its legal representatives who are united in this city the authority that I have hitherto exercised; but notwithstanding my want of merit, and sincere renouncement, the constituent power has deigned to place upon my weak shoulders this enormous weight, by again depositing the civil and military command in my person, which the adjoining resolution I have the honour of remitting will explain to your Lordship.

   God preserve your Lordship many years.

   (Signed) RAMON FREIRE.

In short, a revolution to depose the Supreme Director had commenced, and General Freire, supported by the inhabitants of Conception and Coquimbo, was in arms to effect it.  With this revolution I was determined to have nothing to do, because, as a foreigner, it was not desirable for me to become a party to any faction, though it was evident that the authority of General O’Higgins would shortly be at an end.

Regarding General Freire’s letter as an indirect request to me to aid him in deposing General O’Higgins, I did not even reply to it.  On the 20th of September he made the following direct overture to me to join in the revolution:—­

   Conception, Nov. 20th, 1853. 
   My Best and Most Distinguished Friend,

The time has arrived when circumstances and the country require the protection of those who generously and judiciously know how to maintain its sacred rights.  Let us withdraw the curtain from the scene which trifles with the interests of the Republic, leading it to inevitable ruin.  Its deplorable state is public and notorious.  There is not a man who is unacquainted with it, and who does not bewail the prospective loss of its independence, with a thraldom also in view more grievous than the Spanish yoke.

The self-assumed powers of the Government, the restrictions on commerce, and, above all, the constitution recently promulgated, place the ambitious views of the Chief Magistrate and the corruption of his Ministers in a clear light.  Every act proves that the intentions of the Supreme Director have undergone a change.  Fortune, which has hitherto favoured him, has given a new turn to his ambition, as if the proposal of a crown could no longer be resisted—­all the measures pursued throughout the state leading to that end.  It is grievous to see laurels thus stained in the grasp of one who so gloriously obtained them.  It is, however, needless to trespass on you with further reflections on these occurrences, as your judgment cannot fail to be formed both on the facts and their consequences.  Let us therefore touch on other subjects.

   Permit me, without offence to your delicacy, to make some
   reflections on subjects equally public and notorious.