INTRODUCTION. HI 



the national gratitude towards the worthy supporters of its maritime 

 power. 



" I have the honour to communicate this to Your Excellency by 

 supreme command, and to offer you my highest respect. 



(Signed) " Joaquim de Echeverria. 



" To His Excellency the Right Honourable the Lord Cochrane, 



" Vice Admiral and Commander-in-chief, &c. &c. &c." 



Lord Cochrane had now been two years and a half at the head of 

 the naval force of Chile ; he had taken, destroyed, or forced to sur- 

 render every Spanish vessel in the Pacific ; he had cleared the western 

 coast of South America of pirates. He had reduced the most im- 

 portant fortresses of the common enemy of the patriots, either by 

 storm, or by blockade ; he had protected the commerce, both of the 

 native and neutral powers ; and had added lustre even to the cause 

 of independence, by exploits worthy of his own great name, and a 

 firmness and humanity which had as yet been wanting in the noble 

 struggle for freedom. 



