218 



PERU. 



that the first rays of knowledge had pierced 

 through the clouds of error and superstition ; and 

 the people were still not only very ignorant of 

 their own rights, but required time and encou- 

 ragement to learn how to think justly on the sub- 

 ject. To have taken the capital, by a coup de 

 main, therefore, would have answered no purpose, 

 and would probably have irritated the people, and 

 induced them to resist the arms of the Patriots, 

 from a misconception of their real intentions. 



The gradual progress of intelligence in the 

 other states of South America, said San Martin, 

 had insensibly prepared the people''s minds for 

 the revolution. In Chili and elsewhere, the mine 

 had been silently charged, and the train required 

 only to be touched ; — in Peru, where the mate- 

 rials were yet to be prepared, any premature at- 

 tempt at explosion must have been unsuccessful. 

 The privilege which our neutral character gave 

 us of examining both sides of the question in per- 

 son, was turned to great account at this period ; 

 for immediately after conversing with San Mar- 

 tin, I landed and went to Lima, where I had an 

 interview, within the same hour, with the Vice- 



