430 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



fled in terror. When closely pursued, they were known, rather 

 than be overtaken, to throw themselves from precipices, at the 

 risk of their lives ! 



The Indians bore this unparalleled oppression, and the reli- 

 gion of their oppressors, which, in the New World, was the 

 harbinger of every vice, and the destroyer of hope ; but when, 

 once roused from their apathy, it was impossible again to re- 

 duce them to the yoke. Though the spirit of liberty occasion- 

 ally scintillated since 1741, and did not burst forth in an in- 

 extinguishable blaze till 1S09, the Indians in the province of 

 Azangaro are not entirely satisfied to this day, that the revo- 

 lution of 1S21 has made them citizens of an independent re- 

 public, with equal rights. They think that the whites tell 

 them they are free, with a view of involving them in some 

 snare. * 



For three hundred years, Peru was ruled by a succession of 

 tyrants ; and since the revolution, the country has been domi- 

 neered over by a set of factious military chieftains, of unbridled 

 passions, who have thought of little else than self aggrandize- 

 ment. A sketch of the last four or five years, will convey an 

 idea of the manner in which the people have been misruled. 



In 1827, General La Mar, a man of mild virtue, and emi- 

 nent worth, was elected to the presidency. He was a native of 

 Guayaquil, and served in the Spanish army during the penin- 

 sular war, with much credit to himself. On his return to 

 America, he was appointed Inspector General of Peru, and 

 soon after attached himself to General San Martin. Having 

 distinguished himself in the glorious field of Ayacucho, he was 

 elected President by the first Congress ; but he had too little 

 of the tyrant in his character, to preside over a people among 

 whom a strong revolutionary spirit seems to predominate. 

 They manifested for him all that admiration and enthusiasm a 

 mob is wont to display on the accession of a military chieftain 

 to civil authority. His name was painted over the gates of 



* Manuscript report, drawn up by order of the Peruvian government. The 

 observations were made from 1825 to 1829 inclusive. For a perusal of this 

 document, the author is indebted to his friend, Samuel Larned, Esq. Charge 

 d* Affaires from the United States, at Lima. 



