Translation:Aurora de Chile/28

by Camilo Henríquez

Front matter

AURORA DE CHILE			AURORA DE CHILE[1]
¡LUCE BEET POPULOS, SOMNOS EXPELLAT, ET UMBRAS![2]			¡LUCE BEET POPULOS, SOMNOS EXPELLAT, ET UMBRAS![2]
No. 28.	Jueves 20 de Agosto de 1812.	Tomo 1.	No. 28.	Thursday 20 of August 1812.	Volume 1.

Introductory editorial

When included, these are typically untitled.

Translation:Aurora de Chile/28/Introductory editorial

Observations

Translation:Aurora de Chile/28/Observations

Apologue.

APOLOGO.[3]	APOLOGUE.[3]
ERROR , hijo mui caro de la noche sombria,	ERROR, very dear son of the shadowy night,
Furiosos è insensibles à los hombres hacia.	Made men furious and insensitive.
Respiraban los unos sangre y atrocidades ;	They breathed in the blood and atrocities;
Toleraban los otros insultos y maldades.	They tolerated the other insults and evil deeds;
Estos entre los riesgos mui tranquilos vivian,	Those among the risks lived very tranquil,
Y en su seno y sus lechos las vivoras[4] dormian.	And in their bosom and their beds the vipers slept.
Incautos ! El malvado dicen que se ocultaba	Incautious men! Evil says that it hid
Detras de un quadro[5] antiguo de uno que se llamaba	Behind an ancient painting of one who calls himself
Don Sebastian.[6] Apolo[7] decretò que el perverso	Don Sebastian.[6] Apollo[7] decreed that the perverse
Saliese de estampida del mísero universo.	Stampede out of the miserable universe.
Sus luces le dirige, mas ¡ quan[8] inutilmente !	His lights direct them, more, how useless!
Porque el error se oculta tras el biombo indecente.	Because error hides behind the obscene screen.
Apolo invoca entonces á Marte[9] generoso.	Apollo then calls on generous Mars[9].
Marte, que odia à los viles, se presenta glorioso,	Mars, who hates the vile, appears glorious,
Y de un golpe (oh ! que golpe !) echó aquel biombo	And in one blow (oh! what a blow!) he threw that screen
à tierra.	to the ground.
Asi auxilia á las luces el numen[10] de la guerra.	Like so the divine[10] helps the light of the war.

Proclamation

Translation:Aurora de Chile/28/Proclamation

News

Chile.

Translation:Aurora de Chile/28/Chile.

Portugal.

PORTUGAL.

PORTUGAL.

EL periodico de Londres ya citado[11] publicado en 1º de Febrero trahe[12] la notable orden siguiente dirigida por el Gobierno del Brazil[13] al supremo tribunal relativo á obras literarias establecido en Lisboa.=Algunos exemplares[14] de dos obras publicadas en esa[15] capital con permiso de esa autoridad, han aparecido en Rio de Janeiro; la una es una traduccion de una historia del Gabinete de S.Cloud, que contiene una carta &c. sumamente injuriosa á la Reyna de España, y que repite las calumnias que se han difundido contra esta señora infeliz[16] : la otra es un folleto en que se describe la Constitucion inglesa con los colores mas brillantes, [hasta][17] llegar á recomendar su adopcion á la nacion portuguesa (como si fuese posible mudar de gobierno sin gravisimos inconvenientes,) es ademas mui peligrosa en tiempos tan calamitosos. S.A.R[.][18] ha visto con indignacion que se diece licencia para la impresion de tales obras ; y para lo sucesivo ordena que se elija para censor un hombre de talentos y profunda politica, y que no se impriman, ni publiquen las obras siguientes:=á saver,[19] las que sean injuriosas á la reputacion de qualquiera Soberano, y principalmente de los parientes y aliados de la Real familia. 2º. Las obras que ataquen directa ò indirectamente la religion del Estado, e igualmente las que del mismo modo sean injuriosas à las otras religiones ó sectas de la cristiandad establecidas en los grandes Estados de Europa, ó á las formas de su gobierno; por que el pueblo sin dicernimiento es introducidos en errores por tales obras, y puede armarse [contra][20] su prosperidad. 3º. El tribunal favorecerà el progreso de las ciencias, artes é industria, y con espacialidad las obras que inculquen los profundos principios de la administracion, y propongan útiles reformas. Las obras, cuya publicacion se prohibe, por el entusiasmo que introducen, comunican ideas que en la presente crisis no pueden prometer buenos resultados. No es necesario recordar al tribunal que el Principe Regente ha prohibido que se imprima ó publique qualquiera cosa en favór ó en contra de las cortes actuales de España. &c. &c

THE newspaper of London already cited[11] published on the 1st of February brings the following notable order commanded by the Government of Brazil[13] to the supreme court relative to the literary works established in Lisbon.=Some copies of two works published in that capital with the permission of that authority, have appeared in Rio de Janeiro; the one is a translation of a history of the Cabinet of St. Cloud, which contains a letter &c.[21] extremely injurious to the Queen of Spain, and which repeats the insults that have been spread against this unfortunate lady:[16] the other is a pamphlet in which the English Constitution is described with the most brilliant colors, going so far as to to recommend its adoption to the Portuguese nation (as if it were possible to change the government without very grave inconveniences,) it is furthermore very dangerous in times so calamitous. HRH[18] has seen with indignation that license would be given for the printing of such works; and from now on orders that a man of talents and strong policy be chosen for censor, and that the following works not be printed, nor published: namely, those that be injurious to the reputation of whichever Sovereign, and principally of relatives and allies of the Royal family. 2nd. The works that attack directly or indirectly the religion of the State, and equally, those that in the same manner be injurious to the other religions and sects of Christianity established in the great States of Europe, or the forms of its governance; because the people without discernment are introduced into errors by such works, and can take up arms against their prosperity. 3rd. The court will favor the progress of the sciences, arts, and industry, and especially the works which inculcate the strong principles of the administration, and propose useful reforms. The works, whose publication are prohibited, by the enthusiasm that they introduce, communicate ideas that in the present crisis can not promote good results. It is not necessary to remind the court that the Prince Regent has prohibited that whatever thing in favor of or against the current cortes[22] of Spain be printed or published. &c. &c[21]

Haiti, or Isle of S. Domingo.

Hayti,[23] ó Isla de S. Domingo.[24]

Haiti, or Isle of S. Domingo.[24]

EL Emperador Cristobal[25] se preparaba en Enero para atacar à Porto-Principe,[26] cuya plaza se habia puesto en buen estado de defensa. Petion[27] no tenia buques de guerra, pero habia fortificado perfectamente toda la costa. La armada de Cristobal estaba repartida en sus varios puertos. Há establecido el papel moneda, y los que rehusan su uso son catigados severamente, algunos han sido ahorcados por esto.

THE Emperor Christophe[25] prepared himself in January to attack Port-au-Prince, whose square had been put in a good state of defense. Petion[27] had no warships, but he had fortified perfectly all of the coast. The armada of Cristophe was spread out in its various ports. It has established paper currency, and those that refuse its use are punished severely, some have been hanged for this.

The editor.

EL EDITOR.	THE EDITOR.
Nune[28] Animis opus, Aenea nune[28] pectore[29] firmo. V.[30]	Nune[28] Animis opus, Aenea nune[28] pectore[29] firmo. V.[30]
,,AHORA que podeis no nos dexeis[31] esclavos:,, soñó un patriota que le gritaban unos niños. Este es el grito en America de millones de infelices ; este es el clamor de las generaciones futuras. Esta es la voz de los pueblos, y el instinto de la naturaleza. Vos, en cuyas manos están los destinos de tantos hombres, no sentis enternecerse vuestro corazon? Os es indiferente aparecer circulados de gloria en nuestros anales, ocupar un lugar distinguido en las memorias de la epoca actual, y concluir la obra mas grande que ha visto el mundo? Los que nacieron para empresas tan ilustres lebantan la cerviz gloriosa sobre una turba de seres enanos, de cabezillas, y cabezas huecas. Que hay que temer ? solo la incertidumbre hace nuestra debilidad. Si no hay una opinion sola, es por que hay variedad en las esperanzas. Resolved. Tened la audacia de ser libres, y los sereis. En los grandes negocios en que solamente se presenta un partido que tomar, la demasiada circunspeccion dexa de ser prudencia. Nos ha conducido la fortuna á la orilla de un rio, y es necesario pasarlo. Nada se opone à este trànsito indispensable. El leon os mirararà[32] pasarlo con ojos morimundos[33] : su debilidad solo le permite deseos impotentes, rugidos inútiles. El aguila os mirará con complacencia desde su elevacion. Neptuno[34] se desentiende : sus ojos están fixos en el aguila, cuyo vuelo es cada dia mas audaz.	"Now that you can, do not abandon us slaves:" dreamed a patriot who cried out to some children. This is the cry in America of millions of unfortunate men; this is the clamor of the future generations. This is the voice of the people, and the instinct of nature. You, in whose hands are the destinies of so many men, do your heart not feel moved? Are you indifferent to appear gloriously known in our annals, to occupy a distinguished place in the memories of the current epoch, and to conclude the greatest work that the world has seen? Those who were born for undertakings so illustrious raise their necks gloriously over a crowd of dwarves, ringleaders, and airheads. What is there to fear? only uncertainty causes our weakness. If there is not a single opinion, it is because there is a variety of hopes. Decide. Have the audacity to be free, and you will be. In the great negotiations in which only one side to take is presented, too much circumspection is no longer prudent. Fortune has led us to the shore of a river, and it is necessary to cross it. Nothing opposes this essential passage. The lion will look at you passing him with moribund eyes: his weakness only allows him powerless wishes, useless roars. The eagle will look at you with complacency from its elevation. Neptune[34] wants nothing to do with it: his eyes are fixes on the eagle, whose flight is more audacious each day.

On the freedom of the press.

SOBRE LA LIBERTAD DE LA PRENSA.	ON THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
SES[35]: DE LAS CORTES[22]	SES[35]: OF THE CORTES[22].
HABLO despues el Sr. Muñoz Torrero[36] por la libertad de la prensa, manifestando que la nacion tiene el derecho de celar y exâminar la conducta de todos sus agentes y diputados, como juez unico que debe saber si cumple sus obligaciones, derecho del que no puede desprenderse mientras sea nacion : que era locura pensar que esta daba a sus diputados unas facultades absolutas sin reservarse este exâmenes : que es necesaria una salvaguardia para enfrenar la voluntad de la Córtes y del poder executivo, en caso que quisiesen separarse de la voluntad de la nacion : que esta salvaguardia no podia ser otra que el tribunal pacifico de la opinion publica, es decir, la facultad de hablar y de escribir, que es la barrera del despotismo, y del poder inmenso de la corona ; lo qual se conseguia con la libertad politica de la imprenta. Trató despues de las ventajas de esta libertad, alegando que si la hubiera habido, no se hubiera visto encarcelado el Sr. D. Fernando VII. siendo Principe de Austrias[37]; ni habria quedado oculta la sentencia que dieron aquellos dignisimos magistrados en el Escorial[38], ni se hubieran verificado los destierros de los que padecieron por Fernando[39] ; y por ùltimo, no hubiera llegado Godoy al estado de poder en que le vimos desolando esta nacion generosa[40]. Añadió que los tan ponderados males de la libertad de la imprenta eran infinitamente menores comparados con los bienes y ventajas que de ella resultaban ; y así que era cosa de justicia el establecimiento de dicha libertad.	AFTERWARDS, Mr. Muñoz Torrero[36] spoke of the freedom of the press, expressing that the nation has the right to monitor and examine the conduct of all its agents and representatives, as the one judge that should know if its obligations are met, the right of which can not be lost while it be a nation: that it was madness to think that this [nation] gave to its representatives some absolute powers without reserving these checks for itself: that a safeguard is necessary to bridle the will of the Cortes and of the executive power, in the case that they want to deviate from the will of the nation: that this safeguard would not be other than the pacific court of public opinion, which is to say, the ability to speak and write, which is the barrier to despotism, and of the immense power of the crown; that which is achieved with the political freedom of the printing press. He dealt later with the benefits of this freedom, claiming that if it had been in place, Mr D. Fernando [Ferdinand] VII, being crown prince of the Hapsburgs[37] would not have been incarcerated; nor would the sentence that those very worthy magistrates gave in the Escorial[38] have remained hidden, nor would the banishments of those who suffered for Ferdinand[39] have been verified; and finally, Godoy would not have arrived to the state of power in which we saw devastating this generous nation[40]. He added that the so-much pondered evils of the freedom of the printing press were infinitely small compared to the goods and benefits that resulted from it; and as such that the establishment of that freedom was a thing of justice.

Troops of the fatherland.

ARMAS DE LA PATRIA.	TROOPS OF THE FATHERLAND.
DE Quito marchan sobre Cuenca diez mil hombres.[41] El General Montes solo pudo sacar de Lima 400 voluntarios y reclutas.[42] La noticia de la última opresion de Cochabamba es falsa.[43] Goyoneche[44] està en Oruro con 1800 hombres acozado por innumerables Cochabambinos ; una division del exèrcito auxiliador[45] estaba ya sobre su retaguardia.	FROM Quito to Cuenca march ten thousand men.[41] The General Montes could only extract from Lima 400 volunteers and recruits.[42] The news of the last oppression of Cochabamba is false.[43] Goyoneche[44] is in Oruro with 1800 men hounded by innumerable Cochabambans; a division of the auxiliary army[45] is now around their rearguard.

Back matter

CON SUPERIOR PERMISO,	WITH SUPERIOR PERMISSION,[46]
IMPRESO EN SANTIAGO DE CHILE,	PRINTED IN SANTIAGO DE CHILE,
EN LA IMPRENTA DE ESTE SUPERIOR GOBIERNO,[47]	ON THE PRINTING PRESS OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT,[47]
Por los Sres. Samuél Burr Johnston,[48] y Simón Garrison,[49]	By Mr. Samuel Burr Johnston,[48] and Mr. Simon Garrison,[49]
DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS.[50]	OF THE UNITED STATES.[50]

Notes

1. Left untranslated, the name "Aurora de Chile" could be rendered "Dawn of Chile." (Strictly speaking, "aurora" is a poetic term for "dawn," and technically refers to the glow of light just before the sunrise—as pictured at the top of each Aurora de Chile issue.)
2. Though the Latin grammar is unusual, this motto should probably be translated as "May light bless the people, driving away sleep and shadows!" It is unclear if this is a quotation from a Latin work.
3. An apólogo, the word here translated as "apologue," is a moral allegory using fantastical and dramatic elements. See Wikipedia's "Apologue".
4. Corrected from Auroradechile.cl's transcription ("viveras").
5. "cuadro"
6. The precise reference here is unknown. The most famous Sebastián would have been the martyr, Saint Sebastian, who was to be executed by being riddled with arrows, and survived. The most relevant Don Sebastían may be Sebastián de Belalcázar, the early conquistador who conquered Quito and searched for El Dorado, before being executed for crimes during his later governorship. However, the most well-known painting of a Don Sebastián would probably have been Diego Velázquez's 1640s painting of the dwarf El bufón Don Sebastián de Morra (The Jester Don Sebastián de Morra), pictured here.
7. Apollo is the Roman (and Greek) god of light, the arts, and prophecy. In Latin, he was often known as "Phoebus," or "shining one," and Averruncus, or "averter of evil," both of which are invoked here.
8. "cuán"
9. Mars, the Roman god of war and mythical ancestor to the Romans by fathering Romulus, was one of the most revered Roman deities.
10. Numen, the word here translated as "the divine," is a Latin term for the supernatural force of a deity which may be present in any location or object.
11. The paper had previously reported on European news taken from the The Times of London (cf. issue 24, 23 July 1812, pg. 2).
12. "trae"
13. In 1812, the Portuguese royal court and seat of government is in Rio de Janeiro in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, where it had established itself in exile after the French invasion of 1807.
14. "ejemplares
15. Auroradechile'cl's transcription corrected; was "esas."
16. The court of Napoleon was held at the Château de Saint-Cloud. The reference is presumably to The Secret History of the Court and Cabinet of St. Cloud: In a Series of Letters from a Resident in Paris to a Nobleman in London, Written During the Months of August, September and October, 1805, attributed either to H. Stewarton or Lewis Goldsmith, which was a series of often sordid attacks by the English author on the Bonapartes in the form of supposed letters to London. Specifically, Letter XXVII decries King Charles IV and the "upstart" Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy, accusing first Godoy's brother and then Godoy himself of being lovers to Queen Maria Luisa. The text was translated into Spanish by José Francisco Heredia, the father of famed Cuban poet José María Heredia some time around 1809-10 to coincide with Napoleon's occupation of Iberia.
17. The original document reads "hatas," which the translator has inferred was an error for hasta.
18. SAR is a Spanish acronym for "Su Alteza Real," or "His/Her Royal Highness," and is typically used for princes and princesses, as opposed to Su Majestad, "His/Her Majesty," as the monarch is styled. "SAR" is used here because João IV is meant, who was ruling as regent for his mother, the mentally incapable queen regnant, Maria I.
19. "saber"
20. The original document reads "cantra," which the translator has inferred was an error for contra.
21. "etc."
22. Cortes here, left untranslated, refers to the Spanish Cortes Generales, which is today Spain's legislature, but in imperial Spain typically exercised little power outside of occasional tax-related matters. Specifically, the session referred to occurred during the Cádiz period (1808-1814) of the Cortes when, after Napoleon's invasion and Ferdinand VII's abdication, the Cortes were established in Cádiz as a liberal, reformist legislative body, operating in the monarch's name, but with no royal oversight. The period was also witnessed the first delegates from Spain's colonies to the Cortes in 1810. Much of its actions, including the Constitution of 1812 were later repudiated by the restored Ferdinand, who dismissed the Cortes in favor of absolutist rule.
23. "Haití"
24. Though uncommon now, it would have been acceptable at the time to have referred to the whole island of Hispaniola as Santo Domingo (the Spanish colony in the eastern 2/3 of the island, and the name of its capital), Saint-Domingue (the name of the former French colony), or Haiti (the independent state formed from Saint-Domingue, also thought to have been the Taíno native name for the island).
25. The Haitian revolutionary Henri Cristophe, who was made emperor in 1811, was actually styled Emperor Henri I of Haiti, but here his surname is used as a regnal name instead.
26. Port-au-Prince, the current capital of Haiti, was the capital of Petion's southern republic at the time.
27. Alexandre Pétion was the president of the Republic of Haiti. At the time, Haiti existed as two antagonistic states, Henri's Kingdom of Haiti in the north, and Pétion's Republic of Haiti in the south. They broke apart after Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Emperor Jacques I's) death in 1806, and Haiti would be reunified after Henri's death in 1820.
28. Auroradechile.cl's transcription corrected; original read "Nune".
29. Auroradechile.cl's transcription corrected; original read "peclore".
30. This is VI.261 from the Aeneid of Virgil ("V."). The words, spoken by a priestess, can be translated "Now you need courage, Aeneas, now firmness of heart."
31. dejéis
32. Presumably mirará, "will look," is meant here, as in the next sentence.
33. Presumably moribundos, "moribund," is meant here.
34. Neptune was the Romans' trident-wielding god of the sea, analogous to the Greek Poseidon.
35. Abbreviation for sesión, "session."
36. Diego Muñoz-Torrero y Ramírez Moyano, the celebrated liberal, priest and delegate to the Cádiz Cortes, was known for his arguments for freedom of the press. Muñoz-Torrero was imprisoned for six years after Ferdinand's restoration, then freed and returned to the Cortes during Gen. Rafael del Riego's liberal coup (the Trienio Liberal, or "Three Liberal Years"), and in 1823 finally fled to Portugal after the Holy Alliance's intervention in favor of Ferdinand, where he was tortured and died in prison in 1829
37. The reference here is unusual. The House of Habsburg (Casa de Austria) was the ruling dynasty in Spain from 1516-1700, after which the Bourbon dynasty (1700-1808, 1813-1833, 1874-1931, 1975-present) ascended to the throne. Ferdinand VII was not a Habsburg prince, which had not existed in Spain for over a century, nor is it likely that one of his subjects would have mistaken him for one.
38. El Escorial, the royal palace and monastery
39. i.e., the flight of the Cortes and anti-Bonapartists to Cádiz and elsewhere
40. Manuel de Godoy was the powerful Spanish Prime Minister until 1808. He was involved in negotiating Spain's alliances with Napoleonic France before their war, particularly the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1807, which would have partitioned Portugal between France and Spain and set up a Kingdom of Algarve in southern Portugal with Godoy as king. When the French subsequently invaded Spain instead, a popular uprising known as the Mutiny of Aranjuez took hostage the unpopular Godoy, who was largely blamed for allowing the French invasion, in return for Charles IV's abdication in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII.
41. On August 10, 1809, after Napoleon's invasion of Iberia and Ferdinand VII's abdication, a group of creoles, led by the marquis Juan Pío Montúfar overthrew the Real Audiencia of Quito and formed an autonomist junta. This event is known as the Primer Grito de Independencia ("First Cry of Independence"). However, several areas within the audiencia, including Cuenca and Guayaquil resisted, supported by the royalists in Lima and Bogotá. By October 11, 1811, the junta in Quito had declared its independence.
42. The General Toribio Montes was the royalist president (1812-1817) of the Real Audiencia of Quito after the coup, who moved its seat to Cuenca while Quito was occupied by the junta. He would finally retake Quito later in 1812. Ecuador did not finally gain its independence until 1822.
43. In May of 1812, royalist forces defeated rebels in Cochabamba after a protracted struggle. The August 6 edition (2 issues prior) had reported that "Goyoneche habia entrado en Cochabamba, y derramaba torrentes de sangre" ("Goyoneche had entered Cochabamba, and spilled torrents of blood"). While this edition seems to present a conflicting report, it is now known that on May 27, 1812, the royalist army entered the rebel Cochabamba and sacked the city. The only resistance they faced was from a group of women of the town, today honored as the Heroínas de La Coronilla ("Heroines of the Coronilla"), after the hill where they fought and died. It is in commemoration of this event that Bolivia's Mother's Day is observed on May 27. [1]
44. The Count José Manuel de Goyeneche (spelled "Goyoneche" here) was the president of the Real Audiencia of Cuzco and the general of the Viceroy of Peru's royalist troops sent to Upper Peru and the Río Plata.
45. This is the so-called Army of the North, which left from Buenos Aires in the self-governing United Provinces of South America and traveled to Upper Peru (Bolivia) to fight the royalists.
46. As in, permission from the superior gobierno, translated in the next line as "central government."
47. At the time, Chile's only printing press.
48. Samuel Burr Johnston was a printer from Boston who operated Chile's only printing press. He would later become one of independent Chile's earliest recipients of an honorary citizenship in 1814. By this time, he had fought for Chile in its first naval engagement, as second-in-command of the Potrilla. His book about his experiences in Chile was the first book about Chile published in the United States. See William L. Neumann's "United States Aid to the Chilean Wars of Independence."
49. Garrison came to Santiago as an assistant to the printer Johnston. Little has been written about him and the other assistant, William H. Burbidge.
50. Charles Lyon Chandler's 1917 Inter-American Acquaintances gives one of the best accounts of the early printing press in Chile (pp. 74-75). The Carrera junta, working with the American merchant Mateo Hoevel in Santiago to acquire a press, and soon the three American printers, Samuel Burr Johnston, Simon Garrison, and William H. Burbidge (who is credited in earlier issues, but according to W.W. Pasko's American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking, "Spanish America," pg. 516, he was killed at a riot caused by the 1812 Fourth of July ball hosted by the US consul more than a month prior to this issue's publication) left New York aboard the Galloway, bringing their expertise and a printing press to Chile. They arrived in Valparaiso in November, 1811, and the Aurora de Chile, the first newspaper, began publication in February 1812.