56 



LIMA AGAIN IN CONFUSION. 



thus made to feel one of the severest drawbacks on 

 the pleasures of a naval life. Naval officers have 

 undoubtedly, during their roving life, great oppor- 

 tunities of seeing distant places, sometimes at 

 moments of extraordinary public interest, and 

 generally without the difficulties encountered by 

 other travellers. They have also the advantage 

 of being everywhere well received, as their 

 situation is a universal introduction to the con- 

 fidence and hospitality of the inhabitants. On 

 the other hand, our means are almost always 

 much cramped by want of time, our thoughts 

 being necessarily taken up with a variety of 

 duties having no reference to the interesting parts 

 of the scene. Thus it frequently happens, as on 

 this occasion, that, during our stay, we are too 

 busy to remark properly what is passing : and 

 are called away just at the moment when the 

 interest is greatest, and when a traveller, whose 

 time was at his own disposal, would determine to 

 remain. Tndeed, it was often matter of regret to 

 us, that almost every record of so many interest- 

 ing and important events should be lost, for want 

 of a die interested spectator having leisure to note 

 them down as they occurred. 



San Martin certainly did wisely to assume the 

 supreme command, circumstanced as he was, 

 especially with an enemy's force still in the 

 country. Under whatever name he might have 

 chosen to mask his authority, he must still have 

 been the prime mover of everything ; for there 

 was no individual in the country who had any 

 pretensions to rival him in talents, or who, admit- 

 ting that he possessed equal talents, could hope to 

 gain so completely the confidence of the army, 

 and of the Patriots. It was more creditable to 

 assume the full authority in a manly and open 

 manner, than to mock the people with the 

 semblance of a republic, and, at the same time, 

 to visit them with the reality of a despotism. He 

 knew, from personal experience, the mischief 

 attending the precipitate establishment of free 

 representative governments in South America : 

 he was also aware, that previous to raising any 

 enduring political superstructux*e, he must gra- 

 dually clear away the prejudice and error which 

 overspread the land, and then dig deep into the 

 virgin soil for a foundation. At this time there 

 was neither knowledge nor capacity enough 

 amongst the population to form a free govern- 

 ment ; nor even that love of freedom, without 

 which free institutions are sometimes worse than 

 useless ; since, in their effects, they are apt to fall 

 short of expectation ; and thus, by their practical 

 inefficacy, contribute to degrade in public opinion 

 the sound principles upon which they rest. 



Unfortunately also the inhabitants of South 

 America are apt at first to mistake the true ope- 

 ration of such changes ; and to conceive that the 

 mere formal establishment of free institutions will 

 at once ensure their being duly understood and 

 enjoyed, whatever may have been the state of 

 society antecedently. That a taste for liberty 

 will eventually spring up with the judicious esta- 

 blishment of free institutions, and with the power 

 to enjoy civil rights, is unquestionable : the mis- 

 take lies in supposing that this will take place 

 immediately. With this taste will come the ability 

 to take further advantage of the opportunities for 

 asserting these valuable privileges, and of securing 



them by corresponding institutions. In process 

 of time, mutual confidence, and mutual forbear- 

 ance, which it was the narrow policy of the former 

 government to discourage, will of course be deve- 

 loped ; and society will then act in concert and 

 consistently, instead of being as heretofore like a 

 rope of sand, without strength or cohesion. 



In a pamphlet published in June 1824, by Itur- 

 bide, the unfortunate ex-emperor of Mexico, 

 there occur many just reflections on this subject. 

 The following observation seems much to the pre- 

 sent purpose : — " To think that we could emerge 

 all at once from a state of debasement, such as 

 that of slavery, and from a state of ignorance, 

 such as had been inflicted upon us for three hun- 

 dred years, during which we had neither books 

 nor instructors, and the possession of knowledge 

 had been thought a sufficient cause for persecu- 

 tion ; to think that we would gain information and 

 refinement in a moment, as if by enchantment; that 

 we could acquire every virtue, forget prejudices, 

 and give up false pretensions, was a vain expecta- 

 tion, and could only have entered into the visions 

 of an enthusiast." 



At the time I left Lima, to return to Valparaiso, 

 in Chili, which was on the ICth of August, the 

 Royalist army, under the Viceroy La Serna, 

 having proceeded some way to the southward, 

 had struck into the interior, in order to join the 

 other divisions of the army under Generals 

 Canterac and Caratala, in the valley of Jauja, a 

 district in which the rich silver mines of Pasco 

 are situated. 



The Viceroy's ultimate intentions were not 

 known ; but it was supposed that after recruiting 

 his army, he would return upon Lima, with a view 

 to expel San Martin : a project he was the more 

 likely to undertake, as the Castle of Callao was 

 still under the Spanish flag. It became, there- 

 fore, of great importance to San Martin to gain 

 possession of it, and he put in motion every engine 

 of strength or policy in his power to accomplish 

 this vital object : and at the time I left Peru, 

 well-grounded hopes were entertained of its speedy 

 surrender. 



Meanwhile Lima was in a strange state of con- 

 fusion. The effects of the shock which society 

 had received by the abrupt nature of the revo- 

 lution, could not be expected to subside for some 

 time ; while the incongruity of the materials of 

 which it was composed offered an effectual bar to 

 real cordiality. The Old Spaniards, feeling them- 

 selves objects of suspicion and distrust, would 

 willingly have retired from a place where they 

 were considered as intruders. But this was not 

 easily accomplished, without incurring such losses 

 as overbalanced the danger and discomfort of 

 remaining. Most of them were possessed of large 

 capitals, embarked in commerce : many held con- 

 siderable property in the country ; most of them 

 also had wives and families in Lima, or were 

 otherwise bound to the soil ; and it became a 

 severe sacrifice to leave their present enjoyments, 

 for the uncertain security held out by Spain, at 

 that moment not in a much quieter state than the 

 colonies. Their best and surest policy would have 

 been to follow the fortunes of the country, and to 

 engage heartily in the new cause. But this was 

 too much to expect from men bred up in the very 

 hotbed of monopoly and every sort of prejudice 



