LIMA. 



85 



serve to wind up the various accounts already 

 given. The facts, I am confident, are correctly 

 stated : to reason upon them to any useful pur- 

 pose is a difficult task, and one which I am not 

 prepared to undertake. Few persons in England 

 have succeeded in acquiring any distinct concep- 

 tion of South American politics, from the ac« 

 counts given in the newspapers, or other publica- 

 tions ; and it may be some consolation to others 

 to know, that even those who have been on the 

 spot, and know all the parties concerned, find 

 very considerable difficulty in getting at the truth. 

 Even with the assistance of trust-worthy corre- 

 spondents, and facilities of reference to authentic 

 documents, they still encounter no small difficulty 

 in arranging their information, so as to estimate 

 correctly the merits of the great questions, which 

 are to settle the fate of the country. An unpre- 

 judiced and connected narrative, written by an 

 impartial eye«witness, is the only remedy for this 

 evil. The field of view, indeed, is so immensely 

 extensive, so remote from us, and so crowded 

 with new objects ; and the information we receive 

 has to pass through such an atmosphere of preju- 



