INTRODUCTION. 75 



third of them died of fever during the many months they continued 

 there. 



Meantime Don Tom as Guido and Colonel Luzuriago were de- 

 puted to Guayaquil to return the compliments paid to the liberating 

 chiefs by Escobedo, the chief of that city, who had offered all the 

 assistance of the rich province of which it is the capital, towards the 

 accomplishment of their designs. Other views were also in San 

 Martin's contemplation : the extraordinary successes of Bolivar in 

 the north had given rise to the idea that his indefatigable zeal might 

 lead him to the provinces of Peru. But it was by no means the wish 

 of San Martin that such an expedition should be so far successful 

 as to deprive him of any part of the empire he had now begun to 

 contemplate for himself. His deputies, therefore, represented that 

 on the fall of Lima, Guayaquil would become the principal port of 

 a great empire, that the establishment of the docks and arsenals 

 which San Martin's navy would require, must enrich not only the 

 individuals actually concerned in them, but the whole city ; whereas, 

 if Guayaquil were subdued by Bolivar, it would be considered only 

 as a conquered province, and of scarcely any importance to the 

 immense state of Columbia. The existing government was therefore 

 persuaded to form a militia, and to take every measure for keeping 

 out any Columbian invader. 



This was not the only negotiation carried on from head-quar- 

 ters at Supe : a correspondence, voluminous enough for the whole 

 states of South America, took place between San Martin and the 

 viceroy, sometimes concerning the exchange of prisoners, sometimes 

 that of titles of honour, and now and then the liberator complains 

 of the petty abuse of the Lima newspapers, which complaints are 

 retorted by the viceroy. 



Nor was the press of Supe idle ; besides the bulletins of the liberat- 

 ing army, edicts were published calling upon slaves to join the army, 

 and promising to pay their masters ; and flattering proclamations 

 addressed to the European Spaniards. 



Since the departure of the expedition from Chile, the director and 

 senate had been uniformly engaged in endeavours to increase the 



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