FIRST DAWN OF CIVIL LIBERTY IN CHILI. 



39 



" had the whole Spanish nation been put to death 

 except one man, that solitary remaining person 

 would have conceived himself fully authorised, and 

 by birth entitled, to tyrannize over the whole con- 

 tinent of South America ! — No, sir, while one 

 Spaniard remains alive, our independence will 

 never be acknowledged. A hundred years after 

 this country is absolutely free from end to end, the 

 Spaniards will go on talking of reconquering us, 

 and will pass edicts to that effect. Why, even 

 to this hour, the bulk of the nation hardly admits 

 the independence of Portugal ; and very few give 

 up the hope of regaining dominion over the Low 

 Countries ! " 



From the 5th of April to the 26th of May, we 

 remained at Valparaiso ; but our occupations, 

 however interesting to ourselves, were not of a 

 nature to be here detailed. The few leisure mo- 

 ments which our professional avocations left us, 

 were employed in making surveys, in observations 

 on a comet, which remained in sight from the 1st 

 of April to the 8th of June, and in experiments 

 with Captain Rater's pendulum, the object of 

 which was to determine the figure of the earth. 



The observations on the comet were success- 

 ful, as they furnished data for the computation of 

 its orbit ; a task performed since our return by 

 Dr. Brinkley of Dublin. The results of his com- 

 putations have been published, together with the 

 original observations, in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions for 1 822. 



The experiments with the pendulum were of a 

 more delicate and complicated nature, and required 

 much care and exclusive attention. But the cir- 

 cumstances under which we were placed deprived 

 us of that degree of leisure and abstracted thought 

 which this difficult and extensive problem requires. 

 In all its details, however, it carries along with 

 it the liveliest interest ; yet only those who have 

 been similarly employed can have a correct idea 

 of the cruel disappointment which a cloudy night, 

 or any other interruption, produces in the midst 

 of a series of observations. On such occasions, 

 when all our hopes were gone, and our day's labour 

 wasted, for want of a few clear hours of star-light, 

 we employed the unwished-for leisure in visiting 

 our neighbours near the observatory, or in calling 

 on the English residents, and other well-informed 

 persons. In this manner we were enabled to 

 form a tolerable estimate of the state of political 

 feeling at Valparaiso, where the intercourse with 

 strangers was the -greatest ; and by comparing it 

 with that at Santiago, of which also we had now 

 seen a good deal, to draw conclusions on the grand 

 question of the effect of the Revolution on public 

 opinion throughout the country. 



At the port, in consequence of the number of 

 arrivals, there is certainly to be found, occasion- 

 ally, more exact information on particular points 

 of foreign news than in the capital ; but in the 

 latter there is much more general information, 

 owing no doubt to the extensive diffusion of 

 knowledge and intelligence amongst the inhabit- 

 ants, than at the port. They know, accordingly, 

 with tolerable precision, not only what is passing 

 in other parts of South America, but have a clearer 

 idea of European affairs than I had been led to 

 expect ; for they begin to be fully sensible of their 

 own importance in the world, and to see the neces- 

 sity of being acquainted with the proceedings of 



other states. To this incipient feeling of national 

 dignity, they add a deep-seated and resolute enthu- 

 siasm in favour of independence. 



Of civil liberty I am not sure that the Chilians 

 have as yet equally clear and correct notions ; but 

 nothing is more decided than their determination 

 not to submit again to any foreign yoke ; and I 

 should conceive, from all I have been able to 

 learn, that, under any circumstances, the Spanish 

 party in Chili would be found small and con- 

 temptible. Every day deepens these valuable 

 sentiments, and will render the reconquest of the 

 country more and more remote from possibility. 

 The present free trade, above all, maintains and 

 augments these feelings ; for there is not a single 

 arrival at the port which fails to bring some new 

 article of use or luxury, or which does not serve, 

 by lowering the former prices, to place within reach 

 of the inferior ranks many things known before 

 only to the wealthy ; to extend the range of com- 

 forts and enjoyments ; and to open new sources 

 of industry. 



Amongst a people circumstanced as the South 

 Americans have been, debarred for ages from the 

 advantages of commerce, this change is of the last 

 importance ; and it is pleasing to reflect that while 

 our merchants are consulting their own interests, 

 and advancing the prosperity of their country, 

 they are at the same time, by stimulating at once 

 and gratifying the wants of a great people, adding 

 incalculably to the amount of human happiness. 

 By thus creating higher tastes and new wants, 

 they produce fresh motives to exertion, and give 

 more animating hopes to whole nations, which 

 without such powerful and immediate excitement, 

 might have long remained in their ancient state 

 of listlessness and ignorance. Every man in the 

 country, rich or poor, not only practically feels 

 the truth of this, but knows distinctly whence the 

 advantage is derived ; it is idle therefore to sup- 

 pose that blessings which come home so directly 

 to all men's feelings, and which so manifestly 

 influence their fortunes and happiness, can be 

 easily taken from them. 



There are, no doubt, many defects in the admi- 

 nistration of affairs in Chili ; occasional bad faith, 

 and occasional oppression ; and sometimes very 

 inconvenient disturbances, and partial political 

 changes ; but these are of no moment in so vast a 

 question. The barrier which has so long dammed 

 up the tide of human rights and free action, has 

 been at length removed ; and the stream is 

 assuredly not to be stopped by anything from 

 without : and what is internal that might produce 

 mischief, is rapidly improving as men advance in 

 intelligence, and acquire a deeper interest in good 

 order. An invasion, indeed, might cause much 

 misery and confusion, and tend for a time to keep 

 back the moral and political improvement of the 

 country ; but the reaction would be inevitable, 

 and ere long the outraged country would spring 

 forwards to life and liberty with tenfold vigour. 



By means of foreign intercourse, and by the 

 experience and knowledge of themselves acquired 

 by acting for the first time as freemen, they will 

 come to know their own strength ; by learning 

 also to respect themselves, which they could 

 hardly have done before, they will be ready to 

 respect a government formed of themselves ; and, 

 instead of despising and hating those at the head 



