30 



THE SONG OF LIBERTY SUNG BY SLAVES. 



of acquiring wealth, which the rigorous nature of 

 the colonial system allowed to no other place in 

 that country. The transition, therefore, which 

 now took place from the Spanish rule to a state of 

 independence, was very easy, and there being no 

 motive to violence, it was unaccompanied by any 

 extravagance on the part of the people. Thus 

 Panama, under similar political circumstances 

 with Lima and Guayaquil, was placed in singular 

 contrast to both those cities. So gently, indeed, 

 was the revolution brought about, that the inha- 

 bitants did not even change their governor, but 

 left him the option either of continuing in his old 

 situation, or of retiring. When the alternative 

 was put to him, he shrugged his shoulders — whiffed 

 his cigar for a few minutes — and replied, that he 

 had no sort of objection to remain : upon which 

 the inhabitants deliberately hauled down the flag 

 of Spain, hoisted that of Bolivar in its place, pro- 

 claimed a free trade, and let all other things go on 

 as before. 



But there were many, it was said, who did not 

 rejoice so much in the change, as good patriots 

 ought to have done ; a piece of political scandal, 

 however, which attached chiefly to the ladies, who 

 are in general vastly more enthusiastic in the 

 cause of independence than the men. The real 

 truth is, Panama had been garrisoned by a very 

 handsome Spanish regiment for some years ; and 

 the abstract feeling of freedom, consequent upon 

 the departure of the troops, was considered, it was 

 said, by the fair Panamanians, a very poor com- 

 pensation for the gentle military despotism in 

 which they had been lately held. 



I waited upon the governor to breakfast, and 

 not knowing that he had been in power during the 

 Spanish times, I said, as usual, something congra- 

 tulatory upon the improvements likely to result 

 from the recent changes. I saw, with surprise, a 

 cloud pass across his brow ; but he soon recovered, 

 and in a dry sarcastic tone said, he hoped it would 

 be a change for the better. 



In the course of the morning we became ac- 

 quainted with many of the merchants of the place, 

 who surprised us a good deal, and somewhat 

 piqued us, by their total indifference about the 

 South American news which we were so full of. 

 They declared they could never manage to under- 

 stand the different accounts from the south : that 

 names, places, and circumstances, were all jumbled 

 together ; and, in short, treated the whole subject 

 very much in the way it used to be received in 

 England a few years ago. They were, in fact, far 

 more occupied with North American, English, 

 and West Indian topics, and, above all, with the 

 little matters which concerned their own town, 

 than with the momentous affairs affecting the 

 whole southern continent ; upon which, however, 

 their own prosperity must eventually depend. 



It was by no means easy to get in return the 

 news we wanted, even from people who had 

 recently been in England, or in Jamaica, for they 

 had no idea of the extent of our ignorance, made 

 no allowance! for our dates, and never dreamed of 

 telling us anything not new to themselves ; for- 

 getting, that to us, who had not seen an English 

 paper for half a year, everything was new. And 

 they were just as much surprised at our indiffer- 

 ence about Jamaica and New York intelligence, 

 as we had been to find them careless about Lima 



and Valparaiso. When in reading the papers we 

 came to some allusion, and asked what it meant, 

 the answer generally was, " Oh ! I thought you 

 must of course have heard of that long ago ;" and 

 so on with the rest, till at length we became com- 

 pletely confused and tired of asking questions ; 

 and were glad to relapse into our wonted abstrac- 

 tion from all that was distant, and turn again 

 cheerfully to take an exclusive interest in what 

 was passing immediately before us. 



As I had been kept out of bed for two nights, 

 attending to the pilotage of the ship, I was glad to 

 retire at an early hour ; but I could get no sleep 

 for the noise in the Plaza, or great square, before 

 the windows of my room. After some time spent 

 in vain endeavours to disregard the clamour, I 

 rose and sat at the window, to discover, if I could, 

 what was going on. It was a bright moon-light 

 night, and the grass which had been allowed to 

 grow up in the centre of the square was covered 

 with parties of negro slaves, some seated and 

 others dancing in great circles, to the sound of 

 rude music made by striking a cocoa-nut shell 

 with a short stick ; while the whole party, dancers 

 as well as sitters, joined in a song with very loud 

 but not discordant voices. It appeared to be 

 some festival of their own, which they had assem- 

 bled to celebrate in this way. 



I was half disappointed at discovering nothing 

 appropriate or plaintive in the music ; on the con- 

 trary, it was extremely lively, and seemed the 

 result of light-hearted mirth. Many of the groups 

 were singing, not without taste and spirit, a patri- 

 otic song of the day, originally composed at Buenos 

 Ayres, and long well known in the Independent 

 states of the south, though only recently imported 

 into the isthmus. The burden of the song was 

 Libertad! Libertad! Libertad! but I conceive not 

 one of these wretches attached the slightest mean- 

 ing to the words, but repeated them merely from 

 their accordance with the music. While listening 

 however to these slaves singing in praise of free- 

 dom, it was difficult not to believe that some por- 

 tion of the sentiment must go along with the music; 

 yet I believe it was quite otherwise, and that the 

 animation with which they sung, was due entirely 

 to the lively character of the song itself, and its 

 happening to be the fashionable air of the day. 

 There was something discordant to the feelings in 

 all this ; and it was painful to hear these poor 

 people singing in praise of that liberty acquired 

 by their masters, from whose thoughts nothing 

 certainly was farther removed than the idea of 

 extending the same boon to their slaves. 



CHAPTER XL. 



Description of some old Ruins at Panama.— Project of 

 opening a Communication between the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the Pacific— Troops of Bolivar. 



Early in the morning of the 3d of February I 

 sallied forth, as one would do at Rome, to view 

 some celebrated ruins— a strange and unwonted 

 sight in America. Panama has flourished for a 

 long series of years, but its sun has at last set with 

 the golden flag of Spain, the signal of exclusion 

 wherever it waved. As long as the ports of the 

 Pacific were closed against all commerce, except 



