Memoria sobre el estado actual de la guerra, y la necesidad de concluirla. [text begins:] Por que algunos espiritus pusillanimes, ó mal intencionados manifiestan temores ....

[Colophon] Santiago de Chile, P.D.J.C. Gallardo, dated April 5, 1814.. FIRST and ONLY EDITION. 4°, disbound. Caption title. Light browning. In good to very good condition. 6 pp., (1 blank l.). *** FIRST and ONLY EDITION. Lastra, supreme director of Chile, explains the plans and precautions instituted by the government. He reassures citizens that whatever happens, Chile will never go back to its former role as a colony: "Ninguno, por estupido que sea, se persuadirá que si los enemigos ocupasen este Estado nos reduciriamos unicamente al antiguo sistema colonial, y de nulidad politica" (p. 1). Reversion to Chile's former status was, in fact, precisely what the royalists (allied with troops sent by the Viceroy of Peru) were fighting for, and what was forced upon Chile after the defeat of O'Higgins at Rancagua in October 1814.Lastra mentions Quito, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires; he also brings up piracy, the victories of O'Higgins and MacKenna in March 1814, the number of troops and artillery that Chile can put into the field, and the activities of José Miguel Carrera, who in July overthrew Lastra's government.Francisco de la Lastra (1777-1852) was an early advocate of Chilean independence and in 1814 served briefly as the country's first supreme director, before signing the Treaty of Lircay. Deported to the Juan Fernández Islands from 1814 to 1817, he returned to take up a position as intendant of Santiago. In the absence of Ramón Freire, Lastra was again the supreme director of Chile for a few months in 1823-1824. Lastra later led the liberals in the Civil War of 1829. After being defeated by General Prieto at Ochagavía, he became a judge and was elected to the Camara de Diputados del Congreso Nacional.*** Medina, Santiago de Chile 73. Briseño I, 200. Not located in CCPBE. Not located in Rebiun. Not located in Jisc.