n, Don Augustino Jauregui was
sent out to assume the government of Chili, who has since filled the
important office of viceroy of Peru with universal approbation. He was
succeeded by Don Ambrosio Benarides, who rendered the country happy by
his wise and beneficent administration. "On the 21st of November 1787,
Don Ambrosio Higgins a native of Ireland, formerly brigadier-general of
the cavalry in Chili, was appointed president, governor, and
captain-general of the kingdom, a gentleman of an enlightened mind and
excellent disposition, who has gained the love and esteem of all the
inhabitants. In 1792 he continued to discharge the duties of his high
station with all the vigilance and fidelity which belong to his
estimable character, and which are required in so important, a
situation. On his first accession to the government, he visited all the
northern provinces, for the purpose of dispensing justice, encouraging
agriculture, opening the mines, and improving the commerce and fisheries
of the kingdom. He has also established schools, repaired the roads
throughout the country, and has built several new cities[101]."

[Footnote 101: This last passage within inverted commas, is an addition
to the text of Molina by the original translator.--E.]

SECTION XII.

_State of Chili towards the end of the Eighteenth Century_[102].

[Footnote 102: The information of Molina appears to have closed about
1787; but in some notes by the translator, interwoven here into the
text, a few short notices to the year 1792 occur.--E.]

From the short deduction of the occurrences in Chili since its
discovery, which has been attempted in the foregoing pages, it will be
seen that the acquisition and maintenance of that interesting and
important colony has cost more expenditure of blood and treasure to
Spain than all the rest of her American possessions. The Araucanians,
though only occupying a small extent of territory, and with far inferior
arms, have not only been able to resist the military power of Spain,
till then reckoned invincible, but have endangered the loss of her best
established possessions. Though most of the Spanish officers employed in
the early period of the Araucanian war had been bred in the low
countries, that excellent school of military knowledge, and her soldiers
were armed with those destructive weapons before which the most
extensive empires of America had so early fallen, and were considered as
the best disciplined a