In the preface to her Journal’s original 1824 edition, Maria Graham expressed a vision of Chile’s future. “There is so much good in that country, so much in the character of the people and the excellence of the soil and climate, that there can be no doubt of the ultimate success of their endeavours.” Just a year earlier, however, an uprising overthrew “supreme director” Bernardo O’Higgins and sharply divided the country. Distressed by this event, she fervently hoped that her journal might “contribute directly or indirectly . . . to smooth those difficulties.”
Maria Graham would never have guessed of Chile’s fate 180 years later, nor the enduring value of her own acute observations. This new publication of Graham’s Journal—with its landscapes, Santiago tertulias, and political proclamations—offers this work to a new generation. We are indebted to editor Jennifer Hayward, who includes her own assessment of Graham’s...
