ranteed that not only all materials required for the purpose might be imported by them free of all duties, but that the export of the oil should be duty free, and that all the local authorities throughout the country should afford them every possible protection. Upon the faith of such prospects the sum of 60,000 dollars was invested in the enterprise, vessels were chartered, equipped and furnished with proper crews and materials for whaling, and they were sent to sea: the refining establishment was to have been fixed at Coquimbo, whither were sent all the barrels and barrel-staves that could be purchased ou shore or afloat. Soon after this was done the grand expedition sailed from Valparaiso; but, as the governor of that port had neglected to procure sufficient water-casks for the use of the transports and ships of war, an order was given to the commissary-general to put into Coquimbo, and there take all the hogsheads prepared for the whaling establishment: in vain did the individuals interested protest against this violation of private property; in vain did they urge the ruin it would cause them on the arrival of the whaling ships, shortly expected to return with sperm oil: all was of no use, the casks were taken for the public service. They collected together all the old whale-oil hogsheads that could be mustered to receive the returns of the first vessel that should come in; but, on its arrival, the governor of Coquimbo claimed the right to levy duties by virtue of an old Spanish law exacting a portion of the produce of the fishery, amounting, I believe, to about one-eighth share of the whole product; and, for acquittance from these duties, application to the supreme government was made in vain. But neither of these arbitrary proceedings could damp the ardour of the speculators, or arrest their operations, until another most violent measure was put in force against them. The want of casks in which to store the oil-blubber was provided against as well as it could be, by sinking a reservoir on the high promontory that overlooks the bay of Coquimbo; this work was stopped by the governor of the town and province, on the plea that it would be injurious to the health of the inhabitants, although the spot is several miles distant from the town: jealousy against foreigners was the motive which produced these proceedings. The want of storage brought on immense charges for demurrage of vessels, which arrived with cargoes of blubber, and this, with other unavoidable expenses, compelled them to abandon the speculation, after losing a very considerable sum of money.'-Vol. ii, pp. 287-289. Mr. Miers adds two other specimens of conduct equally profligate on the part of the government, which are really too instructive to be omitted. 'Another instance occurred, it was a plan for refining copper, and manufacturing vessels for exportation to Peru. Some such establishments on a very small scale exist at Quillota, Melipilla, and Santiago, and will be described in their proper place. On this occasion an attempt was to be made on a larger scale nearer the copper mines, and the projector fixed himself in Coquimbo, where he built his rude refining furnaces after the mode of the country, and commenced his operations with every prospect of success; but no sooner were his copper pans brought to market than duties of thirty-three per centum were laid upon their exportation; this could not be borne, and thus one of the first manufacturing establishments that really promised to be useful to the nation was put down by the iniquitous policy of the government. Another instance of folly, on the part of the government toward manufactures, has been displayed since I left Chile. Many attempts have been made to establish breweries, but all have failed, owing to the difficulty of making malt in a country possessing a climate so different from that of England. Lately, a very intelligent Englishman conceived the practicability of brewing of good beer, for which there promised to be a considerable consumption; with the aid of his scientific and mechanical knowledge he succeeded in his attempts, contrary to the expectations of those who had failed to effect the same objects; but no sooner had he completed his first brewings for sale to the shipping, than the government having previously made many public protestations in favour of manufacturing establishments generally, and promises to the one under consideration in particular, decreed beer and ale to be foreign spirituous liquors, and that the manufacturer was therefore liable to be taxed: they at first charged him with a levy of fifty dollars--where it will stop no one can contemplate; it is not unlikely it may be so heavily increased as to force him to abandon his enterprise." -Vol. ii, pp. 289, 290. These examples of perfidy are worthy of old Spain, and we have not the least doubt, that Mr. Miers has correctly reported them. They are quite in unison with the system of that wretched kingdom, improved perhaps by the rapacious character of most of those individuals whom the revolution has from year to year raised to the surface of affairs in Chile. It should also be known, that in consequence of many circumstances enumerated by Mr. Miers, the trade of Chile is extremely limited,' and that throughout all South America there is scarcely any way of employing capital in a large way, more especially so in Chile and Peru.' The foreign trade in Chile,' he adds,' entails in most cases a loss to the home adventurers,' as the system upon which it is carried on is altogether of a petty, retail nature. The trade in national produce must also be a losing concern, on account of the enormous expense incurred by carriage in the interior of that mountainous country. Upon the subject of the commercial capabilities of Chile, Mr. Miers' work may be consulted with safety and advantage. With respect to the mines also, as we have already intimated, a copious mass of information will be found in these volumes, accompanied by very sensible admonitions, which cannot fail to attract the attention and we hope the respect, of those whom the subject concerns. There are three engraved maps inserted in these volumes, which the reader of South American history, as well as the traveller who may follow Mr. Miers, will know how to appreciate. Two of these maps are original, and the whole are executed with distinctness, upon as large a scale as the work would allow. Of the lithographic plates which are given to illustrate the text we cannot speak so highly. They perhaps serve their object of explanation sufficiently well, but as specimens of art they are beneath criticism. PANEGYRIC OF DRUNKENNESS.. Who by disgrace or by ill fortune sunk, Feels not his soul enliven'd when he's drunk.-SWIFT. Hippocrates says, that it does a man good to get drunk once a month. I won't say it follows that it must, of course, do him much more good to get drunk daily; but I know there are many people who seem firmly persuaded of it. Horace* next tells us, that poets who drink water can never make good poetry; and Athenæus assures us, that Alcæus and Aristophanes wrote poems when they were intoxicated.† Socrates, too, was a clever fellow; and he, according to Lucian, was always drunk; for, in conformity to his own confession, he saw all things double. Further, let us take the word methe; what does it signify? Why, both Mirth, (the son of Bacchus) and Drunkenness; so nearly are they allied. Then Flaccus affirms that wine makes us eloquent; and this is confirmed by Kotzebue, in his Benyowski, where we read, that fish are mute for no other reason than that they drink nothing but water. Beside, when are men so full of morality, truth, and charity, as when they are half seas over? And let me add, that Hogarth observes, that, "all the common and necessary motions, for the purposes of life, are performed by men in plain straight lines; but that all the graceful and ornamental movements are made in curve lines." Such are the movements of a drunken man; he must, therefore, be the most graceful of men. It may be said, indeed, that the vine has produced much evil; and I may be told, as a proof, that Erigone was deceived by Bacchus in the shape of a bunch of grapes. Well I know it; and I know also that Erigone is not the only one who has been deceived by means of the grape. But now, in opposition to that circumstance, which is so trifling, when * The same poet thus praises drunkenness : "Quid non ebrietas designat? operta recludit: Contractâ quem non in paupertate solutum?” The worst of OVID's poetry is that which he sent from Scythia, where never vine was planted. What were Anacreon's subjects, but the grape and roses: every page of Pindar is redolent of wine. It is when warmed with the mellow cask that Horace sweetly chants his Glycere. compared to the advantages I have already stated, let me ask whether soberness has not its direful evils: was not Herma. goras banished from Ephesus for too great sobriety? Could inebriety cause any thing more afflicting than banishment? A CLASSICAL CHAIRMAN. The doctor having taken the chair, commenced his convivial regency, by giving a round of bumper toasts. Mobserved, that they were drinking somewhat too fast: "But the doctor," said he," is a dangerous man to put in the chair; for a classical president is sure to make you drink like Greeks." "Drink like Greeks!" iterated the doctor-" you certainly do not call this a fit measure," holding up one of the glasses," to imitate a Grecian banquet with? No, sir, their cups, with which they imitated the Scythians, who would drink ad diurnam stellam,* were, when compared to these, a giant to a pigmy." "If so," replied M-, " 'tis no wonder they so often got in their cups. But you seem to forget doctor, in the pleasure of getting drunk, that there is such a thing as getting sober again." "Not at all," said the president, "I delight in the act, and think it almost worth while to seek inebriation, for the enjoyment of a dish of hot tea the next morning. Nothing can be so delicious-'tis equal to the sweet nectar of the gods, and the true delights of it are only denied to sobriety." Here the doctor filled a bumper, and passed the bottle; Mrefused to take more than half a glass, the other insisted upon his charging to the brim, saying, "when I preside, I make it a point to enforce bumpers, not only, because piein amusti (to drink copiously) is the most satisfactory mode of drinking, but because no time is then lost in idle disputations, about who drinks most or who drinks least. By this means, other, and surely better, conversation is promoted, than that of talking about the wine you are drinking." "Odso," said M-," how eloquent you are on the subject! "If I am eloquent," cried the doctor," it is owing to what you refuse." "Fecundi calices quem non fecêre disertum?”+ Till the rising of the Sun. Whom hath not an inspiring bumper taught A flow of words and loftiness of thought? "Rather say," interrupted Mr. sneeringly, "N'en parles plus, mon ami, me voila determinè," added M, resolved to change his language, as the president had changed his. "Oh! curse your French!" cried the doctor, "drink your wine, and let's have none of that""Well, it does not signify talking," continued Mr., "I will not be poisoned with bumpers every time, d—e if I will; and you are wrong, sir, if you wish to get rid of your wine, to urge men to drink, for, that is the only way to save it. Force, Mr. President, in other cases, as well as the present, has failed, when gentle means have succeeded; and I am not much unlike John Bull in my disposition, who would not go to heaven, if you were to attempt to push him thither. Moreover, sir, I would have you remember, that six bumpers, the instant the cloth is removed, generally make one half the company drunk, and the other half, no company for the remainder of the day." Mr.'s oratory was totally lost on the doctor, and he would have still persisted, had he been seconded by the company; but they all opposed constraint, and Mr. was left to do as he chose, which soon brought him to drink as much as his companions, only in an irregular manner. LOCAL ATTACHMENT. There is a silent chronicle of past hours in the inanimate things, amidst which they have been spent, that gives us back the affections, the regrets of our former days; that gives back their joys without tumult, their griefs without poignancy, and produces equally from both, a pensive pleasure, which men, who have retired from the world, or whom particular circumstances have somewhat estranged from it, will be peculiarly fond of indulging. There is a certain attachment to place and things, by which the town, the house, the room, in which we live, have a powerful influence over us. He must be a very dull, or a very dissipated man, who, after a month's absence can open his own door without emotion, even though he has no relation or friend to welcome him within. It has been * Whom hath not an inspiring bumper taught A flow of nonsense and a want of thought? These feelings will be easily understood by those in whom the business or the pleasure of the world has not extinguished sensibility. |