Passage from Guayaquil River to Valdivia....Lord Cochrane
reconnoitres the Harbour....Capture of the Spanish Brig
Potrillo....Arrival at Talcahuano....Preparations for an Expedition
to Valdivia....Troops furnished by General Freire....O'Higgins runs
aground....Arrival off Valdivia....Capture of Valdivia....Attempt
on Chiloe fails....Return of Lord Cochrane....Leaves Valdivia for
Valparaiso....Victory by Beauchef....Arrival of the Independencia
and Araucano....O'Higgins repaired....Return to
Valparaiso....Conduct of Chilean Government....Lord Cochrane
resigns the Command of the Squadron.
One peculiarity which accompanied our voyage was, that having the
larboard tacks on board at our departure from the mouth of the Guayaquil
river, they were never started until our arrival off Valdivia, the
difference of latitude being 36° 27´. The currents which run from the
southward seem to decrease in about 92° west longitude, and at 98° in
33° of south latitude they are scarcely perceptible. Here also the wind
gradually draws round to the eastward, and in twenty-seven Spanish
journals which I have examined of voyages made at all seasons of the
year, this has been universally observed.
On the seventeenth of January, 1820, we made Punta Galera, the south
headland of the bay of Valdivia, having the Spanish flag hoisted. Early
on the morning of the eighteenth the admiral entered the port in his
gig, and returned on board at day-break, having examined the anchorage,
and convinced himself that the Spanish ship of war was not there, the
only vessel in the harbour being a merchantman.
For an excursion of this nature the spirit of enterprize of a Cochrane
was necessary. When the strength of this Gibraltar of South America is
considered, the number of batteries, forming an almost uninterrupted
chain of defence, crowned with cannon, the shot of which cross the
passage in various directions; under such circumstances, the resolution
to brave all danger for the advancement of the Chilean service reflects
the highest possible honour on the admiral; besides, to this brief and
perilous survey South America owes the expulsion of her enemies from
this strong hold.
At half-past six o'clock a boat with an officer, three soldiers, and a
pilot, came alongside, having been deceived by the Spanish flag which we
hoisted; they were detained, and proved an acquisition of considerable
importance. Immediately afterwards a brig hove in sight, which we
chased and captured; she proved to be the Spanish brig of war the
Potrillo; she had been sent from Callao with money for the governments
of Chiloe and Valdivia, and was at this time on her passage from the
former to the latter place. After the capture I was most agreeably
surprised to find, that two of the daughters of my kind friend Don
Nicolas del Rio, of Arauco, were on board; and that, at the expiration
of seventeen years, it was in my power to return part of the kindnesses
which I had received from their family, when a forlorn and destitute
captive in Araucania.
On the 20th we anchored in the bay of Talcahuano, and in the course of
two hours General Freire, the governor of the province and suite came on
board to welcome the arrival of Lord Cochrane. I availed myself of this
opportunity and solicited permission for the two Miss Rios to return to
their home, to which the general immediately acceded; although, said he,
with the exception of their brother Luis, all the family have been
determined enemies to the cause of their country. Late at night an
officer came on board and informed me, that two soldiers were under
sentence of death at Conception, that they were to be executed on the
following morning for the crime of desertion, and that he had been
deputed by some of his brother officers to solicit the intervention of
the admiral in their behalf. I reported this to his lordship, and a
letter was sent in the morning, to which the following answer was
received:
"My Lord--Chile and Chileans are every day more and more indebted to
you; the favour which you have this day done me, in relieving me from
the necessity of enforcing the execution of another sentence of death,
is equal, in the scale of my feelings, to the pardon. I shall send the
two deserters to thank your lordship, for I have impressed on their
minds what they owe to your lordship's goodness. I have to beg that they
be incorporated in the marines, where, fighting under your immediate
orders, they may evince their love of the patria, and erase the stain
with which they have soiled a cause which has the honour of counting
Lord Cochrane among its most worthy defenders &c.--Ramon Freire."
On the day after our arrival, Lord Cochrane had a private conference
with General Freire, and proposed to him an attempt on Valdivia, which
his lordship offered to undertake with four hundred soldiers, if the
general would place them at his disposal, secresy being a positive
condition. This truly patriotic chief immediately acceded to the terms,
and pledged himself not to communicate the plan even to the supreme
government, until the result should be known. It is impossible not to
admire this generous conduct of Freire. He lent part of his army, when
he was on the eve of attacking Benavides, and exposed himself, by thus
weakening his division, to the displeasure of his superiors, should Lord
Cochrane not succeed. But his love for his country, and the high opinion
which he entertained of the admiral, overcame every objection. The
generosity of Freire is equally praiseworthy in another point of view:
he gave part of his force to another chief, for the purpose of obtaining
a victory, in the glory of which he could not be a participator, except
as an American interested in the glorious cause of the liberty of his
country.
Orders were immediately given to prepare for a secret expedition; but as
this proceeding was so novel, a _secret_ was put in circulation, that
the destination was to Tucapel, in order to harass the enemy's force at
Arauco; and the distance being so very short, neither officers nor
privates encumbered themselves with luggage. All was ready on the
afternoon of the 28th, and two hundred and fifty men, with their
respective officers, under the command of Major Beauchef, were embarked
on board the O'Higgins, the brig of war Intrepid, and the schooner
Montezuma, which were at Talcahuano on our arrival. We got under weigh
in the morning, because the wind continued calm during the whole of the
night.
About four o'clock in the morning his lordship retired to his cabin to
rest, leaving orders with Lieutenant Lawson to report if the wind should
change, or any alteration should take place. As soon as his lordship had
left the quarter deck, Lawson gave the same orders to Mr. George, a
midshipman, and also retired to his cabin. The morning was so remarkably
hazy, that it was impossible to see twenty yards ahead of the ship, and
a slight breeze springing up, the frigate ran aground on a sand-bank off
the island Quiriquina, and so near to it, that the jib-boom was
entangled among the branches of the trees on shore. This accident
brought the admiral on deck, half-dressed, when to his astonishment he
saw large pieces of sheathing and fragments of the false keel floating
about the ship. A kedge anchor was immediately carried out astern, and
in a few minutes we were again afloat. The carpenter sounded, and
reported, "three feet water in the hold:" the men at the pumps were
almost in despair, all imagining that the expedition had failed at its
very outset: in half an hour the carpenter reported, no abatement in the
depth of water: well, said his lordship, but does it increase? no, said
the carpenter, and orders were immediately given to stand out to sea.
On the second of February, to the southward of Punta Galera, the whole
of the troops, including the marines of the O'Higgins, were placed on
board the brig and the schooner; his lordship embarked in the latter,
and proceeded to the bay of Valdivia; having anchored at sunset near to
a small bay, called Aguada del Yngles, English watering place, Major
Beauchef took the command of the troops, embarked at Talcahuano, and
Major Miller, having recovered of the severe wounds which he received at
Pisco, took the command of his brave marines, and assisted in adding new
lustre to the arms of Chile.
An advanced party of six soldiers and a sergeant was despatched under
the command of the Ensign Vidal, a young Peruvian, having as a guide one
of the Spanish soldiers, who came off to the O'Higgins in the boat on
our first appearance off Valdivia: they drove the Spaniards from the two
guns stationed at the avansada, and following their footsteps, arrived
at the battery of San Carlos, but not before the gate was closed.
This battery is formed on the land side by placing pieces of the trunks
of trees one upon another to the height of ten feet; and Vidal finding
it impossible to scale the wooden wall exerted himself in dragging out
two of the logs, and then crept through the hole, followed by his
piquet. Having entered, he formed his veteran gang and began to fire on
the Spanish soldiers, who not being able to distinguish either the
number or situation of their enemy fled in disorder, some clambering
over the palisade, while others opened the gate and fled in less
apparent disorder. Two officers came to Vidal, and said to him, why do
you fire on us, we are your countrymen, we do not belong to the
insurgents? I beg your pardon, answered Vidal, you now belong to the
insurgents, being my prisoners of war. The two astonished officers
immediately surrendered their swords. At this moment Captain Erescano, a
Buenos Ayrean, arrived with forty marines, and without any hesitation
butchered the two officers, heedless of the remonstrances and even
threats of Vidal, who told him, that at another time he should demand
satisfaction: he now immediately left Erescano, and with his brave
soldiers followed the enemy. The batteries of Amargos and the two
Chorocamayos fell in the same manner that San Carlos had fallen, and
Vidal had passed the bridge of the Castle del Corral when Captain
Erescano arrived with forty marines: thus in five hours all the
batteries on the south side of the harbour were in our possession.
At nine o'clock in the morning of the third, the O'Higgins laid to at
the mouth of the harbour, under Spanish colours. The Spaniards at Niebla
were a second time deceived; for believing her to be a vessel from
Spain, they made the private signal, which not being answered by the
frigate, the soldiers immediately abandoned the battery, and fled in the
greatest disorder. After the O'Higgins was brought to an anchor,
detachments of troops were sent to Niebla and the battery of Mansera on
the small island bearing the same name. The vessel at anchor, in this
port was the Dolores, formerly under the Chilean flag; but in November,
1819, part of the crew took possession of her at Talcahuano, and having
slipt her cables, sailed her to Arauco, where Benavides landed those of
the crew who were accused of being insurgents, and immediately ordered
them to be shot on the beach: a boy who witnessed this horrid spectacle
began to cry, which being observed by Benavides, he immediately beat out
his brains with his baston. This murderer not knowing what to do with
the ship, sent her to Valdivia, where she became our prize; the
ringleader, a native of Paita, was also secured, sent to Valparaiso,
tried and executed.
The important strong hold of Valdivia was thus annexed to the republic
of Chile by one of those inexhaustible resources in war which have
marked the career of the hero under whose immediate directions and
unparalleled intrepidity the plan was formed and executed. Lord Cochrane
having personally attended to the landing of the troops, and given his
final orders to Miller and Beauchef, took his gig, and, notwithstanding
the shot from the battery of San Carlos, rowed along the shore, watching
the operations of the troops, and serving as the beacon to glory.
In fifteen hours from our landing we were in possession of the advanced
posts of Aguada del Yngles, el Piojo, de la Boca, and de Playa Blanco;
of the batteries of San Carlos, Amargos, Chorocamayo alto and bajo,
Mansera, and Niebla; and of the Castle del Corral, mounting on the whole
one hundred and twenty-eight pieces of artillery.
In the magazines there were eight hundred and forty barrels of
gunpowder, each weighing one hundred and twenty-five pounds, one hundred
and seventy thousand musket cartridges, about ten thousand shot, many of
copper, besides an immense quantity of all kinds of warlike stores. Our
loss consisted of seven men killed, and nineteen wounded; that of the
enemy of three officers and ten soldiers killed, and twenty-one wounded;
besides six officers prisoners, among whom was the Colonel of Cantabria,
Don Fausto del Hoyo, and seventy-six Spanish sergeants, corporals, and
privates.
Every thing being secured in the port, his lordship went with part of
the troops to the city, which had been sacked by the Spaniards, who had
fled towards Chiloe. A provisional government was immediately elected by
the natives who were present, at which, by his lordship's orders, I
presided, and received the elective votes; the person chosen being
afterwards confirmed in his situation as governor _ad interim_ by the
admiral. On examining the correspondence in the archives, I found that
many serious complaints had been made by Quintanilla, the governor of
Chiloe, to Montoya the ex-governor of Valdivia, stating his fear of a
revolution at San Carlos, the principal town. This induced his lordship
to appear off Chiloe, and even to land part of the force that could be
spared at Valdivia. He gave orders to prepare for embarkation on the
12th, but unfortunately the brig Intrepid was driven from her anchorage
by a strong northerly wind, and wrecked on a sand-bank that stretches
into the bay from the island of Mansera. This very serious loss was
regarded by the admiral like our former accident at Talcahuano, and
orders were immediately issued for the soldiers to embark in the
Montezuma and Dolores. The short respite from active duty allowed his
lordship to inform the supreme government of Chile of his success at
Valdivia; which he effected by sending a small piragua, with orders to
touch at Talcahuano, and to report to General Freire the result of the
expedition.
The receipt of the unexpected news at Valparaiso was a moment of
exultation to the friends of Lord Cochrane, and a very severe check on
the tongues of his detractors; some of these had been busily employed in
forming matter wherewith to tarnish the rocket expedition; and they
generously attributed its failure to the unskilfulness, not of those who
had prepared the missiles, but to the persons who had used them. His
absence from Chile was adduced as a proof of his disobedience to the
orders of the government. Now, however, all was hushed, and every one
exclaimed, "we knew that our admiral would not return to Chile without
adding new laurels to his brows." This was re-echoed in Valparaiso; and
long live Cochrane! was the general cry; long live the hero of Valdivia!
resounded in every street.
On the 13th, Lord Cochrane went on board the schooner Montezuma, and
sailed with the Dolores for Chiloe, where the troops were landed, and
two small batteries taken, and afterwards demolished. The young Ensign
Vidal was again appointed to command an advanced party of twenty-four
soldiers, and when, ascending the hill on which the Castle de la Corona
is built, he lost eleven of his men by a volley of grape from the
battery, he immediately ordered the drummer to beat a retreat: that is
impossible, said the boy, knocking the sticks together, for my drum is
gone. In fact it had been shattered to pieces by a shot; however Vidal
retired, carrying three wounded men with him, and Miller being wounded
at the same time by a grape shot which had passed the fleshy part of his
thigh, the retreat to the boats was immediately ordered. The resistance
made at this place by the natives, headed by several friars, was a
convincing proof that they were determined supporters of the cause of
Spain, and as the patriot force was not sufficient to attempt a conquest
of the town, the soldiers were re-embarked.
During the absence of the admiral with the marines, part of the troops
embarked at Conception were left on duty at the Castle del Corral, under
the command of Ensign Latapia, who in cold blood, and without the
slightest provocation, ordered two of the prisoners, a corporal and a
private, to be shot. I immediately ordered four officers who were on
shore to be sent on board the O'Higgins, fearful that they might be
treated in the same manner. On the return of his lordship on the
twentieth, Latapia was placed under arrest on board, and the necessary
declarations were taken, according to the Spanish forms, for his trial
by a court-martial. He was conveyed to Valparaiso as a prisoner; his
conduct, together with that of Erescano, was reported to the government,
and when we expected to hear of their being sentenced to some kind of
punishment, we were surprized to find that they had been promoted. These
two individuals were afterwards employed by San Martin, and by him they
were again promoted in Peru.
His lordship having given orders for the O'Higgins to be overhauled and
repaired, considering it unsafe to venture again to sea in her, he
embarked on the twenty-eighth in the Montezuma for Valparaiso, taking
with him five Spanish officers, and forty privates, prisoners, leaving
directions with me to superintend what was going on here, until I should
receive orders from the supreme government.
Major Beauchef having collected all the force he was able, which,
including the troops embarked at Conception, and some volunteers of
Valdivia, amounting only to two hundred and eighty individuals, marched
to the Llanos, having received information that the Spaniards who fled
from Valdivia had sworn at Chiloe that they would return and either
conquer or die in the attempt. The two armies met near the river Toro,
on the sixth of March, and after an engagement of less than an hour, the
Spanish officers mounted their horses and fled, leaving the soldiers to
their fate. On the tenth Beauchef arrived at Valdivia, bringing with him
two hundred and seventy prisoners, with all the arms and baggage
belonging to the Spaniards.
The Independencia and Araucano arrived on the twelfth, with the
necessary workmen and tools for the repairs of the O'Higgins; after she
was hove down, it was discovered that besides a great quantity of
sheathing, she had lost nineteen feet of her false keel, and about seven
of her main keel. On the eleventh of April the repairs were finished,
and we embarked for Valparaiso, where we arrived on the eighteenth.
The Spanish force stationed at Valdivia consisted of part of the
regiment of Cantabria, part of the Casadores dragoons, artillery,
pioneers, marines, infantry of Conception, artillery of ditto, battalion
of Valdivia, dragoons of the frontier, and lancers of the Laxa; these
were the remains of the Spanish army which left Conception, under the
command of General Sanches, in 1819, besides the regular garrison of the
port, amounting in all to about one thousand six hundred, while the
expedition under Lord Cochrane amounted only to three hundred and
eighteen.
The government of Chile ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration of
this important victory, and it was distributed to the officers. His
lordship expected some remuneration for his men as prize-money, but the
government could not understand how prize-money could be due to a naval
expedition for services done on shore. The Dolores had been laden with
warlike stores at Valdivia; the admiral requested that the value of
these might be decreed to the captors, but the answer to this request
was an order for the stores to be disembarked in the arsenal at
Valparaiso, and the following paragraph from the pen of the hireling
Monteagudo made its appearance in the Censor de la Revolucion, which was
conducted by this patriotic scribbler:--
"We are informed that Admiral Lord Cochrane is determined not to allow
the debarkation of the warlike stores brought from Valdivia in the ship
Dolores, on the plea of their being a prize to the squadron which has
restored that province from the hands of the enemy to Chile. We cannot
persuade ourselves that his lordship does not acknowledge, that all the
stores existing at Valdivia at the time of its restoration belong to the
state of Chile in the same manner as those in the provinces actually
forming the state, without any other difference than that these were
restored to the free exercise of their liberty before that was. Even if
Valdivia did not belong to Chile, we do not make war on every section of
America, but on the Spaniards who hold a domination over it: these are
the principles which have always regulated the conduct of our armies;
and nothing save the exclusive property of the Spaniards has been
subjected to the rights of war. It would also be a pernicious precedent
to future operation if whatever was found in a conquered territory
should belong exclusively to the victors. We are persuaded that some
misunderstanding has taken place respecting these warlike stores brought
by the Dolores: Admiral Cochrane is well acquainted with public rights,
and the high opinion which we entertain of his honourable character
obliges us to doubt that which we are not inclined to believe."
Lord Cochrane afterwards asked Monteagudo if he believed what he had
published was just or according to law; no, said he, certainly not, but
I was ordered to write and to publish what appeared in the Censor. His
lordship being convinced that the government was determined not to
reward the services of the squadron, assured them, that this would
certainly be the last service of the kind which they would receive from
it: he also warned them against expecting that men would risk their
lives, after undergoing the greatest privations, without any
remuneration: he told them, moreover, that as he considered the
proceedings on the part of the government as most unjust, he should
never request of his officers or men any sacrifice, except when the
means of rewarding them were in his own hands. The government wishing
to conciliate the Admiral, made him a present of a large estate in the
province of Conception; but his lordship immediately returned the
document, stating, that it was the services of the men which ought to be
rewarded, that his own were amply repaid by the glory of the
achievement. All his pleadings, however, were in vain, and no reward was
ever given to them by the government for the capture of this most
important fortress; nay more, it was questioned whether Lord Cochrane
ought not to be tried by a court-martial for having fought and conquered
an enemy without the sanction of the government! a fair proof of what
would have been the consequence had not the result been favourable to
his lordship.
A series of plots now began to take place one after another, which
seemed to threaten even the stability of the government: the regiment
number one, stationed at Mendosa, revolted, Benavides entered
Conception, and committed several most daring outrages; and a conspiracy
was said to have been formed in the capital against the government by
the Carrera party, and the supreme director was so thwarted by the
senate, that he could not act with that promptitude and decision which
circumstances required: the greatest possible evils, publicity and
procrastination, where secresy and despatch were necessary, counteracted
in the most essential points the wishes of the supremacy. The persons
who were accused of being conspirators were apprehended, among whom were
included the last remains of the Carrera family, and other individuals
who were obnoxious to O'Higgins: these were all embarked on board the
brig of war, Pueyrredon, and sent down to the coast of Choco, where it
was expected that they would shortly die, and where in fact the uncle of
the Carreras did die; but, contrary to the expectation and even the
request of the Chilean government, that of Colombia received them as
friends, and some of the exiles being officers, Bolivar incorporated
them in his army, with a promotion; for which act of justice he never
had any reason to complain. The fluctuations in the designs of the
government are well portrayed in the following letter from Lord Cochrane
to the supreme director:
"Most Ext. Sir--Being at present indisposed with a palpitation of my
heart, which at times afflicts me most severely, and which would be
increased with a journey to Santiago, were I to undertake it according
to the request of the government, I feel myself obliged to solicit an
excuse; persuaded as I am, that the following exposition, which contains
all that is necessary to remind you to reflect on what is past, and to
anticipate what is to come, will be sufficient. I also hope that my
exposition will be ascribed to the sincere desire that I have of serving
your excellency, to whose interests I am most sincerely attached, as
being the august representative of the sacred cause of your country's
welfare.
"Touching on what is past, you will do me the honour to recollect, that
I recommended to you the indispensable necessity of removing among the
seamen all kinds of distrust with respect to their pay and prize-money:
the first of which they have not yet received, and of the second they
have been totally defrauded; your excellency promised me that they
should be regularly paid, and that whatever prizes were taken should be
entirely appropriated to these two objects; the moiety belonging to the
captors should be immediately distributed, and the other, appertaining
to government, should be applied to the payment of arrears, and
equipment of the vessels of war. I am well aware of the lowness of your
funds; but having, according to your promise made to me, informed the
crews of the different vessels what would be the course pursued, the
men expect a fulfilment of the promise made, and will consider me to be
the author of the deception if they discover that what has been promised
to them is applied to other purposes. Your excellency will allow me to
assure you, that if I had not supported the promise made to the seamen,
the real squadron would not have now existed, and that if the promises
are not fulfilled, the squadron will now cease to exist.
"Nothing is more difficult than to manage a mass of such heterogeneous
materials, as that of which the squadron is composed--men of different
nations, manners, and religions--men whose suspicions are easily
alarmed, and whose interests cannot be contradicted with impunity; they
may be reconciled if duly attended to, and incorporated with those of
the state: but if this is not done, they will become opposed to its
welfare.
"The experience which I acquired during the first cruize, convinced me
most completely, that in addition to the punctual payment of the crews,
it was necessary for their health and comfort, as well as for the
cleanliness of the vessels, which contributes so much to these objects,
that proper clothing and beds should be provided. With respect to the
means for procuring these articles themselves, the poverty of some, and
the relaxed habits of others, are obstacles, besides which the
temptations met with at Valparaiso, generally deprive them of the power
before they leave the port. For the acquirement of this desirable
object, I made several applications to the different departments of the
government, requesting that such articles might be purchased and
distributed to the crews, according to the practice observed in all
naval countries. The treasury not being able to pay the value of the
articles, this was done with part of the prize-money taken during the
cruize; at the same time that the money so employed ought to have been
applied to the payment of the captors of the Montezuma; and although
frequent applications have been made, this, like the debts of the crews
of the squadron, has never yet been attended to; but, on the contrary,
such sums as were destined, according to the promise of your excellency,
to the sole purpose of liquidating such debts, have been applied to
other purposes, while part of the seamen who have fulfilled their
contract, are wandering about the streets in a state of despair; others,
naked and clamorous, remain on board; the invalids are begging alms, and
all are cursing the authors of their misfortunes. The result of this
conduct on the part of the government is, even at present, that not only
the seamen and soldiers, but even some of the officers, avail themselves
of every opportunity to dispose of prize goods, as well as of the naval
stores belonging to the vessels of the squadron; and when they are
discovered, the infliction of punishment is prevented by their alleging
that they neither receive pay nor prize-money, and that they despair of
ever receiving either.
"On my return from the first cruize, your excellency will also be
pleased to recollect, that I reported the necessity of marking each
barrel, or package of provisions, with the weight or quality which it
contained; making the purveyor responsible both for the quantity and
quality of the contents, in order to prevent all kinds of fraud;
because, from the purser's reports, I should then have been able to know
for what period the squadron was victualled. I was compelled to make
this request, because I found that the purveyor had reported at the
commissariate that he had delivered twenty-one quintals of beef to the
Independencia, when in fact only eleven had been received. Thus the
state was charged with the value of ten quintals which had not been
delivered, for the purpose of filling the purse of an impostor, whose
nefarious conduct might have frustrated the object of our expedition,
or even have involved part of the squadron in inevitable ruin. For the
purpose of counteracting such iniquitous proceedings, no order has, as
yet, been issued, nor am I authorised to correct such as punishable
crimes.
"On my return to Valparaiso, after the first cruize, I hoped to find the
manufacture of rockets completed, according to the promise of the
government, made to me before I sailed; but I found that even the
manufactory was not finished; that notwithstanding the various
solicitations made by the late Lieutenant-colonel Charles, for the
necessary materials, that these were retained, or denied through
jealousy, or some other criminal motive; this might have involved the
whole of the squadron in complete ruin, had the forces arrived at
Callao, which were expected from Spain. As it was, the operations of
that expedition became a reproach to the officers and crews employed in
it, and allowed the enemy to call it imbecility in them, and ignorance
of their undertaking; but, in reality, the neglect or treachery lay in
those appointed by your government to construct those missiles, on whose
speculations the persons employed in the expedition were induced to
rely. The unexpected result of this expedition obliged me to raise the
blockade, to the apparent disgrace and positive injury of the interest
of the squadron; although it had been destined for the purpose of
contending with the enemy before a re-union could be effected between
the vessels in Callao, and the expected reinforcement from Spain.
"My orders were limited to impracticable operations, by the concurrence
of unexpected accidents, which deprived me of destroying at once the
force of the enemy in the Pacific. Our provisions were exhausted; the
ships of war had neither rice, cocoa, sugar, wine, spirits, nor any
substitute for those articles; with the addition of a considerable
number of sick on board. In this dilemma, it was once my intention to
return to Valparaiso; but not wishing to provoke the indignation of your
excellency, and bring down condign punishment on those persons who had
been the cause of this state of the squadron, I determined on taking
from the enemy at Pisco spirits, wine, and other necessaries, although
my orders expressly forbade such a procedure, I being limited by them to
take only water, and that in a case of necessity. But the government of
Chile inadvertently believed that foreign seamen would be content with
putrid water, a short allowance of beef and bread, a total want of
wine, or grog, when they were on an enemy's coast, where those articles
might be procured in abundance.
"On being informed that the Spanish frigate la Prueba had sailed for the
Puná, and that she was the only vessel of the expedition which had
doubled the Cape, I again found myself either obliged to abandon the
attempt to capture her, or to take upon myself the responsibility of
violating my instructions, by taking provisions from the enemy on the
coast of Peru. I determined on the latter, and although a large quantity
of cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar, and other valuable articles, belonging
to Spaniards, were collected at Santa, they were all abandoned for the
purpose of following the enemy with all possible despatch; although I
was fully convinced, and still remain so, that nothing is obtained by
excluding the enemies of liberty from contributing to support the
defenders of so just a cause;--for the purpose of exacting from them the
whole of the sacrifice.
"Your excellency must be completely satisfied, that our efforts in the
river of Guayaquil to take the Prueba were rendered nugatory by the want
of soldiers; there I requested that they might co-operate with the
squadron, when the efforts of the squadron alone were of little avail;
my request was opposed; but why the opposition was made, or on what
principles it was founded, I am totally ignorant, and more so of the
reasons that exist for communicating such strange determinations of the
supremacy to any one except myself; because, if any difficulties
presented themselves in what I had the honour to propose to your
excellency, why was I not requested to explain them, and to do away with
what were accounted obstacles; but the conduct observed implies a want
of confidence in my knowledge, as to the proper application of such a
force, or a conviction on the part of my opponents in your councils,
that they could not support their opposition, because their arguments
are founded on unsound principles. Perhaps what took place at Paita may
have been quoted by some of your senators, who did not recollect the
assurance given by the flags of truce which I sent in, that nothing,
except the property of the king of Spain, would be touched. The enemy
fired on the flag, and now, allow me to ask, if I had any other
alternative, than, like a coward, to submit to such an insult offered to
the flag of Chile, or permit the indignant and provoked soldiers to
obliterate the outrage?
"When I had the honour to see your excellency last, at Santiago, a plan
was established, and as I then believed, a secret one, the only persons
present being your excellency, General San Martin, and the minister of
marine; this to my utter astonishment, soon became as public as if it
had been given to the gazette, or the town crier; the detail was in the
possession of every speculator, who calculated solely on his private
gain. I was ordered to equip the transports Aguila, Begona, Dolores, and
Xeresana, and my orders for the accomplishment of this object were
scarcely issued, when I was officially informed, that these being prize
vessels, were to be sold immediately; and the orders given by the
government to me were unexpectedly abolished, for the purpose of placing
the fate of the expedition in the hands of mercantile speculators, who
to the present moment have only finished the equipment of one vessel,
which has been allowed to sail from this port, when declared under an
embargo; and this for the purpose of conveying merchandize belonging to
one of the contractors to Coquimbo. This happened at the very moment
when I was assured that the expedition was about to be verified. This
conduct of the government most positively evinces that a mercantile
speculator enjoys more of the confidence of the supreme authority than
I have the honour to deserve. I had subsequent orders for the San Martin
to sail, and to cruize off Talcahuano, she being the only efficient
vessel of war in Valparaiso; that the Montezuma should sail for Callao
for the purpose of obtaining a correct account of the state of the
enemy; next that the San Martin should cruize in the mouth of this port.
I was shortly afterwards informed, that instead of an expedition of two
thousand men that should be ready to sail within fifteen days, that one
of four thousand would be ready within the same time; this led me to
inspect the naval preparations made by the contractors, which I found to
consist of one new rigged ship. I next visited the provision store, and
found there no preparations whatever; there was not even a sufficient
quantity for the consumption of the crews of the vessels of war for one
month.
"These circumstances, and many other similar ones, oblige me to adopt a
line of conduct which my duty to your excellency, to the States, and to
myself, most imperiously prescribes; this is, to solicit your acceptance
of the important commission with which I have been honoured, and which I
now beg leave to resign.
"I have detailed some of the motives which oblige me to abandon the
service of a state, in which I have been so highly honoured,
particularly by your excellency; but my firm conviction is, that if I
agree to the tardy and procrastinated measures of the government, I
shall make myself tacitly instrumental in forwarding that ruin which
cannot but be the result of the plans of the advisers of your
excellency.
"Allow me to offer to your excellency, &c.--Valparaiso, May 14th, 1820."
The official answer to this note consisted of a mere list of excuses
from the minister of marine, indicating any thing but the real cause of
the inconsistency of the government; indeed, the real cause was
enveloped in mystery for a considerable time afterwards. However, the
determination of Lord Cochrane, not to continue in the command of the
squadron unless that part of the management of it which was not under
his control was placed on a better footing, seemed to rouze the
government from the state of apathy which they now began to perceive
would soon lead to a state of imbecility.
O'Higgins and San Martin addressed private letters to his lordship,
begging his continuance in the command of the naval forces of Chile,
and assuring him, that the most active measures would be immediately
adopted for the realization of the grand expedition; the success of
which, they were well aware, depended in many very material points on
the character and efforts of Lord Cochrane.