Page:The History of San Martin (1893).djvu/110



September, 1814, San Martin took charge of the Government of Cuyo. The revolution in Chile had then lasted four years and was about to succumb, a prey to intestine discords and to the arms of Peru. In order to understand what followed we must first know what preceded the appearance of San Martin upon the scene.

Never were two peoples more analogous and less alike than the peoples of Chile and of the United Provinces. Both countries were situate at the southern extremity of the new continent, under the same degrees of latitude, but while one was shut up between the mountains and the sea, the other spread over vast plains. The first was agricultural, the second pastoral and commercial. Chile possessed a territorial aristocracy, and a population of half-breeds, whose relations were somewhat feudal in character. The Argentine people were by nature democratic. Both people sprang from the same origin, and were in temperament alike.

The colonization of Mexico and Peru was an imitation of the feudal system of Europe; the labour of an enslaved race was utilized for the production of the precious metals. The colonization of the River Plate and of Chile was effected by the colonists themselves. Assimilating in some degree the indigenous races, they conquered their