380 
SOUTH AMERICA. 
after this; the tithes were abolished, and the regulation for 
the church published; the dignitaries of which were to be 
composed of a dean, with a salary of two thousand dollars, 
and four presbyters, with sixteen hundred dollars of salary. 
Every difficulty was thrown in the way of seclusion: no 
one was to be permitted to take the vows ■ until twenty-five 
years of age; and even then an express license from govern¬ 
ment was required. Towards the end of the year 1822, 
Rivadavia proposed to the Chamber that no convent which 
cpntained more than thirty, or less than sixteen inmates, 
should be permitted to remain; this proposition was received 
and several convents fell by it. It was ordered that the mem¬ 
bers of the suppressed houses should receive two hundred and 
fifty dollars annually, if under forty-five, and three hundred 
dollars, if more, with the permission of proceeding where- 
ever. they might think fit. The chapels of the suppressed 
houses were converted into parish churches, which were 
served with a splendour hitherto unseen. The only monas¬ 
teries now left belong to the Franciscans, Mercedarios and 
Predicadores; and the only convents, that of Santa Catalina, 
limited to thirty, and that of the Capucins. The names of 
those persons who secularized were published, with every 
encomium, in the gazette. Many were literally reasoned out 
of their convents; and this measure, which, taking into 
account the state of the country and the strength of the party 
to be humbled, was one of the boldest ever undertaken, has 
been carried into effect with little disturbance; and the ex¬ 
ample has been followed by almost all the other states. In 
March, 1824, an attempt was made to overturn the govern¬ 
ment, and from the cries of Viva It Religion , Mueren los Hc- 
reges! with which the rebels galloped into the town, it 
might be supposed that it proceeded from a party who had 
viewed this measure with discontent; but the disturbance was 
soon put down. 
Rivadavia has remodelled, in a great measure, the various 
courts of justice. Leaving the law as it stood in the time of 
the Spaniards, he has raised the salaries of the judges, to 
render them less open to temptation; and has caused them 
to furnish monthly lists of all the cases, criminal and civil, 
which have been decided, or are in progress. By these means, 
justice is much expedited. , The establishment at present 
consists of four Counsellors of Justice, at a salary of 2,500 
dollars, and five judges of the high court, at a salary of 
2,000 dollars. The Consulado takes cognizance of questions 
purely commercial, and of the inforcement of debts. The 
Cabildo, or municipal body, has a certain charge over the 
city ; and one of the Alcaldes of it is termed the defender of 
the poor. Juries have not yet been introduced, and perhaps 
it would not be easy to find a sufficiency of persons fit for 
the office. In all cases, parties pay their own costs. The 
only crimes that are punished with death are high treason, 
murder and robbery; and of late, the military have been 
rendered amenable to civil law, like the rest of the com¬ 
munity. 
From the year 1776, when the provinces of the Rio de la 
Plata were, first formed into a distinct viceroyalty, until the 
attempt made by the English in 1806, the revenue derived 
by Spain seldom exceeded 700,000 dollars. The amount in 
1821, was little more than .... 1,000,000=£343,743 ]5s. 
1822, it increased to ........ 2,519,094=£566,793 3s. 
1823, .................... 3,000,000=£675,000 0s. 
By a decree which proceeded from the late Spanish Cortes 
in June, 1822, the government was authorized to send out 
commissioners to the various colonies of South America, to 
eudeavour to settle matters and arrange the disputes in the 
best manner under the existing circumstances of each. When 
the accounts of this reviving liberality on the part of the 
mother country arrived in Buenos Ayres, the Chamber of 
Representatives authorised the executive to enter into a ne¬ 
gotiation for the. cessation of the war in Peru, and made a 
grant of 30,000 dollars to carry the plan into effect. The 
other provinces were invited to become parties to this 
measure. 
The subsequent events that have occurred in Spain, and the 
entire annihilation of the body which felt liberally inclined 
towards the Americans, have however set the question at rest 
for ever. 
In March, 1820, Ramirez, the chief of the Entre Rios, 
with Lopez, the governor of Santa Fe, marched against 
Buenos Ayres; and D. Manuel de Sarratea became governor. 
From that moment, the changes in the head of the province 
were almost weekly. On the 6th October, however, D. 
Martin Rodriguez was finally confirmed governor, and re¬ 
mains in power at present. 
Chile.— Modern Chile comprises that portion of country 
on the west of the Andes, which, bounded on the north by 
the desert of Atacama, extends to the banks of the river 
Biobio on the south. It lies, therefore, between 26 and 37 de- 
grees of south latitude. Its breadth, from the great Cordillera 
to the Pacific Ocean, varies considerably; but its average 
may be considered about two degrees, lying between 69 and 
71 a degrees of west longitude. Its extent may be taken at a 
superficies of 23,000 square leagues, a calculation, however, 
from which large deductions must be taken from the moun¬ 
tainous and rugged nature of the country. 
The district to the south of the Biobio, and which is laid 
down in the old charts as forming a part of Chile and be¬ 
longing to the Spaniards, is left out of this calculation, and 
should bear, in fact, a different name. It is inhabited by 
that brave nation, the Araucanos, who, of all those forming 
the New World, have alone resisted the arms and blandish¬ 
ments of Europeans. 
The climate of Chile has been described in the most fa¬ 
vourable terms by all those who have visited or written 
on the country. The temperature is moderate, the heat of 
summer being lessened by the cool breezes of the Cordillera, 
or the refreshing ones of the Pacific. The summer com¬ 
mences in the month of December, and a shower seldom 
falls during its continuance. The dews are extremely heavy 
and supply the deficiency of rain. 
In examining the surface, it must be kept in view that 
Chile is a small tract of ground between the Great Cordillera 
and the sea, and that three small ranges extend in parallel 
lines between these two boundaries. A variety of streams 
have poured down in torrents from the Andes, torn up the 
country into many ravines, and have now ceased to flow; 
many others pursue their short course to the ocean and par¬ 
take of the character of mountain streams: none of them are 
navigable, and vessels can scarcely lie in their estuaries. 
This is generally the face of the country, and the same fea¬ 
tures extend to Peru, and in both countries the agriculture is 
mostly carried on in ravines. The soil is a stiff clay, abound¬ 
ing in waterworn pebbles, and is of little depth, but of sin¬ 
gular fertility. 
A great natural advantage to the country is the extent of 
sea coast. The riches of the whole line of the Andes and of 
the intermediate hills, are with ease carried down to th 
coast, where a number of excellent harbours are ready to 
shelter vessels for their reception. The trade wind constantly 
blows down the coast to the equator, and for one half of 
the voyage at least renders the passage certain. 
The rivers are of little .import; the shortness of their 
course and the rapidity of the torrent during the season when 
the snow melts in the Cordillera, and at the other period, 
the shallowness of the water, prevent their being of any 
utility to commerce. 
The inhabitants of Chile are chiefly taken up with agri¬ 
culture and mining. The manufactures are of trifling im¬ 
portance, and they possess neither sufficient capital nor en¬ 
terprise to enter into commercial speculations. 
The agriculture in this happy climate requires little atten¬ 
tion. The smaller trees (chiefly mimosas) are cut low, and 
the plough, of simple construction, passes once between 
them. The sowing time is in June, and the corn is cut in 
December. 
The wheat is small grained but excellent, and worth two 
and a half dollars per fanega (two and a half English bush¬ 
els). Hemp is an object of care; it appears of very excel¬ 
lent quality, but hitherto it has not been raised in any 
quantity. 
The 
