"Stratagems and artifices were repeatedly forged, in order that duplicity and cunning might prepare the road for the sanguinary armies of the chiefs of Coro, Maracaibo, and Puerto Rico; and when the cortes were convinced that the conduct of Ferdinand, his bonds of affinity with the emperor of the French, and his influence over all the Bourbons already placed under his tutelage, began to weaken the insidious impressions, which fidelity, sustained by illusion, had produced in the Americans; preventatives were employed to stop the flame already kindled, and limit it to what was yet necessary for their vast complicated and dark designs. For this purpose was written the eloquent manifest which the cortes on the ninth of January directed against America, worded in a stile worthy of a better object; but under the brilliancy of diction the dark side of the argument, designed to deceive, was discovered. Fearing that we should be the first to protest against the whole of these nullities, they began to calculate on what was already known, not to risk what was yet hidden. The misfortunes of Ferdinand were the pretexts that had obtained for his pseudo-representatives the treasures, submission, and slavery of America; and Ferdinand seduced, deceived, and prostituted to the designs of the emperor of the French, is now the last resource to which they fly to extinguish the flames of liberty which Venezuela had kindled in the south continent. We have discovered and published the true spirit of the manifest in question, reduced to the following reasoning, which may be considered as an exact commentary:—'America is threatened with becoming the victim of a foreign power, or of continuing to be our slave; but in order to recover her rights, and to throw off all dependency whatever, she has considered it necessary not violently to break the bonds that held her to this country. Ferdinand has been the signal of reunion which the new world had adopted, and we have followed; he is suspected of connivance with the emperor of the French, and if we give ourselves up blindly to him, we afford the Americans a pretext for believing us still his representatives; and as these designs already begin to be understood in some parts of America, let us previously manifest our intention not to acknowledge Ferdinand, except under certain conditions; these will never be carried into effect, and whilst Ferdinand neither in fact nor right is our king, we shall reign over America, the country we so much covet, which although so difficult to preserve in slavery, will not then so easily slip through our fingers.' Such are the expressions illustrative of the opinions of Spaniards, agitated in the cortes, respecting the allegiance to Ferdinand.

"The above brilliant appearance of liberality is now the real and visible spring of the complicated machine destined to excite and stir up commotions in America; at the same time that within the walls of the cortes justice towards us is overlooked, our efforts are eluded, our resolutions are contemned, our enemies are supported, the voices of our imaginary representatives are suppressed, the inquisition is renewed against them, when the liberty of the press is proclaimed, and it is controversially discussed whether the regency could or could not declare us free, and one integral part of the nation. When an American, worthy of that name, speaks against the abuses of the regency in Puerto Rico, endeavours are made to silence his just, energetic, and imperious claims, that distinguish him from the slaves of despotism, and by means of a short, cunning, and insignificant decree, they strive to avoid the conflict of justice against iniquity. Melendés, named by the regency king of Puerto Rico, is by a decree of the cortes left with the equivalent investiture of a governor, names synonymous in America, because it now appeared too monstrous to have two kings in a small island of the Spanish Antilles. Cortavarria only was capable of eluding the effects of a decree dictated merely by a momentary fit of decency. It happened that when the investiture, granted by the regency to Melendes was declared iniquitous, arbitrary, and tyrannical, and a revocation was extended to all the countries of America, then situated as was Puerto Rico, nothing was said of the plenipotentiary Cortavarria, authorized by the same regency against Venezuela, with powers the most uncommon and scandalous ever registered in the annals of organized despotism.

"After this decree of the cortes the effects of discord promoted, sustained, and denied at the fatal observatory of Puerto Rico were more severely felt; it was after this decree that the fishermen and coasters were inhumanly assassinated in Ocumare, by the pirates of Cortavarria, after the report of which Cumana and Barcelona were blockaded, threatened, and summoned. A new and sanguinary conspiracy against Venezuela was formed, and organized by a vile emissary, who perfidiously entered the peaceable bosom of his country, in order to destroy it; deceptions were successively practised on the most innocent and laborious classes of the imported colonists of Venezuela, principally emigrants from the Canary Islands, and in spite of our endeavours the chief instigators were led to the block as a sacrifice to justice and to tranquillity. By the suggestions of the pacificator of the cortes, and posterior to their said decree, the political union of our constitution was lacerated in Valencia; attempts were made in vain to reduce other cities of the interior; a false summons was sent to Carora, by the factious leaders of the west, to the end that Venezuela might on the same day be deluged in blood, and sunk in affliction and desolation, and be hostilely assaulted from every point within the reach of the conspirators, who were scattered amongst us by the same government that issued the decree in favour of Puerto Rico and of all America. The name of Ferdinand VII. is the pretext under which the new world is about to be laid waste, if the example of Venezuela does not henceforward cause the standard of our unshaken and established liberty to be distinguished from the banners of a seditious and dissembled fidelity.

"The bitter duty of vindicating ourselves would carry us still further, if we did not dread splitting on the same rocks as have the governments of Spain, by substituting resentment for justice; at the same time that we can charge her with three centuries of acts of injustice, we have opposed three years of lawful, generous, and philanthropic efforts to obtain what it was never in our power to dispose of, although by nature ours. Had gall and poison been the chief agents of this our solemn, true, and candid manifest, we should have begun by destroying the rights of Ferdinand, in consequence of the illegitimacy of his origin, declared by his mother at Bayonne, and published in the French and Spanish papers; we should have proved the personal defects of Ferdinand, his ineptitude to reign, his weak and degrading conduct in the court at Bayonne; his inefficient education, and the futile securities that offered for the realization of the gigantic hopes of the governments of Spain; hopes founded in the illusion of America, nor any other support than the political interests of England, much opposed to the rights of the Bourbons. The public opinion of Spain, and the experience of the revolution of the kingdom, furnish us with sufficient proofs of the conduct of the mother, and the qualifications of the son, without recurring to the manifest of the minister Azanza, published after the transactions of Bayonne, and the secret memoirs of Maria Luisa; but decency is the guide of our conduct, to which we are ready to sacrifice even our reason. Sufficient has already been alleged to prove the justice, necessity, and utility of our resolution, for the support of which, nothing is wanting but the examples by which we will strive to justify our independence.

"It were necessary for the partizans of slavery in the new world either to destroy, or to falsify history, that unchangeable monument of the rights and of the usurpations of the human race, before they could maintain that America was not liable to the same changes that all other nations have experienced. Even when the rights of the Bourbons had been incontestible and indelible, the oath that we have proved never did exist, the injustice, force, and deceit with which the same was exacted of us would suffice to render it null and void, so soon as it was found to be opposed to our liberty, grievous to our rights, prejudicial to our interests, and fatal to our tranquillity. Such is the nature of an oath made to the conquerors and to their heirs, at the same time that the crown holds them in oppression by means of the same additional strength that it obtained by means of the result of their conquest. It was in this manner that Spain herself recovered her rights, after she had sworn allegiance to the Carthagenians, Romans, Goths, Arabs, and almost to the French; nevertheless she yet disowns the rights of America, no longer to depend on any nation when she is capable of throwing off the yoke, and following the example of Spain and of other nations.

"It would be superfluous to remind our enemies of what they already knew, and in what they have themselves founded the sacred right of their own liberty and independence; epochs so memorable, that they ought not to have been tarnished with the slavery of the greater part of a country situated on the other side of the ocean. But unfortunately it is not they alone whom it is necessary to convince by palpable examples of the justice and common resemblance that our independence bears to that of all other nations which had lost and again recovered it. The illusions of slavery, kept alive by the candour of the Americans, and supported by the most criminal abuse that superstition can form of the established belief and religion, which one would suppose were only dictated for the happiness, liberty, and salvation of the people, namely, by the excommunications denounced against the people of Caracas for changing their government, render it necessary to tranquillize the deceived piety of some, to instruct their unwary ignorance, and stimulate their apathy, that had slumbered since the unusual tranquillity of the new order of things: in short, it is time to inculcate, that governments never had nor ever can have any other duration than the utility and happiness of the human race may require; that kings are not of any privileged nature, nor of an order superior to other men; that their authority emanates from the people, directed and supported by the providence of God, who leaves our actions to our own free-will; that his omnipotence does not interfere in favour of any peculiar form of government; and that neither religion nor its ministers can anathematize the efforts of a nation struggling to be free and independent in the political order of things, and resolved to depend only on God and his ministers in a moral and religious sense.

"The very people of God, governed by himself, and guided by such miracles, portentous signs and favors as will perhaps never again be repeated, offer a proof of the rights of insurrection on the part of the people sufficiently satisfactory to the orthodox piety of the friends of public order. The subjects of Pharaoh, and bound by force to obey him, collect round Moses, and under his guidance triumph over their enemies, and recover their independence without being blamed by God or his prophet and legislator, Moses, for their conduct, or being subjected by them to the least malediction or anathema. This same people being afterwards subjected by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar; first—under the direction of Holofernes, Judith was sent by God to procure their independence by the death of the Babylonian general. Under Antiochus, Epiphanes, Mattathias and his sons raised the standard of independence, and God blessed and aided their efforts till he obtained the entire liberty of his people against the oppression of that impious king and his successors. Not only against the foreign kings who oppressed them did the Israelites resort to the right of insurrection by breaking through the obedience to force; but even against those whom God had given them in their own country and of their own nation do we behold them claim this imprescriptable right wherever their liberty and their advantage required it, or when the sacred character of those facts by which God himself bound them to those he chose as their governors, had been profaned. David obtained the allegiance of the Israelites in favour of his dynasty, and his son Solomon ratified it in favour of his posterity; but at the death of this king, who had oppressed his subjects by exactions and contributions to support the splendour of his court and the luxury and sumptuousness of his pleasures, then the tribes of Judah and Benjamin alone acknowledged his son, and the other ten, availing themselves of their rights, recovered their political independence, and in excuse thereof deposited their sovereignty in Jereboam, the son of Nabath. The momentary and passing hardships of the reign of Solomon were sufficient for the Israelites to annul their obedience sworn to his line, and to place another on the throne without waiting for an order from the Deity, informing them, that their fate no longer depended on the kings of Judah, nor on the ministers, chiefs, or priests of Solomon. And shall the Christian people of Venezuela and of all Spanish America be still in a worse plight, and after being declared free by the government of Spain after three hundred years of captivity, exactions, hardships, and injustice, shall they not be allowed to do what the God of Israel, whom they equally adore, formerly permitted to his people without being spurned, and without vengeance being hurled upon their heads? It is his divine hand that guides our conduct, and to his eternal judgments our resolution shall be submitted.

"If the independence of the Hebrew people was not a sin against the written law, that of a Christian people cannot be such against the law of grace. At no time has the apostolical see excommunicated any nation that has risen against the tyranny of those kings or governments which had violated the social compact. The Swiss, Dutch, French, and North Americans proclaimed their independence, overturned their constitution, and varied their forms of government without having incurred any other spiritual censures than those which the church might have fulminated for the infringements on the belief, discipline, or piety, but without their being connected with political measures or alluding to the civil transactions of the people. The Swiss were bound by oath to Germany, as were also the Dutch to Spain, the French to Louis XVI., and the North Americans to George III.; yet neither they nor the princes that favoured their independence were excommunicated by the Pope. The grandfather of Ferdinand VII., one of the most pious and catholic kings that ever filled the throne of Spain, together with his nephew, Louis XVI., protected the independence of North America, without dreading ecclesiastical censures or the anger of heaven; and now that the order and succession of events more justly place it within the reach of South America, those who call themselves the authorized agents of the grandson wish to abuse that same religion so much respected by Charles III., in order to prolong the most atrocious and unparalleled usurpations. Just, omnipotent, and most merciful God! Till when will fanaticism dispute the empire of that sacred religion which thou sent to the uncorrupted regions of America for thy glory and her felicity.

"The events which have accumulated in Europe to terminate the bondage of America, beyond doubt entered into the high designs of Providence. Placed at a transatlantic distance of two thousand leagues, we have done nothing in the three years which have elapsed since we ought to be free and independent, till the period when we resolved to be so, than pass through the bitter trials of stratagems, conspiracies, insults, hostilities, and depredations on the part of that same nation whom we invite to partake of the good of our regeneration, and for whose welfare we wished to open the gates of the new world, heretofore closed to all communication with the old one, now wasted and inflamed by war, hunger, and desolation. Three distinct oligarchies have declared war against us, have despised our claims, have excited civil dissensions amongst us, have sown the seeds of discord and mistrust in our great family, have planned three horrible conspiracies against our liberty, have interrupted our trade, have suppressed our agriculture, have traduced our conduct, and have sought to raise against us an European power, by vainly imploring its aid to oppress us. The same flag, the same language, the same religion, the same laws, have till now confounded the party of liberty with that of tyranny: Ferdinand VII. as liberator, has been opposed to Ferdinand VII. as oppressor; and if we had not resolved to abandon a name at the same time synonymous with crime and virtue, America would in the end be enslaved by the same power that is exercised for the independence of Spain.

"Such has been the nature of the imperious impulse of conviction, tending to open our eyes, and to impel Venezuela to separate eternally from a name so ominous and so fatal. Placed by it in the irrevocable alternative of being the slave or the enemy of her brethren, she has preferred the purchase of her own freedom at the expense of friendship, without destroying the means of that reconciliation she desired. The most powerful reasons, the most serious meditations, the most profound considerations, long discussions, contested debates, well analyzed combinations, imperious events, imminent dangers, and the public opinion clearly pronounced and firmly sustained, have been the precursors of that solemn declaration made on the fifth of July, by the general congress of Venezuela, of the absolute independence of this part of South America; an act sighed for and applauded by the people of the capital, sanctioned by the powers of the confederation, acknowledged by the representatives of the provinces, sworn to and hailed by the chief of the church of Venezuela, and to be maintained with the lives, fortunes, and honour of all the citizens.

"Freemen, companions of our fate! Ye who have known how to divest your hearts of fear, or of hope; give from the elevation on which your virtues have placed you an impartial and disinterested look on the portrait that Venezuela has just traced out to you. She constitutes you the arbitrators of her differences with Spain, and the judges of her new destinies. If you have been affected by our evils, and are interested in our felicity, unite your efforts with ours, that the artifices of ambition may not any longer triumph over liberality and justice.

"To you it belongs to convince Spain of what an unfortunate rivalship places beyond the reach of America. Refrain the giddiness that has seized on her new governments; point out to them the reciprocal advantages of our regeneration; unfold to them the soothing prospect that they are prevented from beholding in America by that monopoly which has hardened their hearts; tell them what threatens them in Europe, and point out to them what they may expect in America, tranquil, uncorrupted, and already covered with all the blessings of liberty; nay swear to them in our name, that Venezuela awaits her brethren with open arms to share with them her happiness without asking any other sacrifice than that of prejudice, pride, and ambition, which for three centuries have produced the united misery of both countries."

"Juan Antonio Rodriguez Dominguez, President."

"Francisco Isnardy, Secretary."

"Federal Palace of Caracas, July 30th, 1811."

CHAPTER IV.

State of Lima....Expedition to Chile, under Colonel Gainsa....Exit of....Regiment of Talavera arrives from Spain....Part of sent to Huamanga....Revolution of Cusco and Arequipa....Death of Pumacagua, and the Patriot Melgar....Arrival of Flags taken by Osoria in Chile....Viceroy Abascal superseded by Pesuela....Character of the former....Beginning of Pesuela's Administration....Arrival of La Serna....State of Lima to 1817....Battle of Chacabuco in Chile....Extract of a Journal....New Expedition to Chile under Osoria....News of Battle of Maypu....Loss of the Spanish Frigate Maria Isabel, and part of Convoy....Arrival of Lord Cochrane off Callao.

The preceding manifest from Venezuela, shewing the principal grievances of the Americans in that particular part of the country, was equally applicable to the colonists in general; but many of the provinces laboured under peculiar disadvantages and oppressions, particularly those situated on the western side of the continent; nor were the creoles the first nor the loudest in their clamours. The Spanish merchants felt very severely the decrease of their monopoly, by the non-arrival of vessels from Cadiz, as well as by the arrival of several vessels, under Hamburgh colours, with British cargoes and masters, under the protection of passports from the constituted sovereignties of Spain; the large planters also felt the want of new importations of slaves, and although the Creoles suffered equally with the Spaniards, yet accustomed to suppress their feelings, they remained silent, while the former were loud in their deprecations. The sugar planters began, under the sanction of the new laws of the constitution and the cortes to manufacture rum, to the detriment of the owners of vineyards at Pisco and Cañete, many of whom were Spaniards. Secret meetings were held in every part of the city; those of the Spaniards were permitted by the government under the pretence that they were innocent or virtuous, while those of the natives were called seditious and unwarrantable. Every opportunity was taken to lull the people with stories of victories obtained against the insurgents in Upper Peru, and the most tyrannical espionage was set on foot by the government, for the purpose of thwarting any communication of the true state of affairs in America, when the government of Peru could only expect support from the native troops. Every thing seemed to augur to the government in Lima the fate of those of the other capitals of South America; indeed Mexico and Lima were the only two capitals that preserved their ancient authorities; the other two viceroyalties, Buenos Ayres and Santa Fé, and the captain-generalships and presidencies of Chile, Chuquisaca, Quito and Caracas, with the greater part of the governments of South America, were under the protection of their own constituted authorities, and declared by the Spanish Viceroys in open war with the mother country.

Colonel Gainsa was sent with an expedition against the revolted Chileans in 1812, and having landed at Talcahuano, he marched towards the capital: his successes were the continued boast of the Spaniards in Lima, who insulted with taunts the creoles respecting their inferiority, forgetting that the army of Gainsa was almost exclusively formed of natives; however, in 1813 it was found that the career of Gainsa was at an end, and that he had come to terms with the insurgents, the principal import of which was, that things should remain as they then were, until the decision of the cortes in Spain; for the purpose of obtaining which the Chileans should send their deputies. This treaty was guaranteed by Captain Hillyer, and sent to Lima for the ratification of the Viceroy, who, expecting troops from Spain, deferred its signature. In April, 1813, the regiment of Talavera arrived, and Abascal followed the example of the Count Ruis; he declared that Gainsa had no powers to capitulate, and prepared another expedition against Chile.

The arrival of Spanish troops made the resident Spaniards more imperious and insolent than ever; but they had soon cause to regret having solicited the assistance of an armed force from Spain, for all the expenses incurred in the equipment of the expedition at Cadiz were ordered to be defrayed by the merchants of Lima. The officers and soldiers were also of the worst character, the former having been expelled from different corps in the mother country for crimes which they had there committed, and the latter were taken from the common gaols, places of exile, and the galleys. The insolence of these protectors was not limited to any class of people in Lima: they had been informed in Spain, that the booty or plunder of the insurgents in America would make them as rich in the nineteenth century as that of the indians had rendered their forefathers in the sixteenth; thus robberies and even murders were committed under the sanction of rich promises; and it was dreaded by the government, that the very force sent to protect them would cause a revolution, or perhaps head one in Lima; however an opportunity presented itself to dispose of two hundred of the nine that had arrived. The Cacique Pucatoro revolted at Huamanga, deposed the Spanish authorities, and declared himself in favour of the Buenos Ayres army: this blow so near to Lima called for an immediate remedy. Two hundred soldiers of Talavera were sent to quell the rebel Indian, who led them into a narrow ravine, and ascended the mountains on each side, where large piles of stones had been so artfully placed, that by removing one, placed as a key-stone, the whole mass rolled down the sides of the mountains, and not one of the Spaniards escaped. The victorious indians then continued throwing and rolling down pieces of rock till they had completely buried their enemies. This patriotic Cacique was afterwards taken prisoner by a party of troops sent from Cusco, and was hanged and quartered at Huamanga.

This disgraceful expedition only tended to render the Spanish soldiers more insolent; and it became a difficult matter to prevent an open revolt.

Early in July, 1813, the transports for a new expedition to Chile were ready, and, on the thirteenth, Colonel Maroto and the troops of Talavera embarked for Talcahuano. Lima resumed her tranquillity, with what she considered her safety, and the departure of the protecting force was hailed as that of an insolent and oppressive enemy. But the calm was not of long duration. The news from the north, of the conquests in Quito by General Montes was accompanied by that of the revolution of Cusco in the south, and the possession of Arequipa by the Cacique Pumacagua; this threatened the most fatal consequences to Lima; however, General Ramires was sent from Upper Peru with a division of the army, then under the command of General Pesuela, and retook Cusco and Arequipa, where he put the old Cacique and upwards of a hundred of his followers to death, among whom was my particular friend, Jose Maria Melgar.

Friendship and admiration demand of me a short account of this virtuous youth. He was a native of Arequipa, and educated for the bar at Lima: he had retired to his native city, and was on the eve of marriage with a female whom he loved. Pumacagua arrived at Arequipa, and took it; Melgar was a patriot, he offered his services to the Cacique-general, they were accepted, and he was appointed judge advocate to the army. On the capture by Ramires, Melgar was apprehended, tried, and sentenced to be shot. His parents, his relations, and his friends solicited his pardon, which was promised, on condition that he would publicly recant: to this he objected, and he was led to the place of execution.

The assisting priest seated himself on the stool, and Melgar knelt to confess his sins, invoke a pardon, and receive absolution; but he suddenly rose from his knees, and, in a state of agitation, said to his confessor, "Is it possible that you should here speak to me of things of this world! It was your duty to speak to me of those in the next, which I am on the verge of witnessing: this world must soon cease to exist for me, and I had hoped to have left it in peace; but your request and promises have unsettled my mind, and agitated my soul. I took a part in the cause of my country; I believed it to be my duty, I did it, I considered it just; I embraced it, and I die for having done my duty, and only regret at this moment that I shall not die so calmly as I expected. You, father, who ought to have endeavoured to create tranquillity in my soul in my last moments, have destroyed my peace!"—He then asked the adjutant if he might be allowed to smoke a segar, which being granted, he turned round and said, "will any one for the love of God give me a segar?" A soldier handed him one; he sat down on the stool, and smoked about half the segar, knocked off the ashes, and threw it aside; he then thanked the adjutant and the soldier, and said "thank heaven I am again calm and resigned; now, Sir, do your duty." The bandage was ordered to be tied over his eyes, but he begged that this ceremony might be omitted: "I am not afraid to die," said he, and clasping his hands over his eyes, he exclaimed, "this will do!" The fatal signal was then given—the soldiers fired, and the virtuous patriot Melgar fell! The executioners muttered, "so may the enemies of Spain perish;" but the genii of American liberty sang for joy, and the response was—so may the sons of America evince to posterity, that no sacrifice is too great for a true Patriot!

The arrival of new troops from Spain in 1814, the defeat of the Chileans, and the occupation of Santiago by General Osorio; the victory of Vilcapugio in Upper Peru by Pesuela, all seemed to threaten American independence, and the Spaniards grew more insolent and haughty. The colours taken by Osorio in Chile were brought to Lima and carried in procession to the church of Santo Domingo, where they were presented at the altar of the Rosary, and there deposited. The new president and captain-general of Chile, Don Casimiro Marcó arrived, and proceeded to his presidency. The finances began to be insufficient for the payment of the troops, and those from Spain marched from their barracks in la Recoleta, and took possession of the citadel, Santa Catalina, where they declared, that unless the government paid them their arrears, they would pay themselves; assuring the natives at the same time, that no hostilities should be committed against them. The alarm was so great, that the Viceroy Abascal sent a message to the soldiers, declaring, that their request should be complied with; but he received for answer, that they would not alter their determination until the money due was actually paid to them. The Viceroy then went in person, and harangued the troops; but he received only a repetition of the former answer; nor did they desist until their arrears were paid.

In 1815 the Viceroy Abascal was superseded by General Don Joaquin de la Pesuela, when he immediately retired to Spain. On the arrival of the new Viceroy, the city was entertained with the entrada publica, public entry, balls, feasts, and bull-fights, with all of which his predecessor Abascal, had dispensed on his arrival, not wishing to oppress the city with such unnecessary expenses.

It is due to the Viceroy Abascal to say, that his prudence preserved the capital to the crown of Spain; and although no Viceroy of Peru had ever more accidental duties to attend to, or more critical affairs to manage, yet Lima is indebted to him for the foundation of the college of San Fernando, instituted for medicine and surgery; the pantheon or general cemetery, and the absolute prohibition of burying within the walls of the city; the rebuilding of the college del Principe, for the study of Latin; the thorough repair of the city walls; as well as several excellent police establishments; and notwithstanding the public feeling at this time in Lima, he was accompanied to Callao by all the respectable inhabitants, and his departure was a day of mourning in the city: such are generally the sentiments, even towards an enemy, when moderation has presided at his councils, and justice has guided his actions.

Pesuela, the hero of Huiluma and Vilcapugio, on taking cognizance of the treasury, discovered what was too well known to his predecessor—the low state of the funds: many plans were proposed for replenishing them; donations were at first solicited, and afterwards contributions were exacted; but these were incompetent to support the expenses of the government and the army, which, during the first years of warfare, levied large sums of money, as well on friends as on enemies, and derived some support from the different royal treasuries at Arequipa, at Cusco, Charcas, and other cities in Upper Peru; but, notwithstanding these temporary resources, the means continued to fail, and the exigences continued to increase. The equipment of expeditions to Quito, Upper Peru, and Chile; the demand of arrears by the troops that arrived from Spain, and the necessary remittances for the support of the royal armies, preyed heavily on the national funds, so much so, that the treasury dreaded a bankruptcy. The pay of all civil officers was reduced one-third, and at last a viceregal decree was issued, augmenting the tithes from ten to fifteen per cent.: this impost caused the greatest consternation throughout the country, and met with strong opposition from the inhabitants; many of the provinces refused to pay, and the governors were unable to exact it for want of an armed force to protect them against the fury of the people.

General Ramires was left by Pesuela in the command of the army of Upper Peru; but he was soon superseded by General Don Jose de la Serna, who landed at Arica, and proceeded direct to head quarters. This general was sent by the king to command the army, and with power to act independently of the Viceroy, at a time when any change in the established order of things was likely to be most productive of injury to the Spanish cause, and to this may be attributed the inactivity of the army under La Serna.

The tranquillity experienced in Lima till the beginning of 1817 induced the Spaniards to believe that all was well: Chile was quiet, the enemy made no advances in Upper Peru, Quito was under the dominion of Spain, Morillo victorious in Venezuela and Santa Fé; the Mexican insurgent chief, Morelos, had ceased to exist; Ferdinand was restored to his throne; the constitution was abolished; the inquisition was re-established, and monarchical despotism had resumed its seat; new auxiliary troops were preparing in Spain to give the last blow to the patriots in America, and the most sanguine American began to droop for the cause of his country. But a change, unexpected by the Spaniards, and unhoped for by the Americans, took place in Chile on the twelfth of February, 1817, the news of which reached Lima on the ninth of March. This was no less than the entire defeat of the Spanish army at Chacabuco by General O'Higgins: the victory has generally been attributed, but most unjustly, to General San Martin, who was not even present in the action. The following is an extract from the journal of a Spaniard with whom I was acquainted in Lima.

"February 4th, Don Miguel Atero, chief of the staff, informed the government of Santiago, that the enemy had surprised the guards of the Andes, placed about twelve leagues in advance of Santa Rosa, (twenty-five leagues from the capital) and that of seventy-five men, thirteen only had escaped, bringing with them the news, that the enemy was advancing; at the same time Major Vila reported to the government, that the advanced guard at the paso de los Patos had reconnoitred the enemy, and requested a reinforcement. Atero immediately sent a company of Talavera infantry, and then retreated with the division of the army stationed at Santa Rosa, to Chacabuco, leaving behind him two pieces of artillery, ammunition, baggage, and warlike stores: the force stationed at Santa Rosa amounted to about four hundred men.

"February 5th, the Captain-general Marcó ordered Colonel Quintanilla to join the army at Chacabuco, with the battalion of carabiniers; they arrived on the 6th, when Quintanilla immediately advanced to the convent of Curimon to reconnoitre the enemy in Villa Vieja, and having reported to Atero that their number did not exceed six hundred, an attack was immediately ordered, which took place on the morning of the seventh.

"The cavalry engaged that of the enemy in a place called de las Comas; the crafty enemy retired towards the Cordillera, and halted at Putendo, where they were joined by an ambuscade of a hundred horse. Our infantry did not advance with the cavalry, so that as soon as they were overpowered by the enemy they fled in the greatest disorder towards our infantry for support; on their return, to their great surprise they found that the infantry also was in a disordered retreat, without having taken part in the action, and also that the commander in chief, Atero, had fled. Colonel Quintanilla now took the command, and collected the dispersed soldiers; he placed the infantry in the centre, and flanked it with the cavalry, although harrassed in the rear by the enemy in his retreat. Having at length reached Villa Vieja, a council of war was held by the officers, and it was resolved to continue their march to Curimon; on their arrival they learnt that the enemy was about to renew the attack; on hearing which, Colonel Marqueli, to whom Atero had given the command, continued his march to Chacabuco. The victorious army took up its quarters in Villa Vieja: our loss was about thirty carabiniers. There is no doubt that the whole of our loss is to be attributed to Atero, who, observing a party of the enemy's cavalry on an eminence to the right, exclaimed, "we are cut off!" when he immediately mounted his horse and fled. At ten o'clock at night the news arrived at Santiago, and the greatest confusion began to prevail.

"On the morning of February 8th, the two judges, Pereyra and Caspi, and the general of brigade, Olaguer Feliu, fled to Valparaiso.

"On the 9th, Colonel Barañao arrived at Santiago with Colonel Eloriga, and 360 hussars.

"On the 10th, Lieutenant-colonel Morgado arrived with 450 dragoons; at ten o'clock at night Brigadier-general Maroto was appointed by Marcó to take the chief command: our whole force consisted of 1000 cavalry and 1100 infantry.

"On the 12th, at six o'clock in the afternoon, an officer arrived at Santiago with a verbal communication from General Maroto, declaring, that he had suffered a total defeat. This was confirmed on the 13th by the arrival of Maroto and Quintanilla; Marcó had left the city with about 1500 men, and resolved on renewing the attack; but after more private conversation with Maroto, he returned to the capital, and summoned a council of war. After a long conference nothing was determined on, and the sub-inspector-general Bernedo, the judge advocate Lescano, and the commandant of artillery, Cacho, fled to Valparaiso. From the 13th at noon to the evening of the 14th, officers, soldiers and civilians continued to arrive at Valparaiso, where they embarked on board several vessels then at anchor in the bay, and fled to Lima; but it was not known till our arrival at Callao, that the president Marcó was left behind at the mercy of Bernardo O'Higgins, to whom the insurgents owe their victory, and we our disgrace."

The most astonishing difference in the behaviour of the Spaniards was now observable. The haughty Maroto, who, when in Lima with his regiment of Talavera, despised and insulted every one, now that he had neither an officer nor a soldier left, was humbled, and the bow of a negro or an indian was most courteously answered by this vaunting coward.

New insurrections in the provinces of Upper Peru began to break out; the victories of General Bolivar in Colombia became known, and although reports from the mother country were flattering, yet the repeated requisitions for money were distressing.

Notwithstanding this state of affairs, the Viceroy Pesuela determined on another expedition to Chile, the command of which was again given to General Osorio. The Spanish troops consisted of a battalion of hussars and the regiment of Burgos, the best troops that had arrived from Europe. Their destination was to Talcahuano, which place, as it had been fortified by the Spaniards, was still held by them, with the auxiliary troops of Chile. For the equipment of this expedition, the Viceroy took possession of the treasury belonging to the commissariat of the crusades, money, which in the opinion of all the lower classes, could only be appropriated to the support of war against Turks, Moors and Infidels, and the greatest clamour was raised when it was applied to the purpose of waging civil war with Christians. This treasure being insufficient, that called of the holy places, santos lugares, at Jerusalem, was also added to that of the bulls.

After many difficulties had been surmounted, the expedition left Callao in October, 1817; and calculating on its success, the Spaniards again resumed their arrogance, which in some was carried to such an extreme as to enter into a bond with one another of two thousand dollars never again to employ a creole. A Spaniard said to me one evening, that he had six children, but if he thought that they would ever be insurgents, he would go to their beds and smother them.

This chivalrous fanaticism had risen to such a height, that a Peruvian officer, Landasuri, said, in the presence of Pesuela, that he hated his father and mother, because he was born in America, and that if he knew in what part of his body the American blood circulated, he would let it out; however Pesuela reprimanded him severely for such unnatural expressions.

Nothing but reports of victories arrived from Chile, the bells scarcely ever ceased ringing in Lima, and the choristers were hoarse with chanting Te Deums; the haughtiness of the Spaniards became insupportable; they paraded the streets in triumph, and, forming themselves into groups, insulted every creole who chanced to pass them. But their insolence was at its highest pitch in April, 1818, when the news of the victory over San Martin and O'Higgins at Cancha-rayada arrived; they considered Osorio more than a human being; his wisdom and valour were the theme of the pulpit, the palace, the coffee-house, and the brothel. The hero Osorio was at Santiago; he would soon cross the Andes, and release his virtuous and brave countrymen from their dungeons at San Luis and las Bruscas, and with the reinforcements expected from Spain, in a convoy under the protection of the Spanish frigate Maria Isabel, he would conquer the Buenos Ayreans, and return to Lima with the heads of San Martin, O'Higgins, and those of all the other chiefs of the banditties.

This ferment of insolence and insults continually increased till the evening of the fourth of May, when about ten o'clock at night a valancin, post chaise, drove up to the gates of the viceregal palace, bringing the hero Osorio, and the news of his total defeat at Maypu. On the morning of the fifth a creole was allowed to pass the streets unmolested, and might even presume to seat himself in a coffee-house at the same table with a Spaniard. Confusion and dismay were visible in the countenances of the royalists, the great Osorio suddenly became an ignorant coward, who had sacrificed his countrymen, and indecently fled to save his own life; even the Americans were now courted to join the Spaniards in declamations against the late demi-god Osorio, and no hope was left but that the arrival of the expedition from Spain would retrieve the losses occasioned by the dastardly conduct of this chief.

The first news, however, which they obtained of the issue of the boasted expedition was, that the soldiers of La Trinidad, one of the transports, had murdered their officers, taken possession of the vessel, and carried her to Buenos Ayres; this was seconded in November, 1818, with the news, that the Maria Isabel and part of her convoy had been taken at Talcahuano and the island of Santa Maria by the insurgents of Chile; and this blow was aggravated with the abandonment of Talcahuano, the strong hold of the Spaniards in Chile, by General Sanches, who took the command after Osorio fled. Still there was gall in reserve for the humbled Spaniards. The Chilean squadron, commanded by the Right Honourable Lord Cochrane, made its appearance off Callao on the twenty-eighth of February, 1819, his lordship's flag waving at the main of the ex-Spanish frigate Maria Isabel, now the Chilean flag ship O'Higgins.

It became impossible for me to remain longer in Lima, so I left that city for the Barranca, where I arrived on the first of March.

CHAPTER V.

State of Lima on the Arrival of the Chilean Squadron....Arrival of at Huacho....At Supe....Chilean Naval Force, how composed....Capture of the Maria Isabel by Commodore Blanco....Arrival of Lord Cochrane....Appointed Admiral....Leaves Valparaiso....Arrives at Callao, Huacho, Barranca, Huambacho....Proclamation of Cochrane, San Martin, and O'Higgins....Description of Huambacho....Paita taken....Proceed to Valparaiso....Arrival....Description of....Road from Valparaiso to Santiago.

The arrival of the Chilean squadron on the coast of Peru produced at once a dread that this part of South America would become the theatre of war, and that retaliating fate would inflict on this part of the colonies all the distresses which had been so universally spread among the others: it was feared, that the calamities produced by invasion would now be wreaked on it in return for those that had been experienced in the provinces of Upper Peru, Quito and Chile. War was at the very door, and the system of offence had almost rendered that of defence nugatory. It was believed that an army accompanied the squadron; and the patriots of Lima busied themselves in surmising which would be the point of debarkation. On Wednesday, the third of March, a rumour arrived at the capital, that the land forces would debark at Ancon, five leagues to the northward of Lima; at midnight the report of rockets was heard in the large street in the suburbs of San Lasaro, called Malambo; this was supposed by the patriots to be a signal for reunion; and by the royalists, of the landing of the army: upwards of a thousand of the former immediately repaired to Malambo, and so completely filled the street, that the cavalry sent by the government could not pass the mob, and they retired to the bridge: both parties were anxiously inquiring the cause of the reports, and both retired without obtaining any satisfactory information: had the squadron landed five hundred more, and marched to the city, there is not the least doubt but that with the assistance of the native inhabitants, they would have entered and taken possession of Santa Catalina and the different barracks, as the number of Spanish troops at that time did not exceed three hundred.

On the 29th of March, part of the squadron anchored in the bay of Huacho, for the purpose of obtaining news from the patriots on shore, and also of landing two spies, sent down by the Chilean government, as well as for the distribution of proclamations and other papers. Lord Cochrane here received the intelligence, that a quantity of money, belonging to the Phillipine company, had been sent down to Huarmey to be embarked in the North American schooner Macedonia, and that another considerable sum was on the road to the same destination; and as the port of the Barranca was better calculated for the purpose of intercepting the treasure than that of Huacho, the O'Higgins and the brig Galvarino dropped down to it, and a party of marines were sent ashore, and took the money in the river of the Barranca before the muleteers could cross it. This was effected without any opposition from the Spanish soldiers that were sent to protect it as a guard. Mr. Eliphalet Smith, of the United States, at first claimed the money; but he afterwards signed a document which specified the names of its true owners; this was also corroborated by several documents which Mr. Smith delivered to his lordship.

During the few days that the Chilean vessels of war remained at Huacho, the indians were at first allowed by the governor to take down to the beach their fruit and vegetables, and sell to them; but the commandant of the county militia having collected about two hundred of his troops, ordered the Indians to desist, and in the most insolent manner commanded Lord Cochrane to depart, unless he wished to be driven out of the port. On receiving this message his lordship immediately ordered the marines to land and march to Huaura, which was done, and the town taken: indeed the troops never attempted to defend it, but fled with their chief at their head: the property belonging to the government at the custom house and the estanco of tobacco were taken on board: no private property was touched. After this the trade with the indians was resumed; however, on the departure of the squadron, five young indians were apprehended, tried by a court martial, without their even having been soldiers; and, contrary to the laws of the country, they were sentenced to death and shot, without any other reason being assigned to their protector-general, Manco Yupanqui, in Lima, than that it was necessary to set such an example, because it might deter others from having any communication with the insurgents.

Such were the feelings of the people in this part of Peru, that the inhabitants of the village, called Supe, deposed the alcalde, who was a Spaniard, and declared themselves independent; but after the departure of the squadron, the principal ringleaders, Villanueva and Aranda, retired to a farm in the interior, where they bade defiance to the Viceroy and his powers. These two, with Reyes, a respectable farmer, Franco, Requena, a priest, and myself, were summoned to a court martial; but having embarked in the flag ship, we could not appear, in consequence of which we were sentenced to death, declared contumacious, and all justices were authorized to apprehend any or all of us, and put the sentence into immediate execution.

Before I proceed with the operations of the Chilean squadron, I shall give some account of its origin, and the arrival of Lord Cochrane to take the command.

The brig Pueyrredon of fourteen guns was the first vessel of war that the state possessed: the brig Araucana of sixteen, and the sloop Chacabuco of twenty-two, were afterwards purchased. Captain Guise brought out the brig Galvarino of eighteen guns, formerly in the British service, and sold it to the government; the San Martin of sixty-four guns, and the Lantaro of forty-four, were two East Indiamen, purchased by the state, and converted into vessels of war. When Chile was possessed of this force, the news arrived of the sailing of the expedition from Cadiz, under the convoy of the Maria Isabel, and having obtained possession of the orders given to the captains of the transports from the Trinidad that entered Buenos Ayres, and of their rendezvous in the Pacific, Don Manuel Blanco was appointed to command the Chilean vessels of war, San Martin, flag ship, Captain Wilkinson, commander; Lantaro, Captain Worster; and the Araucana: they had the good luck to take the frigate, Maria Isabel in the bay of Talcahuano on the twenty-eighth of October, 1818, and four of the transports off the bay and at the island of Santa Maria. On the seventeenth of November the victorious Blanco entered Valparaiso with his prizes, amid manifestations of joy in this port. The government of Chile, to commemorate the action, ordered a badge of honour to be presented to Commodore Blanco and each of his officers: this was a scutcheon of a pale green colour, having a trident in the centre, with the motto, "this first essay gave to Chile the dominion of the Pacific"—este primer ensayo dió a Chile el dominio del Pacifico.

The naval force of Chile having a native as commander in chief, and the captains, officers, and crews composed principally of foreigners, must of course have been conducted in a very irregular manner; and as Don Manuel Blanco had never served in a situation higher than that of an ensign, alferes, in the Spanish navy, it could not be expected that he was competent to fill that of a commander in chief, and to conduct with either honour to himself or profit to his country the operations of a body composed of such discordant materials as the squadron of Chile then was. It must be recollected, notwithstanding, that he added a page of glory to the annals of South American naval triumphs by the capture of the Maria Isabel of forty-eight guns, and part of her convoy.

For the future success of the Chilean navy, the welfare of the state, the progress of independence, and the consummation of South American emancipation, Lord Cochrane arrived at Valparaiso, on the twenty-eighth of November, 1818. The known valour of this chief, his love of rational liberty, and the voluntary sacrifice which he had made by accepting a command in the new world, had reached Chile before the hero himself, and his arrival was hailed with every demonstration of jubilee by the natives. Before his arrival, however, Captain Spry, an Englishman, and Captain Worster, a North American, both in the Chilean service, had been very loud in declaiming against him; without alleging any other reason, than that it was quite contrary to all republican principles to allow a "nobleman" to retain his title in the service; but the true motive was too visible to escape the most blunted apprehension. Commodore Blanco had then the command of the squadron, and these gentlemen had assured themselves that they could controul him just as they chose, on account of his indifferent knowledge of his duties as commander in chief, and especially as he had to manage British seamen. This with all possible delicacy had been mentioned to Blanco, together with many whispers detrimental to the character of Lord Cochrane. On the arrival of his lordship, Commodore Blanco was one of the first to hail him as the preserver of the liberties of his country, and to offer his services under the command of his lordship; and thus the patriotic Chilean smothered dissention in the bud, and left its cultivators to feel the rankling of those thorns which they themselves had planted.

A few days after the arrival of Lord Cochrane he received from the government of Chile his commission as Vice-admiral of Chile, Admiral and Commander in Chief of the naval forces of the Republic; and on the twenty-second of December he hoisted his flag at the main of the ex-Maria Isabel, now the O'Higgins, which flag Chile can exultingly say, was never hauled down until the last Spanish flag in the Pacific had acknowledged its empire, and either directly or indirectly struck to it. At the close, when the fleet had finished its career of glory, it was lowered by the same individual who hoisted it; it dropped like the sun in the west, while the descendants of the Incas blessed it, for the benefits they had received, with songs of heartfelt gratitude.

On the sixteenth of January, 1819, Lord Cochrane left the port of Valparaiso on board the O'Higgins, Captain Forster, with the San Martin bearing the flag of Rear-admiral Blanco, Captain Wilkinson, the Lantaro, Captain Guise, and the Galvarino, Captain Spry; the Chacabuco, Captain Carter, followed, but a mutiny taking place on board, he entered Coquimbo, where the principal mutineers were landed, sentenced by a drum head court martial, and shot.

Lord Cochrane chose the first day of the carnival for his first entrance into the bay of Callao, suspecting that the whole of the inhabitants would be engaged in the follies of the season—but he was deceived. The Viceroy Pesuela had chosen that day for one of his visits to Callao, and was sailing about the bay in the brig of war Pesuela; when the Chilean squadron appeared off the headland of San Lorenzo, the captain at first mistook the Chilean vessels for Spanish merchantmen expected from Europe; however, fortunately for himself and the party, he immediately came to an anchor under the batteries. The circumstance of the visit of the Viceroy had caused the whole of the military force to be under arms, and the whole of the batteries were manned. A thick fog coming on, the San Martin, Lantaro, and Galvarino, lost sight of the flag ship; however, without waiting for them, the admiral stood close in under the forts, and dropped his anchor; a very brisk cannonading immediately commenced, and the dead calm that followed obliged his lordship to remain alone nearly two hours, under the continued cannonading from ashore, besides a brisk fire from the two Spanish frigates Esmeralda and Vengansa, brigs Pesuela and Maypu, and seven gun-boats. As soon as the breeze sprang up, the O'Higgins stood out, having sustained very little damage either in her hull or rigging, and without a single person on board having been killed. The north corner of the Real Felipe was considerably shattered by the shot from the O'Higgins, and thirteen persons were killed on shore.

His lordship next entered into a correspondence with the Viceroy, concerning the treatment which the prisoners of war (Chileans and Buenos Ayreans) had received, and were actually receiving in the Casas Matas of Callao; the Viceroy denied that they had received any ill treatment, asserted that they were considered as prisoners of war, although rebels, and traitors to their king, and concluded by expressing his surprise, that a nobleman of Great Britain should so far have forgotten his dignity, as to head a gang of traitors against their legitimate sovereign, and his lawfully constituted authorities. To this his lordship replied by saying, that the glory of every Englishman was his freedom, and that this had entitled him to choose to command the vessels of war of a free country, in preference to that of a nation of slaves—a command which had been offered to him by the Duke de San Carlos in the name of his master, Ferdinand VII.

The following proclamations were distributed along the coasts of Peru, and sent also to the Viceroy.

Lord Cochrane to the inhabitants of Lima, and other towns of Peru:

Compatriots! I flatter myself, that ere long I shall address you more cordially with this epithet. The repeated echoes of liberty in South America have been heard with pleasure in every part of enlightened Europe, and more particularly in Great Britain; I, not being able to resist the desire of joining in the defence of a cause that was interesting to all mankind, the felicity of half the new world to thousands of generations, have determined to take an active part in it. The republic of Chile has confided to me the command of her naval forces. To these the dominion of the Pacific must be consigned; by their co-operation your chains of oppression must be broken. Doubt not but that the day is at hand, on which, with the annihilation of despotism, and the infamous condition of colonists which now degrades you, you will rise to fill the rank of a free nation; that august title to which your population, your riches, your geographical position in the world, and the course of events naturally call you. But it is your duty to co-operate in preparing for this success, to remove obstacles, and to pursue the path to glory: under the assurance that you will receive the most efficacious assistance from the government of Chile, and your true friend,

Cochrane.

Don Jose de San Martin, to the soldiers of the army of Lima:

Soldiers of the army of Lima!—The object of my march towards the capital of Peru is to establish an eternal reconciliation for the happiness of all. Nine years of horror have inundated America with blood and tears. You have been oppressed and fatigued with the evils of war, undertaken by the proud agents of Spain, to satisfy their own passions, and not for the good of the nation. The opinions and the arms of this part of the world will soon be presented before Lima, to put an end to so many misfortunes. You will only prolong the sterile sacrifice, if, blind to the irresistible force of the general will, you attempt to support so rash an enterprize. Each of you has belonged to the cause of the people; each of you belongs to the cause of humanity; the duties of a soldier cannot alter those of nature. The soldiers of the Patria, as faithful in the path of honour as in that of victory, are terrible only to the enemies of liberty. They set a higher price on the value of a victory, more from the injustice which it prevents, than for the glory they acquire. Fly then from the ignominy of perishing with your detestable tyrants. In the ranks of your brother patriots you will find the path to honour, to felicity and peace. A general who has never asserted a falsehood ensures this to you.—Head quarters, Santiago de Chile, 30th December, 1818.

Jose de San Martin.

The Supreme Director of Chile, to the inhabitants of Peru:

Liberty, the daughter of Heaven, is about to descend on your fertile regions; under her shade you will occupy among the nations of the globe that high rank which awaits your opulence. The Chilean squadron, now in sight on your coasts, is the precursor of the great expedition destined to establish your independence. The moment desired by all generous hearts approaches. The territory of Chile, and her adjacent islands are free from the yoke of the oppressor. Our naval forces may compete with those of Spain, and destroy her commerce; in them you will find a firm support.

It will be an inexplicable enigma to posterity, that enlightened Lima, far from aiding the progress of Columbian liberty, shall endeavour to paralyze the generous efforts of her brothers, and deprive them of the enjoyment of their imprescriptible rights. The time is arrived for you to wash out the stain, and in which to revenge the innumerable insults you have received from the hand of despotism, as the reward of your blindness. Fix your eyes on the havoc occasioned by the tyrants in your delightful country; at the sight of them engraved in its depopulation, want of industry, monopoly and oppression; observe the insignificancy under which you have so long groaned; fly to arms, and destroy in your just indignation the standard of that despotism which oppresses you, and you will then soon arrive at the summit of prosperity.

Believe not that we wish to treat you as a conquered country; such an idea never had existence except in the heads of our enemies—of your common oppressors; we only aspire to see you free and happy. You[4] shall establish your own government, selecting that which is most analagous to your customs, situation, and inclination; you shall be your own legislators, and of course you will constitute a nation as free and independent as we are.

Peruvians! why do you hesitate? Hasten to break your chains; come and sign on the tombs of Tupac Amaru and Pumacachua, the illustrious martyrs of liberty, the contract that must ensure your independence, and our everlasting friendship.

Bernardo O'Higgins.

On the twenty-sixth a Spanish merchant ship, called la Victoria, laden with cedar planks and horses, from Chiloe, was taken by the San Martin, and on the twenty-eighth the attack was made on Callao, and two of the gun-boats were taken, after which his lordship dropped down to Huacho, and ordered rear admiral Blanco to continue in the blockade of Callao with the San Martin and Lantaro, and any other vessels that might arrive from Chile; but Blanco, after remaining a few days, raised the blockade, and sailed to Valparaiso, where he was immediately placed under an arrest by the government until the arrival of the admiral, when he was tried by a court martial for a dereliction of duty, but acquitted. Lord Cochrane proceeded from Huacho to Barranca, and thence to Huarmey and Huambacho, where he found a French brig that had received on board part of the money belonging to the Phillipine company, and which the captain immediately delivered up.

The bay of Huambacho, about fifteen miles to the southward of Santa, is one of the most convenient on the western shores of America: it is completely land-locked: the anchorage is capital, and the landing is very good: a small river of excellent water enters the bay, and in the valley abundance of fire-wood may be procured. This valley formerly belonged to the ex-Jesuits; but on account of the decrease of water in the river at certain periods of the year, there not being sufficient for the ordinary purposes of irrigation, the government has never yet found a purchaser for it.

The soil is sandy, with a mixture of vegetable mould; but like the generality of the lands cultivated in Peru it is extremely productive when irrigated. This is evinced at the small indian hamlet of Huambacho, about two leagues from the sea, and it would doubtlessly be a very fit situation for a cotton plantation, which does not require so much water as the sugar-cane or lucern. The hills that surround the valley are covered with the remains of houses belonging to the indians before the conquest; great numbers of huacas are found here, and probably much treasure is buried in them.

Lord Cochrane, after the O'Higgins and Galvarino had wooded and watered, proceeded down the coast to Paita, where having anchored, he sent a flag of truce on shore, by Don Andres de los Reyes, a Peruvian, who embarked at la Barranca, stating that the town and inhabitants should receive no injury, and that nothing but the treasures belonging to the government should be taken, as had already happened at Huaura. He requested that no resistance should be made, as it would be unavailing, and only subject the town to the destructive effects of war. The answer was, that the town and the lives and property of the inhabitants belonged to the king, and that all should be sacrificed in defence of the Spanish flag. The same individual was sent a second time, to request that the military force would not expose the town and its inhabitants; but instead of receiving the message they fired on the flag, and opened their battery on the Galvarino. This insult was immediately resented; the marines were landed, and soon drove the Spaniards from the battery and the town, which was then pillaged; the artillery was embarked, and the fort blown up. The O'Higgins and Galvarino went to the port of Barranca, and took some cattle, sugar, and rum from the farm of San Nicholas, belonging to Don Manuel Garcia, a Spaniard. It was the constant practice of Lord Cochrane to quarter on the common enemy, and nothing was ever taken from a native by force, or without paying for it. Hence we proceeded to Callao, and thence to Valparaiso, where we arrived on the fifteenth of June.

Valparaiso, situate in latitude 33° 1´ 45´´ S., and longitude 71° 30´ 56´´ west of Greenwich, is the principal port in Chile. The natives flatter themselves, that this name was given to the port by the first Spaniards who visited it, and that it is a syncope of Valle del Paraiso, valley of Paradise; but it is equally possible, that the Spaniards, who had received exaggerated accounts of the country, comparing it to Paradise, on their first approaching this part of the coast, might have exclaimed, valde Paraiso! vain Paradise! which designation its appearance at present would better justify. The bay is of a semicircular form, surrounded by very steep hills, which rise abruptly almost from the edge of the water, particularly to the southward and about half of the range to the eastward; the other half forms a kind of recess, and the hills are not so perpendicular. During the winter season they are covered with grass, with some stunted trees and bushes, such as molles, myrtles, espino, and maytenes; but the soil being a red clay, the verdure soon disappears when the summer sun begins to shine on them and the rain ceases to fall.

The principal part of the town is built between the cliffs and the sea, forming a row of houses, or rather shops; a few good houses stand also in a narrow street, but they cannot be seen from the bay, because a row of low houses with their backs to the sea prevent the prospect. The greater number of the inhabitants of this part of the town, called the port, to distinguish it from the suburbs, called the Almendral, reside in the ravines of San Francisco, San Augustin and San Antonio, where the houses rise one above another, forming a species of amphitheatre; in many of them a person may sit in his parlour, and look over the roof of his neighbour's house; at night the appearance of this part of the town is pleasing, the lights being scattered about the hills in every direction. The Almendral, or suburbs, stands in a kind of recess in the hills, on a sandy plain, and most probably was in times past a part of the bay of Valparaiso; indeed it is now often inundated by the spring tides. Some regularity begins to be adopted here in the formation of streets, and some of the houses are neat. At the bottom of the Almendral there is a small rivulet.

Valparaiso is defended by a fort on the south side of the harbour, one at the residence of the governor, and one on the north side of the bay: a citadel on the hill behind the governor's palace on an extensive scale is and will perhaps remain unfinished. The places of worship are the parish church, the conventuals of San Francisco, San Augstin, La Merced (in the Almendral) Santo Domingo, and the hospital chapel of San Juan de Dios. Some of the principal houses are built of stone, but the greater part are of adoves; all of them are covered with tiles, and those that have an upper story have a balcony in front.

Since the revolution many English conveniences and luxuries in dress and furniture, as well as improvements in the manners and customs of the inhabitants, have been adopted, and almost any thing a la Inglesa meets with approbation.

The market of Valparaiso is well supplied with meat, poultry, fish, bread, fruit, and vegetables at very moderate prices and of good quality. The climate is agreeable except when the strong winds prevail. In the months of June and July the winds from the northward are at times very heavy; on this account the anchorage is insecure, because the bay is not sheltered in that quarter.