crews.  How, then, is it that they are now paid out of the very money then lying at your disposal, I having left untouched ten times as much?  My warning to you, that they were no longer to be trifled with, was founded on a long acquaintance with their character and disposition; and facts have proved, and may more fully prove, the truth of what I told you.

Why, Sir, is the word “immediate” put into your order to go forth from this port?  Would it not have been more decorous to have been less peremptory, knowing, as you do, that the delay of payment had unmanned the ships—­that the total disregard of all my applications had left the squadron destitute—­and that the men were enticed away by persons acting under the Peruvian Government?  This being so, why are matters pushed to this extremity?

I thank you for the approval of my services since the 20th of August, 1820, and assure you that no abatement of my zeal for the Protector’s interest took place till the 5th of August, when I became acquainted with his Excellency’s installation, and when, in your presence, he uttered sentiments that struck a thrill through my frame, which no subsequent act, nor protestation of intentions, has been able to mitigate.  Did he not say—­aye, did you not hear him declare, that he would never pay the debt to Chili, nor that due to the navy, unless Chili would sell the squadron to Peru?  What would you have thought of me as an officer, sworn to be faithful to the state of Chili, had I listened to such language in cold, calculating silence, weighing my decision in the scale of personal interest?  No, Sir, the promise of San Martin, that “my fortune should be equal to his own,” will not warp from the path of honour

   Your obedient, humble Servant,
   COCHRANE.

After a lapse of nearly forty years’ anxious consideration, I cannot reproach myself with having done any wrong in the seizure of the money of the Protectoral Government.  General San Martin and myself had been, in our respective departments, deputed to liberate Peru from Spain, and to give to the Peruvians the same free institutions which Chili herself enjoyed.  The first part of our object had been fully effected by the achievements and vigilance of the squadron; the second part was frustrated by General San Martin arrogating to himself despotic power, which set at naught the wishes and voice of the people.  As “my fortune in common with his own” was only to be secured by acquiescence in the wrong he had done to Chili by casting off his allegiance to her, and by upholding him in the still greater wrong he was inflicting on Peru, I did not choose to sacrifice my self-esteem and professional character by lending myself as an instrument to purposes so unworthy.  I did all in my power to warn General San Martin of the consequences of ambition so ill-directed, but the warning was neglected, if not despised.  Chili trusted to him to defray the expenses of the squadron