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2o6 A HISTORY OF CHILE charge the principal of the debt at the end of twenty years. Perhaps the reason why that important clause was omitted, may be found in the fact that influential persons in the capital held stock. The company was intolerable to the people and occasioned so much dis- satisfaction that it soon came to fear the results and refused to discharge the obligation. In the following year excitement ran so high that an attempt was made to assassinate two deputies, Don Joaquim Campino and Don Bernardo Vera, both warm friends of Freire. An investigation revealed the fact that several deputies were deep in the plot; this led the government to a determination to avert, if possi- ble, the gathering storm. A proposition was made to congress that it should dissolve and place the supreme authority in the hands of the director. On the i6th of May, 1825, congress did as it was recommended to do, dissolved. An exposition was made by the majority of the legislative body, number- ing nineteen delegates, of the causes which had led to is dissolution. It cited riotous acts which had occurred on the nights of the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th of the month, when armed citizens had appeared at the bar of the house shouting tumultuously, while others out- side were proclaiming the omnipotence of the people and clamoring for the removal of a member who had offended them in a recent speech. These things they de- clared were the flashes preceding the blow, anarchy was fully exhibited, the sanctuary of the law had been pro- faned, the majesty of the people violated in the persons of their representatives. The house, they maintained, had resolved to meet in secret session, but its deliber- ations were further interrupted by the people ; it had adjourned until 10 o'clock the following day, but the disorder still prevailed. On the last day of the session