only survived, whose low habits and mean mind seemed to secure 
him from either doing or experiencing evil. Of the other two, one 
had perished early in the revolution, and the other had been killed 
in an insurrection at Juan Fernandez, whither he had been banished. 
The tranquillity of the state was still farther secured by the total 
overthrow of Benevidies, in the month of December. This man 
was the son of the inspector of the prison of Quirihue of Con- 
