PREFACE. 



XUl 



Italy, of Switzerland, of Holland, and even of the 

 United States, I have ventured, though not with- 

 out hesitation, to risk some observations on their 

 political transactions. 



I have been politely favored with the perusal 

 of the papers of commodore Sinclair, and have 

 taken the liberty of occasionally interweaving 

 some of his observations, in the narrative of the 

 voyage. 



I have employed myself at different times in 

 translating interesting documents, and state pa- 

 pers, of the South American governments, and 

 intended to have inserted them in the Appendix, 

 but it will not be possible to find room for more 

 than two or three. I could have desired the in- 

 sertion of the provisional constitution, translated 

 with great accuracy by Mr. Read, a gentleman of 

 fine taste and acquirements. I have inserted a 

 translation of the manifesto of independence of 

 La Plata; the substance of that of Chili, may be 

 seen in the documents appended to the report of 

 Mr. Bland; but from its preserving the Spanish 

 idiom, I should judge the translation to have 

 been executed by a Spaniard; it is, therefore, not 

 surprising that it should seem to be rather a tame 

 production. The English reader, for instance, 

 would mistake the following sentence for a syl- 

 logism: "We want — we can — then we ought to 

 be free." But in the original it is nothing 

 more than a bold apostrophe. "We resolve — 



VOL. I. 



