PROGRESS AND FALL OF THE CHILIAN REVOLUTION.
1811--1814.
The disappearance of the Radical party in Congress, the reactionary
policy of the Conservatives, and the proceedings of Rozas at Concepcion,
had most evil effect upon the course of the revolution in Chile.
Liberalism became anarchy, and the Moderates became mixed up with the
Spanish party. At this juncture Don José Miguel Carrera returned to his
native land.
Carrera was a scion of one of the most distinguished families of Chile,
and was at that time twenty-seven years of age. He had fought in Spain
against the French, and brought with him a major’s commission, granted
by the Junta of Galicia, and the brilliant uniform of an hussar. He had
two brothers, officers in the army of Chile. The elder, Juan José, was a
man of herculean strength, but of feeble intellect, wanting in moral
courage, and full of envy of his more talented brother. The youngest and
most amiable of the three, was named Luis, and was at that time twenty
years of age. In danger he was always found in the front rank, and was
devoted to José Miguel. These three had a sister, Javiera, of great
beauty and of masculine strength of mind; she was skilful in intrigue
and ambitious, but was distinguished both by social and domestic
virtues; her intrepid spirit made her the Egeria of her brothers.
José Miguel was a man of action, and a thinker so far as his unruly
nature would permit; of vehement passions, and licentious life, a ready
writer and a brilliant speaker, of good presence and of attractive
manners, but with an overweening sense of his own importance. He was a
sort of an Alcibiades shorn of his great qualities.
Carrera presented himself publicly to Congress, dressed in his brilliant
uniform, offered his services and his sword, and then entered into
secret negotiations with the Liberal party, through the powerful family
of Larrain. With them he organized a popular demonstration by which the
Government was upset on the 4th September, a new Junta of five members
was appointed, six of the members of Congress for the capital were
dismissed as illegally elected, and three seats were declared vacant.
Congress had hesitated to grant the request of the Government of Buenos
Ayres for forty quintals of gunpowder from the factory in Chile; the new
Government sent off two hundred quintals. It reduced the taxes, reformed
some abuses in administration, encouraged industry, armed the militia,
and had the glory of making Chile the first nation in America to abolish
slavery.
The principal posts were monopolised by the Larrain family, greatly to
the disgust of Carrera. One of this family boasting that the
legislative, executive, and judicial presidencies were all held by them,
Carrera asked:--
“And who has the presidency of the bayonets?”
Dazzled by his popularity, he now only thought of how to overturn the
new Government, and even sought and obtained help from the Spanish party
to this end.
On the 15th November Juan José Carrera mutinied with his battalion and
seized the barracks of the artillery. Luis headed the artillerymen and
dragged the guns into the street, the roll of their wheels on the
pavement giving the signal for a fresh revolution. José Miguel put
himself at the head of the mutiny, and summoned the Executive and
Congress to meet and hear the petitions of the people. He was joined
only by the Spanish party, who shouted for the dissolution of the Junta
and of Congress. The next day an open Cabildo was convened, which named
a new Junta, composed of José Miguel Carrera, as representative of the
capital, Gaspar Marin for the North, and Rozas, or in his absence Don
Bernardo O’Higgins, for the South. This resolution was presented to
Congress by the military chiefs, and Congress, after some delay,
authorised the appointment of the new Junta.
On the 27th November, on pretext that he was in danger of assassination,
Carrera made several arrests. He himself took one of the prisoners to
the barracks, made him kneel before a crucifix, and by threatening him
with immediate execution, forced from him a declaration against the
others. The trial which followed proved the innocence of the accused.
Called to account by his colleagues and by Congress, he, on the 2nd
December, demanded the dissolution of the latter, occupied the
Legislative Palace with troops, and forced from the Assembly a decree to
that effect. Marin and O’Higgins protested and withdrew from the Junta.
Carrera replaced them by one of his own partisans and by a noted leader
of the Spanish party.
The two political parties, which represented the aristocracy and
democracy of Chile, disappeared, and the country fell under the
domination of a military oligarchy, which setting aside laws, juntas,
and congresses, depended only on the army for support. Juan José Carrera
was raised to the rank of brigadier-general, and his brothers were made
lieutenant-colonels, with special decorations for their services.
Public opinion was entirely against the Carreras, all eyes turned to the
South and to Rozas as the only man who could vindicate the law. Rozas
protested against the mutiny and offered his assistance to Congress, but
he was in an anomalous position. By leaving the capital and setting up
an opposition Junta at Concepcion, he had entered upon dangerous ground
and had sapped the base of his moral power; he had destroyed the
territorial unity of the revolution and had aroused provincial
jealousies. Thus Carrera, though destitute of political principle, and
seeking only his own aggrandisement, was the true representative of the
cause of national unity.
The Centre of Chile is divided from the South by the river Maule.
Carrera stationed an army on the north bank, while, through the
intervention of O’Higgins, he conferred with Rozas. On the 12th January,
1812, a convention was drawn up by three plenipotentiaries, which
recognised the South, Centre, and North as three distinct provinces,
each of which should name one member of an Executive, until a
Constituent Congress could be convened. Carrera was in no haste to
ratify this convention, till an army from the South advanced to the line
of the Maule. A collision was prevented by an interview on the 25th
April between the two leaders, who verbally agreed to the ratification
of the convention and the re-installation of Congress. This agreement
was hailed with joy throughout the country, and Carrera was received in
triumph on his return to Santiago.
It was not patriotism nor fear of the Penquistos, which induced Carrera
to restore the Congress he had dissolved; the Argentine Government,
appealed to by the Government of Concepcion, had offered their
mediation, but the most serious matter was that the province of Valdivia
had on the 12th March declared itself Royalist, and proclaimed Carrera
Captain-General of the kingdom, an appointment which he indignantly
rejected.
Valdivia occupied the extreme south of the country, had a seaport with
fortifications which were considered impregnable, and was supported by
the Archipelago of Chiloe, where the people were all Royalists and had a
Royalist garrison.
Early in 1812 the first printing-press was established in Chile, and on
the 13th February appeared the first newspaper, entitled _La Aurora de
Chile_, edited by Camilo Enriquez, a priest, assisted by an Argentine
named Vera y Pintado, and by Irrizarra of Guatemala. From the United
States, together with the printing-press, came Mr. Poinsett as consular
agent, who introduced a new element into the political opinions of the
country, democratic ideas, which new ideas found at first little
acceptance save in the army, where they were fostered by Carrera as a
counterpoise to the federal ideas which had gained strength during the
recent events.
On the night of the 9th July a revolutionary movement broke out in
Concepcion, headed by the partisans of Rozas, but secretly fomented by
the Spanish party, which dissolved the Provincial Junta. Rozas went to
Santiago, whence he was banished by Carrera to Mendoza, and died there
on the 3rd March, 1813.
Carrera was now without a rival, and the revolution gained in unity and
in strength. The various parties commenced to fuse together, with his
authority as a common centre, and the desire for independence became
more marked. When Consul Poinsett celebrated his national anniversary of
the 4th July, the flag of the stars and stripes was seen entwined with
an unknown tricoloured flag, bearing a lone star in one of its corners.
This unknown flag was the new flag of Chile. On the 16th July the
tricoloured cockade was worn by all the citizens of Santiago, and on the
30th September the new flag was formally recognised as the national
ensign. Nevertheless independence was not then declared, still
government was carried on in the name of Ferdinand VII., while the
Carreras went about the city at night in disguise, with groups of young
men, pulling down the escutcheons of the Creole aristocracy.
In order to test his popularity, Carrera then sent in his resignation,
which the Cabildo refused to accept. In consequence of a
misunderstanding with his brother, Juan José, who was still envious of
him, he repeated his resignation, but in conjunction with his brother
Luis, reserved the command of the army. His father, Don Ignacio, was
appointed to succeed him, and supported by Don Juan José adopted a
reactionary policy, which was opposed by José Miguel and Luis, at the
head of the troops.
The two brothers, assisted by two friends, then drew up a plan for a
constitution, which was presented to the Junta by one of their
adherents. This plan created a Senate of seven members, and contained
two clauses which provided that:--
“Ferdinand VII. was king on condition of accepting and swearing the
Constitution made by the people,” and “no decree emanating from
authority outside the territory shall have any effect, those who obey it
being punished as traitors to the State.”
These clauses were accepted by the Junta, but Don Ignacio Carrera, being
afraid to sign them, retired from the Government, and Don José Miguel
returned to office.
Carrera was again dictator, and opposition was silent in the face of a
new danger. A Royalist army had invaded Chilian territory and occupied
the South. He was now the champion of a noble cause; all the military
chiefs, even those who opposed his policy, obeyed him willingly; the
people saw in danger the justification of a strong government; the
military repute he had brought with him from Europe caused him to be
regarded as the first soldier of his country.
Abascal, Viceroy of Peru, was then more than seventy years old. By
firmness and prudence he had maintained peace in his Viceroyalty in the
midst of the commotions which stirred all Spanish America. More than
that, he had made Peru the centre of the Royalist reaction, had crushed
rebellion in Upper Peru, had made war on the Argentine provinces, had
sent an expedition to Quito, and had kept Chiloe under his orders. He
had watched the Chilian revolution from its commencement, waiting for a
favourable opportunity to attack it. Antonio Pareja, an experienced
soldier, was named Commandant-General of Valdivia and Chiloe, and early
in 1813 reached the island with five vessels, a number of officers,
fifty soldiers, and fifty thousand dollars.
He quickly organised the militia of the Archipelago, with the garrison
as a nucleus, and crossed to Valdivia with 1,400 men, where he
incorporated the garrison of that fortress, raising his force to over
2,000 men. These he arranged in three divisions, each with six guns, and
re-embarking, sailed northwards, keeping his destination secret. Three
days afterwards, on the 26th March, he landed in the bay of San Vicente,
taking the town of Talcahuano in the rear, and threatening Concepcion in
front. Talcahuano was taken by assault; the garrison of Concepcion
mutinied and gave up the city. Thus speedily he was master of the South,
and further strengthened his force by the garrisons of Arauco.
With 2,000 regulars, from 2,000 to 3,000 militia, and with twenty-five
guns, he opened the campaign early in April. At Chillán the country rose
in his favour, increasing his force to 6,000 men, with whom he occupied
the line of the river Nuble, which lies to the south of the Maule.
Carrera was equally active; he proclaimed himself General-in-chief with
full powers, declared war against the Viceroy of Peru, set up a gibbet
in the Plaza of Santiago, on which to hang all who should hold
communication with the enemy, and caused the imposition of a forced loan
of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars upon those hostile to the
revolution, which measures inspired general enthusiasm and confidence.
On the 1st April he established his headquarters to the north of the
Maule, with merely an escort, and gave orders for the concentration of
the army at Talca. His friend, Consul Poinsett, accompanied him as a
volunteer, and the same day he was joined by O’Higgins, who forgot his
resentment, an example followed by Mackenna, who was a talented
engineer. Calling in the militia of the South, who remained faithful, in
twenty days he was at the head of 10,000 men, from whom he organised an
army of 2,500 regulars, badly armed, and as many lancers of the militia,
with sixteen field-pieces.
The campaign opened with a piece of good fortune which greatly
encouraged the Patriots. It chanced that an officer sent with 500 men to
surprise the vanguard of the enemy at a pass on the Maule, misunderstood
his orders, and on the night of the 27th April fell in with the main
body of the Royalists, some five or six thousand strong. Not knowing who
they were, he attacked them and captured the whole of the artillery. At
dawn the enemy recovered from their panic, pursued him and recaptured
the guns and prisoners. The loss of the Patriots in killed and wounded
was four times that of the Royalists, but the moral effect was that of a
victory. The greater part of the irregular cavalry deserted from Pareja,
who nevertheless advanced to the Maule. The army was drawn up to force
the passage, when the men from Chiloe and Valdivia threw down their arms
and refused to go further; they cared nothing for the Royalist cause
beyond the Maule. Pareja, lying on a stretcher, stricken with a mortal
disease, ordered a retreat, on which the rest of the irregulars
dispersed, and he was left with little more than a thousand men.
Carrera knew nothing of what had occurred, and let fifteen days pass
before he made up his mind to cross the river. The Patriot vanguard
under Luis Carrera came up with Pareja on the 15th May, as he was about
to pass the Nuble. The Royalists halted, the dying general mounted on
horseback for the last time, and placed Captain Sanchez in command.
Sanchez at once occupied some rising ground, where he threw up an
entrenchment with his baggage, and formed his infantry in square, and
opened fire with twenty-seven guns upon the Patriots, checking their
advance. Carrera then took the command, and on the arrival of Don Juan
José with the second division, drew up his infantry in line with cavalry
on the flanks to surround the enemy. Don Juan José, without waiting for
orders, attacked the position and was driven back; the same fate befell
another battalion which followed his example. The guns were dismounted
at the first shot. The cavalry which had passed to the rear of the
enemy, were dispersed by artillery fire, and the infantry fell back in
disorder. The third division, under O’Higgins and Mackenna, then came up
and prevented the advance of the enemy, which would have turned the
repulse into a rout. Night put a stop to this strange affair, and
Carrera retreated in disorder to San Carlos.
Sanchez crossed the Nuble with all his artillery, without further
molestation, and retreated to Chillán, with a loss of six killed and
fifteen wounded.
This battle of San Carlos showed that Carrera was destitute of military
talent; but he had the strength of mind to reject the councils of his
disheartened officers, who advised him to withdraw the army beyond the
Maule, and for the first time drew up a definite plan of operations.
With one part of his army he occupied Concepcion and Talcahuano, cutting
off the retreat of the enemy by sea, and despatched O’Higgins with his
division to Arauco, securing the South, but in these manœuvres he
lost much time, and one detachment of 650 men left in reserve on the
Nuble, was captured by a Royalist force from Chillán.
Sanchez was an obscure soldier, born in Galicia, of no real genius, but
quick-sighted, of great tenacity, and devoted to the cause he served. At
Chillán he entrenched himself, aided by the people, who were all
Royalists, and by the preaching friars, who had there a convent, which
soon became a well-provisioned citadel.
When Carrera, against the advice of O’Higgins and Mackenna, determined
at the end of July to besiege Chillán, it was already winter, the season
of heavy rains. On the 3rd August, Mackenna established a battery of
six guns, at four hundred and fifty yards from the trenches. The
following morning Sanchez made a vigorous sally but was driven back. The
same afternoon he made another attack upon a reserve battery, under the
fire of his own redoubts, a ball from which blew up the ammunition of
the battery, causing great confusion. Carrera ordered the battery to be
abandoned, but his officers disobeyed him, and O’Higgins coming up to
the rescue, the enemy was again repulsed.
The losses were considerable on both sides, but the sufferings of the
besiegers were augmented by the inclemency of the weather. A convoy of
ammunition for Carrera was intercepted by Royalist guerillas, thirty
miles from the encampment, and delivered to Sanchez, whose supplies were
running short. On the 5th Sanchez made another attack upon the advanced
battery, which was bravely repelled by Luis Carrera. The Patriot general
then ordered an assault upon the town, which was beaten off by the
townspeople themselves. The spirit of the Patriot army was broken,
deaths and desertions greatly reduced their numbers. Carrera summoned
the garrison to surrender. Sanchez replied by proposing an armistice,
during which the Patriots should recross the Maule. A council of war was
called, and against the advice of Mackenna the siege was raised. On the
14th August the Patriot army encamped on the banks of the Itata, and
from this moment their cause declined.
Carrera again fell into the error of dividing his army. He posted one
division near the mouth of the Itata, under command of his brother Juan
José, to protect the line of the Maule, and O’Higgins was despatched
with a weak division to secure the frontier on the Bio-Bio. With the
rest of his forces he went to Concepcion, while his guerillas scoured
the country in every direction. This was just what suited Sanchez, who
could do nothing with a strong force in front of him. He had plenty of
irregulars who knew the country well, and split up his force into
flying columns to the north and south. The depredations of the Patriots
stirred up the resistance of the people, and various detachments were
cut up in detail. O’Higgins could not prevent the reconquest of the line
of the Bio-Bio and the occupation of Arauco, by which supplies were
drawn by the Royalists from Valdivia and Chiloe.
At the end of September Carrera was shut up in Concepcion, and the
Patriot army was blockaded in three separate divisions. He ordered their
concentration at Concepcion. Juan José Carrera reached the Membrillar
near to the junction of the Diguillin with the Itata early in October,
where he was forced to entrench himself. Carrera then marched to meet
O’Higgins, and joined him at the pass of “El Roble,” some ten miles to
the east of Membrillar. The united forces, about 1,000 strong, encamped
on ground badly chosen. Sanchez, joining the irregulars with a division
from Chillán, attacked them there on the night of the 19th October. In
the confusion Carrera jumped his horse into the river and went off to
join his brother, receiving a lance wound in his flight. His absence was
not noticed, but O’Higgins, after three hours’ firing, led a bayonet
charge upon the enemy, and drove them across the river. When Carrera
returned to the camp he saluted O’Higgins as “the saviour of the
division and of the country,” and in his official despatch spoke of him
as “the first of soldiers, capable of uniting in himself the glories of
Chile.” These words were his own abdication, his military star was
eclipsed.
After this affair Carrera again changed his plan. He left his brother
and O’Higgins at the confluence of the Diguillin and Itata, protected by
fieldworks, and returned to Concepcion. This destroyed his prestige in
the army and in public opinion; the Press gave the signal of general
discontent; even from the pulpit the disastrous influence of the three
Carreras was condemned.
When Carrera took command of the army his place as Dictator was for a
time filled by his brother Juan José; when he also took the field his
two colleagues resigned. The Corporations and the Senate then named a
new Junta of three, chosen from the Moderate party, two of whom were
enemies of Carrera. The new Junta were active in furnishing supplies
until the raising of the siege of Chillán and the revolt of the province
of Concepcion produced strained relations between them and Carrera.
The capital became excited by the adverse course of the war, and the
Liberals of 1811 clamoured for a change in the constitution. The Press
advocated the adoption of a more Republican system. On the 8th October a
meeting of the corporations, convened by the Junta, confirmed them in
power, but directed that the seat of Government should be removed to
Talca. Don José Ignacio Cienfuegos, a man of great influence in the
South and an enemy of Carrera, joined the Junta, and Larrain,
ex-President of the late Congress, and also an enemy of Carrera, was
left in charge of the affairs at Santiago. Government had organized in
the capital a new battalion officered by their own adherents, and had
asked for a supply of arms from Buenos Ayres. The 300 Chilian
auxiliaries came back from that city, and the Argentine Government, in
return for their services, had decreed that an Argentine auxiliary force
of equal number should march to the assistance of Chile. This column,
raised in the provinces of Cordoba and Mendoza, crossed the Andes under
the command of DON JUAN GREGORIO LAS HERAS, and were warmly welcomed.
Their first duty was to escort the Junta to Talca, where Colonel Don
Marcos Balcarce took command of the contingent.
The Junta, on receiving news of the affair at El Roble, resolved to
remove Carrera from the command, and first thought of replacing him by
Balcarce, but, yielding to national sentiment, decided to appoint
Colonel O’Higgins, whose tried valour and civic virtues gave him great
popularity, both in the army and throughout the country. This
appointment in February, 1814, had an evil effect upon the army, where
Carrera had still many partizans, splitting it into two parties. Carrera
left for the capital accompanied by his brother Luis, but on the road
they were taken prisoners by a party of Royalist irregulars under
Barañao, and carried off to Chillán.
The army of which O’Higgins took command consisted of about 2,500 men
dispersed in fractions, disheartened, and badly armed and equipped. On
the 31st January a reinforcement of Royalist troops landed at Arauco,
consisting of 800 men and six guns under Brigadier-General Gainza,
appointed by the Viceroy as successor to Pareja. Eight days later he
crossed the Bio-Bio and joined Sanchez at Chillán, without meeting an
insurgent on his march.
O’Higgins stationed one division of his army at Membrillar, while with
the rest he marched to the line of the Bio-Bio to intercept the supplies
of the enemy. This plan was as bad as those of Carrera. Mackenna, left
in command at Membrillar, had under his orders on the 14th February, 800
infantry, 100 dragoons, and sixteen guns. Soon after the country around
was occupied by the light troops of the enemy, so that he was obliged to
make sallies in force to procure supplies and forage. On one of these
occasions, when he had taken a considerable number of cattle his
rear-guard was attacked by a much stronger force, which was driven off
with heavy loss by Las Heras with 100 of the Argentine auxiliaries.
Meantime a Royalist detachment of 300 men had crossed the Maule, and on
the 4th March attacked the city of Talca, from which the Junta had
already withdrawn. The feeble garrison made a stout resistance under
Colonel Spano, a Spaniard who had joined the Patriots in 1809, but was
overpowered, Spano dying wrapped in the tricoloured flag he had so
bravely defended.
This blow spread consternation in Santiago. The people crowded to the
Plaza, and Irizarri proposed the appointment of a Dictator, following
the example of the Roman Republic in times of danger, and Colonel
Lastra, Governor of Valparaiso, was named Supreme Director. The new
Government in a few days organized a force of 1,500 men with six guns,
and placed in command a young man named DON MANUEL BLANCO ENCALADA, but
these raw troops were repulsed in an attack upon Talca, and were
afterwards completely routed at Cancha-Rayada on the 27th March.
The position of Mackenna at Membrillar became very difficult. The loss
of Talca cut his communications with the capital; he threw up more
entrenchments and remained steadily on the defensive. O’Higgins started
to his assistance on the 16th March, leaving weak garrisons in
Concepcion and Talcahuana. It was time; Gainza was already between them.
On the 19th O’Higgins drove in the Royalist vanguard at Quilo, and
Gainza, withdrawing the garrison from Chillán, fell next day upon
Mackenna, but was beaten off with the loss of eighty killed.
On the 23rd O’Higgins joined Mackenna, and next day moved off northwards
with 2,600 infantry, 600 cavalry, and twenty guns. Gainza, harassing his
rear, marched in the same direction; victory would lie with him who
could first cross the Maule. O’Higgins, by a skilful manœuvre,
captured a pass, and throwing up defences of brushwood in his rear, beat
off an attack, and crossed on the 4th April. Gainza crossed by a
different pass on the same day, and tried to stop the march of the
Patriot army at a pass on the Claro River. On the 7th O’Higgins forced
the pass, and the two armies faced each other between that river and the
Lontué. At Quecheraguas O’Higgins threw up entrenchments, and on the 8th
and 9th beat off attacks of the enemy, giving time for the arrival of
reinforcements from Santiago. Gainza then retreated to Talca, and the
garrisons of Concepcion and Talcahuano capitulated.
By this time the Anglo-Spanish armies had driven the French from Spain,
and the Government of Spain called upon the insurgent colonies to send
deputies to Cortes. In Mexico the Royalist arms were triumphant; the
rising star of Bolívar at Caracas was about to suffer eclipse; the
revolutions of Quito, Venezuela, and New Granada were crushed; Lima,
still the great centre of reaction, prepared yet another expedition for
the conquest of Chile; only in the united provinces of the River Plate
did the revolution still hold its ground. In these circumstances
Hillyar, commodore of the British squadron of the Pacific, offered his
mediation to the Viceroy of Peru for the pacification of Chile. His
offer was accepted, and he reached Santiago just after the successful
defence of Quecheraguas. Government appointed O’Higgins and Mackenna to
conduct the negotiation. It was accordingly arranged on the 3rd May that
Chile should return to the state of the year 1811, under the rule of a
provisional Junta subject to the Regency of Spain; that the Royalist
troops should withdraw from Chile within one month; that Chile should
send deputies to the Peninsula to settle all disputes, and should do
what she could to help the cause of Spain. This arrangement, which is
known as the Treaty of Lircay, was badly received in the Royalist camp,
and also by public opinion in Chile, and resulted in nothing more than a
truce.
It is a question whether these terms were agreed upon in good faith by
either party. So far as Gainza was concerned, they saved him from
certain defeat.
Don Francisco Antonio Pinto, diplomatic agent of Chile in London, was
instructed to repair to Madrid in representation of her interests, but
the Royalist troops were not withdrawn, and the Government remained in
the hands of Lastra as Supreme Director. Chile was resolved upon liberty
at any cost, and public opinion, which had forced on the treaty, was now
equally pronounced against it.
The alliance between Chile and the United Provinces was _de facto_ at an
end, and the Argentine auxiliaries were withdrawn from the army to
Santiago. On the 22nd July a mutiny in the barracks restored the
Carreras to power. They proclaimed themselves the saviours of the
country. By the Treaty of Lircay Don José Miguel and Don Luis were
excluded from the arrangement for a mutual exchange of prisoners; they
were to be sent by sea to Valparaiso, and thence banished into
honourable exile; but, escaping from their prison at Chillán, they had
reached the capital and raised this mutiny, in which style of work Don
José Miguel displayed more skill than he had done in the field against
the national enemy. A provisional Junta was named by the noisy shouts of
an open Cabildo, of which Carrera made himself president.
Had Carrera torn up the Treaty of Lircay, he would have had both reason
and patriotism on his side, but his first step was to confirm the clause
relating to freedom of commerce with Peru and to exhort the people to
preserve peace. As before, he had neither ideas nor courage, and in his
hands Congress, army, and revolution were all lost together. In spite of
the protests of Las Heras, the Argentine auxiliaries were ignominiously
expelled from the capital, on the pretext that it was their duty to
assist the Government when called upon. O’Higgins counselled them to
observe absolute neutrality in all civil disputes, following the example
of the Chilian auxiliaries in Buenos Ayres in the revolution of 1812,
and at the invitation of the Cabildo marched his army upon Santiago.
Carrera met him on the plains of Maipó, where, for the first time,
Chilian blood was shed by Chilians, and O’Higgins was defeated.
Meantime, the Viceroy of Peru had refused to ratify the treaty of peace,
had despatched a fresh expedition to Talcahuano, and General Osorio at
the head of 5,000 men was now marching on the capital. In this emergency
O’Higgins put himself and the remnants of his force under the orders of
Carrera, who speedily collected five or six thousand men, who might have
done something had they been well led, but neither he nor O’Higgins
showed any capacity for command. The latter, with 1,700 men, was cut off
from the main body and shut up in Rancagua, where he defended himself
with desperate valour for thirty-two hours against the whole army of the
Royalists, till, his ammunition being exhausted, he cut his way through
the enemy at the head of 300 men, and rejoined Carrera, who had
retreated to Santiago.
Here all was confusion; and the people having lost confidence in their
own leaders were ready to shout for the King. Las Heras, marching south
with the Argentine auxiliaries, met O’Higgins in full retreat towards
the Cordillera, and protected the rear until the fugitives from Santiago
were safe on Argentine soil.
Carrera busied himself only in trying to secure the public treasure,
which he packed on mules and carried off with him beyond Santa Rosa, but
he was overtaken and the treasure fell into the hands of his pursuers on
the slopes of Los Papeles on the 11th October. On the night of the 13th
he crossed the snow-line on the summit, bidding farewell to his country,
which he was never to see again.
So ended the first period of the revolution of Chile, which is styled
“the time of the old country.” The new country was yet to come.
Argentines and Chilians in alliance were yet to raise from the dust the
banners of Rancagua, and to bear them triumphant to the Equator.