This sublime conception infused into my spirit the idea that the time had arrived to realize the views of the Emperor; and, with this object, I addressed myself to the French government, in April, 1840, when the Chambers decreed trans-atlantic steam navigation, to the end that there should also be established a river line between French Guyana and the republics of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. All the ministers who governed until February, 1848, including also the monarchy, approved my project, and took the preliminary measures necessary for beginning a system of navigation without equal since the days of Columbus and Vasco de Gama.
Officers of the French navy, stimulated by the example of those of the English, who had preceded them in the exploration of the Amazon, made also important hydrographical observations of the course of that river, which show that its principal outlet is along the shores of French Guyana, whence France may command the fluvial navigation and the commerce of those vast regions.
I thought that this advantage, which a glance at the geographical position of French Guyana shows, would work effectually in the judgment of M. Arago, then Minister of Marine and member of the provincial government of the French republic.
The reply of this wise astronomer, of April 14th, to my note of the 22d April preceding, smothered, not only my hopes, but closed the doors to the prosperity of the French colonies, and to that of those nations whose streams form the Amazon, and whose people desire with eagerness this new and short way of communication between Europe and meridional America.
The grandeur of this plan, which is found set forth in my notes, memorials, and writings, which may be found in the different ministerial bureaus of France, together with the opinions of many French writers and travellers, among whom the most distinguished is M. Castelnau, demonstrate the utility of encouraging the growth of Guyana.
To all the information furnished by these ought to be added the verbal communications which I have received from the commander of the "Astrolabe," M. Montravel, who is now on the station of the river Plate, under the order of Vice Admiral Le Predour. M. De Montravel, in the corvette Boulognaise, is the officer who made the exploration of the Amazon, and whose most valuable information, which exists in the department of the French marine, corroborates all that I have expressed to the French government for these ten years, and now animates me to address myself to your excellency directly, renewing the same project which I had the honor of presenting to the French nation, &c.
VICENTE PAZOS.
The city of Santiago is situated in a lovely plain at the very foot of the cordillera. The snowy summits of this chain, painted in bold relief against the hard, gray sky of the morning, have a very singular and beautiful appearance; they seem cut from white marble, and within reach of the hand. It is almost impossible to give an idea of the transparency of the atmosphere at this place. I was never tired of watching, from Lieut. Gillis's little observatory, the stars rising over these mountains. There was nothing of the faint and indistinct glimmer which stars generally present when rising from the ocean; but they burst forth in an instant of time, in the full blaze of their beauty, and seemed as if just created. Gillis told me that his small telescope, of American manufacture, of 6½ inches of aperture, was there fully equal in power to the German glass at Washington of 9 inches.
Chili, in arts and civilization, is far ahead of any other South American republic. There are many young men of native families, educated in the best manner in Europe, who would be ornaments to any society; and the manners of the ladies are marked by a simple, open, engaging cordiality, that seems peculiar to Creoles. I do not know a more pleasant place of residence than Santiago, except for two causes: one, earthquakes, to the terrors of which no familiarity breeds indifference; the other, the readiness of the people to appeal to the bayonet for the settlement of political differences, or in the struggle for political power. These two causes shook the city and society to their foundations a few months after I left it.