Bernardo O'Higgins accepted the position instead, and became the leader of an independent Chile. He was granted dictatorial powers as Supreme Director on 16 February 1817. On 12 February 1818, Chile proclaimed itself an independent republic. Throughout the war with the royalists, O'Higgins had engaged in an ongoing feud with José Miguel Carrera. After their retreat in 1814, O'Higgins had fared much better than Carrera, who found little support forthcoming from San Martín, O'Higgins' political ally. Carrera was imprisoned to prevent his involvement in Chilean affairs; after his escape, he ended up taking the winning side in the Argentine Federalist war, helping
Valcău de Jos it in 1404. In 1665 the Ottoman army destroyed it and it was not rebuilt again. In 1910 the village had 900 residents, with a Romanian majority and a significant Hungarian minority. In 2002 the commune of which Valcău de Jos is the administrative center had 3302 inhabitants: 2909 Romanians, 287 Roma, 105 Hungarians, and one Slovak. "This article is based on a translation of the from the Hungarian Wikipedia on 22 February 2007". Valcău de Jos Valcău de Jos () is a commune in Sălaj County, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Lazuri ("Újvágás"), Preoteasa ("Füzespaptelek"), Ratovei ("Rátonbükk"),