INTRODUCTION. 29 



sible, seize and bring to the city the persons of the robbers ; — a most 

 harassing employment for them, and one which but ill answered its 

 purpose. In any other country and climate famine would probably 

 have been the consequence of these misfortunes ; but Chile, as if 

 spontaneously, still continued to produce her seventy and eighty fold 

 of corn, and to supply Peru. 



Buenos Ayres, under all its various governors and forms of govern- 

 ment, had always looked upon Chile as linked in interest with itself. 

 Those who thought of establishing one great empire, regarded it as 

 the province which should command the trade of the Pacific, and 

 probably secure the riches of the Philippines and Moluccas beyond 

 it ; while those who contemplated a federal state, saw it as a 

 member under a light at least as flattering ; and all depended upon its 

 union with the provinces to the eastward of the Andes, as a matter of 

 course. Hence, when the Chileno fugitives, after the battle of 

 Rancagua, reached Buenos Ayres, they were not only favourably 

 received, but a great effort was made to restore them to their country, 

 and to assist them once more to shake off the Spanish dominion. 

 There was besides a strong motive for such an effort. The passages 

 across the Chilian Andes are short and easy, while those from Peru 

 are distant and difficult ; so that while the royal troops possessed 

 Chile, the viceroy of Peru could always succour or communicate with 

 the old Spaniards beyond the mountains by means of the port of 

 Valparaiso. Therefore, to cut off this communication was of the 

 greatest consequence to Buenos Ayres itself. Accordingly, the latter 

 end of 1816 was employed in collecting a force at Mendoza, under 

 general Don Jose de San Martin. Besides the Chilenos who had fled 

 after the action of Rancagua, and many others on that side of the 

 Andes, there were some troops from Buenos Ayres, particularly two 

 negro regiments, which were placed under the immediate orders of 

 General O'Higgins. General Saleres also commanded a considerable 

 body of troops; and the whole number of the " army of the Andes" 

 amounted to about 4000 men. 



While San Martin was preparing all things at Mendoza for his 



