ADDRESS TO THE PERUVIANS. 255 



alarmed at the consequences of their present acts. 

 Many doubted San Martin'^s sincerity ; many his 

 power to fulfil his engagements. To most of the 

 inhabitants of Lima such subjects were quite new, 

 and it was, therefore, to be expected, that alarm 

 and indecision should fill every breast. 



In the midst of this general doubt and difficul- 

 ty, perhaps the least at ease was the great mover 

 of the whole, to whom every one, of whatever par- 

 ty, looked up for protection — the confident and 

 the doubting — the Patriot as well as the Span- 

 iard; and it required a skilful hand indeed to 

 steer the vessel of the state at such a moment. 



The difficulties of San Martin's situation, and, 

 in general, the nature of the duties which now de- 

 volved upon him, are so clearly pointed out in an 

 address to the Peruvians, which he published 

 about this time, that an extract will be read with 

 interest; especially as it is free from what has 

 been well called revolutionary jargon ; in the use 

 of which the Spaniards, and their South Ameri- 

 can descendants, are great adepts. 



" The work of difficulty, and that which must 



