LORD COCHRANE'S RETURN TO VALPARAISO.—HIS ILL-TREATMENT BY
THE CHILIAN SENATE.—THE THIRD EXPEDITION TO PERU.—GENERAL SAN
MARTIN.—THE CAPTURE OF THE "ESMERALDA," AND ITS ISSUE.—LORD
COCHRANE'S SUBSEQUENT WORK.—SAN MARTIN'S TREACHERY.—HIS
ASSUMPTION OF THE PROTECTORATE OF PERU.—HIS BASE PROPOSALS TO LORD
COCHRANE.—LORD COCHRANE'S CONDEMNATION OF THEM.—THE TROUBLES OF THE
CHILIAN SQUADRON.—LORD COCHRANE'S SEIZURE OF TREASURE AT ANCON,
AND EMPLOYMENT OF IT IN PAYING HIS OFFICERS AND MEN.—HIS STAY AT
GUAYAQUIL.—THE ADVANTAGES OF FREE TRADE.—LORD COCHRANE'S
CRUISE ALONG THE MEXICAN COAST IN SEARCH OF THE REMAINING SPANISH
FRIGATES.—THEIR ANNEXATION BY PERU.—LORD COCHRANE'S LAST VISIT TO
CALLAO.
[1820-1822.]
Lord Cochrane returned to Valparaiso on the 27th of February, 1820.
By General O'Higgins, the Supreme Director, and by the populace he was
enthusiastically received. But Zenteno, the Minister of Marine, and
other members of the Government, jealous of the fresh renown which he
had won by his conquest of Valdivia, showed their jealousy in various
offensive ways.
In anticipation of his failure they had prepared an elaborate charge
of insubordination, in that he had not come back direct from
Callao. Now that he had triumphed, they sought at first to have him
reprimanded for attempting so hazardous an exploit, and afterwards
to rob him of his due on the ground that his achievement was
insignificant and valueless. When they were compelled by the voice of
the people to declare publicly that "the capture of Valdivia was the
happy result of an admirably-arranged plan and of the most daring
execution," they refused to award either to him or to his comrades any
other recompense than was contained in the verbal compliment; and,
on his refusing to give up his prizes until the seamen had been
paid their arrears of wages, he was threatened with prosecution for
detention of the national property.
The threat was impotent, as the people of Chili would not for a moment
have permitted such an indignity to their champion. But so irritating
were this and other attempted persecutions to Lord Cochrane that, on
the 14th of May, he tendered to the Supreme Director his resignation
of service under the Chilian Government. That proposal was, of course,
rejected; but with the rejection came a promise of better treatment.
The seamen were paid in July, and the Valdivian prize-money was
nominally awarded. Lord Cochrane's share amounted to 67,000 dollars,
and to this was added a grant of land at Rio Clara. But the money was
never paid, and the estate was forcibly seized a few years afterwards.
Other annoyances, which need not here be detailed, were offered to
Lord Cochrane, and thus six months were wasted by Zenteno and his
associates in the Chilian senate. "The senate," said Lord Cochrane,
"was an anomaly in state government. It consisted of five members,
whose functions were to remain only during the first struggles of the
country for independence; but this body had now assumed a permanent
right to dictatorial control, whilst there was no appeal from their
arbitrary conduct, except to themselves. They arrogated the title
of 'Most Excellent,' whilst the Supreme Director was simply 'His
Excellency;' his position, though nominally head of the executive,
being really that of mouthpiece to the senate, which, assuming all
power, deprived the Executive Government of its legitimate influence,
so that no armament could be equipped, no public work undertaken,
no troops raised, and no taxes levied, except by the consent of this
irresponsible body. For such a clique the plain, simple good sense
of the Supreme Director was no match. He was led to believe that a
crooked policy was a necessary evil of government, and, as such a
policy was adverse to his own nature, he was the more easily induced
to surrender its administration to others who were free from his
conscientious principles." Those sentences explain the treatment to
which, now and afterwards, Lord Cochrane was subjected.
He was allowed, however, to do further excellent service to the nation
which had already begun to reward him with nothing but ingratitude. As
soon as the Chilian Government could turn from its spiteful exercise
to its proper duty of consolidating the independence of the insurgents
from Spanish dominion, it was resolved to despatch as strong a force
as could be raised for another and more formidable expedition to
Peru, whereby at the same time the Peruvians should be freed from the
tyranny by which they were still oppressed, and the Chilians should be
rid of the constant danger that they incurred from the presence of a
Spanish army in Lima, Callao, and other garrisons, ready to bear down
upon them again and again, as it had often done before. In 1819 Lord
Cochrane had vainly asked for a suitable land force with which to aid
his attack upon Callao. It was now resolved to organize a Liberating
Army, after the fashion of that with which Bolivar had nobly scoured
the northern districts of South America, and to place it under the
direction of General San Martin, in co-operation with whom Lord
Cochrane was to pursue his work as chief admiral of the fleet.
San Martin had fought worthily in La Plata, and he had earned the
gratitude of the Chilians by winning back their freedom in conjunction
with O'Higgins in 1817. Vanity and ambition, however, had since
unhinged him, and he now proved himself a champion of liberty very
inferior, both in prowess and in honesty, to Bolivar.
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 passing 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 accomplishing the
object of the expedition. I accordingly formed a plan of attack with
the three ships 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 ship, 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 ship 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 shore and by a strong boom with chain moorings,
by twenty-seven gunboats and several armed block-ships. 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 ships 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-ship, each man, armed with
cutlass 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 ships 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 cutlasses were enjoined; so that, as the oars were
muffled 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
cutlasses 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 ship 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 cutlasses 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 ships 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 ship near, there being plenty of time
before us. I had no doubt that, when the _Esmeralda_ was taken, the
Spaniards would desert the other ships 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 assigned
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 ships adrift in succession. It would
only have been the rout of Valdivia over again, chasing the enemy,
without loss, from ship to ship 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-ship 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 noble enterprise, have
augmented the gratitude 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 participated 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 snatched 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 assign 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 aggrandisement, 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 flagship 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 ship 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 pass 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 harassed, 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 passed 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 associate,
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
assigned 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 assault 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-constituted authority," he said, "was no less at variance with
the institutions 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
title 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 lordship
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 lordship. 'I
ordered my secretaries to inform you of it,' returned San Martin.
'That is now unnecessary, for you have personally informed me,' said
his lordship: 'I hope that the friendship 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 principally, 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 lordship, 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 flagship 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 title 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 friendship, 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
anticipate 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 gratitude 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 circumstances, 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 quantity
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
institutions 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 ships 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 circumstances, 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 ships, 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 competition 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 competition 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 ships, 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 ships, 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 passage, 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 friendship 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 shipping 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 anchored 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 God, 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."