Page:Voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the world in the years 1791-95, volume 3.djvu/488

446 »795- April.

"The fpeech of Field-Marfhal Don Ambrofio Higgins de Vallenar, Prefident, Governor, and Captain-General of the kingdom of Chili, to the Auraucan and other Indian nations, met in convoca- tion in the camp of Negrete, on the .jth day of march, 1793.

"Chiefs, my antient and honorable friends! full of joy and fatisfa6lion that I now meet upon this happy ground of Negrete, as formerly on that of Longuilmo, the great chiefs and principal leaders of the four Butalmapus, into which this valuable country is divided, that ftretches from the fouth of this great river Biobio to the outer parts of the moft fouthern continent, and from the Cordilleras to the great ocean ; I faluie you all with joy, and with the utmoft fincerity of my heart. I am ordered by the king, my mafter, to falute you in His Majefty's name, and to congratulate you on the felicity of this anfj)icious day. which, through my mediation, on account of the love I bear you all, has reftored the ineftimable blefhngs of peace to the four Butalmapus.

With the utmoft precifion and difpatch, I have taken care to remove every obftacle that impeded the attainment of this moft welcome objefl. I have alfo been indefatigable in difpofing the minds of thofe to peace who were reftlefs and prone to revenge, or to take great umbrage on little occafions; and I have been unweared in all the conferences I have had with the feveral chiefs, fince my arrival at the fort of Angels, and in this encampment, during the time that I have waited for the arrival of thofe more diftant leaders, who are now coUefted with the other members of this aftembly. I have patiently and fully examined the complaints of fome, and heard the excufes of others, on the diftrefting fubjeft of your diflentions, your animofities, and your wars, fo that nothing now remains for me to learn of all their direful caufes. To-day, however, the fun ftiines bright, and I fee, with heart-felt joy, that on my once again drawing nigh unto you, a kindly difpofi'ion appears in all, to terminate the unhappy differences which long, too long, have fubfifted between you ; and I perceive that you are prepared, once more, to unite in thofe facred bonds of peace, in the full enjoyment of which I left you, on my feparation from you, and departure for St. Jago. I rejoice that you all wifti to bury, under the fod of this encampment, all your animofities,