68 
the numerous solicitations of my friends in 
Quito, permitting me to remain, being well 
aware I was already in or beyond Guaya- 
quil. Fortunately my health mended by 
travelling. On our arrival at Las Bodigas, 
where travellers embark on the river to 
proceed to Guayaquil, an order was wait- 
ing that my arrival should be announced 
to General Cordero, the agent of Flores, in 
Guayaquil, of whom it is no scandal to say, 
he is one of the greatest scoundrels in Co- 
lombia. The canoe was ordered to wait at 
some distance from the town, and a guard 
was sent to conduct me on board a vessel 
lying in the harbour. The same afternoon 
(Oct. 6th), a police magistrate came to 
take my declaration as to the authenticity 
of a pus letter I had written to an inti- 
rb English officer, 
iving him an account of an insurrection 
of the Battalion Flores, and other news o 
the day. This letter had been seized in 
the post-office of Quito, in the teeth of the 
law, and served, for want of better mate- 
rials, to make out a crime: but as there 
would have been many inconveniences in 
playing this trick in Quito, it was sent to 
Guayaquil, and furnished the pretext for 
calling me thither, Flores well knowing that 
his friend Cordero would have no scruples 
as to legality or justice. Of course I had 
no difficulty in owning my own letter, and 
in less than half an hour a boat came along- 
side with a guard, and the next morning I 
was at the Island of La Puna, on my way 
to the Peruvian frontier. From La Puna 
I addressed a representation to the Prefect 
oas, an 
Consul, Mr. Cope, 
whom I had not been able to see during 
my short stay before at Guayaquil, by 
whom they were forwarded with the neces- 
. Sary n for redress of the injury 
_ thus i a British subject,! whose 
person and ani were guaranteed by 
| treaties. To nione of these ropes 
$ sentations POS Vai S N 
v 97? 
al beh tome bl the rak of Colona in 
NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO PAYTA, 
or through Mr. Cope, was any answer ever 
returned. It must be confessed, the little 
interest shown by the British Government 
in protecting its subjects resident in these 
countries, has emboldened men whose ac- 
tions acknowledge no bridle but fear, to 
oppress them with, or without pretext, in 
the confidence it may be done with impu- 
nity. It may be suspected I profit by the 
advantage of telling my own story, to con- 
ceal such parts of it as might render the 
conduct of Flores, if not more excusable, 
at least more intelligible. I will therefore 
-go a little further into detail, to give “ the 
tyrant’s plea, NECESSITY,” as set up by 
himself, its full weight. It may be sup- 
posed his government was far from being 
popular; it was, in fact, the object of uni- 
versal detestation, save by the few who 
profitted by the robberies it countenanced. 
e. was, in consequence, continually 
haunted by the idea of conspiracies, and 
as the freedom of the press had been to- 
tally extinguished, public opinion found no 
vent, save in the privacy of domestic cir- 
cles, where it assumed an air of mystery, 
and became an object of suspicion. Spies 
and informers are the natural appendages 
of tyranny. One of these, too worthless 
to be named, revealed the pretended plot, — 
implicating in Guayaquil, a most respect- 
able merchant, Mr. Pflucker, who conducted 
the establishment of Gibbs, Crawley, and 
Co., General Illingret, in attacking whom 
aggreditur, and in Quito, General 
the bosom-friend of the informer, who, I 
believe, did me the honour to include my 
name in the list. There was no attempt at 
proof or judicial proceeding, but Mr. 
Pflucker and General Illingret were sud- 
denly sent to Peru in the same 
manner 
that I was transported from Peru, the latter - 
EAT ERN RN en 
