VICUNA, Pedro Felix, Chilian journalist, born in Santiago in 1806; died there in 1874. He received an excellent education, in early life began to write for the newspapers, and at the age of twenty-one years was one of the founders and the first editor-in-chief of "El Mercurio," of Valparaiso. Afterward he successively belonged to the editorial staff' of "E1 Teldgrafo" (1827)"El Censor" and " La Ley y la Justicia" (1828). "La Paz Perpdtua" (1834)" "El Elector" and "El Verdadero Liberal " (1841). "El Republicano" (1845)" and "La Reforma" (1847). He was elected to the senate of the nation in 1865, and in that body was the author of the law that abolished imprisonment for debt in 1870. He published "Unico asilo de las Republicas Hispano-Americanas" (Santiago, 1837) ; "El Porvenir del Hombre" (1858) ; and "La Hacienda Publica" (1864).--His son, Benjamin Vicuna-Mackenna, Chilian historian, born in Santiago in 1831; died in Santa Rosa del Cohno, 25 January, 1886, attended the Lyceum of Santiago and the National institute, and studied law in the University of Chili, but in 1849 he was expelled for his refusal to sign a congratulatory address to the secretary of justice. There was such indignation at this arbitrary act that the rector reinstated him against the desire of the government. When a revolution began in Santiago, 20 April, 1851, he took an active part in it, and, in an attempt on the armory of the Chacabuco regiment on 28 April, he was made a prisoner and condemned to death, but escaped and fled to the north in July. He participated in the outbreak in Serena on 7 September, and was appointed revolutionary governor of Illapel. The revolution was subdued in November, and, after hiding for a year and being again condemned to death, he sailed in 1852 for California. He travelled through the United States and Mexico, visited Canada, and in July, 1853, went to Europe, where he remained a year at the Agricultural college of Cirencester, studying natural science. In 1855 he travelled through Europe, and in the next year returned to Chili, where in 1856 he was admitted to the bar and began practice. In 1858 he founded " La Asamblea Constituyente," in which he attacked the arbitrary measures of the government, and in December he was arrested in a public meeting and imprisoned for about six months in the penitentiary, where he wrote his unpublished work " Diego de Almagro." In June, 1859, he was exiled by the government with three others, who had taken an active part in the opposition. He visited France and Spain, searching the libraries for historical manuscripts, and in 1861 went to Lima, but returned soon afterward to Chili. In 1863 he was appointed chief editor of the "Mercurio," of Valparaiso, and in 1864 he was elected deputy to the National congress for Valdivia. In 1865, after the declaration of war by Spain against the republic, Vicuna-Mackenna was sent to Peru and the United States on a confidential mission, founding in New York the paper "La Voz de America," in defence of the South American republics. Returning to his own country in 1867, he was again elected to congress for Talca, and became secretary to the chamber of deputies. In 1870 he again went to Europe, where he acted during the Franco-German war as correspondent of the "Mercurio" in Berlin and Paris. Afterward, in the archives of the Indies in Seville, he copied documents on colonial history, acquiring in Valencia the manuscript of Father Rosales's "Historia de Chile." On his return in 1872 he was appointed intendant of the province of Santiago. At the opening of the war with Peru he became editor of "El Nuevo Ferrocarril," and, as president of "La Sociedad Protectora," became the friend of the soldiers and their widows and orphans. After the conclusion of the strife his descriptions of it became well known for their impartiality. He wrote "El Sitio de Chillan en 1813" (Santiago, 1849); "La Agricultura Europea aplicada a Chile" (London, 1854); " Le Chili" (Paris, 1855) ; "Tres afios de Viajes" (Santiago, 1856);" Ostracismo de los Carreras" (1857); "Revolucidn del Peril" (Lima, 1861); "Ostracismo de O'Higgins" (Santiago, 1862) ; "Historia de la Administracion de Montt" (5 vols., 1862-'3) ; "Vida de Diego Portales" (2 vols., 1862-'3) ; " Historia de Santiago" (2 vols., 1868) ; "Historia de Valparaiso" (2 vols., 1868); "Francisco Moyen, e lo que fue la Inquisicion en America" (1868" English translation, London, 1869) ; "La Guerra a Muerte" (1869) : "Historia de la Jornada del 20 de Abril 1851 " (1878); "Historia de las Campafias de Arica y Tacna" (1881) ; "Historia de Tarapaca" (1881) ; "Mr. Blaine" (1881); "La Guerra con Espafia" (1883) ; several books on the mineral riches of Chili (1883) ; "Album de la Gloria de Chile" (1883) ; "Dolores" (1883); "Seis afios en el Senado de Chile" (1884) ; "Las Islas de Juan Fernandez" (1884); "Viaje a traves de la Immortalidad" (1885); and "Al Galope" (1885).