SAN MARTIN'S PROCLAMATIONS. 



55 



not influenced by any ambitious views, but solely 

 by such as conduce to the public good. It is 

 abundantly notorious that I aspire to tranquillity 

 alone, and to retirement from so agitated a life : 

 but 1 feel a moral responsibility requiring this 

 sacrifice of my most earnest desires. Ten years 

 of experience in Venezuela, Cundinamarca, Chili, 

 and the united provinces of the river Plate, have 

 made me acquainted with the evils which flow 

 from the ill-timed convocation of congresses, 

 while an enemy still maintains footing in the 

 country. The first point is to make sure of inde- 

 pendence ; and afterwards to think of establishing 

 solid liberty. The religious scrupulousness with 

 which I have kept my word throughout my public 

 life gives me a right to be believed ; and I again 

 pledge it to the people of Peru, by solemnly pro- 

 mising, that the very instant their territory is free, 

 I shall resign the command, in order to make 

 room for the government which they may be 

 pleased to elect. The frankness with which I 

 speak ought to serve as a new guarantee of the 

 sincerity of my intentions. 



" I might easily have settled things in such a 

 manner, that electors, named by the citizens of the 

 free department should point out the person who 

 was to govern until the representatives of the 

 Peruvian nation might be assembled : but as, on 

 the one hand, the repeated and simultaneous invi- 

 tations of a great number of persons of high 

 character, and decided influence in this capital, 

 make me certain of a popular election to the 

 administration of the state ; and as, on the other 

 hand, I have already obtained the suffrages of those 

 places which are under the protection of the 

 liberating army, I have deemed it more fitting 

 and decorous to follow an open and frank line of 

 conduct, which ought to tranquillise those citizens 

 who are jealous of their liberties. 



" When the time comes in which I shall have 

 the satisfaction of resigning the command, and of 

 giving an account of my actions to the representa- 

 tives of the people, I am certain they will not 

 discover, during the period of my administration, 

 any of those traits of venality, despotism, and cor- 

 ruption, which have characterised the agents of 

 the Spanish government in South America. To 

 administer strict justice to all, by rewarding virtue 

 and patriotism ; and to punish vice and sedition 

 wherever they may be found, are the rules which 

 shall direct all my actions while I remain at the 

 head of this nation. 



" It being comformable, therefore, to the inter- 

 ests of the country, that a vigorous government 

 should be appointed to guard it from the evils 

 which war, licence, and anarchy, might produce, 

 " I declare as follows : — 



" \mo, From this day forwards the supreme 

 political and military command of the free depart- 

 ments of Peru shali be united in me, under the 

 title of Protector. 



" 2do, The minister of foreign affairs shall be 

 Don Juan Garcia del Rio, secretary of state." 

 (Andso on with the otherofficers of government,) 

 " Given in Lima, 3d August 1821, second year 

 of the liberty of Peru*. 



(Signed) " Jose de San Martin." 



* The era of the liberty of Peru commences with 1820 ; 

 as it was in that year the Patriots first landed and pro- 

 claimed independence. 



I am tempted to insert another proclamation 

 which appeared on the following day, and which is 

 characteristic not only of the writer, but of those 

 distracted times. It gave the poor Spaniards a 

 shock from which they never recovered : indeed, 

 from the hour it was published, they dated the 

 death of their hopes, and one and all seriously 

 prepared to quit the country. Such an effect, 

 most probably, San Martin wished to produce, for 

 he knew the Spaniards too well to believe they 

 could ever cordially associate with the natives on 

 equal terms, under a free government, independent 

 of Spain. 



" Proclamation addressed to the European 

 Spaniards. 



" I have promised to respect your persons and 

 property : I have fulfilled that promise, and none 

 of you can as yet doubt my word. Nevertheless, 

 I know that you murmur in secret, and that some 

 of you maliciously propagate the idea that my in- 

 tention is to abuse your confidence. My name is 

 too celebrated for me to stain it with a breach of 

 my promises, even where, as a private individual, it 

 might be supposed I should be justified in doing so. 



" However, I now finally publish the following 

 articles, to confirm the guarantees which I have 

 formerly given : — 



" 1st, Every Spaniard, who, confiding in the 

 protection of my word, continues peaceably in the 

 exercise of his industry, swearing to the inde- 

 pendence of the country, and respecting the new 

 government and the established laws, shall be pro- 

 tected in person and property. 



" 2c?, Those who do not confide in it are to 

 present themselves, within the space of time 

 formerly pointed out, to request their passports, 

 and are to leave the country with all their movable 

 property. 



" 3d, Those who remain, professing their con- 

 fidence in government, and at the same time 

 secretly working against it — as I have informa- 

 tion that some do — shall feel the whole rigour of 

 the laws, and shall be deprived of all their posses- 

 sions. 



" Spaniards ! You know well the state of pub- 

 lic opinion to be such, that, even amongst your- 

 selves, there is a great number who pry into and 

 observe your conduct. I know whatever passes 

 in the most retired corners of your houses. 

 Tremble, if you abuse my indulgence ! Let this 

 be the last time I shall remind you that your 

 destiny is irrevocable, and that you ought to 

 submit to it, as the only mode by which you can 

 reconcile your interests with those of justice. 

 " Given in Lima, the 4th of August 1821. 

 (Signed) " San Martin." 



Such being the extraordinary state of affairs in 

 Lima, I regretted much that my orders rendered 

 it necessary for me to leave this part of the coast, 

 at the very moment when the interest of the 

 political scene was at the highest. I wished, 

 above all things, to have seen the effect of these 

 two decrees, respecting the policy of which the 

 opinions of the inhabitants were much divided. 

 It would also have been peculiarly interesting to 

 have marked the progress of improvement under 

 the new system. The necessity of departure, 

 however, prevented our doing so ; and we wire 



