Santiago de Chile, 9th May, 1822.[1]
You have heard, I dare say, that I left Buenos Aires some time ago, and came to Chile. I have now been here ten months, and am much pleased with this country. In as far as respects the climate, I believe no country can be more desirable to live in than this. It rains a good deal in the winter season, that is, from June to September inclusive. Frost and snow are seldom or never seen in the plains; notwithstanding, a fire is very desirable in the winter. The highest ridge of the Andes is full in sight from this city. This is covered with snow all the year round. When it rains here below, it uniformly snows on the mountains. In the summer season, we have no rain at all, and very few cloudy days. The common course of the seasons is four months of occasional rains, and eight months of fair weather. In the summer it is pretty hot during the day; but it is always very comfortable at night. In Buenos Aires, on the contrary, the nights, during the summer, are generally very warm. In another respect also, Buenos Aires differs very remarkably from this country. There, not a mountain, nor a hill, nor a rock is to be seen; here, all those abound.
The natives of Buenos Aires, who have never been from home, have no idea of what a mountain is like;[2] and of snow they are equally ignorant, having never seen the one or the other. They would also be ignorant of what a stone is, were it not that some have been brought from the other side of the river, for paving the streets. After what I have said of the scarcity of stones, you may judge of the correctness of a very modern work on South America, in which it is said, "All the houses in Buenos Aires are built of a fine white stone, found in quarries in the neighbourhood." There is not, in Buenos Aires, a single house built of stone, nor is there any quarry on that side of the river within 100 miles of Buenos Aires. The houses there are all built of brick. The mentioning of this last, brings me back again to Chile. All the houses here, or nearly all, are built of unburnt brick, such bricks as the Israelites made in Egypt; they are made of earth mixed with straw. It is said, this material for building suits the country best, on account of earthquakes, which are not unfrequent. Last night, just about this hour, (eight o'clock) we had a smart shock. I was sitting writing, when my attention was called by a rumbling noise, and a clattering of the window shutters. In a few seconds, the whole house shook, and the creaking of the beams and joists was very distinct. The noise continued for a few seconds after the shock, when all ceased. This is now the fourth earthquake we have had in less than a week. They prevail most, I am told, in this month.
We have now got our schools set on foot in this place, and I am thinking of going to Lima in the course of a month or less, in order to prosecute my objects there. According to the best information, the new state of things in that country goes on wonderfully. Many reforms are taking place of a very salutary nature. Gaming, which is carried on to a very hurtful extent in all South America, has just been prohibited in Lima, by the Government. Acts have passed for the gradual abolition of slavery. Since the taking of Lima, all the children of slaves are born free. The importation of slaves is entirely prohibited, and no infringement of the Act takes place. The same state of things subsists here and in Buenos Aires, regarding this shameful business. There is in South America generally, I believe, a great desire for the increase of knowledge. I can bear witness, that this is the case, in those parts I have been in; and I doubt not of finding it so in Lima also. I am told, that learning has prevailed there more than in places to the south of it, on this continent. There are several men there, I am informed, who stand tolerably high in literature. About three months ago, a literary society was formed in Lima. I have sent a translation of the Act incorporating the Society to Professor Jameson, of Edinburgh, and it may perhaps appear in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.
The fall of Lima decided, I think, the contest between Spain and her colonies, fairly establishing the independence of the latter. If anything, however, was wanting to complete this state of things, it has now been accomplished by the late occurrences in Mexico. The immediate and solid advantages occurring from this independence, to the cause of our fellow-men in this continent, are very great. Knowledge is now tolerated in the country, and also patronized. A war of extermination has been declared against ignorance, and is actually waged. Soon after San Martin entered Lima, a provisional law was issued, until a new code should be formed for the country. In this provisional law, religious toleration is publicly acknowledged, for the first time, in South America. A most wonderful change has taken place in Buenos Aires since I left it. War, anarchy, and confusion, have given place to a steady, firm, and enlightened government. The principal cause of this happy change is the present minister of state, Rivadavia. He arrived in Buenos Aires a short time before I left it. For some years past he has resided in London and in Paris; and the time he has spent in these places has been well employed. He has there studied and is now practising the soundest principles of political economy.
If Buenos Aires goes on for a few years as it has done for some months past, it will afford excellent lessons in this interesting science to the nations of Europe, perhaps to the country of Adam Smith. A fine emulation will be carried on, and is already begun, between Buenos Aires and Lima. If an improvement is proposed in one of these places, it is deemed sufficient to silence popular and low prejudice, to publish that such a thing has already been done in the other. As to the Chilians, they are, generally speaking, less enlightened and more indifferent in respect to these subjects. Our Director is a good man, truly desirous of the progress of Chile in every thing useful. He has, however, but little activity or zeal. It is pleasing to see, under these circumstances, the good effects produced on us here, by the newspapers of Lima on the one hand, and of Buenos Aires on the other. From these many articles are copied into our public journals; and some things are already begun among us, in imitation of our friends in the north and on the east. I lately crossed and recrossed the Andes on a visit to Mendoza and San Juan. The cause of knowledge and of truth goes on there also. In each of these places there is a printing-press, and from these are likely to issue soon, many things which will contribute to the general good.
[1] James Thomson. Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South America. (London: James Nisbet, 1827), pp. 28-33.
[2] The river La Plata, opposite Buenos Aires, is thirty miles wide, and at times, under a very favourable state of the atmosphere, a dim outline of the low mountains on the northern side is visible. To this extent the Buenos Aireans know what a mountain is.