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
San Bernardo della Compagnia Turks on 12 September 1683. This association began meeting in the church of santo Stefano del Cacco under the leader of a pious Sabine abbot, Giuseppe Bianchi, in memory of the liberation of Vienna. On 30 September 1694 they left s. Stefano of the Cacco and obtained this ancient church of San Bernardo for their seat, giving that up in turn after finding it too small for their purposes. As a replacement they built Santissimo Nome di Maria and San Bernardo was demolished in 1748. San Bernardo della Compagnia San Bernardo della Compagnia (also known as San Bernardo a Colonna