Perceiving that he felt nervously uneasy in his attempt at negotiation, I reminded him that the Peruvian navy had no existence except in imagination; that I had no doubt whatever of his desire for my prosperity, but that it might be more agreeable to him to join me in a bottle of wine than to reiterate his regrets and lamentations.  After taking a glass he went into his boat, and pulled off, glad no doubt to escape so easily, not that it occurred to me to resent the treachery of visiting the ships of the squadron in the dark, to unsettle the minds of the officers and men.

This, however, and other efforts proved but too successful, twenty-three officers abandoning the Chilian service, together with all the foreign seamen, who went on shore to spend their pay, and who were either forced, or allured by promises of a year’s additional pay to remain, so that the squadron was half unmanned.

The fortress, notwithstanding the supplies so successfully introduced by General Cantarac, having again—­by the vigilance of the squadron—­been starved into surrender, I received an order immediately to quit Callao and proceed to Chili, although the Peruvian Government believed that from the abandonment of the squadron by the officers and foreign seamen, it would not be possible to comply with the order.  The following is Monteagudo’s letter conveying the commands of the Protector:—­

   Lima, Sept. 26th, 1821. 
   My Lord,

Your note of yesterday, in which you explain the motives which induced you to decline complying with the positive orders of the Protector, temporarily to restore the money which you forcibly took at Ancon, has frustrated the hopes which the Government entertained of a happy termination to this most disagreeable of all affairs which have occurred during the expedition.

To answer your Excellency in detail, it will be necessary to enter into an investigation of acts which cannot be fully understood without referring to official communications and documents which prove the interest which has been taken in the necessities of the squadron.

   (Here follows a reiteration of the promises and good intentions of
   the Protector, with which the reader is already well acquainted.)

This has been a mortal blow to the State, and worse could not have been received from the hand of an enemy, there only remaining to us a hope in the moderation and patient suffering of the valiant men who have sacrificed all!

You will immediately sail from this port to Chili, with the whole squadron under your command, and there deliver up the money which you have seized, and which you possess without any pretext to hold it.  In communicating this order to your Excellency, the Government cannot avoid expressing its regret at being reduced to this extremity towards a chief with whom it has been connected by ties of friendship