42 



CHILI. 



globe, was the naval Commander-in-chief ; and 

 upon him necessarily devolved the whole respon- 

 sibility of all these discussions. The task was 

 one of great difficulty and importance, chiefly 

 from the vast extent of his command, and the un- 

 certainty and delay of all communications. The 

 varying nature also of every political relation in 

 those countries — the instability and inexperience 

 of the governments — the agitated state of the 

 public mind, with the consequent absence of mer- 

 cantile confidence — the novelty, in short, of every 

 institution — all conspired to complicate, in a re- 

 markable degree, a subject at no time simple, or 

 of easy management. Owing to the difficulty of 

 communication between the different parts of the 

 station, it became impossible for the Commander- 

 in-chief to attend to the details of business at more 

 than one spot: the ships of the squadron were 

 therefore distributed at those points where the 

 presence of a British authority was most essential- 

 ly required, namely, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil ; 

 Buenos Ayres in the River Plate ; Valparaiso in 

 Chili ; Lima in Peru ; and San Bias on the coast 

 of Mexico. There were, besides, many interme- 



