The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald Volume I Part 7

His army, numbering four thousand two hundred men, was collected by the 21st of August, and on that day it was embarked at Valparaiso in the whole Chilian squadron. Lord Cochrane proposed to go at once to Chilca, the nearest point both to Lima and to Callao. San Martin, however, decided upon Pisco as a safer landing-place, and there the troops were deposited on the 8th of September. For fifty days they were detained there, and the fleet was forced to share their idleness, capturing only a few pa.s.sing merchantmen. On the 28th of October they were re-embarked, and Lord Cochrane again urged a vigorous attack on the capital and its port. Again he was thwarted by San Martin, who requested to be landed at Ancon, considerably to the north of Callao, and as unsuitable a halting-place as was the southerly town of Pisco.

Lord Cochrane had to comply; but he bethought him of a plan for achieving a great work, in spite of San Martin. Sending the main body of his fleet to Ancon with the troops, no the 20th, he retained the _O'Higgins_, the _Independencia_, and the _Lautaro_, with the professed object of merely blockading Callao at a safe distance.

"The fact was," he said, "that, annoyed, in common with the whole expedition, at this irresolution on the part of General San Martin, I determined that the means of Chili, furnished with great difficulty, should not be wholly wasted, without some attempt at accomplis.h.i.+ng the object of the expedition. I accordingly formed a plan of attack with the three s.h.i.+ps which I had kept back, though, being apprehensive that my design would be opposed by General San Martin, I had not even mentioned to him my intentions. This design was, to cut out the _Esmeralda_ frigate from under the fortifications, and also to get possession of another s.h.i.+p, on board of which we had learned that a million of dollars was embarked."

The plan was certainly a bold one. The _Esmeralda_, of forty-four guns, was the finest Spanish s.h.i.+p in the Pacific Ocean. Now especially well armed and manned, in readiness for any work that had to be done, she was lying in Callao Harbour, protected by three hundred pieces of artillery on sh.o.r.e and by a strong boom with chain moorings, by twenty-seven gunboats and several armed block-s.h.i.+ps. These considerations, however, only induced Lord Cochrane to proceed cautiously upon his enterprise. Three days were spent in preparations, the purpose of which was known only to himself and to his chief officers. On the afternoon of the 5th of November he issued this proclamation:--"Marines and seamen,--This night we shall give the enemy a mortal blow. To-morrow you will present yourself proudly before Callao, and all your comrades will envy your good fortune.

One hour of courage and resolution is all that is required for you to triumph. Remember that you have conquered in Valdivia, and have no fear of those who have hitherto fled from you. The value of all the vessels captured in Callao will be yours, and the same reward will be distributed amongst you as has been offered by the Spaniards in Lima to those who should capture any of the Chilian squadron. The moment of glory is approaching. I hope that the Chilians will fight as they have been accustomed to do, and that the English will act as they have ever done at home and abroad."

A request was made for volunteers, and the whole body of seamen and marines on board the three s.h.i.+ps offered to follow Lord Cochrane wherever he might lead. This was more than he wanted. "A hundred and sixty seamen and eighty marines," said Lord Cochrane, whose own narrative of the sequel will best describe it, "were placed, after dark, in fourteen boats alongside the flag-s.h.i.+p, each man, armed with cutla.s.s and pistol, being, for distinction's sake, dressed in white, with a blue band on the left arm. The Spaniards, I expected, would be off their guard, and consider themselves safe from attack for that night, since, by way of ruse, the other s.h.i.+ps had been sent out of the bay under the charge of Captain Foster, as though in pursuit of some vessels in the offing.

"At ten o'clock all was in readiness, the boats being formed in two divisions, the first commanded by Flag-Captain Crosbie and the second by Captain Gruise,--my boat leading. The strictest silence and the exclusive use of cutla.s.ses were enjoined; so that, as the oars were m.u.f.fled and the night was dark, the enemy had not the least suspicion of the impending attack.

"It was just upon midnight when we neared the small opening left in the boom, our plan being well-nigh frustrated by the vigilance of a guard-boat upon which my launch had unluckily stumbled. The challenge was given, upon which, in an undertone, I threatened the occupants of the boat with instant death if they made the least alarm. No reply was made to the threat, and in a few minutes our gallant fellows were alongside the frigate in line, boarding at several points simultaneously. The Spaniards were completely taken by surprise, the whole, with the exception of the sentries, being asleep at their quarters; and great was the havoc made amongst them by the Chilian cutla.s.ses whilst they were recovering themselves. Retreating to the forecastle, they there made a gallant stand, and it was not until the third charge that the position was carried. The fight was for a short time renewed on the quarterdeck, where the Spanish marines fell to a man, the rest of the enemy leaping overboard and into the hold to escape slaughter.

"On boarding the s.h.i.+p by the main-chains, I was knocked back by the sentry's musket, and falling on the tholl-pin of the boat, it entered my back near the spine, inflicting a severe injury, which caused me many years of subsequent suffering. Immediately regaining my footing, I reascended the side, and, when on deck, was shot through the thigh.

But, binding a handkerchief tightly round the wound, I managed, though with great difficulty, to direct the contest to its close.

"The whole affair, from beginning to end, occupied only a quarter of an hour, our loss being eleven killed and thirty wounded, whilst that of the Spaniards was a hundred and sixty, many of whom fell under the cutla.s.ses of the Chilians before they could stand to their arms.

Greater bravery I never saw displayed than by our gallant fellows.

Before boarding, the duties of all had been appointed, and a party was told off to take possession of the tops. We had not been on deck a minute, when I hailed the foretop, and was instantly answered by our own men, an equally prompt answer being returned from the frigate's main-top. No British man-of-war's crew could have excelled this minute attention to orders.

"The uproar speedily alarmed the garrison, who, hastening to their guns, opened fire on their own frigate, thus paying us the compliment of having taken it; though, even in this case, their own men must still have been on board, so that firing on them was a wanton proceeding. Several Spaniards were killed or wounded by the shot of the fortress. Amongst the wounded was Captain Coig, the commander of the _Esmeralda_, who, after he was made prisoner, received a severe contusion by a shot from his own party.

"The fire from the fortress was, however, neutralized by a successful expedient. There were two foreign s.h.i.+ps of war present during the contest, the United States frigate _Macedonian_ and the British frigate _Hyperion_; and these, as had been previously agreed upon with the Spanish authorities in case of a night attack, hoisted peculiar lights as signals, to prevent being fired upon. This contingency being provided for by us, as soon as the fortress commenced its fire on the _Esmeralda_, we also ran up similar lights, so that the garrison did not know which vessel to fire at. The _Hyperion_ and _Macedonian_ were several times struck, while the _Esmeralda_ was comparatively untouched. Upon this the neutral vessels cut their cables and moved away. Contrary to my orders, Captain Gruise then cut the _Esmeralda's_ cables also, so that there was nothing to be done but to loose her topsails and follow. The fortress thereupon ceased its fire.

"I had distinctly ordered that the cables of the _Esmeralda_ were not to be cut, but that after taking her, the force was to capture the _Maypeu_, a brig of war previously taken from Chili, and then to attack and cut adrift every s.h.i.+p near, there being plenty of time before us. I had no doubt that, when the _Esmeralda_ was taken, the Spaniards would desert the other s.h.i.+ps as fast as their boats would permit them, so that the whole might have been either captured or burnt. To this end all my previous plans had been arranged; but, on my being placed _hors de combat_ by my wounds, Captain Gruise, on whom the command of the prize devolved, chose to interpose his own judgment and content himself with the _Esmeralda_ alone; the reason a.s.signed being that the English had broken into her spirit-room and were getting drunk, whilst the Chilians were disorganized by plundering.

It was a great mistake. If we could capture the _Esmeralda_ with her picked and well-appointed crew, there would have been little or no difficulty in cutting the other s.h.i.+ps adrift in succession. It would only have been the rout of Valdivia over again, chasing the enemy, without loss, from s.h.i.+p to s.h.i.+p instead of from fort to fort."

Lord Cochrane's exploit, however, though less complete than he had intended, was as successful in its issue as it was brilliant in its achievement. "This loss of the _Esmeralda_," wrote Captain Basil Hall, then commanding a British war-s.h.i.+p in South American waters, "was a death-blow to the Spanish naval force in that quarter of the world; for, although there were still two Spanish frigates and some smaller vessels in the Pacific, they never afterwards ventured to show themselves, but left Lord Cochrane undisputed master of the coast."

The speedy liberation of Peru was its direct consequence, although that good work was seriously impaired by the continued and increasing misconduct of General San Martin, inducing troubles, of which Lord Cochrane received his full share.

In the first burst of his enthusiasm at the intelligence of Lord Cochrane's action, San Martin was generous for once. "The importance of the service you have rendered to the country, my lord," he wrote on the 10th of November, "by the capture of the frigate _Esmeralda_, and the brilliant manner in which you conducted the gallant officers and seamen under your orders to accomplish that n.o.ble enterprise, have augmented the grat.i.tude due to your former services by the Government, as well as that of all interested in the public welfare and in your fame. All those who partic.i.p.ated in the risks and glory of the deed also deserve well of their countrymen; and I have the satisfaction to be the medium of transmitting the sentiments of admiration which such transcendent success has excited in the chiefs of the army under my command." "It is impossible for me to eulogize in proper language,"

he also wrote to the Chilian administration, "the daring enterprise of the 5th of November, by which Lord Cochrane has decided the superiority of our naval forces, augmented the splendour and power of Chili, and secured the success of this campaign."

A few days later, however, San Martin wrote in very different terms.

"Before the General-in-Chief left the Vice-Admiral of the squadron,"

he said, in a bulletin to the army, "they agreed on the execution of a memorable project, sufficient to astonish intrepidity itself, and to make the history of the liberating expedition of Peru eternal." "This glory," he added, "was reserved for the Liberating Army, whose efforts have s.n.a.t.c.hed the victims of tyranny from its hands." Thus impudently did he arrogate to himself a share, at any rate, in the initiation of a project which Lord Cochrane, knowing that he would oppose it, had purposely kept secret from him, and a.s.sign the whole merit of its completion to the army which his vacillation and incompetence were holding in unwelcome inactivity.

Lord Cochrane was too much accustomed to personal injustice, however, to be very greatly troubled by that fresh indignity. It was a far heavier trouble to him that his first triumph was not allowed to be supplemented by prompt completion of the work on which, and not on any individual aggrandis.e.m.e.nt, his heart was set--the establishment of Peruvian as well as Chilian freedom.

San Martin, having done nothing hitherto but allow his army to waste its strength and squander its resources, first at Pisco and afterwards at Ancon, now fixed upon Huacha as another loitering-place. Thither Lord Cochrane had to convey it, before he was permitted to resume the blockade of Callao. This blockade lasted, though not all the while under his personal direction, for eight months.

"Several attempts were now made," said Lord Cochrane, with reference to the first few weeks of the blockade, "to entice the remaining Spanish naval force from their shelter under the batteries by placing the _Esmeralda_ apparently within reach, and the flags.h.i.+p herself in situations of some danger. One day I carried her through an intricate strait called the Boqueron, in which nothing beyond a fifty-ton schooner was ever seen. The Spaniards, expecting every moment to see the s.h.i.+p strike, manned their gunboats, ready to attack as soon as she was aground; of which there was little danger, for we had found, and buoyed off with small bits of wood invisible to the enemy, a channel through which a vessel could pa.s.s without much difficulty. At another time, the Esmeralda being in a more than usually tempting position, the Spanish gunboats ventured out in the hope of recapturing her, and for an hour maintained a smart fire; but on seeing the _O'Higgins_ manoeuvring to cut them off, they precipitately retreated."

In ways like those the Spaniards were locked in, and hara.s.sed, in Callao Bay. Good result came in the steady weakening of the Spanish cause. On the 3rd of December, six hundred and fifty soldiers deserted to the Chilian army. On the 8th they were followed by forty officers; and after that hardly a day pa.s.sed without some important defections to the patriot force.'

Unfortunately, however, there was weakness also among the patriots.

San Martin, idle himself, determined to profit by the advantages, direct and indirect, which Lord Cochrane's prowess had secured and was securing. It began to be no secret that, as soon as Peru was freed from the Spanish yoke, he proposed to subject it to a military despotism of his own. This being resented by Lord Cochrane, who on other grounds could have little sympathy or respect for his a.s.sociate, coolness arose between the leaders. Lord Cochrane, anxious to do some more important work, if only a few troops might be allowed to co-operate with his sailors, was forced to share some of San Martin's inactivity. In March, 1821, he offered, if two thousand soldiers were a.s.signed to him, to capture Lima; and when this offer was rejected, he declared himself willing to undertake the work with half the number of men. With difficulty he at last obtained a force of six hundred; and by them and the fleet nearly all the subsequent fighting in Peru was done. Lord Cochrane did not venture upon a direct a.s.sault on the capital with so small an army; but he used it vigorously from point to point on the coast, between Callao and Arica, and thus compelled the capitulation of Lima on the 6th of July.

Again, as heretofore, he was thanked in the first moment of triumph, to be slighted at leisure. Lord Cochrane, on entering the city, was welcomed as the great deliverer of Peru: the medals distributed on the 28th of July--the day on which Peru's independence was proclaimed--testified that the honour was due to General San Martin and his Liberating Army. That, however, was only part of a policy long before devised. "It is now became evident to me," said Lord Cochrane, "that the army had been kept inert for the purpose of preserving it entire to further the ambitious views of the General, and that, with the whole force now at Lima, the inhabitants were completely at the mercy of their pretended liberator, but in reality their conqueror."

With that policy, however much he reprobated it, Lord Cochrane wisely judged that it was not for him to quarrel. "As the existence of this self-const.i.tuted authority," he said, "was no less at variance with the inst.i.tutions of the Chilian Republic than with its solemn promises to the Peruvians, I hoisted my flag on board the _O'Higgins_, determined to adhere solely to the interests of Chili; but not interfering in any way with General San Martin's proceedings till they interfered with me in my capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilian navy." He was not, therefore, in Lima on the 3rd of August, when San Martin issued a proclamation declaring himself Protector of Peru, and appointing three of his creatures as his Ministers of State. Of the way in which he became acquainted of this violent and lawless measure, a precise description has been given by an eye-witness, Mr. W.B.

Stevenson.

"On the following morning, the 4th of August," he says, "Lord Cochrane, uninformed of the change which had taken place in the t.i.tle of San Martin, visited the palace, and began to beg the General-in-Chief to propose some means for the payment of the seamen who had served their time and fulfilled their contract. To this San Martin answered that 'he would never pay the Chilian squadron unless it was sold to Peru, and then the payment should be considered part of the purchase-money.' Lord Cochrane replied that 'by such a transaction the squadron of Chili would be transferred to Peru by merely paying what was due to the officers and crews for services done to that State.' San Martin knit his brows and, turning to his ministers, Garcia and Monteagudo, ordered them to retire; to which his lords.h.i.+p objected, stating that, 'as he was not master of the Spanish language, he wished them to remain as interpreters, being fearful that some expression, not rightly understood, might be considered offensive.'

San Martin now turned round to the Admiral and said, 'Are you aware, my lord, that I am Protector of Peru?' 'No,' said his lords.h.i.+p. 'I ordered my secretaries to inform you of it,' returned San Martin.

'That is now unnecessary, for you have personally informed me,' said his lords.h.i.+p: 'I hope that the friends.h.i.+p which has existed between General San Martin and myself will continue to exist between the Protector of Peru and myself.' San Martin then, rubbing his hands, said, 'I have only to say that I am Protector of Peru.' The manner in which this last sentence was expressed roused the Admiral, who, advancing, said, 'Then it becomes me, as senior officer of Chili, and consequently the representative of the nation, to request the fulfilment of all the promises made to Chili and the squadron; but first, and princ.i.p.ally, the squadron.' San Martin returned, 'Chili!

Chili! I will never pay a single real to Chili! As to the squadron, you may take it where you please, and go where you choose. A couple of schooners are quite enough for me.' On hearing this Garcia left the room, and Monteagudo walked to the balcony. San Martin paced the room for a short time, and, turning to his lords.h.i.+p, said, 'Forget, my lord, what is past.' The Admiral replied, 'I will when I can,' and immediately left the palace.[A] "One thing has been omitted in the preceding narrative," said Lord Cochrane. "General San Martin, following me to the staircase, had the temerity to propose to me to follow his example--namely, to break faith with the Chilian Government, to which we had both sworn, to abandon the squadron to his interests, and to accept the higher grade of First Admiral of Peru.

I need scarcely say that a proposition so dishonourable was declined; when, in a tone of irritation, he declared that 'he would neither give the seamen their arrears of pay nor the gratuity he had promised.'"

[Footnote A: W.B. Stevenson, "Twenty Years' Residence in South America." 1825.]

Lord Cochrane lost no time in returning to his flags.h.i.+p in Callao Roads. Thence, however, on the 7th of August, he wrote a letter to San Martin, couched in terms as temperate and persuasive as he could bring himself to use. "My dear General," he there said, "I address you for the last time under your late designation, being aware that the liberty I may take as a friend might not be deemed decorous to you under the t.i.tle of Protector, for I shall not, with a gentleman of your understanding, take into account, as a motive for abstaining to speak truth, any chance of your resentment. Nay, were I certain that such would be the effect of this letter, I would nevertheless perform such an act of friends.h.i.+p, in repayment of the support you gave me at a time when the basest plots were laid for my dismissal from the Chilian service. Permit me to give you the experience of eleven years, during which I sat in the first senate in the world, and to say what I antic.i.p.ate on the one hand, and what I fear on the other--nay, what I foresee. You have it in your power to be the Napoleon of South America; but you have also the power to choose your course, and if the first steps are false, the eminence on which you stand will, as though from the brink of a precipice, make your fall the more heavy and the more certain. The real strength of government is public opinion. What would the world say, were the Protector of Peru, as his first act, to cancel the bonds of San Martin, even though grat.i.tude may be a private and not a public virtue? What would they say, were the Protector to refuse to pay the expense of that expedition which placed him in his present elevated situation? What would they say, were it promulgated to the world that he intended not even to remunerate those employed in the navy which contributed to his success?" Much more to the same effect Lord Cochrane wrote, urging honesty upon San Martin as the only path by which he could win for himself a permanent success, and making a special claim upon his honesty in the interests of the seamen and naval officers, to whom neither pay nor prize-money had been given since their departure from Chili nearly a year before.

It was all in vain. San Martin wrote, on the 9th of August, a letter making professions of virtue and acknowledging much personal indebtedness to Lord Cochrane and the fleet, but evading the whole question at issue. "I am disposed," he said, "to recompense valour displayed in the cause of the country. But you know, my lord, that the wages of the crews do not come under these circ.u.mstances, and that I, never having engaged to pay the amount, am not obliged to do so. That debt is due from Chili, whose Government engaged the seamen."

Lord Cochrane knew that Chili would decline to pay for work that, if intended to be done in its interests, had been perverted from that intention; and his crews, also knowing it, became reasonably mutinous.

After much further correspondence--in which San Martin suggested as his only remedy that Lord Cochrane should accept the dishonourable proposal made to him, and, becoming himself First Admiral of Peru, should induce the fleet to join in the same rebellion against Chili to which the army had been brought by its general, and in which Captains Guise and Spry, always evil-minded, had already joined--Lord Cochrane adopted a bold but altogether justifiable manoeuvre. A large quant.i.ty of treasure, seized from the Spaniards, having been deposited by San Martin at Ancon, he sailed thither, in the middle of September, and quietly took possession of it. So much as lawful owners could be found for was given up to them. With the residue, amounting to 285,000 dollars, Lord Cochrane paid off the year's arrears to every officer and man in his employ, taking nothing for himself, but reserving the small surplus for the pressing exigencies and re-equipment of the squadron.

It is unnecessary to detail the angry correspondence that arose out of that rough act of justice. Before the money was distributed, treacherous offers to restore it and enter into rebellious league with San Martin were made to Lord Cochrane; and with these were alternated mock-virtuous complaints and bombastic threats. Both bribes and threats were treated by him with equal contempt.

"After a lapse of nearly forty years' anxious consideration," he wrote in 1858, "I cannot reproach myself with having done any wrong in the seizure of the money of the Protectorial Government. General San Martin and myself had been in our respective departments deputed to liberate Peru from Spain, and to give to the Peruvians the same free inst.i.tutions which Chili herself enjoyed. The first part of our object had been fully effected by the achievements and vigilance of the squadron; the second part was frustrated by General San Martin arrogating to himself despotic power, which set at naught the wishes and voice of the people. As 'my fortune in common with his own' was only to be secured by acquiescence in the wrong he had done to Chili by casting off his allegiance to her, and by upholding him in the still greater wrong he was inflicting on Peru, I did not choose to sacrifice my self-esteem and professional character by lending myself as an instrument to purposes so unworthy. I did all in my power to warn General San Martin of the consequences of ambition so ill-directed, but the warning was neglected, if not despised. Chili trusted to him to defray the expenses of the squadron, when its objects, as laid down by the Supreme Director, should be accomplished; but, in place of fulfilling the obligation, he permitted the squadron to starve, its crews to go in rags, and the s.h.i.+ps to be in perpetual danger for want of the proper equipment which Chili could not afford to give them when they sailed from Valparaiso. The pretence for this neglect was want of means, though, at the same time, money to a vast amount was sent away from the capital to Ancon. Seeing that no intention Existed on the part of the Protector's Government to do justice to the Chilian squadron, whilst every effort was made to excite discontent among the officers and men with the purpose of procuring their transfer to Peru, I seized the public money, satisfied the men, and saved the navy to the Chilian Republic, which afterwards warmly thanked me for what I had done. Despite the obloquy cast upon me by the Protector's Government, there was nothing wrong in the course I pursued, if only for the reason that, if the Chilian squadron was to be preserved, it was impossible for me to have done otherwise.

Years of reflection have only produced the conviction that, were I again placed in similar circ.u.mstances, I should adopt precisely the same course."

In spite of his treachery to the Chilian Government, General San Martin professed to retain his functions as Commander-in-Chief of the Chilian liberating expedition to Peru; and, accordingly, when he found it useless to make further efforts, by bribes or threats, to seduce Lord Cochrane from his allegiance, he ordered him to return at once to Valparaiso. This order Lord Cochrane refused to obey, seeing that the work entrusted to him--the entire destruction of the Spanish squadron in the Pacific--had not yet been completed.

He determined to complete that work, first going to Guayaquil to repair and refit his s.h.i.+ps, which San Martin would not allow him to do in any Peruvian port. He was thus employed during six weeks following the 18th of October, 1821.

On his departure, a complimentary address from the townsmen afforded him an opportunity of offering some good advice on a matter in which his long and intelligent political experience showed him that they were especially at fault. The inhabitants of Guayaquil, like many other young communities, sought to increase their revenues and strengthen their independence by violent restrictions upon foreign commerce and arbitrary support of native monopolists. Lord Cochrane eloquently propounded to them the doctrine of free trade. "Let your public press," he said, "declare the consequences of monopoly, and affix your names to the defence of your enlightened system. Let it show, if your province contains eighty thousand inhabitants, and if eighty of these are privileged merchants according to the old system, that nine hundred and ninety-nine persons out of a thousand must suffer because their cotton, coffee, tobacco, timber, and other productions, must come into the hands of the monopolist, as the only purchaser of what they have to sell, and the only seller of what they must necessarily buy; the effect being that he will buy at the lowest possible rate and sell at the dearest, so that not only are the nine hundred and ninety-nine injured, but the lands will remain waste, the manufactories without workmen, and the people will be lazy and poor for want of a stimulus, it being a law of nature that no man will labour solely for the gain of another. Tell the monopolist that the true method of acquiring general riches, political power, and even his own private advantage, is to sell his country's produce as high, and foreign goods as low, as possible, and that public compet.i.tion can alone accomplish this. Let foreign merchants, who bring capital, and those who practise any art or handicraft, be permitted to settle freely. Thus a compet.i.tion will be formed, from which all must reap advantage. Then will land and fixed property increase in value. The magazines, instead of being the receptacles of filth and crime, will be full of the richest foreign and domestic productions; and all will be energy and activity, because the reward will be in proportion to the labour. Your river will be filled with s.h.i.+ps, and the monopolist degraded and shamed. You will bless the day in which Omnipotence permitted to be rent asunder the veil of obscurity, under which the despotism of Spain, the abominable tyranny of the Inquisition, and the want of liberty of the press, so long hid the truth from your sight.

Let your customs' duties be moderate, in order to promote the greatest possible consumption of foreign and domestic goods; then smuggling will cease and the returns to the treasury increase. Let every man do as he pleases as regards his own property, views, and interests; because each individual will watch over his own with more zeal than senates, ministers, or kings. By your enlarged views set an example to the New World; and thus, as Guayaquil is, from its situation, the central republic, it will become the centre of the agriculture, commerce, and riches of the Pacific."

Lord Cochrane left Guayaquil on the 3rd of December, and cruised northwards in search of the _Prueba_ and the _Venganza_, the only two remaining Spanish frigates, which had made their escape from Callao and gone in the direction of Mexico. He sailed along the Colombian and Mexican coasts as far as Acapulco, where he called on the 29th of January, 1822, without finding the objects of his search. He there learned, on the 2nd of February, from an in-coming merchantman, that the frigates had eluded him and were now somewhere to the southwards.

Upon that he at once retraced his course, and, in spite of a storm which nearly wrecked his two best s.h.i.+ps, one of them being the captured _Esmeralda_, now christened the _Valdivia_, was at Guayaquil again on the 13th of March. There, as he expected, from information received on the pa.s.sage, he found the _Venganza._ Both the frigates had been compelled, by want of provisions, to run the risk of halting at Guayaquil, whither also an envoy from San Martin had arrived, instructed to tempt the Guayaquilians into friends.h.i.+p with Peru and jealousy of Chili. On the appearance of the Spanish frigates, he had persuaded their captains, as the only means of averting the certain ruin that Lord Cochrane was planning for them, quietly to surrender to the Peruvian Government. In this way Chili was cheated of its prizes, although Lord Cochrane's main object, the entire overthrow of the Spanish war s.h.i.+pping in the Pacific, was accomplished without further use of powder and shot. The _Prueba_ had been sent to Callao, and the _Venganza_ was now being refitted at Guayaquil.

Lord Cochrane had now done all that it was possible for him to do in fulfilment of the naval mission on which he had quitted Chili a year and a half before. Proceeding southward, he anch.o.r.ed in Callao Roads from the 25th of April till the 10th of May. San Martin's Government, fearing punishment for their misdeeds, prepared to defend Callao. Lord Cochrane, however, wrote to say that he had no intention of making war upon the Peruvians; that all he asked was adequate payment for the services rendered to them by his officers and seamen. In the same letter he denounced the new treachery that had been shown with reference to the _Venganza_ and the _Prueba_.

The answer to that letter was a visit from San Martin's chief minister, who begged Lord Cochrane to recall it, and impudently repeated the old offers of service under the Peruvian Government, adding that San Martin had written a private letter to the same effect. "Tell the Protector from me," said Lord Cochrane, "that if, after the conduct he has pursued, he had sent me a private letter, it would certainly have been returned unanswered. You may also tell him that it is not my wish to injure him, that I neither fear him nor hate him, but that I disapprove of his conduct."

Lord Cochrane's brief stay off Callao sufficed to convince him that, though the people of Peru were being for the time subjected to a tyranny almost equal to that practised by Spain, no one was likely to be long in fear of San Martin, as his treacheries and his vices were already bringing upon him well-deserved disgrace and punishment. To that purport Lord Cochrane wrote to O'Higgins on the 2nd of May. "As the attached and sincere friend of your excellency," he said, "I hope you will take into your serious consideration the propriety of at once fixing the Chilian Government upon a base not to be shaken by the fall of the present tyranny in Peru, of which there are not only indications, but the result is inevitable--unless, indeed, the mischievous counsels of vain and mercenary men can suffice to prop up a fabric of the most barbarous political architecture, serving as a screen from whence to dart their weapons against the heart of liberty.

Thank G.o.d, my hands are free from the stain of labouring in any such work; and having finished all you gave me to do, I may now rest till you shall command my further endeavours for the honour and security of my adopted land."

CHAPTER IX.

LORD COCHRANE'S RETURN TO VALPARAISO.--HIS FURTHER ILL-TREATMENT BY THE CHILIAN GOVERNMENT.--HIS RESIGNATION OF CHILIAN EMPLOYMENT, AND ACCEPTANCE OF EMPLOYMENT UNDER THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL.--HIS SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF CHILI.--THE RESULTS OF HIS CHILIAN SERVICE.

[1822-1823.]