No. 4.  Vouchers demanded for ten dollars’ worth of mutton.
       23 to 32.  Certificates for cases of gin lost in the San Martin.
       40.  Deficiency of nine dollars in the pay-books of the Lautaro.
       42.  Do. of three dollars in the pay-books of the Independencia.
       69.  Error of three dollars in the valuation of goods captured at
       Arica.
       73.  Forty dollars for repairing pumps at a time when the ships
       could hardly be kept afloat.
       75.  Imputed error of one dollar! in the purchase of 756 gals.
       of gin, &c. &c.

In addition to many such petty items, I was accused of giving bounty to seamen unauthorised—­though the seamen had captured the very monies with which they were rewarded—­and was expected to refund some which had been stolen.  My having supplied rudders and rigging to the vessels cut out from before the batteries at Callao, was called into question, though the ships could not be sent from the port without re-equipment, the Spaniards having dismantled them before their capture.  I was expected, after the lapse of sixteen years, to produce the pursers’ books of the division of stores captured, the books having been sent in due course to the Minister of Marine’s office; yet the Government had not furnished the squadron with the necessary articles for the safety of the ships, whether under sail or at anchor, whilst the stores which were taken from the enemy and applied to the use of the expedition, were so much clear gain to the State.

A still more unjust act of the Chilian Government was that of calling upon me for vouchers for the expenditure of 50,000 dollars, captured by Col.  Miller, in Upper Peru, and expended by him in paying and provisioning his troops, of which transactions I was not at all cognizant:  the sums, however, were no doubt faithfully applied by Col.  Miller to the exigencies of the service in which he was engaged; he merely apprising me that he had captured or otherwise collected 32,000 dollars, with which he had given his men two months’ pay, and an additional month’s gratuity for their gallantry, a transaction no less essential than honourable, but one which the narrow views of the ministry failed to appreciate.  No vouchers were, however, remitted to me whilst I remained on the coast, as the following letter from Col.  Miller will shew:—­

   Ica, Aug. 27, 1821. 
   My Lord,

Inclosed is a memorandum of money received and disbursed to the division under my command.  So soon as time will permit, another more detailed and circumstantial account shall be forwarded for your Lordship’s approval.

   I have written to Major Soler, who is in Lima, to furnish your
   Lordship with the necessary particulars relative to the capture of
   the cash.

   I have the honour, &c.

   Wm. MILLER,
   Col.  Comm.  Southern Division.