for breaking the ores. By the most recent accounts only twelve are yet re-employed; but many of the emigrant proprietors have obtained leave to return and claim their property. These persons, however, have not a shilling to set the works going again, all their money having been swept away. It was here that British capital might have been so well, and so profitably employed, and where the failure of the hopes created by England will be bitterly felt.'

This city exhibited, at that time, a grand moral spectacle, which, for us, we own, has far higher charms than any scenery; and, for the world, a value not to be bought by all the ores that Potosi ever poured forth. The illustrious Bolivar was then within its precincts; the man whose genius and whose virtues, after overthrowing the detested tyranny of the Spaniards, are destined to compensate to the human race the dreadful misery which, for ages, it has spread over the fairest portion of the world.

We will not detain the reader from the sketch which these volumes present of the Libertador, and only regret that our limits prevent us from including those also of his brave companions in glory.

'It was on the 18th of October, that I was introduced to Bolivar. I cannot say that I felt not, at the moment of introduction, the peculiar sensation which the presence of a character who had filled the world with his deeds, naturally inspired. If, however, I had any sentiment approaching to humility on the occasion, arising from awe inspired by the moral influence of the man, it was speedily dissipated by the mode in which he received me, with a cordial, downright, English shake of the hand. It is the historian's business to do justice to his general character; I can only describe how I saw him at a short interview, when not under the influence of excitement of any kind. As a man, he had, in my view, achieved more than Washington. He had delivered his country without foreign assistance, and under every possible disadvantage. No France had tendered her armies and her wealth to aid him. No Franklins, and Henrys, and Jeffersons, were at his right hand, nor the stern, uncompromising virtues of a New England race. The ignorance and utter want of experience of those around him, both in civil and military affairs, threw everything upon his genius; he dared nobly, and succeeded! His talent in the field, and his invincible perseverance in spite of every obstacle, do not surpass his skill in raising resources for war, and impressing his fellowcitizens with confidence in his ability, and respect for his government as a chief of the people. How he kept down and controlled faction, quelled mutinous dispositions, and having sacrificed every shilling of his fortune in the cause of his country, persuaded others to follow his example, is a problem difficult to solve. In these respects no one ever surpassed him. In the movement of larger armies, with better formed materiel, he may have been excelled; but in the passive qualities of the soldier, the rarest found united in the military character, few,

or none, have equalled him. Hunger, thirst, torrid heat, mountain's cold, fatigue, long marches (in respect of distance, from Caraccas to Potosi, from the centre of the northern half of the torrid zone almost to the extreme limit of the southern, on one occasion) in desert and burning sands, all were borne by him and his followers with a patience never outdone by similar, or any other means, and crowned with complete success. He has been accused of ambitious views towards absolute power-time can alone settle this point. He has as yet shown no such disposition, but rather the reverse.

The person of this extraordinary man has perhaps been before described; he is in make slender, but of an active and enduring frame, about five feet seven inches in height; his features rather sharp, nose aquiline, and expression firm, but not striking in the way of intellect: moreover, his face generally bears marks of hardship, and is care-worn. His eyes are penetrating rather than intelligent, and he seldom suffers a stranger to get a direct view of them; at least I found in the interviews I had the honour to hold with him, that this was the case so much, that it even lessened him in my estimation, as the habit of any one not looking you fairly in the face in society is apt to do. His brow is wrinkled by thought and anxiety, so much, that a scowl seems almost always to dwell upon it. In giving audience, sitting, as was his custom, he seemed to want the easy carriage and deportment of persons in such a situation, and had an awkward custom of passing his hands backwards and forwards over his knees. His delivery was very rapid, but in tone monotonous, and he by no means gave a stranger an opinion favourable to his urbanity. The qualities of a stern republican soldier must, however, be expected to differ from those of the courtier of the European school, who is seldom a hero; and it would be strange enough if the person of Bolivar should not have been tinctured with the stormy, warlike, and singular character of the chequered scenes he had encountered.

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Notwithstanding appearances are as I have stated, and the disappointment as to air and aspect which I experienced on seeing him for the first time, his shake of the hand was cordial and frank, as a soldier's should be, and in matters of business I found him without etiquette to the foreigner, easy of access, and very prompt in decision. He was remarkably quick in his perception of any subject laid before him, anticipating the narrator in the circumstances, and coming rapidly to the intended conclusion, by a sort of intuitive perception. His sense of justice, and his liberality to individuals who have suffered in the cause of independence, are well known. A Mr W. Henderson had adventured a ship and cargo with his capital, and it was lost at Guayaquil; he was remunerated by the Libertador for his loss: this fact stands recorded in the books of a London house.'

The other great men described are General Sucre, who gained the decisive battle of Ayacucho. General Alvear and General Miller, formerly known to Captain Andrews as an officer in our marines. He does not seem to have met Colonel Wilson, son of the celebrated individual whose services, in all parts

of the old world, have been so well known and so ill requited, a most promising officer; and though young, yet high in the confidence of the Libertador.

At Potosi our author received letters from England, which showed that he might soon expect a period would be put to his services, and which induced him to return. He accordingly crossed the Andes to Tacna where he found many of his countrymen. The account of the sublime and often terrific scenery of these mountains, and of the storms encountered in traversing them, is interesting; but we cannot afford room to extract any part of it. But the following passage describes picturesquely enough the coming upon the view of the Pacific Ocean :

At 8 P. M., after five hours' travelling, we gained the summit of a continuous range of mountain land, hoping each eminence we reached was the last and highest, when all at once, from this grand elevation, a vast expanse of the Pacific burst upon the sight, to our inexpressible joy. It was distant from us thirty leagues, according to our guide, or ninety English miles. Being somewhat in advance of our party, I got off my mule to enjoy this glorious, this stupendous scene of grandeur. Never was a mightier mountain view presented anywhere else to the human eye. It was a picture to be gazed upon in silence, for language would have ill broken in upon the deep admiration in which I felt absorbed. We were thousands of feet above the intervening land, and the sweep of ocean as well. I gazed upon those blue rolling waters that compass so much of the globe, from a height, I should think, at least of 12,000 feet, forming a lower elevation of the Andes; and never shall I forget the impression made by the picture on my senses. The table land far below us was probably as high above the sea as the lofty Pyrenean chain of mountains in Europe, and upon that we looked as if it were a valley far below.

My journey through the night was still by a succession of mountain and vale, along a deep strait, in which the moon only occasionally befriended us, when in some winding of the pass, she suddenly broke upon our gloomy road. I much regret not having had daylight in travelling through this scenery. At one deep strait the Pacific arose full in frout, across me, like a dark wall, though twenty leagues distant. It seemed to be piled up into the clouds, a vast barrier to my progress. Upon it, or rather apparently hung against it, and close to me, was a round, black object, which had the appearance of a hat in shape, and so near, I could almost touch it, as I fancied. This, my guide told me, was an island, in form exactly like a friar's hat, and called therefrom Sombrero del Freyle. I could scarcely imagine I was not close upon the ocean; so marvellous was the illusion from the hollow where I stood; it was no less grand than extraordinary.'

From Tacna Captain Andrews proceeded to Arica, and there embarked in an American ship. Though our seamen are, generally speaking, a sufficiently prejudiced and national race of men, this author really speaks of the rival powers of the Ocean most

fairly and impartially. The more,' says he, 'I see of an Ame'rican ship's company, the more am I pleased. The manage'ment and general economy are admirable; and I am induced to think that Jonathan, in the merchant service, very far surpasses his island brother.'

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This vessel carried him to Valparaiso; from whence he journeyed to St Jago, and found the Company's affairs gone wrong in all directions, from faithless agents, and powers sometimes conflicting, and sometimes too restricted. Embarking again, he sailed to Coquimbo, and finding there a respectable agent in whom he could repose confidence, he seems to have done all that was in his power, in the circumstances of the case, to retrieve their affairs and put them in a way of thriving. It is true, that the splendid task of digging for pure silver, and finding lumps of gold, which the Welsh and Cornish miners had been sent round Cape Horn to engage in, was reduced to working a lime-pit, a kiln, and a stone quarry; and that this humble labour, to do which they had compassed the globe, gave rise in its progress to much bickering among themselves. But a smelting-house was the result of this ordinary employment, and some copper ore was assayed, which produced well, though only the refuse slag of an old working. But when things, though upon a limited scale, were going on prosperously, and most economically, the other agents, having a general interest against such savings as our author honestly resolved should be made, thwarted him in every direction he found so little support in any quarter, that he resolved to leave the place; and there arrived at the moment he was meditating his departure, a letter from London containing his recall. Left free, therefore, to follow his own inclinations, he accepted the obliging offer of a passage in Sir M. Maxwell's ship the Briton: but, before embarking, he gives some account of Coquimbo. Its growth, since the opening of foreign intercourse, is described as very rapid; and three mining companies, lately established there by English speculation, gave its trade extraordinary activity. It is our author's decided opinion, that by joining the occupation of land with their mining concerns, those associations might have carried on a sure and lucrative business. These two branches were always joined by those of the old inhabitants who prospered in their pursuits; and men who go from their own countries to cultivate others, whether they be Scotch farmers to England, Ireland, and France, or English miners to South America, ought never to neglect the established practices of the place; because, though often barbarous in the execution, they are, for the most part, suggested

:

by circumstances of climate and soil, absolutely necessary to be kept in view by all who would work successfully.

The sudden rise of Coquimbo was fated to receive a serious check by the reaction that soon took place in England. The following particulars deserve our attention:

It is a piece of justice due to the inhabitants of Coquimbo, to state, that on the news of the failure in England to meet the bills of acceptance, drawn by the commissioners abroad, they offered to undergo any possible inconvenience, in respect to time, in awaiting the event, so certain were they that the companies in England had committed an error, which they would rectify on cool reflection, when the panic had subsided. An intelligent commissioner of the Anglo-Chilian Company lately returned, Captain Charters, told me that nothing could equal the distress of the people, except their liberality. They were dismayed to find their glowing hopes destroyed at a blow, without, as it appeared to them, the slightest reason. Nearly all the companies had obtained, notwithstanding the extravagance and mistakes into which they had been led, from a want of knowledge of the country, and the system to be pursued, as much property by grant or purchase, as was in real value more than equal to the monies expended. The three companies in Chili might at least have united their interests-what a property and prospects have been prematurely sacrificed!

On the 3d of April I left Coquimbo. I took my leave with a mixture of joy and regret-of joy, to return home and vindicate my conduct to the Company, and of regret, that operations commenced with good prospects, and certain of success, with proper management, should be baffled and abandoned, as I foresaw they must be from the mode pursued, and the contra-interests, to those of the Company, suffered to influence local measures.

I have already said that mining in South America is a certain source of profit, if properly and economically conducted. The mode is to begin on a limited scale, and extend the operations slowly and cautiously. The very extensive means of the different companies in money, managed as they were, contributed to defeat their own ends, and the mode of action, not the principle of the thing, is implicated in the recent failures.'

From Coquimbo he sailed in his Majesty's ship Briton, and doubling Cape Horn, touched at Santa Catharina, and then came to Rio Janeiro. He saw marks, not very edifying, of the moral discipline of Don Pedro's court, which he places far lower on the scale of propriety even than that of Louis XIV. The journal, which ends with his arrival at Portsmouth 14th of August 1826, is followed by a sketch of the South American Revolution, and an appendix of documents, explaining his official proceedings in furtherance of the object of his mission.

The impression left upon our minds by the perusal of these volumes, is every way favourable to the conduct of this honest and respectable man, whom his employers cast off, to their own