198 CONVERSATIONS WITH A SPANISH LIBERAL. 



der his command broke out into open mutiny, which was quelled by 

 his sangfroid and presence of mind. His conduct on one of these 

 occasions will afford you a tolerable insight into the character of this 

 extraordinary man. 



" Towards the close of the siege, when almost every atom of pro- 

 vision had been consumed, even to the very rats (that at its com- 

 mencement were so numerous, and on which they had latterly sub- 

 sisted), and all hope of succour from the mother country had va- 

 nished, Rodil, who had mined the fortress in every direction, with 

 the intention of blowing it up, rather than surrender it to the abhor- 

 red patriots, learned that two regiments of Buenos Ayrean infantry, 

 who formed part of the garrison, were plotting to deliver up the 

 castle. Unable by his emissaries to discover the ringleaders of the 

 plot, Rodil at last accomplished it by one of the most cold-blooded 

 stratagems of which the annals of war furnish an example. He as- 

 sembled the two regiments in question, and after, in very explicit 

 terms, telling them that, despairing of relief, he had determined to 

 bury himself and his faithful Spaniards beneath the ruins of the for- 

 tress, he finished by adding that as they were Americans, forced 

 against their will and inclination into the Spanish ranks, that such as 

 wished to leave the garrison and abandon the royal cause were free 

 to do so. ' Such of you, therefore/ said the general, with that win- 

 ning tone he can so well assume, ' who wish to take advantage of my 

 offer, advance out of the ranks, and form twenty paces in front of 

 the regiment.' Overjoyed at the prospect of escaping from their im- 

 pending fate, the commanding officer, several captains and subalterns, 

 and some 60 or 70 file, quitted the ranks, and formed as they were 

 commanded, in advance of the line. At this moment, Rodil, who 

 was smoking, removed the cigar from his mouth, and coolly gave the 

 word to their comrades in the rearfuego ! It proved the knell of 

 the conspirators : in an instant they were weltering in their gore ! 

 while the remainder of the garrison, struck with this display of terri- 

 ble energy and cool determination, returned to their obedience. 



" Rodil at last, convinced that all chance of relief was hopeless^ and 

 that the cause of Spain in America was irretrievably lost, signed an 

 honourable capitulation under the guarantee of Sir Murray Maxwell, 

 of His Majesty's ship Briton. When every obstacle had been re- 

 moved, the Briton was moored close under the wall of the castle, and 

 its indomitable governor, on signing the capitulation, immediately 

 found himself under the protection of the British flag.* 



* Bolivar was so enraged at the obstinate defence made by Rodil, and like- 

 wise for not ratifying the article of capitulation at Ayacucho, relative to the 

 surrender of Callao, that he threatened to hang him if he fell into his hands. 

 Rodil was, however, justified in the line of conduct he adopted, as the com- 

 mand of Callao was always derived direct from the king himself, and was inde- 

 pendent of the viceroy of Peru. 



Tne writer of the foregoing pages met General Rodil at the Rio de Ja- 

 neiro, on his way to Europe, after his celebrated defence. His manners were 

 as polished and bland as his exterior was stern and forbidding. The anecdotes 

 given here of the general were current at the time in South America. 



