Sketch of O'Higgins, San Martin, Lord Cochrane, Las Heras, and Monteagudo....Sailing of the Expedition, and arrival at Pisco....Debarkation....Occurrences at Pisco....Colonel Arenales, with a division of the Army, marches to Arica....Troops embark and proceed to Ancon....News of the Revolution of Guayaquil....Capture of the Spanish Frigate Esmeralda....Army goes down to Huacho....Head Quarters at Huaura.

Few things are more irksome, or perhaps none more difficult, than to pourtray living characters, especially those of great men. Misapprehension, flattery, or odium, generally constitute the chiara obscura of the painting; however, as this task has at this period of my narrative become indispensable, I shall endeavour to fulfil it with impartiality, hoping that at its conclusion my readers will confess that the colours have not been carelessly selected, nor in any way misapplied.

Don Bernardo O'Higgins, the supreme director of Chile, possesses a considerable share of real courage; is resolute in executing a determination, but tardy in forming it; diffident of his own abilities, he is willing to take advice from any one, but always inclined to consider the last as the best. Thus, without forming his plans on the judicious analysis of the counsels offered, by eschewing the good, and rejecting the evil, he has often been led into difficulties in his political administration. These waverings were highly injurious to the furtherance of Chilean prosperity, which was, no doubt, the idol of his soul; and this same want of determination often produced evils of no less moment in the military department. His love of his country was doubtless sincere, and perhaps his earnest desire to be always right sometimes led him into errors; but in this case it is more just to judge of the motive, or the cause, than of the action, or the effect. The establishment of the senada consulta was in itself a virtuous measure; but the expectation of finding five individuals who should see the good of the country, and the advancement of its true interests, through the same medium as himself, was one of the virtuous mistakes of O'Higgins, which placed him under the control of his own creatures, and often retarded the execution of plans of vital importance to the state, and rendered their execution either abortive or nugatory.

The private character of O'Higgins was truly amiable. He was kind and condescending; apparently more at home at his evening tertulias than when under the canopy of the Supreme Directorship. In the whole of his conduct it might be truly said, that

"E'en his vices lean'd to virtue's side."

Being the son of an Irishman, Don Ambrose Higgins, who died in the high situation of Viceroy of Peru, he was passionately fond of the countrymen of his father, and I believe an Irishman was never deceived in his expectations of support and protection in O'Higgins. In short, the character which a Chilean gave to me conveys a very accurate summary of his general outline. "There is too much wax, and too little steel in his composition; however, there are few better, and many worse men than Don Bernardo."

The character of General San Martin will be best drawn from the conduct which he has observed. He was first known while in a military capacity in Spain, where he served as Edecan de Policia to General Jordan, with the rank of Captain. At this time a majority became vacant, which he solicited of General Castanos, but meeting with a refusal, he abandoned Spain and her cause, came over to England, where he took shipping and proceeded to Buenos Ayres in 1811. He there received the command of a division of the patriot troops, and defeated a party of 500 of the enemy at San Lorenzo. He was afterwards appointed commander in chief of the army of Buenos Ayres, in Upper Peru, where nothing transpired to render an account of his command of any importance. When superseded, he went to Mendoza, and there met O'Higgins and the Chilean refugees; a plan for the restoration of Chile was formed, San Martin took the command of the army. The success of the patriots at Chacabuco and Maypu has already been related, from which time nothing of importance occurred till 1820, when he was appointed by the Chilean government general in chief of the forces sent to Peru, called the "liberating expedition." I shall abstain from making any comments on the character of General San Martin, leaving my readers to form their own opinions concerning him, founded on the facts which I shall present, authenticated by the circumstances as they arose.

Lord Cochrane is too well known to require any encomium from my pen. His services to his native country entitled him to the honour of knighthood in the military Order of the Bath; being the only captain in the British navy, who enjoyed this distinguished badge of national glory. In the new world, when his services were not needed in the old, his career of glory has been as brilliant as his most important services were necessary; and I do not hesitate in asserting, that but for his assiduity and unremitting attention, his military knowledge, and determined valour, the western shores of America would have still been in the possession of Spain; her fleet would have now commanded the Pacific, and "British Commerce" would have been excluded from the extensive market which it enjoys. Chile, Peru, and Columbia have repeatedly expressed their gratitude, the high sense they entertain, and the just appreciation which they hold of the merits of this hero; this supporter of their rights; this defender of their liberty—and if the name of Cochrane can ever be forgotten in the old world, or his services not duly requited, it will be found enrolled in the imperishable archives of the new, enshrined in the gratitude of the present and future generations. "Lord Cochrane is such a miracle of nautical skill and courage; his cause of banishment from his country is so lamentable—his adventures have been so romantic—and his achievements so splendid, that no Englishman can read them without pride, that such things have been done by his countryman; and without solemn concern that such talents and genius should be lost to the land that gave them birth."[6]

Don Juan Gregorio de las Heras, Major-general, and second in command of the army, had established his character as a soldier and a commander, by his boldness and intrepidity at Talcahuano, in 1817. This general merited the applause of every one, and his conduct in Peru endeared him to every soldier, and every lover of the cause in which he fought;—there can be no doubt that had he been the commander in chief, those torrents of blood which have been shed in Peru since 1820, would most certainly have been spared. In his actions Las Heras was mild, affable, and unassuming, and in his manners he was a perfect gentleman. In his general character he was sincere and candid; uniting always such qualities as made him beloved by his friends, and feared by his enemies; in fine he is an ornament to society, and an honour to his birth-place, Buenos Ayres, where his patriotic virtues have been rewarded with the Supreme Magistracy.

Don Bernardo Monteagudo was one of those individuals who too often appear on the stage in revolutionary times, who "without feeling mock at all who feel." He is a native of Upper Peru, of the lowest rank in society, of spurious offspring, and African genealogy; he applied himself to the study of the law, and his mind is composed of the very worst materials which characterize the sullen zambo; his imagination is active and aspiring, like that of the mulatto, a composition which is formed to fulfil the Spanish adage, "tirar la piedra, y esconder la mano, throw the stone, and hide the hand." He had been repeatedly employed by his master San Martin to gild over, under the forms of law, such proceedings as even he, with a blushless cheek was ashamed to avow. The murder of the two Carreras at Mendosa, and that of the Spanish officers confined at San Luis, are examples of what one monster can execute, and another defend. His subsequent conduct in Peru will better serve to define his true character than what I dare even venture to attempt—for fear it should be supposed that prejudice has acted as a stimulus.

The talents and literature of Monteagudo have been held up as possessing considerable perfection; but it was justly said by Un LimeÑo[7] in his Alcance al Postillon, printed at Santiago, September 5th, 1822, "that his productions were impertinent comparisons, formed for benumbed and monotonous newspaper paragraphs."

The expedition having left Valparaiso, the O'Higgins entered the bay of Coquimbo, where the Araucano and a transport had been sent to embark some troops; these joined the rest, and we proceeded to our rendezvous, Pisco, and entered the bay on the seventh of September. On the eighth the troops began to disembark, but such was the prudence of General San Martin, that they were not allowed to proceed towards the town of Pisco, until about three thousand were landed; these advanced on the ninth, formed in three solid squares, under the command of Major-general las Heras, while San Martin ran down the coast of the bay, in the schooner Montezuma, to observe the operations of the enemy, which was composed of forty regulars, and two hundred militia, commanded by the Count of Monte-mar. This extraordinary prudence gave the inhabitants of Pisco time to retire, which they did, and took with them even the furniture from their houses, while they drove before them their slaves and their cattle into the interior. San Martin, not willing to attribute the absence of the inhabitants, and the loss of provisions, to his own tardy movements, but to the inimical feelings of the Peruvians, was very much chagrined, and stated it as his belief, that he had been deceived with respect to the accounts he had received from different parts of Peru; and, in fact, he began to doubt of the success of the expedition. What a contrast was this to the landing of the gallant Lieutenant-colonel Charles, about a year before; who, with less than one-tenth of San Martin's troops, disembarked, and in three hours possessed himself of the battery and town of Pisco. But this was considered an imprudent act, and a want of generalship: and so it was, if the greatest skill consists in avoiding danger, and in sparing both friends and enemies for a more convenient occasion, to which may be added, that Charles lost his life.

On the day on which the expedition arrived at Pisco, the constitutional government had been restored in Lima, and the Viceroy was at the theatre when he received the first news: he immediately retired, after having heard the old Spanish adage frequently repeated, "a cada cochino gordo, le llega su San Martin—for every fat hog, San Martin, will arrive;" alluding to the fairs held in Spain on the day of Saint Martin for the sale of hogs. The idea, that "all was not right in Denmark," induced Pesuela to send immediately for the manager of the theatre, and to examine the prompter's book; when convinced that there was no collusion between the South American hero and the clown of the Lima stage, his excellency dismissed the manager, stating, that being a native of Spain, he could not doubt his loyalty. Had he been an American, he would perhaps have been sent to prison for the prophetic crimes of Calderon, the author of the comedy.

On the fourteenth, part of the convoy which had been separated from us at sea arrived; and in the evening a Spanish vessel of war, bearing a flag of truce, having on board a Spanish officer, was sent by the Viceroy to San Martin to solicit a cessation of hostilities, and to appoint commissioners to conciliate the interests of Spain and America. On the twenty-sixth, the deputies met at Miraflores, two leagues to the southward of Lima, and signed an armistice of eight days; but at their conferences nothing was agreed to, the Spanish deputies requesting an acknowledgment of the constitutional government of Spain, and the evacuation of the Peruvian territory by the Chilean forces; and the patriots that of the absolute independence of the country. Such being the respective basis on which the conciliating deputies were ordered to insist, the conference ended on the fourth of October, and on the fifth hostilities again commenced.

On the arrival of the expedition at Pisco, several proclamations were issued: that of the supreme director of Chile contained the following paragraph:

"Peruvians,—behold the pact and conditions on which Chile, in the face of the Supreme Being, and calling on all the nations of the earth as witnesses and revengers of a violation, faces fatigues and death to save you. You shall be free and independent; you shall constitute your own laws by the unbiassed and spontaneous will of your representatives; no military nor civil influence, either direct or indirect, shall be exercised by your brethren in your social dispositions; you shall discharge the armed force sent to protect you at the moment you choose, without any attention to your danger or security, should you think fit; no military force shall ever occupy a free town, unless it be called in by a legitimate magistracy; neither by us nor through our assistance shall any peninsular or party feelings, that may have preceded your liberty, be punished: ready to destroy the armed force which resists your rights, we pray you to forget, on the day of your glory, all past grievances, and to reserve the most severe justice for future obstinate insults."

On the thirteenth of October, San Martin issued the following paragraph from the army press:

"People of Peru,—I have paid the tribute which, as a public man, I owe to the opinion of others: I have shewn what is my object and my mission towards you: I come to fulfil the expectations of all those who wish to belong to the country that gave them birth, and who desire to be governed by their own laws. On that day when Peru shall freely pronounce as to the form of her institutions, be they whatever they may, my functions shall cease, and I shall have the glory of announcing to the government of Chile, of which I am a subject, that their heroic efforts have at last received the consolation of having given liberty to Peru, and security to the neighbouring states."

The sequel will shew how these solemn promises were forgotten; and how the dreadful results which followed such a system of duplicity and deceit are characteristics which blacken the name of a private individual, and blast the honour of a "public man."

On the fifth of October, hostilities having recommenced, Colonel Arenales, with a division of twelve hundred men and two pieces of artillery, left Pisco for Ica, where he arrived on the sixth, and was received by the corporation and inhabitants of the city with the strongest marks of the most sincere enthusiasm in the cause of liberty. Colonel Quimper and the Count de Monte-mar, with a force of eight hundred men, fled from Ica, but two companies of infantry, with their officers, returned and joined Arenales. Part of the division under Arenales was sent to La Nasca on the twelfth, where they entered, and completely routed the enemy. Quimper and Monte-mar made their escape, owing to the fleetness of their horses; but all the baggage, consisting of arms, ammunition, and equipage, was taken, together with six officers and eighty privates.

On the fifteenth, about a hundred mules laden with stores belonging to the enemy were also captured; and Arenales having established an independent government at Ica, proceeded on his route towards Guamanga.

The troops of the expedition were distributed on the different estates in the neighbourhood of Pisco, Chincha, and CaÑete, which either belonged to Spaniards, or Americans who had proved themselves inimical to the object of the liberating forces, particularly on those belonging to the Count of Monte-mar. All slaves capable of bearing arms, and willing to serve in the army of San Martin, were declared free; however, the number that presented themselves did not accord with the sanguine expectations of the chief, and his uneasiness at what he considered lukewarmness in general in the sacred cause began to produce impatience bordering on despair. He informed Lord Cochrane that he should remove his head quarters to Truxillo; but his Lordship fortunately advised him to desist from a plan which would undoubtedly at once have ruined all his hopes. Truxillo being at the distance of a hundred leagues to the northward of Lima, it would have been almost impossible for his troops to have marched across a country such as I have already described without experiencing the greatest privations; and for want of the necessary stores they could not possibly have returned by sea; besides, the division under the command of Arenales would have been abandoned to its fate, and almost delivered up to the enemy. The only temptation that such a position could hold out to San Martin was, that Truxillo is a walled city, easily tenable, and at a short distance from the sea-port of Huanchaco; however it was determined to remove the head quarters to the north of Lima, and on the twenty-second the troops began to embark.

On the twenty-sixth, the whole of the liberating expedition left the bay of Pisco, and on the twenty-ninth it arrived off Callao, where the vessels anchored under the island of San Lorenzo, presenting at once to Lima a view of the forces sent to free the metropolis of South America from the chains of colonial thraldom. On the thirtieth, the transports, under convoy of the San Martin, dropped down to the bay of Ancon; the O'Higgins, Lautaro, Independencia, and brig Araucano, still remaining in the bay of Callao.

On the third of November, his Lordship astonished the inhabitants of Callao, by sailing through the narrow passage that lies between the island of San Lorenzo and the main, called the Boqueron. Never had the Spaniards known a vessel of more than fifty tons attempt what they now saw done with a fifty gun frigate. Expecting every moment to see us founder, the enemy had manned their gunboats, and formed themselves in a line ready to attack us the instant they should observe us strike; to witness which, the batteries were crowned with spectators; but to their utter astonishment we passed the straight, leaving them to ruminate on the nautical tactics of the Admiral of the Chilean squadron.

Having passed the Boqueron, a ship and a schooner hove in sight; the ship proved to be English, the schooner to be the Alcance, from Guayaquil, bringing the news of the revolution and declaration of independence of that city and province, and having on board the ex-governor and other Spanish authorities. Guayaquil followed the example of the other South American cities in the manner in which she threw off the colonial yoke; the Spanish mandataries were deposed, and a new government established on the ninth of October, without any bloodshed, or even insults offered to the individuals deposed.

The adventurous spirit of Lord Cochrane immediately formed the project of performing the most gallant achievement that has honoured the exertions of the patriot arms in the new world. The two Spanish frigates Prueba and Vengansa had left the coast of Peru, and the only vessel of respectable force left at Callao was the frigate Esmeralda. She was at anchor in this port, guarded by fifteen gunboats, two schooners, two brigs of war, and three large armed merchantmen, besides the protection of the forts and batteries on shore, and a floating boom surrounding all the vessels, open only on the north side, lying close to the shore of Bocanegra. His lordship determined on cutting out the frigate, the brigs and schooners, and as many of the boats and merchantmen as might be possible. This daring enterprize was to be executed by volunteers alone; but when the act was proposed on the third of November to the crews of the different vessels, the whole of them wished to share in the glory of the undertaking. On this account it became necessary to issue the following proclamation, which was received with that enthusiasm which the voice of a hero causes, when he speaks to those who know his character:

"Soldiers and sailors,—To-night we will give a mortal blow to the enemy; to-morrow you will present yourselves before Callao, and all your companions will look on you with envy. One hour of courage and resolution is all that is necessary to triumph; remember that you are the victors of Valdivia, and fear not those who have always fled before you.

"The value of all the vessels taken out of Callao shall be yours; and, moreover, the same sum of money offered by the government of Lima to the captors of any vessel of the Chilean squadron, shall be distributed among you. The moment of glory is at hand. I hope, Chileans, you will behave as you have hitherto done; and that the Englishmen will act as they are accustomed to do both at home and abroad. Nov. 4th, 1820. Cochrane."

On the fourth of November, fourteen boats belonging to the Chilean vessels of war were manned, and left the ships, filled with volunteers, at half past ten o'clock at night; but this was only intended by his lordship to exercise the men. On the fifth, being the day determined on by the admiral for the gallant enterprize, the signalman of the flag-ship was sent to the signal staff erected on the island of San Lorenzo, where he hoisted two or three flags, and was answered by the O'Higgins; the Lautaro, Independencia, and Araucano immediately weighed anchor, and stood out of the bay, leaving on board the O'Higgins the boats and volunteers. This ruse de guerre completely succeeded, and the Spaniards were persuaded that they had nothing to fear that night, for they supposed that some strange sail had appeared in the offing, and that our vessels had gone out in pursuit of it. All being thus ready, at ten o'clock at night we again embarked in the boats, and proceeded towards the inner anchorage, on the outside the boom the United States frigate Macedonia, and the English frigate Hyperion, were at anchor; and, as we passed the former, after being hailed by the sentry at the gangway, who was immediately hushed by the officer on deck, many of her officers hung over the bulwarks, cheered us in whispers, wishing us success, and wishing also that they themselves could join us. Not so the Hyperion; although not so near to her, the sentries continued to hail the boats till we had passed.

The boats containing two hundred and forty volunteers proceeded in two divisions; the first under the command of Captain Crosbie, of the flag ship, the second, of Captain Guise of the Lautaro, both under the immediate direction of his lordship. At midnight we passed the boom; Lord Cochrane being in the first boat, was hailed from a gun boat, but, without answering, he rowed alongside her, and standing up, said to the officer, "silence! or death; another word and I'll put you every one to the sword!" Without waiting a reply, a few strokes of the oars brought the boats alongside the Esmeralda, when his Lordship sprang up the gangway and shot the sentry; the one at the opposite gangway levelled his musket and fired; his lordship returned the fire, and killed him, when turning round to the boats he exclaimed, "up my lads, she's ours!" The soldiers and sailors now boarded her in every direction, and possession of the quarter deck was immediately taken. The Spaniards flew to the forecastle, where they defended themselves, and kept up a continued fire of musquetry for seventeen minutes, when they were driven below, and obliged to surrender. We had scarcely obtained possession of the quarter deck, when a gunboat close astern of the frigate fired a shot into her; the shot tore up the deck under the feet of Captain Coig, the commander of the Esmeralda, and wounded him severely; it also killed two English sailors, and one native; but the officer and crew of the boat immediately abandoned her.

The frigate was in an excellent state of defence, and her crew under good discipline; the men were all sleeping at their guns, and the guard of marines on the quarter deck; and so prompt were the latter, when his lordship jumped up the gangway, that they appeared as if they had been ordered out to receive him; indeed had not the boats under the command of Captain Guise boarded at almost the same moment, behind the marines, the admiral and many others who boarded her on the starboard side must have fallen by their fire. His lordship at this time received a shot through the thigh, but, until the ship was ours, he paid no attention to the wound, except binding a handkerchief round it; after which he stood on one of the guns of the quarter deck, and laid his leg on the hammock netting, where he remained till three o'clock in the morning, and then went on board the O'Higgins to have it dressed by the surgeon.

The following order was issued by the admiral to the captains on the first of November, 1820:

"The boats will proceed, towing the launches in two lines parallel to each other, which lines are to be at the distance of three boats' length asunder.

"The second line will be under the charge of Captain Guise, the first under that of Captain Crosbie. Each boat will be under the charge of a commissioned officer so far as circumstances permit, and the whole under the immediate command of the admiral.

"The officers and men are all to be dressed in white jackets, frocks, or shirts, and are to be armed with pistols, sabres, knives, tomahawks, or pikes.

"Two boat-keepers are to be appointed to each boat, who, on no pretence whatever, shall quit their respective boats; but are to remain therein, and take care the boats do not get adrift.

"Each boat is to be provided with one or more axes or sharp hatchets, which are to be kept slung to the girdle of the boat-keepers. The frigate Esmeralda being the chief object of the expedition, the whole force is first to attack that ship, which, when carried, is not to be cut adrift, but is to remain in possession of the patriot seamen, to ensure the capture of the rest.

"On securing the frigate, the Chilean seamen and marines are not to cheer as if Chilenos; but, in order to deceive the enemy, and give time for completing the work, they are to cheer, Viva el Rey!

"The two brigs of war are to be fired on by the musketry from the Esmeralda, and are to be taken possession of by Lieutenants Esmond and Morgell, in the boats they command; which being done, they are to be cut adrift, run out, and anchored in the offing as quickly as possible. The boats of the Independencia are to busy themselves in turning adrift all the outward Spanish merchant ships; and the boats of the O'Higgins and Lautaro, under Lieutenants Bell and Robertson, are to set fire to one or more of the headmost hulks; but these are not to be cut adrift so as to fall down upon the rest.

"The watchword, or parole, and counter-sign, should the white dress not be sufficient in the dark, are 'Gloria,' to be answered by 'Victoria!' (Signed) Cochrane."

It was the intention of Lord Cochrane to clear the bay, according to the instructions given; but being wounded, and the resistance made by the Spaniards on board proving much greater than was expected, Captain Guise ordered the cable to be cut; which being done, the frigate began to drift from her anchorage. The batteries were pretty active during the engagement, and when the Hyperion and Macedonia sheeted home their topsails and began to move out of the way of the shot, the firing increased. These ships shewed two lights, one at the mizen peak, the other at the jib boom, as distinguishing signals, which being observed by Lord Cochrane, he immediately ordered the same to be shewn on board the Esmeralda: thus she was brought out of the anchorage with less damage than either of the other two sustained. Indeed, excepting the shot from the gun boat, the Esmeralda sustained none whatever.

From the lists that were found on board the prize it appeared, that she had three hundred and twenty persons on board, besides some visitors, who, from what had been observed, imagined that nothing uncommon would take place that day. On the following, when the prisoners were mustered, their numbers only amounted to one hundred and seventy-three; thus their loss was one hundred and fifty-seven, besides several wounded, who at nine o'clock on the sixth were sent ashore with a flag of truce. Our loss amounted to eleven killed, and twenty-eight wounded. His lordship immediately proposed to the Viceroy an exchange of prisoners; which being acceded to, ours were immediately sent ashore, and those from the dungeons of Casas-matas were ordered to join the army under San Martin. The loss of the Esmeralda was a death blow to the Spanish naval force in the Pacific, and created a most extraordinary effect in Lima; the natives looked congratulations to each other, but dared not to speak, while the Spaniards indulged themselves with every kind of useless vociferation. To such a degree of frenzy were they wrought up in Callao, that on the sixth, when the market boat belonging to the United States' ship Macedonia went ashore, the crew was murdered by the infuriated Spaniards, who fancied that they had assisted the patriots on the preceding night.

Of this achievement of Lord Cochrane, Captain Hall says, "the skill and gallantry displayed by Lord Cochrane, both in planning and conducting this astonishing enterprize, are so peculiarly his own, and so much in character with the great deeds of his early life, &c."

Captain Downes, of the Macedonia, in a letter to General San Martin, says, "I do most sincerely congratulate Lord Cochrane upon the capture of the Esmeralda; the exploit was executed in a gallant stile never surpassed."

The bulletin of the army presented, in the report of the capture of the Spanish frigate, a specimen of the jealous feelings of the general in chief. The first statement is, "before the general in chief left the vice-admiral of the squadron, they agreed on the execution of a memorable project, sufficient to astound intrepidity itself, and of itself to make the history of the liberating expedition of Peru eternal."—Again: "those valiant soldiers who for a length of time have suffered with the most heroic constancy the hardest oppression, and the most inhuman treatment in the dungeons of Casas-matas, have just arrived at our head quarters. Flattering promises of liberty and the threats of death were not sufficient to destroy their loyalty to their country; they have waited with firmness the day on which their companions in arms should rescue them from their misery, and revenge the insults which humanity has received in their persons. This glory was reserved to the liberating army, whose efforts have snatched from the hands of tyranny these respectable victims. Let this be published for the satisfaction of these individuals and that of the army, to whose arms they owe their liberty. (Signed) San Martin."

Were the character of Lord Cochrane not known in the world, it might be believed that the plan and execution of this action were the offspring of the wisdom of San Martin; but how the liberty of the prisoners of war confined in Callao could be owing to the efforts of the army is quite paradoxical. Indeed the first assertion is as void of truth as the second, and it would be as easy proved to be so, were it necessary.

The only way to praise the hero of this enterprize is to leave here a blank: all those who contemplate this achievement must pay the tribute due to the friend of rational liberty, the advocate of South American emancipation, the supporter of the civil rights of the new world, the true friend of the oppressed.

On the ninth of November the army left the bay of Ancon, and dropped down to Huacho, where the troops immediately began to disembark, and head quarters were established at Huaura on the twelfth.

At Ancon General San Martin distributed several proclamations. In one addressed to the Spaniards residing in Peru, he says "Spaniards, your destiny is in your own hands; I come not to declare war against the fortunes and persons of individuals; the enemy of the liberty and independence of America alone is the object of the vengeance of the arms of the PATRIA.—I promise you in the most positive manner, that your property and persons shall be inviolable; and that you shall be treated as respectable citizens, if you co-operate in the great cause." To the Spanish soldier who wishes to abandon his arms, he promises a "safe and commodious passage to Europe should he request it," or wishing to remain as a soldier, or as a private citizen, "the same enjoyments and securities as the defenders of the country."

Similar promises were repeated at Huacho by a decree. "I. The goods and property of all Spaniards, excepting those who have publicly endeavoured to prolong the evils of the war by their seditious writings, shall be under the protection of the liberating army of Peru, in the same manner as the property of Americans. II. Those Spaniards who after we have taken possession of Lima (if the fortune of war favour us) shall solicit letters of citizenship, shall receive them, and shall be declared citizens of the state of Peru."

Had not General San Martin compromised himself in this solemn manner, his subsequent conduct in Lima could only have been called arbitrary; but when acting in direct violation of such public assurances, it is not harsh to call it dishonourable and unjust.