CHAPTER XVI.

ARGENTINE-CHILENO ALLIANCE.

1817.

The Argentine Republic undertook the conquest of Chile for three reasons: first, as a measure of self-defence; second, to secure the dominion of the Pacific; as a means to the complete emancipation of South America, which was the third reason for, and the final object of, the undertaking. San Martin was the soul of the alliance, O’Higgins was the connecting link, the Army of the Andes the muscle and sinew, and the Lautaro Lodge the secret mechanism. It was to establish this alliance that San Martin had so hurriedly left for Buenos Ayres after the victory of Chacabuco.

San Martin recrossed the Andes without other company than his favourite aide-de-camp O’Brien, and a guide. As he left Mendoza on the 19th March, he received a letter from Pueyrredon, telling him that a war was imminent with the Portuguese of the Banda Oriental, for which arms and money would be required from Chile, and that in a few days he expected five armed ships, which Carrera was bringing from North America, which he would send on to Valparaiso and place at his orders.

The Portuguese had occupied the Banda Oriental in 1816, with the tacit connivance of the Argentine Government, and Pueyrredon was at that time striving to avoid a rupture by diplomacy. But a war with the Portuguese formed no part of the plans of San Martin, who, at the end of March, reached Buenos Ayres, and avoiding a triumphal entry, which was preparing for him, went to business at once.

Fifteen days afterwards he commenced his return journey, having made such arrangements as he could for the equipment and support of a naval squadron on the Pacific, promising, as General-in-Chief, help from Chile to the extent of 300,000 dollars.

Don José Miguel Carrera had in the year 1815 managed to raise 20,000 dollars among his personal friends in Buenos Ayres, and with this, had gone off to the United States to raise a naval squadron for an expedition to Chile. By lavish promises he had prevailed upon some merchants in New York and Baltimore to sell him five ships, fully equipped. In one of these, the corvette Clifton, he reached Buenos Ayres on the 9th February, 1817. Pueyrredon not only refused to pay for the ships, but also prohibited the further progress of the expedition, knowing that the presence of the Carreras in Chile would be most prejudicial to the cause of the alliance. A few days afterwards the brig Savage arrived from Baltimore, and Carrera formed a plan for escaping with the two ships, but his intention being denounced to Pueyrredon by one of the French adventurers who had come with him, he was arrested as a conspirator, and confined in the Retiro Barracks, where San Martin visited him on the 12th April. Carrera haughtily refused to shake hands with him, and rejected his repeated offers to arrange matters for him with Pueyrredon. They never met again.

San Martin and Pueyrredon both wrote to O’Higgins, proposing that Chile should pension the three brothers Carrera, in recognition of their former services. But O’Higgins considered that such a measure would offer a reward to crime. Carrera soon afterwards escaped from prison and fled to Monte Video; later on he became conspicuous in the ranks of the enemies of Buenos Ayres.

On the 11th May San Martin was again in Chile, and was received in triumph at the capital, the enthusiasm of the people being increased by the news received the same day of the victory of Las Heras at Gavilán.

The same day he sent his friend and aide-de-camp, Alvarez Condarco, off, by way of Buenos Ayres, to London, with money to purchase another ship of war. Condarco had also another mission, which is enveloped in mystery, and is pointed to as a stain on the reputation of San Martin and O’Higgins. A certain sum was to be left in deposit in London for their private account. The documents relating to this matter are written in cypher, and have remained secret for more than sixty years. Only three persons have read them, of whom two are dead, the third is the author of this history.[10] The amount cannot have exceeded 29,500 dollars, a sum which San Martin had most certainly earned, while the rigid exactness of all his dealings with public money placed in his hands is unquestioned. He steadily refused all recompense for his services; he did accept the hospitality of the city of Santiago when there, but the yearly expenses of his establishment did not exceed 3,000 dollars.

In pursuance of the Alliance, the Government of Chile remitted 40,000 dollars to Buenos Ayres for the army of Upper Peru, and the Argentine Government sent a thousand new muskets for the use of the Chilian army. The maintenance of the Army of the Andes, and the filling up of death vacancies, was assumed by Chile, and there was no further question on either side of pecuniary responsibility.

When O’Higgins in April went to take command of the Army of the South, he left Colonel Don Hilarion de la Quintana as his deputy at Santiago. Quintana was an Argentine, a family connection and an aide-de-camp of San Martin. Thus the supreme power in the State was made subject to Argentine influence under the direction of the Lautaro Lodge. This appointment wounded the national susceptibilities of the people, was contrary to the policy adopted by the Argentine government, and provoked open declarations that “Chile owed nothing to the Army of the Andes.”

To destroy this impression, government, on establishing a military school, reserved twelve nominations of cadets for natives of the Province of Cuyo, professing “eternal gratitude to the illustrious peoples of the Rio de la Plata.”

But international gratitude is always a burden, and the Chilians saw in it no reason for confiding the highest post in the State to a foreigner.

Such was the position of affairs when San Martin returned from Buenos Ayres. Quintana and O’Higgins then both wished him to take charge of the administration. He refused, and advised O’Higgins to appoint a Chilian in place of Quintana.

One of the chief administrative acts of Quintana was to commence the coinage of Chilian money, with an appropriate inscription indicative of the establishment of Chile as a sovereign State. One thousand dollars of this coinage were given to San Martin and Belgrano for distribution as medals among the Argentine troops.

At this time Pueyrredon appointed Don Tomas Guido Argentine representative in Chile, and his official reception at Santiago on the 17th May was one of the great events of the year. Quintana, as one result of these renewed relations, sent Irizarri to Europe as the diplomatic agent of Chile, with instructions to act in conjunction with the diplomatic agent of the United Provinces, wherever he might be. Rivadavia was at that time Argentine representative in Europe, and to him were sent fresh powers and instructions to treat for the establishment of an independent monarchy in America.

O’Higgins, from his headquarters at Concepcion, issued a decree creating a “Legion of Merit,” in imitation of the Legion of Honour created by Napoleon. This institution had an aristocratic tendency, as its members enjoyed special privileges; it was, therefore, unpopular, and the Argentine Government would permit no privileges to such Argentine citizens as received the distinction. San Martin looked more favourably upon it, as it responded to his idea of creating a special military class independent of local influences.

One of the results of the restoration of Chile by Argentine arms was to give preponderance to one of the parties into which the country was divided. The Argentines, while recognizing the independence of the country and establishing a national government, had imposed a dictator upon the country, postponing indefinitely its constitutional organization. The Government of O’Higgins had against it not only its old adversaries, but also a large number of Chilians who were jealous of foreign influence. They took Carrera as their chief, and National Autonomy as their watchword, while they were animated only by personal ambition.

Doña Javiera de Valdés, sister of the Carreras, resided at that time in Buenos Ayres. At her house there were daily meetings of Chilian emigrants who were hostile to O’Higgins. Among them a plot was hatched. She herself was the life and soul of the conspiracy. It was decided that several of the conspirators should cross the Andes to prepare their friends in Chile for an outbreak, and should be followed by Don Luis and by Don Juan José Carrera, who should keep quiet until joined by Don José Miguel, who would go round Cape Horn from Monte Video, in the ship General Scott, which he was expecting from New York. They thought they had only to land in the country to be received with acclamation and placed in charge of her destinies. All that they feared was the Argentine army, which was to be expelled, O’Higgins was to be banished from the country as a traitor, San Martin was to be tried by court-martial as a criminal, and all who resisted them were to be put to death. It was an absurd and criminal project which, if only partially successful, would have ruined Chile for the second time.

The first party of the conspirators crossed the Andes in July. Luis Carrera, disguised as a peon, was arrested at Mendoza for robbing the mails. Juan José, travelling under a false name and accompanied by a post-boy, was caught in a hailstorm during the night near San Luis; the boy died, he was arrested on suspicion of murder, and afterwards sent on to Mendoza and imprisoned with his brother. Luzuriaga, Governor of Mendoza, sent full accounts of these occurrences to Santiago. Meantime the other conspirators had arrived at a farmhouse belonging to the Carrera family, and had been put under arrest as a measure of precaution, in consequence of warnings from Buenos Ayres. These news from Mendoza made it certain that some conspiracy was on foot. Numerous arrests among the partisans of Carrera followed, the most notable among the prisoners being Dr. Don Manuel Rodriguez. Some said that the Government was the author of the conspiracy. The general excitement was so great that Quintana could no longer maintain his position, and eventually Don Luis de la Cruz, a native Chilian, chosen by the Lautaro Lodge, was appointed Deputy Director.

San Martin, the guest of the Chilian people, residing in a palace, still continued the simple, hard-working manner of life he had adopted in Mendoza. He dined alone at 1 P.M., but at 4 P.M. a state dinner was served at which Guido presided. At dessert he joined the company and took coffee with them. In the evening his saloon was a favourite resort of the best society of the city, the soirée being invariably opened by singing the Argentine National Hymn, after which San Martin led off the first minuet. These “tertulias” were celebrated in the society annals of the day; and not a few of the Argentine officers fell captive to the beauty and grace of the girls of Santiago, Las Heras and Guido among the number.

San Martin had small sympathy for the Chilian people; their manners and character did not please his austere mind, and he was not the sort of man to make many friends. In his own country he had but three, Belgrano, Pueyrredon, and Godoy Cruz; in Chile he had but one, O’Higgins. He also suffered much at this time from neuralgia and rheumatism, and could only sleep by an immoderate use of morphia. He thought that he could not live much longer; those about him thought the same and sent notice of their fears to Buenos Ayres, in consequence of which General Antonio Gonzalez Balcarce, the hero of Suipacha, was sent to join him as his second in command.

In spite of his forebodings San Martin did not falter in the prosecution of his great enterprise, and taking advantage of his friendship with Captain Bowles, Commodore of the British Pacific squadron, he sent, under his care, a trusty agent to Lima with letters to the Viceroy proposing an exchange of prisoners. This he was anxious to effect, not only for the sake of the prisoners and their friends in both countries, but also for the purpose of procuring an official recognition of Chile as a belligerent power. But under these was a third purpose, to him of more importance than either of the others. His messenger was a confidential agent, who might thus have a pretext for meeting the leaders of society in Lima, and opportunity for sounding them, and for spreading among them the Argentine ideas of which he was the champion.

CHAPTER XVII.

CANCHA-RAYADA.

1817—1818.

In the epoch at which we have now arrived, Chile had as yet no definite form, but possessed all the elements of a vigorous nationality, patriotism, energy, and a pronounced tendency to independence; a democracy yet in embryo, combined with an aristocracy at once territorial and political. The instincts of the masses decided them for the cause of independence, while their political organization assumed the most elemental form, that of a people become an army, under the direction of a class and under a military dictatorship to which all were subject. The revolution and the leveling pressure of despotic rule, had destroyed provincialism and the social inequalities which stood in the way of national unity; common misfortunes and common efforts had created public spirit. Independence thus became a fact, and the establishment of a republic the necessary sequence. With the assent of all the convocation of a Congress was still postponed, but the political situation was compact. Yet there was some resistance to this system of government: the educated classes accepted it only as a transient necessity, and there were still some partisans of the royal cause in the South. Among the rulers themselves there were still some who clung to the fallen party of the Carreras; but for the presence of Argentine bayonets and the influence of San Martin the intestine dispute would have broken out afresh.

Viceroy Abascal, who had crushed the revolution in Upper Peru, in Quito, and in Chile, had in 1815 been replaced by General Pezuela, and the army of Upper Peru was put under the command of General La Serna. Pezuela lacked the talents of his predecessor but he continued his policy. Seeing Chile threatened by an invasion from Mendoza, he ordered La Serna to effect a diversion by marching on Tucuman. But La Serna was held in check by the Gauchos of Salta and Jujui under Martin Güemes, and the successful passage of the Andes by San Martin forced upon him a disastrous retreat.

Pezuela did not fully appreciate the importance of the victory of Chacabuco, and contented himself with sending back the fugitives, in the belief that the Royalist army was still able to hold the country unaided. The defeat of Ordoñez at Gavilán opened his eyes to the danger, and the arrival of reinforcements from Spain enabled him to fit out a fourth expedition. While busied in these preparations, the British ship of war Amphion, Captain Bowles, anchored at Callao, bringing Don Domingo Torres as special envoy from San Martin. So far as its ostensible object was concerned the mission was a complete failure, but Torres succeeded in communicating with the Patriots of Peru, and took back with him in January, 1818, full particulars of the expedition which followed close upon his heels.

Three thousand four hundred well equipped men reached Talcahuano early in January, in four ships mounting 234 guns. Most of these were veteran troops, and were commanded by General Osorio, the conqueror of Chile in 1814, who was sent to supersede Ordoñez. His instructions were, after driving the Patriot army to the north of the Maule, to re-embark his entire force, land in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso, and march on the capital. The plan was apparently a good one, but was drawn out in ignorance of the strength of the Patriots. The losses in the army of the Andes had all been made up, and the new Chilian army by this time almost equalled it in number. The united army now consisted of 9,000 men, of whom three-fourths were well drilled troops, while the total force collected at Talcahuano did not much exceed 5,000 men with twelve guns.

The cannon which roared a welcome to the Spanish squadron at Talcahuano, were heard by the Patriot army then in full retreat upon the capital. Osorio saw at once that he had failed to surprise the enemy, and that all chance of an easy landing in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso was at an end. He despatched the squadron to blockade that port, and after fifteen days spent in organizing his forces at Concepcion, he marched for the North, stimulated to activity by Ordoñez. On the 12th February his advanced posts on the Maule heard the salute fired by O’Higgins at Talca, in celebration of the first anniversary of Chacabuco.

The rôles were now changed; the general of the Army of the Andes, instead of choosing the place of invasion on a line of 1,300 miles of Cordillera, had now to defend 1,300 miles of coast. He expected the enemy to land near Valparaiso, and in December had written to O’Higgins to make every preparation for a rapid retreat, leaving the country behind him destitute of horses and supplies. O’Higgins commenced his retreat on the 1st January, 1818, and on the 20th reached Talca, accompanied by more than 50,000 people with their cattle and horses, and there proclaimed triumphantly the Independence of the Chilian Republic, which, in default of a Congress, had been decreed by a general vote of the Chilian people on the 17th November previous.

At Santiago, Don Luis de la Cruz, Deputy Director, presided at a solemn ceremony in the great square. Guido was the bearer of the standard of the new Nation; beside it the President of the Municipality carried that of the United Provinces. The Declaration of Independence being read, De la Cruz was the first to swear to maintain it, he was followed by the Bishop and by San Martin; then the people kneeling down, repeated the oath, and commemorative medals were distributed among them.

Meantime San Martin had drawn the greater part of his troops from the city and had established an encampment at Las Tablas near the coast, in readiness to meet the enemy at any point, giving the command there to Balcarce, and looking himself to the construction of bridges over the rivers to the south of Santiago, to facilitate the concentration of the different corps when requisite.

By the end of February he was no longer in doubt as to the intentions of the enemy. O’Higgins was directed to evacuate Talca and retreat sixty miles to the north. Early in March the concentration was complete, and San Martin had under his command 4,500 infantry, 1,500 cavalry and thirty-three guns.

On the 4th March, Osorio crossed the Maule and encamped at Talca. On the 14th the united army broke up from quarters and marched against him. The same day the Royalist army left Talca, and Primo de Rivera, chief of the staff, crossed the river Lontué with a strong detachment of infantry and cavalry to reconnoitre the position and force of the Patriots, of which Osorio as yet knew nothing, recrossing the river the same night. On the 15th, Freyre, supported by Brayer with the bulk of the cavalry and eight guns, crossed the river with 200 light horse, advanced to Quecheraguas, where the Royalist vanguard was quartered, and summoned Primo de Rivera to surrender, but receiving no support from Brayer, who did not even cross the river, he was forced to retire with the loss of seventeen men. Rivera after this success retreated upon his reserves at Camarico.

On the 16th, the entire Patriot army crossed the Lontué and encamped at Quecheraguas, while Osorio retired precipitately. San Martin, afraid that he would repass the Maule, marched inland to cut him off. The two armies marched on parallel lines at a distance of only seven miles one from the other; both crossed the Lircay on the 19th. On the afternoon of the same day, Osorio, whose rear was greatly harassed by the Patriot cavalry under Balcarce, wheeled into line in an excellent position, his right resting on the suburbs of Talca, his left on the Claro River, and his front defended by a stretch of broken ground known as the Cancha-Rayada, which he occupied with 500 horse. Balcarce, ignorant of the nature of the ground, charged this advanced corps, and coming under fire of the Royalist artillery, was compelled to retire in disorder. O’Higgins, with twenty guns, forced back the enemy’s right wing into the suburbs of Talca, but as darkness came on, decisive action had to be postponed till next day.

In the twilight the Royalist generals, after gazing upon the Patriot army from the church towers of Talca, held a council of war. Before them was an enemy greatly superior in numbers, behind them flowed a deep and rapid river. Osorio talked of continuing the retreat to Talcahuano, but was overruled by Ordoñez, who said that the attempt could only result in the total destruction of the army, and advised a night attack upon the Patriot position. Most of the officers supported him, and Osorio retired to a convent, leaving him in command. At 8 P.M., under a cloudy sky, Ordoñez drew up his army in line of battle, with cavalry on the wings and guns in the intervals between the different battalions. He himself took charge of the centre, Primo de Rivera led the right wing and Colonel Latorre the left; so, in deep silence, they marched across the Cancha-Rayada, straight upon the watch-fires of the Patriot vanguard.

Meantime San Martin, warned by a spy of what was going forward in the Royalist camp, and seeing that his troops were in the worst possible position to resist a night attack, had marched several battalions and the Chilian artillery from his front to a strong position on his extreme right. The broken nature of the ground much retarded the manœuvre, and the rest of the army had not moved at all when the cavalry outposts gave warning of the approach of the enemy.

The right of the Royalist army, having the least distance to march, was the first to come into action, and was received by O’Higgins with so heavy a fire, whilst at the same time a detached company under Captain Dehesa opened fire on their left, that for a moment the advance was checked, till Ordoñez in person led them again to the charge. O’Higgins had his horse killed under him and received a ball in the elbow. From this moment all was confusion in the Patriot camp. The artillery was abandoned and the grenadiers on the extreme left, roused from sleep by the firing, fled in a panic. The cavalry of the right retired upon the reserves, and were received by a volley of musketry under the belief that they were Spaniards. Alvarado, with the 1st Light Infantry, passed behind the Royalist line and joined the right wing, being also taken for a Spanish corps and losing twenty-one men by the fire of his own friends before the mistake was discovered. The 2nd Chilian infantry, under command of an Italian officer, moved to the rear, and also reached the right wing in safety.

Ordoñez pushed on to a hill in the rear, of the Patriot position, then halted and opened fire in every direction. One of these chance shots killed an aide-de-camp of San Martin at his side, and after some fruitless efforts to restore order he was forced to repass the Lircay with the fugitives, and was followed by O’Higgins with the remains of his division and the reserve artillery. All seemed lost.

It was eleven o’clock, and the autumn moon shone down through the heavy clouds upon the plain so lately occupied by an army. In the distance were heard occasional shots and the gallop of Spanish horse in pursuit, while the right wing in its secure position listened in silence, receiving no orders and knowing nothing of what had happened. The commander, Colonel Quintana, had gone off for orders and had not returned. The officers held a council of war and put themselves under command of Las Heras. He found himself with 3,500 men, but had no ammunition for his guns and no cavalry. He placed his guns in front, and, forming his infantry into one compact column, commenced his retreat soon after midnight, pursued by a squadron of Royalist horse, which did not dare to attack him. At daybreak he was sixteen miles from the field of battle. He rested for an hour, and found that 500 men had deserted during the night. At 10 A.M. he continued his march, and at five in the afternoon reached Quecheraguas, where he remained till midnight, when he crossed the Lontué, and, resuming his march next morning, reached Chimbarongo at midday, where he received news that San Martin and O’Higgins were at San Fernando with the 8th battalion, occupied in collecting the dispersed cavalry.

San Martin came to meet him, and praised the soldiers for their steady behaviour. He was by no means cast down, and directed Las Heras to continue his march to Santiago. O’Higgins suffered much from his wound, but was more determined than ever.

By the dispersion of Cancha-Rayada the Patriots lost 120 killed, 22 guns, and 4 flags, but the nucleus of the army was saved, and with it the independence of America. The Royalists had more than 200 killed and wounded, and had so many missing that they could not at once follow up their victory.

News of the disaster reached Santiago on the afternoon of the 21st, carried there by some of the principal officers, among them being Brayer. According to them everything was lost, San Martin killed, and O’Higgins mortally wounded. Consternation spread over the city, and shouts of “Viva el Rey!” were heard occasionally in the streets. Some talked of flying to Mendoza, or to the ships at Valparaiso. The Royalists and some of the leading citizens opened communications with the conqueror. One of them even had a horse shod with silver to present to him on his arrival. No one slept that night in Santiago.

Government hastily resolved to erect a fort on the southern road, and to send the public treasure to the North for safety, while they called in outlying detachments of troops and summoned the National Guard. The next day news was received that San Martin was at San Fernando.

Brayer, interrogated by the Deputy Director, affirmed that the country could never recover from such a defeat, an opinion which was warmly disputed by Guido. On the 23rd April a despatch was received from San Martin announcing the safe retreat of Las Heras, and stating that he had 4,000 men under his orders. Still the panic was not allayed, and Dr. Rodriguez, taking advantage of the circumstances, rode on horseback through the streets, haranguing the people till he induced them to meet in an open Cabildo and appoint him coadjutor to La Cruz. His fantastic measures were of no real use, but they served the temporary purpose of raising the spirits of the people till the real leaders arrived upon the scene.

Early the next morning O’Higgins reached the city. He soon put an end to disorder, purchased horses, and prepared supplies of ammunition. On the 25th he was joined by San Martin, who, worn out by fatigue and want of sleep, yet found strength as he drew rein at the gate of his palace to make the one speech of his life, in which he assured the excited people that the cause of Chile would yet triumph, and promised them soon a day of glory for America. On the same day a council of war was held in his apartments, at which O’Higgins was present, when it was resolved to establish a camp on the plain of Maipó about seven miles to the south of the city, there to await the approach of the enemy. On the 28th Las Heras joined the army with his division, and day and night were spent in active preparation.

Public confidence revived, but San Martin trusted nothing to fortune, he prepared for any contingency, gave secret orders for concentration on Coquimbo in case of a second reverse, established stores of supplies on the way there, and despatched Colonel de la Cruz to organize the northern provinces. He also established guards at the entrances to the passes of the Andes, and a park at Santa Rosa, so as to secure his retreat to the east. Further, he stationed a strong corps of cavalry at Rancagua, fifteen miles to the south of his camp.

Ten days after the dispersion the united army was reorganized and ready for the fray. It consisted of five battalions of Chilian and four of Argentine infantry, in all nearly 4,000 strong, two regiments of Argentine and one of Chilian cavalry with 1,000 sabres and twenty-two guns, in all more than 5,000 men.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MAIPO.

1818.

On the 31st the Royal army, 5,500 strong, crossed the Cachapoal, and advanced so cautiously that only on the afternoon of the 2nd April did it encamp on the left bank of the Maipó. Leaving the main road, Osorio crossed by a ford lower down, and encamped at Calera on the 3rd, moving on in the afternoon to the farmhouse of Espejo, where he established his headquarters, with the Patriot army close at hand. On the 4th he held a council of war, and proposed to retire on Valparaiso. Ordoñez, Rivera, and the principal officers opposed this idea, so it was resolved to fight the next day.

The scene of the decisive battle of the 5th April, 1818, is a plain bounded on the east by the river Mapocho, which divides the city of Santiago, on the north by a range of hills which separates it from the valley of Aconcagua, and on the south by the river Maipó,[11] which gives it its name. The west of this plain consists of a series of downs, with some low hills, covered with natural grasses and occasional clumps of thorny trees. From Santiago there runs in this direction a stretch of high land called the “Loma Blanca,” from the chalky nature of the soil. On the crest of this Loma the Patriot army was encamped. In front of the western extremity of this Loma rose another of triangular form, beyond the south-western angle of which stood the farmhouse of Espejo, communicating with the higher ground by a sloping road of about twenty-five yards in width, shut in by vineyards and by the mud walls of enclosures, and crossed at the foot by a ditch. This Loma was occupied by the Royalist army. Between the two Lomas lay a stretch of low ground, varying in width from 300 to 1,250 yards, which was shut in on the west by a hillock which formed a sort of advanced work on the left of the Royalist position.

The position held by the Patriot army commanded the three roads from the capital to the passes of the Maipó, and the road to Valparaiso. For its further security San Martin had entrenched the city, and garrisoned it with 1,000 militia and one battalion of infantry, under command of O’Higgins, whose wound precluded him from service in the field. The army was in three divisions: the first, under Las Heras, on the right; the second, under Alvarado, on the left; and a reserve in a second line, under Quintana. Balcarce was in general command of the infantry, San Martin keeping the cavalry and the reserve under his own orders. San Martin issued the most precise orders for the regulation of the troops in action, especially enjoining upon every corps, whether cavalry or infantry, that they should never await a charge from the enemy, but that, when fifty paces distant, they should rush forward with sabre or bayonet.

During the whole day of the 4th April skirmishers of the Patriot army were constantly engaged with the enemy advancing from the fords of the Maipó. Early on the morning of the 5th San Martin, attended by O’Brien and D’Albe, with a small escort, rode to the edge of the Loma to watch for himself the movements of the foe. He feared that they would go far to the west and secure the road to Valparaiso for retreat in case of a reverse. As he saw them occupy the high ground in front of him with their left only extending to the road, he exclaimed:—

“What brutes these Spaniards are! Osorio is a greater fool than I thought him. I take the sun for witness that the day is ours.”

At that moment the sun shone forth over the snowy crests of the Andes from a cloudless sky upon him.

At half-past ten the Patriot army advanced by the crest of the Loma from its camping-ground. On the march, Marshal Brayer presented himself to San Martin, asking permission to retire to the Baths of Colina.

“You have the same permission you took on the field of Talca,” replied San Martin. “But as half an hour will decide the fate of Chile, as the enemy is in sight, and the baths are thirteen leagues off, you may stay if you can.”

The Marshal answered that he could not “because of an old wound in the leg.”

“Señor General,” replied San Martin, “the lowest drummer in the united army has more honour than you.” And, turning rein, he gave orders to Balcarce to announce to the army that the general of twenty years of warfare was cashiered for unworthy conduct.

On reaching the edge of the Loma, the army was drawn up in order of battle, four heavy guns in the centre, the light pieces and the cavalry on the wings, and the reserve two hundred yards in the rear.

The first movement of the Royalist general was to detach Primo de Rivera with eight companies of infantry and four guns to occupy the detached hill on his left, threatening the right of the Patriots, taking them in flank if they crossed the low ground, and securing, as he thought, the road to Valparaiso; Morgado, with some cavalry, keeping up the connection with the main body. The crest of the Loma was occupied by the infantry in two divisions with four guns each, the rest of the cavalry being stationed on the extreme right. Both armies were in such excellent positions that neither could attack except at a disadvantage.

San Martin, uncertain of the whereabouts of the enemy’s artillery, was the first to open fire with his four heavy guns from the centre. The reply gave him the information he required, and he at once ordered the two divisions to attack the enemy. Las Heras advanced resolutely with the 11th battalion, under the fire of the four guns on the hill, to another hill to the right of Primo de Rivera, while the grenadiers, under Escalada, Medina, and Zapiola, drove Morgado and his horsemen in confusion from the field. Rivera was thus cut off from the main body. At the same time the left wing crossed the hollow, ascended the slope in front of them, and reached the high ground without seeing an enemy, but were then vigorously charged by the bulk of the Royalist infantry, under Ordoñez and Morla, and driven back with heavy loss; but the Royalists pursuing them down the slope were in their turn forced to retire by a withering fire from the Chilian guns, under Borgoño, which had remained on the crest of the Loma Blanca.

San Martin now sent orders to the reserve to advance at once, in support of the left wing, by an oblique movement across the low ground, so as to fall upon the flank of the Spanish infantry. On his way Quintana was joined by three battalions of those that had been driven back, and fell with great impetuosity upon the Royalists, who, however, held their ground most tenaciously. Meantime Freyre, with the Chilian cavalry, had charged and put to flight the Royalist cavalry on the right, and now came back upon the other flank of the Spanish infantry. Alvarado, having rallied his broken division, came to the assistance of Quintana with Borgoño and his eight guns.

Osorio, after sending orders to Rivera to withdraw from his advanced position, fled, leaving Ordoñez in command, who at once commenced to retreat in excellent order upon the farmhouse of Espejo.

At this moment O’Higgins, wounded as he was, appeared upon the field, and, meeting San Martin, greeted him as the saviour of Chile; but it was already five o’clock, and the battle was not yet won. Ordoñez, with heavy loss, had made good his retreat to the farmhouse, where he made the most active preparations for defence.

Las Heras, in pursuit of the left wing, was the first to arrive there, but found several detached corps there before him. He immediately ordered the occupation of the high grounds around it, which commanded the position, but Balcarce coming up ordered an immediate attack by the road. Colonel Thompson, with a battalion of Chilian light infantry, led the assault, but was beaten back with grape and musketry, losing 250 killed, and all his officers wounded. Borgoño and Blanco Encalada from the high ground then opened fire with seventeen guns, and soon drove the enemy from his outer defences into the houses and vineyards. Then the 11th battalion, supported by pickets of the 7th and 8th, broke their way through the mud walls and took the houses by assault. The carnage was frightful till Las Heras succeeded in putting a stop to it.

Ordoñez and all his principal officers, with the exception of Rodil, who escaped, gave up their swords to Las Heras, and the victory was complete. This was the hardest fought battle in all the War of Independence. The Royalists lost 1,000 killed, twelve guns, four flags, and a great quantity of small arms, ammunition, and baggage captured; and one general, four colonels, seven lieutenant-colonels, 150 officers, and 2,200 men were made prisoners. The Patriots lost more than 1,000 men killed and wounded, the greatest sufferers being the freed negroes of Cuyo, of whom more than half remained upon the field.

Great tactical skill was displayed by San Martin in this battle. The victory was achieved by the opportune attack of the reserve upon the weakest flank of the enemy. Like Epaminondas, he won only two great battles, and both by the oblique movement invented by the Greek general. Its importance was only equalled by that of Boyacá and that of Ayacucho; and without Maipó neither the one nor the other would have been fought. Maipó crushed the spirit of the Spanish army in America, and that of all adherents to the cause of royalty from Mexico to Peru. It had, further, the singular merit of being won by a beaten army fifteen days after its defeat.

The Arequipa battalion retreated in good order, under Rodil, but dispersed after crossing the Maule. This battalion and the dispersed cavalry were all who escaped from the field. San Martin had witnessed the flight of Osorio, and sent O’Brien after him with a party of cavalry. However, he escaped by the coast, leaving his carriage, with all his correspondence, in the hands of his pursuer, and reached Talcahuano on the 14th April with fourteen men. There he was joined by 600 more of the fugitives—all that remained of the victors of Cancha-Rayada.

San Martin made small use of his victory. He at once despatched Freyre in pursuit with a party of cavalry, but not until the guerillas began to commit depredations did he send Zapiola with 250 grenadiers to maintain order in the South. Osorio made use of this respite to strengthen himself in Concepcion and Talcahuano, and, by calling in outlying detachments, succeeded in collecting 1,200 men by the middle of May.

Pezuela, who fully appreciated the magnitude of the disaster, wrote to the Viceroy of New Granada and Venezuela for reinforcements. Sámano sent him the Numancia battalion, 1,200 strong, weakening himself at the time that he was threatened by Bolívar; but Morillo could send him none from Venezuela, and he confined his efforts to making preparations against invasion, leaving Osorio unaided to sustain himself in Chile as he could.

On the 21st May Osorio sent two detachments across the Nuble, one of which surprised the town of Parrol. Zapiola sent off Captain Cajaravilla with 200 horse to retake the town, which task he gallantly accomplished, capturing 70 prisoners; while Lieutenant Rodriguez of the grenadiers cut the other detachment to pieces at Quirihue. This put a stop to the efforts of the Royalists for that time, and Zapiola, being reinforced, determined to attack Chillán, where Colonel Lantaño was in command with a garrison of 500 men. The expedition was confided to Cajaravilla, who attempted to carry the place by assault, but was beaten off and compelled to retire.

Osorio, fearing that he would be attacked in the spring by the whole united army, resolved to evacuate Talcahuano, and to return to Peru. Accordingly, on the 5th September, he left Colonel Sanchez in command of the Chilian Royalists, and, after dismantling the fortifications, sailed for Callao on the 8th with thirty-five heavy guns, a great quantity of war material, and 700 Spanish troops—all that remained of the strong reinforcement he had brought with him.

CHAPTER XIX.

AFTER MAIPO.

1818.

After the disaster of Cancha-Rayada fugitives from Chile spread panic through the province, and Luzuriaga, the Governor, asked permission to send the accused to Buenos Ayres; he was apprehensive of what might happen should another defeat bring upon him a flood of Chilian emigrants, but the municipality called upon him in the name of the people to finish the case at once. He then appointed three judges to try the case, of whom one was Dr. Monteagudo, who was one of the fugitives from Chile. On the 8th April at 3 P.M. both the accused were sentenced to death; at 5 P.M. they were shot. They fell not so much in expiation of crimes committed as in sacrifice to the necessities of the Argentine-Chileno Alliance.

San Martin, writing of this affair, says:—

“After the action of Maipó, I used all my influence with the Government of Chile in favour of the Carreras, and I procured a pardon for them, but it was then too late.” O’Higgins had acceded to his request when they were no longer dangerous.

Now that the victory of Maipó had secured the independence of Chile, the latent spirit of opposition to the dictatorial government of O’Higgins again broke out. The most moderate desired the establishment of a constitutional régime; the more extreme deemed that the time had come for a radical reform. Among these were the old adherents of the Carreras, who from local patriotism were inimical to the Argentine-Chileno Alliance, and to the influence of San Martin. Dr. Rodriguez was one of them, and aspired to be their leader. During the forty-eight hours of his rule, in the confusion which followed the disaster of Cancha-Rayada, he had raised a squadron of horse, which he styled the Hussars of Death, entirely composed of men disaffected to the Government. He now declared that they would bring the rulers of the people to order.

O’Higgins saw in this corps a focus of sedition, and ordered it to be disbanded. Rodriguez protested but was compelled to submit. Rodriguez was at once a guerilla chief and a demagogue; he was a lawyer who wore the epaulets of a colonel. He was a true patriot, but had neither judgment nor foresight, and infused his own disorderly spirit into the agitation.

The municipality of the capital called upon the Director to convene an open Cabildo. It met on the 17th April. Rodriguez called upon the Assembly to declare itself a representative body until the convocation of a Congress, and as such superior in authority to the actual rulers of the State. The motion was carried. O’Higgins ordered the arrest of Rodriguez, and the ferment subsided. O’Higgins then decreed the appointment of seven principal citizens as a committee to draw up a plan of a provisional constitution, which “should define the powers of each authority and should establish on a solid basis the rights of citizens.” A constitution was accordingly drawn up and promulgated.

Rodriguez was sent under arrest to the barracks of Alvarado’s battalion under charge of a Spanish officer named Navarro, who was told by Alvarado and Monteagudo that Government desired “the extermination of Rodriguez,” for the sake of public tranquillity and the existence of the army. On the 23rd May the battalion left Santiago for Quillota, where Rodriguez was to be tried by court-martial as a disturber of public order. On the march an officer presented Rodriguez with a cigarette on which was written, “It would be well for you to fly.”[12] On the evening of the 24th the party encamped on the banks of a stream. As night fell Navarro, with a corporal and two men carrying carbines, walked with Rodriguez into a gorge near by. Soon after a shot was fired. “Rodriguez is dead,” said some officers in the encampment. Next morning his body was found covered with stones and twigs; his escort said he had tried to escape, and the affair was hushed up.

Of all the trophies of the victory of Maipó, San Martin had reserved only one for himself; this was the portfolio containing the secret correspondence of Osorio, which was found in his carriage when it was captured by O’Brien. On the morning of Sunday, the 12th April, San Martin, attended only by O’Brien, and taking the portfolio with him rode out from Santiago some seven miles to a secluded spot called “El Salto.” Procuring a chair from a house close by he seated himself under the shade of a tree, opened the portfolio and read the contents carefully. They were letters written by several of the leading citizens of Santiago to Osorio after the affair of Cancha-Rayada, declarations of their loyalty. Then asking for a small fire of sticks to be lighted in front of him, he burned them one by one, the wind carrying away their ashes; proofs of treachery which arose only from panic, were buried in oblivion. No one but himself ever knew who were the writers of these letters.

The next day he left for Buenos Ayres, on the same errand which had caused his sudden journey after Chacabuco, to concert measures for an expedition to Peru. On the 11th May, again avoiding a triumphal entry, he quietly took up his residence in his own house in the Argentine capital. Again the Argentine Government decreed him a commission as Brigadier-General; again he declined all promotion, but Congress insisted upon giving him a public vote of thanks, and a crowd of Argentine poets celebrated his victory in verse.

San Martin spent the whole of June in consultation with the members of the Lautaro Lodge, upon the means of fitting out a squadron for the Pacific. In July it was resolved that 500,000 dollars should be raised by a loan for that object, and soon afterwards Don Miguel Zañartu was officially received in Buenos Ayres as the representative of Chile.

San Martin then returned to Mendoza and made two attempts to cross the Cordillera, but was driven back by snowstorms, and remained there all the winter, nothing loth, for he found himself much more at home among the simple, bluff-spoken Cuyanos than in the more polished society of Santiago.

About the end of July he received a letter from Pueyrredon telling him not to draw upon the treasury as he had been authorized to do, for it was found impossible to raise the projected loan. San Martin at once sent in his resignation, which caused such consternation in official circles that he was again authorized to draw for the full amount specified. At that time there arrived in Mendoza various remittances of coin from Chile to merchants in Buenos Ayres. San Martin seized this money on the pretext that transit was not safe, which was quite true, and gave the owners drafts on the national treasury in exchange. Pueyrredon, with great difficulty managed to pay these drafts on presentation, but he wrote to San Martin:—

“If you do that again, I am bankrupt, and we are lost.”

With these resources and other remittances which followed, San Martin replenished the empty chest of the Army of the Andes with 200,000 dollars, and the situation was saved.

His spare time in Mendoza he filled up by making elaborate calculations concerning the men, arms, and equipment necessary for his projected expedition to Peru, while Pueyrredon and the diplomatic corps were as fully occupied in the construction of a scheme which was to render the expedition unnecessary. It was proposed that a conference of European powers should nominate a sovereign who should unite all the Spanish colonies south of the Equator under his sway. Of this monarchy San Martin and his army was to be the right arm. Of all this San Martin was fully informed, and to the scheme he made no opposition, but went on all the same with his calculations, till he crossed the Andes in October, and on the 29th of that month dismounted at the gate of his palace in Santiago full of hope, for his last letter from Pueyrredon announced the despatch of two vessels of war for service on the Pacific.

Bolívar, victorious in Venezuela and encouraged by the victory of Maipó, was at this time preparing for another passage of the Andes.

Spain in eight years of warfare had sent sixteen expeditions to America, with more than 40,000 veteran troops, had expended seventy-five millions of dollars, and seemed in no way as yet inclined to relinquish the attempt to subdue her rebellious colonies. She had yet 100,000 soldiers and militia in America, and was preparing a fresh expedition of 20,000 men for despatch to the River Plate.

Thus while diplomatists amused themselves and the world with visionary schemes for securing the independence of America, those more nearly interested in the question thought only of settling it by fire and sword.

CHAPTER XX.

THE FIRST NAVAL CAMPAIGN ON THE PACIFIC.

1818.

After Chacabuco the Spanish flag was still kept flying on the forts of Valparaiso. Deceived by this stratagem, the Spanish brig Aguila entered the harbour and was captured. She was armed with 16 guns and named the Pueyrredon, and an Irishman named Morris was put in command. His first exploit was to sail to the island of Juan Fernandez to the rescue of the Patriots there imprisoned by Marcó and by Osorio.

Some months afterwards the Wyndham frigate of 44 guns anchored at Valparaiso. She belonged to the East India Company, and at the suggestion of Alvarez Condarco, then in London, had been sent there for sale. Guido raised a loan among the merchants of Valparaiso, and gave the guarantee of the Argentine Government for 50,000 dollars, so that the Government of Chile, in spite of the exhausted state of the treasury just before Maipó, purchased the ship for 180,000 dollars, and named her the Lautaro. She shipped a crew of 100 sailors of various nationalities, and 250 Chilians, soldiers, boatmen, and fishermen. The marines were placed under the command of Captain Miller, an Englishman, and command of the ship was given to Captain O’Brien,[13] who had served in the English navy, with Turner as lieutenant. All the officers were either English or North Americans, except Miller; not one of them could give orders in Spanish. “Nevertheless,” says Miller, in his Memoirs, “ten hours after sailing she fought and fought well.”

The Spanish Pacific squadron at this time consisted of 17 ships, mounting 331 guns. After the victory of Maipó, O’Higgins ordered his two ships to put to sea in search of the Spanish ships which had been blockading Valparaiso. They sailed on the afternoon of the 26th April. At daybreak on the 27th the Lautaro sighted the 44-gun frigate Esmeralda making for the port, followed at some miles distance by the 18-gun brig Pezuela. O’Brien hoisted the English flag and sailed straight for her, till off her quarter and to windward, when he hauled down the English flag, hoisted the Chilian, and ran into her, exchanging a broadside. Followed by thirty or forty men, he then leaped on board, driving the Spaniards from the upper deck, and hauling down her flag. A shot from the lower deck killed him, and he fell, shouting, “Stick to her, boys! The ship’s ours.”

But while the fighting went on the ships had separated. Turner, thinking the enemy was captured, sent off a boat with eighteen men to assist, and sailed off in the Lautaro against the Pezuela, which hauled down her flag without firing a shot. Meantime Coig, commander of the Esmeralda, had rallied his men, recaptured the upper deck, drove the rest of the assailants overboard, and on the return of the Lautaro made off, accompanied by the Pezuela, for Talcahuano, both of them being swifter ships than the Lautaro. On their way back to port the Chilian vessels captured a Spanish brig, whose value more than covered the cost of the Lautaro.

Government then bought an American privateer mounting 20 guns, and named her the Chacabuco. Soon afterwards an American brig mounting 16 guns was purchased, and named the Araucano. In August the ship Cumberland, purchased by Condarco in London, arrived, and was named the San Martin.

Chile had thus rapidly acquired a small fleet of her own, and, looking about for an admiral, she chose Don Manuel Blanco Encalada, a young officer of artillery. Born in Buenos Ayres of a Chilian mother, Encalada had adopted Chile as his country; he had held a separate command before the disaster of Rancagua, was among the Patriot prisoners rescued by the Pueyrredon from the island of Juan Fernandez, was present at Cancha-Rayada, and had distinguished himself at Maipó. He had previously served in the Spanish navy as a junior officer, and was at this time twenty-eight years of age.

On the 21st May a Spanish expedition of eleven transports, two of which were armed vessels, under convoy of the 50-gun ship Maria Isabel, sailed from Cadiz for the Pacific, carrying two battalions of the regiment of Cantabria, 1,600 strong, a regiment of cavalry of 300 sabres, 180 artillerymen and pioneers, with 8,000 spare muskets. One of the transports was in such bad condition that they were forced to leave her at Teneriffe, and distribute her men among the other ships. Five degrees north of the equator the convoy was dispersed by adverse winds. On the 25th July the British brig Lady Warren reached Buenos Ayres, and reported having seen them about a month before. In consequence of this information the Argentine Government sent off the brig Lucy, flying the Chilian flag, and the brig Intrepido, flying the Argentine flag, each carrying 18 guns, with orders to double Cape Horn and join the Chilian squadron. At the same time word was sent to San Martin to invite the Chilian Government to despatch all their squadron against the expedition.

On the 26th August one of the transports named the Trinidad, with 180 soldiers on board, cast anchor at Ensenada, a port on the River Plate, some forty miles to the south of Buenos Ayres. She had separated from the convoy to the north of the equator, when the troops, headed by two sergeants and a corporal, had mutinied, shot their officers, and had compelled the master to sail for Buenos Ayres. The Argentine Government thus came to know the signals and the point of reunion of the expedition, which information they at once sent on to Chile.

Soon after this the 36-gun frigate Horacio, which had been purchased in the United States by Aguirre, the Argentine commissioner, reached Buenos Ayres, and announced that she was followed by the Curacio of the same armament.

On the 19th October the San Martin, Captain Wilkinson, the Lautaro, Captain Wooster, the Chacabuco, Captain Diaz, and the Araucano, Lieutenant Morris, sailed from Valparaiso. The squadron mounted 142 guns, and was manned by 1,100 men, most of whom were Chilians. The officers were nearly all English or North Americans. As O’Higgins, who had gone to the port to hurry on their departure, rode up the hill on his return to Santiago, he looked upon the four ships spreading their sails to a fresh sou’-wester, while the Chilian flag fluttered in the breeze from their mast-heads, and exclaimed,—

“Four ships gave the western continent to Spain; these four will take it from her.”

On losing sight of land, Blanco Encalada opened the sealed instructions which had been given him, and found that he was ordered to the island of Mocha to await the Spanish convoy. The native Chilians were for the most part quite fresh to the service, but Miller, who sailed with the squadron, writes of them:—

“The native marines and sailors showed their good qualities, both as soldiers and sailors, by ready obedience; soon afterwards they showed bravery also.”

A strong wind separated the Chacabuco from her consorts, who cast anchor on the 26th October at the Island of Santa Maria to await her, while the Araucano was sent back to reconnoitre the bay of Talcahuano, about forty miles to the north.

As the ships flew the Spanish flag a boat came off bringing a letter from the Admiral of the Spanish convoy to any transport that might touch there. This letter confirmed information already received from a whaler that the Maria Isabel had been there five days before accompanied by four transports, and had gone on to Talcahuano, while the rest of the convoy with crews sick and out of provisions had been unable to double Cape Horn.

Blanco Encalada sailed at once for Talcahuano. On the night of the 27th he arrived there with two ships, and learned that the Maria Isabel was alone in the bay; the transports, after landing 800 men, had gone on to Callao. On the morning of the 28th, with a fresh breeze, the two Chilian ships entered the bay and saw the Spanish ship at anchor under the batteries.

The Maria Isabel fired a blank cartridge and hoisted her flag. The San Martin replied with another blank cartridge and hoisted the English flag. When within musket shot both the Chilian ships hoisted their own flag with loud cheers, which immediately produced a broadside from the Spaniard. The San Martin replied with another and cast anchor within pistol-shot of the enemy, on which the Spaniard cut his cables and ran aground. Part of the crew landed in boats while the rest kept up a fire from the poop. The Chilian ships continued to fire till her flag was hauled down, when two boats put off to her with fifty men under Lieutenants Compton and Bélez, and took prisoners seventy men and five officers of the Cantabria regiment.

Encalada then landed two companies of marines to dislodge the Royalist troops on shore, who kept up a fire on the prize from behind walls on the beach; but Sanchez coming up with a strong force from Concepcion, compelled them to re-embark. In spite of the fire from shore every effort was made to set the prize afloat, but without success on account of the wind which blew from the sea.

During the following night preparations were made by both parties to continue the struggle next day. Sanchez placed four guns in battery on the beach, while Encalada swung the Lautaro round by an anchor from the poop, and brought her guns to bear on this battery and on the fort of San Agustin, which commanded the entrance of the bay.

At daybreak on the 29th both sides opened fire within pistol-shot of each other. About eleven o’clock a stiff breeze came up from the south, a cable was passed from the San Martin to the prize, the anchor was weighed, the sails spread with great rapidity, and she was towed off amid shouts of “Viva la Patria!” from the Chilians, mingled with loud “hurrahs” from the English sailors. The Chilian squadron celebrated their victory by a salute of twenty-one guns, and sailed out of the bay in triumph with their prize, which they at once named the O’Higgins.

The four ships of the Chilian squadron met again at the island of Santa Maria and were there joined by the Argentine brig Intrepido, Captain Carter, and the Galvarino under Captains Guise and Spry, who had both served in the English navy. The squadron now consisted of nine vessels, including the O’Higgins, with 234 guns.

One after another the rest of the transports fell into the hands of the Patriots to the number of five, with 700 prisoners. Four only, with 800 men, had reached Callao. From that date Spain lost for ever the dominion of the Pacific. The road for the expedition to Peru lay open.

Thirty-eight days after the four ships had sailed from Valparaiso, thirteen vessels carrying the Chilian flag anchored in line in the bay, amid the enthusiastic acclamations of the people.

On the 28th November, 1818, there anchored in the bay of Valparaiso a ship bringing as passenger one of the first sailors of Great Britain, who was yet to increase his fame by exploits in the New World. His name was Thomas Alexander Cochrane, a name made famous by extraordinary deeds of derring-do. Born in Scotland of noble family, and lately a member of the British Parliament, he had been conspicuous among the Radical opposition, and was both hated and feared by the ruling party. Mixed up in Stock Exchange transactions of a doubtful character, he was condemned to a heavy fine and to exposure in the pillory, and was expelled from the House of Commons. The people paid his fine by subscription, Government remitted the degrading part of the sentence, and he was re-elected by the county he had represented. But he had had enough and more than enough of political life; he preferred exile and heroic adventures, and accepted the offers which were made him by Condarco and Alvarez Jonte, the agents of Chile and of San Martin in London. He decided to devote his services to the cause of independence in South America. Ere leaving his native country a farewell banquet was given to him by his admirers, at which he boldly proclaimed his radical principles in impassioned words, which give the key to his character—extreme in everything, in heroism, in hatred, or in love. The Chilian Vice-Admiral, in no way vainglorious of his recent triumph, acknowledged at once the superiority of Cochrane. He resigned the command of the squadron, and Cochrane was appointed Vice-Admiral in his stead.

Blanco Encalada was married to one of the most beautiful women in Chile; the wife of Cochrane, who came with him, was a most worthy type of British beauty, and was idolized by her husband. These two young wives became the stars of Chilian society on shore, whilst on the ocean the two Admirals sustained in honour the star of the young Republic which was emblazoned on the flag floating from the mast-heads of the fleet which now dominated the Pacific.