POSTSCRIPT. 363 
“ the nation... The junta does not consider these provinces, any more 
“ than Santiago, as sovereign and independent states. It looks on 
“them as a fraction of the nation, whose magnates and representa- 
“ tives, occupying the command in order to preserve order during the 
“ dissolution of the former government, are now treating of the 
*“ means to re-establish the union of the republic. 
“ Meantime the province of Santiago, as far as the Cachapoal, ac- 
~ © knowledges, tranquilly and willingly, the authority of the junta of 
* government. The districts of Colchagua and Maule obliged, ac- 
“ cording to the representations of their cabildos, by the force of 
“ circumstances, had united with the province of Conception. Ex- 
“ horted by the junta to re-unite themselves to the province of which 
“ they had always formed a part, Colchagua returned to her ancient 
“ position; while Maule, in consequence of an order from the as- 
“ sembly of Conception forbidding the measure, adheres to that 
“ province. On this head General Freire seconded the wishes of the 
“ junta, declaring to these districts his acquiescence in their re-union 
“ with Santiago. Curico has always proclaimed its constant attach- 
“ment to the government of the province, which has now suffered 
“ no other loss than the dismemberment of the territory of Maule. 
«“ The example of provinces separated from the indivisibility of the 
“ state, of districts divided from the provinces, of municipal govern- 
“ ments elected under a variety of forms, has been fatal to internal 
“ quiet, much more to our external relations ; and will be incom- 
“ parably more so in the course of time, as factious ideas spread 
“ and become familiar. Nothing is more certain, than that nations 
“ are often so mistaken in their ideas of freedom as to embrace in 
«“ her stead a monster, the certain forerunner of slavery. Various 
“ towns have shown symptoms of that disorder, the last degree at 
«which public misfortune can arrive. In Casablanca a meeting of 
“ the people took up arms against the lieutenant-governor. In Quil- 
« Jota some discontented persons offered to Chile, for the time, the 
« lamentable spectacle of the blood of the children of the soil shed 
« in her streets in a civil dispute. In other places the junta has suc- 
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