APPENDIX. 473 



" The regulating principles of the proceedings of the Viceroy shall always 

 be those of such gentleness and condescension, as shall not derogate from the 

 dignity of his official situation ; and he will not now comment on the occu- 

 pation of a nobleman of Great Britain, a country in alliance with the Spanish 

 people, employing himself in commanding the naval forces of a government 

 hitherto unacknowledged by any nation on the globe." 



III. 



The Admiral's second letter, dated the 7th March, begins by proving the 

 truth of the accusations against the Peruvian government of cruel treatment to 

 the prisoners ; and then proceeds to quote the different codes of maritime laws, 

 from that of Rhodes downwards, to show that the subjects of a regular 

 government independent de facto, are not to be treated as pirates, notwith- 

 standing that the mother country may not have recognised its legitimacy, 

 and giving as instances the conduct of the various nations of Europe at the 

 time of the emancipation of North America. He then refers to his own pro- 

 ceedings on the coast of Peru, leaving to time the manifestation of their result. 



" Meantime," he says, " His Excellency the Viceroy does well not to 

 make any comment on the employment of a British nobleman in the great 

 cause of Southern America. A British nobleman is a free man, capable of 

 judging between right and wrong, and at liberty to adopt a country and a 

 cause which aim at restoring the rights of oppressed human nature. Without 

 failing in any duty, and without incurring any species of responsibility, Lord 

 Cochrane was honourably competent to adopt the cause of Chile with the 

 same freedom with which he refused the offered station of high admiral of 

 Spain, which was made to him by the Spanish ambassador in London." 



His Lordship then anew proposes the exchange of the prisoners of the brig 

 Maypu for those he has on board the squadron. 



IV. 



The Viceroy's reply evades present compliance with the proposed exchange 

 of prisoners, and artfully endeavours to convince Lord Cochrane, that the 

 British government, so Jar from being favourable to the cause of South 

 American emancipation, is inimical to it ; and points his attention to the pro- 

 clamations forbidding tlie enlistment of soldiers and sailors in foreign services, 

 and to the conduct of the French government on the occasion. He says, that 



3p 



