316 EVENTS SUCCEEDING THE ELECTION. 



Leaving a garrison at Serena, Carrera and Arteaga had started for the capital with the 

 remainder of their forces. A battle had taken place near Petorca between them and those of 

 the government, each about 1,000 strong. Petorca is a little town, twenty leagues to the north 

 of San Felipe. The combat lasted for three hours of the 14th, and resulted in the complete 

 rout of the revolutionists, with the loss of a number of officers and men, together with their 

 artillery, ammunition, and baggage. Carrera and Arteaga, and a considerable portion of their 

 little army, dispersed for more rapid flight, retreating towards Coquimbo. As soon as the news 

 was received, a feu de joie was fired from Santa Lucia, and military bands were sent to parade 

 the streets with cheerful music. A report of this action from Col. Vidaurre Leal, commanding 

 the government troops, merely states the fact that he had encountered the enemy occupying 

 heights overlooking Petorca ; that the resistance had been vigorous ; and, briefly referring 

 to the results already mentioned, promises further details hereafter. Capt. Pena y Lillo is 

 somewhat more communicative. The three companies under his command were ordered to 

 dislodge No. 1 of the Coquimbo division, commanded by Arteaga, and posted on the summit of a 

 hill rendered almost impregnable by its steepness. After exhausting their ammunition, his 

 men were led to a charge, and succeeded in putting most of the enemy to flight. He took five 

 officers and many (29) soldiers prisoners, and lost 36 men, three of whom he knew to be dead, 

 and two others wounded. The official return, published two days later^ enumerated in all of 

 Leal's force five killed and twenty wounded; and a letter from one of his officers, which was 

 printed in the same bulletin, says their opponents lost not less^ than 364 prisoners and 70 

 killed, of whom nine or ten were officers. Remembering that Arteaga occupied a hill, could 

 rake the plain by cannon without molestation, that he is admitted to be their best artillery 

 officer, that he is acknowledged to have fought gallantly on this occasion, and that the fight 

 continued three hours, if the statements of losses by the commander and Lillo be true, we are 

 forced to believe that the obstinacy of the struggle was very greatly overrated. I prefer believing 

 that the mortality was under-estimated. 



Whilst this was going on, a body of men, sent from Atacama, having approached Serena, 

 an action took place on ground between the city and port, in which the former were 

 defeated ; though the Coquimbanos eventually retired within Serena, fortifying the principal 

 entrances to the plaza. How many were actually lost in these actions is kept secret, out of 

 compassion, it was said, for the friends of survivors. Respecting the losses, the commandant 

 reports his own to the Minister of War, five killed and four wounded ; that of the Coquimbanos, 

 thirty killed, with a like number of wounded and prisoners. 



Government having declared the steamer Arauco, which had been seized at Talcahuano, a pirate, 

 and having offered her as a prize to any vessel that would take her, the British admiral despatched 

 the Gorgon for her capture. Nor was there the least difficulty in taking her from under the 

 guns of the fort before hostile purposes could be suspected. As the acting Intendente had no 

 force with which to redress the aggression, his only remedy was a formal protest against viola- 

 tion of neutral rights. A large amount of property in mills is owned by citizens of the United 

 States residing there ; and the port is a constant resort of whale-ships. Both of these interests 

 a United States corvette had gone there some days before to look after ; and it is understood 

 that a copy of the protest was filed with the commander. As soon as the seizure was known at 

 Santiago and Valparaiso, there was a storm, of indignation against the English, and not only 

 was every John Bull bequeathed to the knife as soon as Gen. Cruz should triumph, but another 

 paper was freely hawked about the streets containing details of many not very creditable events 

 in -the domestic and personal career of H. B. M. Charge d' Affaires. Bitter and mortifying it 

 must have been to know that these truths were passing about the cities in handbills, without 

 the superadded fact that the policy of the measure which caused their appearance was a subject 

 of argument even among his interested countrymen. The notes that follow contain all the 

 history of the act which the world outside was permitted to read: 



