374. APPENDIX. 
Previous to his arrival in Chile (about the year 1811) some attempts had 
been made towards the abolition of’ the Spanish authority. Carasco, the 
Spanish President, had been deposed, on a pretence of his incapacity to serve 
the Spanish monarch. The government was assumed by.a Cabildo and Pre- 
sident, all of whom were Americans, and enemies to the tyrannical system 
which had hitherto been observed and followed; but as they were entirely 
destitute of the abilities which were necessary to enforce the execution of 
their plans, and unequal to the power with which .they had invested them- 
selves, they were obliged to follow the old form of government; professing 
to take a lively interest in the welfare of their Spanish sovereign and. his do- 
minions, whilst they were really his most inveterate foes. 
Such was the state of anarchy in which Don Jose Miguel Carrera found 
Chile on his arrival: without an army, without a navy, without funds, or 
any preparation whatever towards carrying on an inevitable and sanguinary 
war; the necessary effect of the steps which they had already taken. His 
country entertained the highest opinion of the virtues and abilities of Car- 
rera. He was considered as the only person who could be found capable of 
extricating the state from the snares of that labyrinth into which it had 
incautiously plunged itself.* 
In order to effect this he was trusted with the supreme authority of Pre- 
sident of the Congress; and also nominated general to command an army 
which did not yet exist, but of which the immediate formation and organiz- 
ation were looked to as the only guarantee of success and future safety to 
the new state. ; 
It is not difficult to imagine the many inconveniences attending the levy- 
ing an army designed to operate against the established authority, in a 
country more remarkable for its bigotry and superstition, than for virtue, 
liberality, or patriotism ; and whose inhabitants, notwithstanding the servile 
and humiliating yoke under which they lived, were taught by their priests, 
that any attempt against the person or interests of their prince was an in- 
fringement on religion itself, and consequently contrary to the divine will of 
Heaven. 
However, having great influence in the country, Carrera undertook to 
* In this early part of this paper the reader is requested to remember that it is the party and 
family history of Carrera, and that the truth is more nearly that which is related in the Intro- 
duction; I have thought it right, however, to print it unaltered in any way.— M. G. 
