INTRODUCTION. 99 



the opinion of the government of Chile ; and sent his worthy depu- 

 ties, Colonel Paroissien (who owed every thing to Lord Cochrane) 

 and Garcia del Rio, to Chile, with a string of accusations, some of 

 them of the most ridiculous nature, and others, though of a deeper 

 colour, equally false and impossible with regard to His Lordship. 

 Cowardice, cruelty, and treachery, the vices of his own character, 

 San Martin did not venture to impute to him, so he charged him 

 with dishonesty and avarice ; and adduced as proofs, the demands 

 His Lordship had made in behalf of the seamen of the squadron, 

 and for supplies to the ships. * But the government did not 

 appear to believe the charges, though the dread of coming to hos- 

 tilities with San Martin kept them quiet for the present. Docu- 

 ments, in fact, existed in the public offices at Santiago which dis- 

 proved the whole of the direct charges against the Admiral. But the 

 latter part of the memorial presented by Paroissien and Del Rio, 

 calling on the Director to inflict condign punishment on Lord Coch- 

 rane for slights offered to the honour and dignity of the Protector of 

 Peru, lets us into the whole secret of His Excellency's motives in 

 attacking one whom the people had called brave and generous, while 

 San Martin was named only the fortunate. 



Meantime the squadron had proceeded to Guayaquil ; and, not- 

 withstanding the usual opinion, that the river was dangerous, or 

 rather not navigable for large ships, unless they landed their guns at 

 the entrance, the admiral himself piloted the O'Higgins up to the 

 town, and astonished the inhabitants by appearing abreast of their 

 forts on the 18th of October, along with the Independencia, Valdivia, 

 Araucano, San Fernando, and Mercedes. They were extremely well 

 received, and exchanged salutes with the forts, f 



Lord Cochrane then proceeded to repair and refit his ships, for 

 which purpose there could not have been a properer place. Timber 



* These accusations were industriously circulated at Valparaiso, with some diversity in 

 the copies suited to the persons to whom they were shown. I have seen two varieties. 



f £ less 4 was the shallowest water going up. The squadron found seven gun-boats 

 and seven merchantmen in the harbour. 



o 2 



