Stories of South America by E.C. Brooks

Author:E.C. Brooks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pronoun

O’Higgins of Chile

THE THIRD DISCIPLE OF Francisco Miranda to exert a determining influence on the history of South America was Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile, who has already been referred to as the lieutenant of General San Martin in his famous expedition across the Andes. Ambrose O’Higgins, the father of Bernardo, was an Irishman by birth, but when a small boy he was sent to Spain to be educated for the priesthood under his uncle. However, his talents lay in another direction, and he chose the life of a trader. Through the influence of the uncle, he secured from the king of Spain the privilege of trading in the Spanish colonies of South America.

Within a few years, the elder O’Higgins became very wealthy and settled at Santiago, Chile. The country at that time had few roads. O’Higgins, seeing the need of a highway between Chile and Argentina, offered his services to construct such a highway for the government. His plan was accepted, and the road across the mountains to Mendoza was opened; it was along this route a generation later that his son, under San Martin, led the patriot army into Chile. So influential did Ambrose O’Higgins become that in 1792 he was appointed captain-general of Chile and four years later rose to the highest office in South America, that of viceroy of Peru. Here in the City of the Kings, where rears before he had peddled his wares unknown, he returned as vice-king and was invested with the supreme rank in the New World.

Bernardo O’Higgins, his son, was born on August 20, 1778. His mother was a native of Chile and a descendant of one of the most aristocratic Spanish families. Great attention was paid to the education of this youth. After receiving his early training under the best masters in Chile and Peru, he was sent, at the age of fifteen, to Spain to complete his education. While pursuing his studies, he had an opportunity to watch the growth of the French Revolution, which was affecting every nation in Europe.

Francisco Miranda was then in England, engaged in organizing his secret societies and planning for the overthrow of Spanish rule in South America. In 1799, O’Higgins, just twenty-one years of age, visited England to see Miranda; and when he fell under the wonderful spell of that great spirit, he, like Bolivar and San Martin, became a disciple. On O’Higgins’s return to Spain, fate brought him and San Martin together. The latter remained to help defend the mother country against the armies of Napoleon, while O’Higgins sailed for home, reaching Chile in 1802, just after his father’s death.

He was devoted to his mother and his sister Rosa, and his sister’s love for him, how she served him and administered to him throughout his remarkable career is a part of the history of Chile. In 1803, O’Higgins settled with his mother and sister on an estate about sixty miles south of Chillan. This was a large ranch, containing, it is said, about 7,000 cattle, 600 horses, 180 mules, and 900 sheep.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.