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CHILI. 



wished-for leisure in visiting our neighbours near 

 the observatory, or in calling on the English re- 

 sidents, and other well-informed persons. In this 

 manner we were enabled to form a tolerable esti- 

 mate of the state of political feeling at Valparaiso, 

 where the intercourse with strangers was the great- 

 est ; and by comparing it with that at Santiago, of 

 which, also, we had now seen a good deal, to draw 

 conclusions on the grand question of the effect of 

 the Revolution on public opinion throughout the 

 country. 



At the port, in consequence of the number of 

 arrivals, there is certainly to be found, occasion- 

 ally, more exact information on particular points 

 of foreign news than in the capital ; but in the 

 latter there is much more general information, 

 owing no doubt to the extensive diffusion of 

 knowledge and intelligence amongst the inhabit- 

 ants than at the port. They know, according- 

 ly, with tolerable precision, not only what is pass- 

 ing in other parts of South America, but have a 

 clearer idea of European affairs than I had been 

 led to expect ; for they begin to be fully sensi- 

 ble of their own importance in the world, and to 



