OLD SPANIARD. 



81 



from prison, but was ever afterwards watched 

 with a jealous eye, and when the great persecu- 

 tion commenced against the Spaniards in the be- 

 ginning of 1822, he was banished, and his pro- 

 perty was confiscated. More unmerited misfor- 

 tune never befel a worthier man, whose great- 

 est crime was indiscretion. His is one of the in- 

 numerable cases, where we had the means of know- 

 ing correctly, how severely and unjustly the ef- 

 fects of the contest were sometimes directed. In 

 ordinary revolutions, most of the cruelty and in- 

 justice generally result from lawless and tumul- 

 tuous assemblages of people ; and such is the na- 

 tural and looked for consequence of placing power 

 in the hands of inexperienced men. But in 

 South America these political convulsions have, 

 with few exceptions, been kept under a certain 

 degree of control ; and have generally been di- 

 rected by men having reasonable and praise-worthy 

 objects in view. Nevertheless, in every possible 

 case, a revolution is necessarily a great temporary 

 evil ; and must always have its full share of crime 

 and sorrow : private feelings, interests, and rights, 

 must on such occasions take their chance of being 



VOL. TI. F 



