A VISIT TO THE SOUTHWARD. 887 







art ; tin-re was not u in<>imtr<l man among them ; anil it is quite reasonable toftupposc that 

 they also wen- suffering from the fatigues of .such a day. Thus closed the conflict of the 8th 

 c.l December. During the night, excepting the cuvalry of Cruz, and that portion belonging 

 tu the aniiv of r.ulnes \\hirh ha<l the .Manle. the dispersed of both sides again collected 



ahiiut their respective standards ; and on the morning following the action the revolutionary 

 party was decidedly the strOIiL 



Those are unvarnished facts, derived from eye-witnesses and participants men whose regard 

 I'm- truth is more powerful than mere party predilections. To this day neither detail nor official 

 acc.-nnt of the hattle has been published by government; and how it came about that the gen- 

 eral who was pursued from the field became victor without firing another shot, probably will 

 only he known to those who contributed to give so anomalous a result to the revolutionary 

 struggle. The manner in which it was effected is delicately, though unmistakably, insinuated 

 in the letter from Gen. Cruz to the Intendente of Concepcion ; and partisans who reside in this 

 vicinity openly charge some of his leading officers with treachery, asserting that the contents 

 of his military chest (some $40,000) was their reward. It is further said that Bulnes would have 

 continued his retreat across the Maule, but that the launches prepared for such emergency had 

 been stolen during the preceding night by a party who came expressly from Talca, confident of 

 bis defeat, and desirous to leave no possible chance for his escape. He was among people com- 

 paratively hostile; and not only were his men disaffected and deserting every hour, but it is 

 known that his subordinates, having become thoroughly dissatisfied, had assembled in caucus at 

 Chilian, and actually proposed to invest with supremacy the second in command. The officer to 

 whom the offer was made promptly and properly declined the mutinous proposition. An impar- 

 tial gentleman, who had the very best means of knowing, assured me that, had Bulnes postponed 

 an engagement one week longer, he would not have had three whole regiments to fight with. On 

 the other hand, nearly the entire populace of the country was friendly to Cruz. He purchased 

 every article of provisions needed by the troops, and paid faithfully even for cattle consumed at 

 the Casas de Reyes, though they belonged to the colonel of a regiment then marching against 

 him. The money thus left in the track of his army helped no little to secure the good will felt 

 towards him. Aware of this and of the discontent among the government troops, he was 

 opposed to a conflict; counselling a "masterly inactivity," and a line of march towards the 

 capital, which would enable him to cross the Maule near the Andes. Once to the northward 

 of the river, he was confident resistance would cease, and the triumph of his cause be assured 

 without sacrificing the lives of his fellow-countrymen. For the same reason, when overruled in 

 council respecting the line of march to be followed, instead of forcing Bulnes to a battle, as he 

 might have done anywhere between Chilian and the Loncomilla, he only dogged him from day to 

 day, keeping just far enough behind to prevent an engagement. It may be said that the man 

 who holds certain victory in his hands, yet hesitates about a few lives from humane or patriotic 

 motives, is not competent to the command of an army ; and such was probably the fact. Whether 

 the actual result is to be for the advantage of the nation, is a question time is yet to decide. 



In anticipation of the visit, Seiior , the lessee of the Casas de Reyes, had given directions 



to his administrador to provide for me ; and, on returning to the houses after a long day in the 

 saddle, every possible disposition was manifested to supply my wants, as well as to give me 

 information of the prominent events of which they had been the scene. Don had jest- 

 ingly warned me, that the guasos of the neighborhood still looked with dread on the entire 

 range of buildings, because of the arms and legs and heads that came at midnight to the cham- 

 ber I would occupy seeking bodies to whioh they had belonged, and that I must be prepared to 

 witness many strange sights and encounter numberless adventures. And there is no doubt that 

 the chamber was haunted ! not by remnants of humanity, however, but by multitudes of hun- 

 gry avengers, impatient for another banquet of blood. Every drop shed on the field seemed to 

 have become a flea, thirsting for retaliation. Nervous from being so long in the sun without 



