Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, from Spanish and Portuguese Domination by Earl of Dundonald Thomas Cochrane (speed reading book txt) 📖

to acknowledge these obligations was—that the war being now ended by the annihilation of the Spanish naval power in the Pacific through the instrumentality of sailing ships alone, there was no necessity for a steam ship of war—the narrow-minded policy of the ministers who have figured in these pages never conceiving that to maintain maritime preponderance is scarcely less difficult than to achieve it. Hence, to get rid of the paltry sum of £13,000 due—and still due—to my brother for his advances on the ship, she was rejected; the consequence was, that after my departure, the independence of Chili was again placed in jeopardy, whilst Peru was only saved from a Spanish reconquest by the intervention of the Colombian liberator, Bolivar.

Shortly after my departure, the partisans of General Freire, and the enemies of General O'Higgins, having entered into a combination—the former marched on Valparaiso, where the people ardently espoused his cause; so that abandoned by his evil genius, San Martin, and equally so by others who had caused his downfall, the Supreme Director found himself a prisoner in the hands of the very man who had most conduced to his overthrow, viz., Zenteno, in whose charge he was placed on pretence of being made accountable for the expenditure of those who now held him in durance!

The end of this was, a five months' examination of O'Higgins, which resulted in his being permitted to leave the country; General Freire having, meanwhile, been elected to the Supreme Directorate, in the midst of internal dissensions in Chili, and disasters in Peru, where the Spaniards, under Cantarac—emboldened by the pusillanimity of the Protector in permitting them to relieve Callao unmolested, and elated with their decisive victory over a division of his army, as narrated in a previous chapter—had availed themselves of the treasure carried away from Callao in reorganising their forces, which now threatened Lima, and would no doubt have recovered Peru, had not Bolivar, foreseeing the result, sent a division of his army, under General Sucre, to the assistance of the beleaguered city.

In the midst of these embarrassments, the New Government of Chili despatched the following letter to Rio de Janeiro, for the purpose of inducing me to return, and reorganise the navy, the officers and men of which had, as I learned, shortly subsequent to my departure been turned adrift, without any reward whatever for their extraordinary privations and exertions in the cause of independence.

   Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
   Santiago de Chili, April 11, 1823.
   Most Excellent Sir,

The Representatives of the people of Chili, legally assembled, having elected Don Ramon Freire as Supreme Director of the State, this event has happily terminated the internal movements which agitated the country. The new Government, on entering on its delicate functions, has been impressed with the want of your Excellency to give preponderance to this maritime state, by the imposing aptitude of your Excellency's measures and extraordinary renown, so highly prized by the Chilenos, and dreaded by their enemies.

The loss of the Allied army in Moquegua, where it has been beaten by General Cantarac, has occasioned such an effect on the result of the war, that possibly the capital of Peru may fall into the hands of the enemy in consequence of the ascendancy thus acquired.

   In consequence of this event, Chili must give a new impulse to
   her maritime affairs, especially as an expedition is about to sail from
   Cadiz, composed of two ships of the line, to restore the Spanish
   authority in Peru.

Your Excellency, on leaving Chili, promised not to abandon the cause of independence; and Chili—which has ever admired in your Excellency one of its most illustrious protectors—must not therefore be deprived of your services in a time of danger, and your great work thus be left incomplete. These considerations his Excellency desires me to lay before you in the name of the nation, and in his own name, to request that you will return to this State, at least during the period of danger. His Excellency trusts in your generosity and zeal for the cause of humanity, that you will return as speedily as circumstances require, without taking into account fatigue or sacrifices in supporting the cause which you have advocated since its commencement.

Be pleased to accept the expression of my high consideration.

(Signed) MARIANO DE EGANA.

It is almost unnecessary to state that my engagements with Brazil, and the fact that when the invitation to resume the command of the Chilian navy was received, I was blockading the Portuguese fleet in Bahia—rendered it impossible to comply with the request. That a state whose ministers had, by the greatest injustice, compelled me to quit it—should, in so short a period, have thus earnestly entreated me to return and free it from impending disaster, is not more a proof of the peril in which the Government was placed, than of its thorough satisfaction with my conduct as its admiral, and of its anxiety for my renewed assistance.

In reply to the request, I addressed the following letter to the minister:—

Most Excellent Sir,

I have just been honoured with your letter of April 11th, announcing the elevation of Mareschal Don Ramon Freire to the high dignity of Director of the State of Chili, by acclamation of the people—a choice at which I cordially rejoice, as it has placed in power a patriot and a friend. My sentiments with respect to His Excellency have long been well known to the late Supreme Director, as well as to his Ministers, and I would to God that they had availed themselves of Gen. Freire's able and disinterested services in the expedition to Peru—in which case the affairs of South America would have now worn a different aspect; but the Buenos Ayrean faction, being actuated by ambitious motives and more sordid views, interfered, and rendered abortive those plans which, under Gen. Freire's management, would have brought the war to a speedy and successful termination.

On my quitting Chili, there was no looking to the past without regret, nor to the future without despair, for I had learned by experience what were the views and motives which guided the councils of the State. Believe me, that nothing but a thorough conviction that it was impracticable to render the good people of Chili any further service under existing circumstances, or to live in tranquillity under such a system, could have induced me to remove myself from a country which I had vainly hoped would have afforded me that tranquil asylum which, after the anxieties I had suffered, I felt needful to my repose. My inclinations, too, were decidedly in favor of a residence in Chili, from a feeling of the congeniality which subsisted between my own habits and the manners and customs of the people, those few only excepted who were corrupted by contiguity with the Court, or debased in their minds and practices by that species of Spanish Colonial education which inculcates duplicity as the chief qualification of statesmen in all their dealings, both with individuals and the public.

I now speak more particularly of the persons late in power— excepting, however, the late Supreme Director—who I believe to have been the dupe of their deceit; and I do assure you that nothing would afford me greater pleasure, for the sake of the ingenuous Chilian people, than to find that with a change of Ministers, a change of measures has also taken place, and that the errors of your predecessors, and their consequent fate, shall operate as an effectual caution against a course so destructive.

Point out to me one engagement that has been honourably fulfilled—one military enterprise of which the professed object has not been perverted—or one solemn pledge that has not been forfeited; but my opinions on this want of faith, at various periods of the contest, when everything was fresh in my recollection, are recorded in my correspondence with the Minister of Marine, and more particularly in my private letters to His Excellency, the late Supreme Director, whom I unavailingly warned of all that has happened. My letter also to San Martin, in answer to his accusations—a copy of which was officially transmitted to your predecessor in office—contains a brief abstract of the errors and follies committed in Peru; as my public letters and those documents are, of course, in your possession, I shall abstain from trespassing on your attention with a repetition of facts with which you are acquainted.

Look to my representations on the necessities of the navy, and see how they were relieved! Look to my memorial, proposing to establish a nursery for seamen by encouraging the coasting trade, and compare its principles with the code of Rodriguez, which annihilated both. You will see in this, as in all other cases, that whatever I recommended in regard to the promotion of the good of the marine, was set at naught, or opposed by measures directly the reverse. Look to the orders which I received, and see whether I had more liberty of action than a schoolboy in the execution of his task. Look back into the records of the Minister of Marine's office, and you will find that, while the squadron was nearly reduced to a state of starvation, provisions were actually shipped at Valparaiso, apparently for the navy, but were consigned to Don Luiz de Cruz, and disposed of in such a way as to reflect eternal reproach and disgrace. You may probably find also, the copy of an order, the original of which is in my possession, (not rubricated by the Supreme Director) to permit a vessel laden with corn to enter the blockaded port of Callao at the period of its greatest distress, and which did enter in my absence, and was sold for an enormous amount; whilst funds could not be found to send even 500 troops on an eight days' voyage from Chili to secure Upper Peru, when the greater part of the country was actually in our possession, and when the minds of the people, afterwards alienated by the base conduct of San Martin, were universally in our favour.

Sir, that which I suffered from anxiety of mind whilst in the Chilian service, I will never again endure for any consideration. To organise new crews—to navigate ships destitute of sails, cordage, provisions, and stores—to secure them in port without anchors and cables, except so far as I could supply these essentials by accidental means, were difficulties sufficiently harassing; but to live amongst officers and men—discontented and mutinous on account of arrears of pay