60 



CHILI. 



country left in the free possession of the Patriots, 

 or, as their expressive language calls them, Hi- 

 jos del Pays, The Sons of the Land. 



Having now time to breathe, the Chilian Go- 

 vernment, aided by that of Buenos Ayres, deter- 

 mined to attack the Royalists in their turn, by 

 sending an armament against Peru — a great and 

 bold measure, originating with San Martin, who 

 saw that the independence of neither of these 

 countries could ever be secure, whilst a great 

 Spanish force maintained itself in their neigh- 

 bourhood, supported by the wealth and resources 

 of Peru. 



Had this expedition sailed at once, there could 

 have been little doubt of its immediate and com- 

 plete success ; for Peru, in fact, had been left 

 nearly defenceless^ by the efforts she had made 

 to repress the revolutionary spirit of Chili ; and, 

 from this exhausted situation, she did not reco- 

 ver for some time. Chili, however, and Buenos 

 Ayres being both, in a great degree, similarly 

 circumstanced, were not, at first, equal to the 

 great exertions necessary to send out an expedi- 

 tion;— the difficulty of providing ships, arms. 



