The Girondins of Chile

by Benjamin Vicuna MacKenna

"The Girondins of Chile tells of the strong influence that the European revolutions of 1848 had in Chile, and how they motivated a young Santiago society with high cultural aspirations but little political knowledge or direction. Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, a Chilean writer and historian who lived during those days in Santiago, relates the events of the time, events in which he was a participant. He pays special attention to how the 1848 revolutions and their attendant ideas influenced the thoughts and actions of a group of young liberals he called 'Chilean Girondins.'" "When the news of the fall of Philippe d'Orleans and the subsequent installation of the Second Republic reached Chile, there was an explosion of jubilation in Santiago. Now there were no barriers to ideas, Vicuña Mackenna wrote, 'much less to the generous ideas proclaimed by the sincere people of France.' But it only took a few days for warnings and critiques of French events to surface, and when a proletarian revolution