The Patriot Ruler
So while San Martin with his army sailed away to liberate Peru, the unselfish Supreme Dictator stayed at home to care for his people.
Now that the Spanish were driven out, the Country was in a chaotic condition, its laws and Government in confusion. With wisdom, patience, and tact, O’Higgins began the work of reconstruction. And how well he succeeded Captain Basil Hall, an English naval officer, tells in his journal.
“We left Valparaiso harbour filled with shipping; its customhouse wharfs piled high with goods too numerous and bulky for the old warehouses. The road between the port and the capital was always crowded with convoys of mules loaded with every kind of foreign manufacture. While numerous ships were busy taking in cargoes of the wines, corn, and other articles, the growth of the country.
“And large sums of treasures were daily embarked for Europe, in return for goods already distributed over the interior.
“A spirit of inquiry and intelligence animated the whole society. Schools were multiplied in every town; libraries established; and every encouragement given to literature and the arts. And as travelling was free, passports were unnecessary.
“In the manners and even in the gait of every man, might be traced the air of conscious freedom and independence.”
And all this was largely due to the energetic and peaceful rule of Bernardo O’Higgins.
But political enemies soon began to press the Supreme Dictator hard. There were conspiracies of the Carrera party. Diplomatic misunderstandings arose between Chile and both the United States and England.
Meanwhile, a more serious situation was developing which was to bring misery to Chile. The aristocrats, who had been Royalists, began to work secretly against O’Higgins and the Republic. Government officials, who were jealous of O’Higgins’s power and success, plotted against him. These conspirators succeeded in getting control of the Assembly.
The Assembly demanded his resignation. O’Higgins knew that if he should refuse to resign, his act would plunge Chile into civil war. Rather than harm his Country, he laid down his power.
The People of Chile, who loved and revered him, wept with sorrow at his abdication. And his enemies would not have dared to attack him, had they not known that he would never shed one drop of Chilean blood in his own defense.