pot, Lopez.
His death marked the end of the despotic era, and, although Paraguay has
suffered greatly from revolutions from that day to this, there has been
no attempt at a repetition of a reign of terror.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE REPUBLIC OF CHILE

It has already been said how, at the conclusion of the War of Liberation
in Chile, Bernardo O'Higgins found himself at the head of the State. The
first President was in every respect admirably fitted for his office.
The post, moreover, was nothing beyond his deserts, since he, more than
the majority of the other patriots, had suffered for the cause.

The youth of Bernardo O'Higgins was far more chequered than that which
falls to the lot of most young men. Owing to the peculiar circumstances
of his birth--his father, as a high official under the Spanish rule, had
not dared perform the marriage ceremony with his colonial lady-love,
Bernardo's mother--his childhood had been somewhat neglected, and his
early youth largely deprived of a normal share of paternal affection.
His father, nevertheless, had seen to it that the boy's education should
be of a liberal order.

Bernardo O'Higgins had been one of the South Americans who, during the
last days of the Spanish dominion, had been sent to study in Europe.
There he came into contact with Miranda, who appears to have been almost
ubiquitous at this period, and whose terrific energies seem to have
absorbed all those with whom he came into contact. In any case, it is
certain that Bernardo O'Higgins rapidly became a devoted adherent of
Miranda, and joined with enthusiasm the society that Miranda had formed
for the liberation of South America; indeed, he was admitted into this
before Simon Bolivar had joined it.

On his way back to South America he endured various rebuffs at the hands
of the Court of Spain. Possibly he was made to suffer vicariously on his
father's account, since undoubtedly there were times when the latter's
policy was strongly resented by the Spanish officials. It is, on the
other hand, quite possible that some suspicions of Bernardo O'Higgins's
notions of independence had filtered through to Madrid. It was owing to
complications of this kind that coolness ensued between him and his
father, the famous Ambrose O'Higgins. On the latter's death Bernardo
applied for his rights of succession to his father's titles. These were
abruptly refused him. Thus, when he entered into public life in Chile it
was in a comparat