Archived Editorial for 04/23/06

The Other Down Under
by Rebecca Brown

During the month of April in 1818, Chile's independence movement, led by José de San Martín & Bernardo O'Higgins, won a decisive victory over Spain in the Battle of Maipú.

I've always thought of the French Revolution as the heir to the one that created the United States of America. However, nowhere else on earth managed to cope with the change in political government in quite the same way. France shucked itself of its monarchy & aristocracy in a frenzy of bloodletting & destruction & no new political system ever seemed to get a hold, until Napoleon, who set himself up as emperor, & rallied the people together by terrorizing Europe. Not exactly what Ben Franklin had had in mind, all those years before when, as Ambassador to Paris, he'd talked about revolution & convinced the French to help his new country against the British Empire.

However there's another continent that was also affected by the radical new concept of rejecting taxation without representation — South America — & during the early 19th century, lead by Simón Bolivar, José de San Martín & Bernardo O'Higgins, colonial territories rose up against the long distance rule of Spain to become the new countries we now know: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, New Granada(Colombia), Quito(Ecuador).

When Napoleon invaded Portugal, the ousted king fled to his South American colony — Brazil — & set up shop as its emperor, one of which was to rule there until 1889, when an armed demonstration suddenly turned into a coup d'etat, & a republican political system took over.

I learnt a lot about the great seafaring nation of Portugal (even lived there for a year) because my Mater(& her 9 other siblings) was raised there until 1910, when the reinstated monarchy was again deposed & all wealthy foreigners were forced to get out of Dodge. In 1926, a coup d'etat brought in the Second Republic & 7 years later in another coup, António de Oliveira Salazar, became Portugal's benign dictator who was to declare his country neutral in the upcoming WWII.

Meanwhile, back to Chile: after reading Isabel Allende's delightful adventure tale Daughter of Fortune, enjoying my Winter fruit which comes from there, & catching some lovely commercials on TV, I've been thinking quite a bit about that other Down Under.

& when my daily newsletter from Encyclopaedia Britannica (www.britannica.com) informed me about the Battle of Maipú & Bernardo O'Higgins, I was fascinated by the story behind the combination of those two names. So I went hunting...

Bernardo O'Higgins: a red-haired Irish/Chilean was born August 20, 1778, the illegitimate son of Isabel Riquelme, the young daughter of Don Simón Riquelme y Goycolea, an aristocratic Chilean family & a prominent member of the Cabildo de Chillán, & Doña María Mercedes de Mesa y Ulloa, hidalgos from España, & Ambrose O'Higgins, an Irish engineer who was in the service of the Spanish crown.

Ambrose Bernard O'Higgins was perhaps born in Ballinary, County Sligo, Ireland, perhaps in 1720 — birth certificates were pretty rare in those days. With an uncle serving in the priesthood in Cadiz, away from Protestant British rule, Ambrose travelled to Spain, like many other young Catholic Irishmen of the time, for education & advancement unavailable at home. Finishing his education, & now known as Ambrosio, he sailed for South America as a civilian in business, first in Buenos Aires, & then overland to Lima, where he worked on new roads as an engineer/draftsman, eventually joining the Spanish army in that capacity.

His fortunes slowly rose until, in 1764, he accompanied another Irishman, John Garland, as his assistant as the military governor of Valdivia in southern Chile. Back then, Peru & Chile were not separate nations, being governed by a viceroy out of Lima. Ambrosio distinguished himself, earning the Spanish title of respect of Don during campaigns against the Araucanians. He made the rank of Cavalry Brigadier & Commander of the Dragoon Corps, & then, in 1777, Governor of Concepción. He also set in motion a year-round postal system across the Andes between Chile & Argentina, which was usually cut off in winter.

During this time he became acquainted with the powerful Riquelme family, & fell in love with their daughter, almost 40 years his junior. Surviving records of the time show that he did propose marriage, except colonial law forbade unions between public officials & criolla women without authorization of the crown. To disregard this law was to risk all. No one knows why Don Ambrosio didn't seek that permission, or perhaps her family disapproved of him. Whatever the reason, all too soon Isabel gave birth, & was married off, two years later, to Don Félix Rodríguez with whom she had a daughter.

Then Don Ambrosio's career really took off: Gobernador y Capitán General del Reino de Chile, Presidente de la Real Audiencia de Santiago, Superintendente Subdelegado de la Real Hacienda & Intendente de la Provincia de Santiago. He focused on developing the resources of the country, with an enlightened policy that accomplished much for Spanish interest, as well as paving the way for the future: founding cities, improving roads, reconstructing the city of Osorno, & erecting a dike system along the Mapocho river which regularly flooded Santiago. He abolished the encomienda system whereby natives were forced to work the land for the crown, an act reinforced by royal decree in 1791.

In 1795, in addition to being Teniente General de los Reales Ejércitos, Don Ambrosio was named Barón de Ballenary, & the following year became Viceroy of Peru & Presidente de la Real Audiencia de Lima. The next year, the King of Spain conferred upon him the title of Marquès de Osorno. He oversaw the final construction of the Cathedral in Lima.

In 1798, Chile was separated from the Viceroyalty of Peru & by 1800, citing advanced age & ill-health, Don Ambrosio was relieved of his post to die the following year, at age 81, in Lima, leaving, Bernardo O'Higgins, his offspring, all his estates.

Bernardo's early years were spent in obscurity. Though his father rarely saw him, he made sure his son was baptized & educated, first in Chile & Peru & then in England, where Bernardo studied what would now be called liberal arts, & met Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez, a young Venezuelan who became his mentor in revolutionary thinking.

Then Bernardo followed in his father's footsteps to Spain, where he made friends with one José de San Martín. In 1800, upon hearing of his father's death, Bernardo set sail for Chile, only to be turned back by the British navy who was, at the time, fighting both the Spanish & the French. While in Cadiz he succumbed to yellow fever, & it wasn't until two years later that he made it back to Chile, inherited his father's estates & took on his surname.

Bernardo began his new life as a gentleman farmer & was soon elected as a delegate from La Laja to the Cabildo in Chillán. Meanwhile, back in the Old Country, Napoleon had conquered Spain & placed his brother on the throne. Loyalists formed juntas & as the Peninsula Wars dragged on, it caused havoc among the Spanish colonies who rejected both King Joseph & the rebels.

On September 18, 1810, criollo leaders met in Santiago & decided on a form of limited self-government until the Old Country got back to royalist rule. This date, however, is now celebrated as Chile's Independence Day.

The first governor of Chile was a military leader who was widely loathed, even though he'd opened the ports to foreign trade, something the Spanish crown had forbidden. Still, Chileans wanted total independence, especially Bernardo O'Higgins, who was by then the Deputy from Los Angeles to the first National Congress.

Bernardo formed an armed militia with his inheritance, with cavalry companies of huasos (cowboys), & peasants who worked his estates. Following instruction in military tactics from Colonel Juan MacKenna(another name with an exciting story), he assumed the rank of colonel. His militia got its first taste of battle in the 1813 Sorpresa del Roble, where Bernardo distinguished himself in leading a charge against royalist factions. His exhortation “¡O vivir con honor o morir con gloria!, ¡El que sea valiente que me siga!” (Live with honor or die with glory! He who is brave, follow me!) lives on in Chilean history.

Following this victory, Bernardo was named Commander in Chief of the Army & achieved more victories, until, after a series of losses, he was replaced. All too soon, the war for independence was lost at the Battle of Rancagua where, outgunned & outmanned, his army broke & retreated to Argentina. The royalists, with help from the viceroy of Peru, began the Reconquest of Chile. That was in 1814

Bernardo O'Higgins, however, was far from done with fighting for independence. Remember the friend he made in Spain?

For 3 years they made plans & trained, until, with Argentine general José de San Martín, he marched back over the Andes, a feat likened to Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, met & defeated the royalists on February 12 at Casas de Chacabuco. Santiago was theirs!

San Martín was offered the governorship, which he refused because he wanted to continue to fight the Spanish & take Lima. So instead, Bernardo O'Higgins became Director Supremo de Chile. Even so, independence didn't come until the Battle of Maipú where, with 2,000 Spaniards dead & 3,000 captured, with the patriots losing about 1,000 men, the struggle was won.

So here is Don Bernardo O'Higgins, once a bastard boy kept out of sight, now the supreme power in Chile, celebrated & feted by everyone! His half-sister, Rosa Rodríguez Riquelme took his surname & his mother at last openly acknowledged him. &, like father like son, Bernardo was also to beget one heir, Demetrius.

Don Bernardo set about creating a new government — a republic, & rebuilding his war-ravaged country. He instituted economic & social reforms, & with the help of his good friends, San Martín & Thomas Cochrane (later 10th Earl of DunDonald), he created the Chilean navy which was, in 1821, to take part in the conquest of Peru, with San Martín finally attaining his dream as Protector of Peru.

Now Don Bernardo could again turn his attention back home, & he set about establishing legal courts, colleges, libraries, hospitals, cemeteries & cities.

Sometimes I ponder of what it must have been like to have a whole clean slate of a country & not be awake 24x7, planning on how to create utopia. Just imagine what exciting times they must have been, & really uncomfortable for those used to another way of life, of privilege. Another bastard comes to mind: William, Duke of Normandy, who also brought major change to the England he conquered in 1066.

While Bernard O'Higgins was a military man with energy to spare & an honesty that made high society cringe, he was changing everything a tad too quickly for the Church & the powerful, & they turned on him, as did the business sector. With no political base, Don Bernado was soon hamstrung. By 1823, he agreed to resign, & left Chile along with his mother, sister & son, to settle in Lima on the haciendas of Montalbán y Cuiba, given to him by a grateful Peru. He busied himself on the land, & helped foment other independence movements, hoping to foster a community of Latin American republics.

Soon, his health began to fail, & though he was given permission to return home, he suffered a heart attack & could not travel. Even so, he kept arguing for the colonization of the Straits of Magellan, as well as the strengthening of the Chilean navy.

Don Bernardo O'Higgins died in Lima at age 64 on October 24, 1842. He was buried there with great honor. In 1866 his remains were brought back to home by the Chilean navy & buried as a Hero of the Independence in the Cementerio General de Santiago, again with great honors. On the bicentenary of his birth (1978), he was named Libertador Bernardo O`Higgins, & a year later, on his birthday, his remains were moved once more, with all pomp & ceremony, to the Altar de la Patria, & is remembered & honored throughout Chile with streets, schools, national parks & generations of boys named after him.

So, happy Independence Month, Chile, & thanks for all the delicious fruit you send our way!

All thanks to Wikopedia & About.com.

Rebecca