INTRODUCTION. 29 
sible, seize and bring to the city the persons of the robbers ;—a most 
harassing employment for them, and one which but ill answered its 
purpose. In any other country and climate famine would probably 
have been the consequence of these misfortunes; but Chile, as if 
spontaneously, still continued to produce her seventy and eighty fold 
of corn, and to supply Peru. 
Buenos Ayres, under all its various governors and forms of govern- 
ment, had always looked upon Chile as linked in interest with itself. 
Those who thought of establishing one great empire, regarded it as 
the province which should command the trade of the Pacific, and 
probably secure the riches of the Philippines and Moluccas beyond 
it; while those who contemplated a federal state, saw it as a 
member under a light at least as flattering ; and all depended upon its 
union with the provinces to the eastward of the Andes, as a matter of 
course. Hence, when the Chileno fugitives, after the battle of 
Rancagua, reached Buenos Ayres, they were not only favourably 
received, but a great effort was made to restore them to their country, 
and to assist them once more to shake off the Spanish dominion. 
There was besides a strong motive for such an effort. The passages 
across the Chilian Andes are short and easy, while those from Peru 
are distant and difficult ; so that while the royal troops possessed 
Chile, the viceroy of Peru could always succour or communicate with 
the old Spaniards beyond the mountains by means of the port of 
Valparaiso. Therefore, to cut off this communication was of the 
greatest consequence to Buenos Ayres itself. Accordingly, the latter 
end of 1816 was employed in collecting a force at Mendoza, under 
general Don Jose de San Martin. Besides the Chilenos who had fled 
after the action of Rancagua, and many others on that side of the 
Andes, there were some troops from Buenos Ayres, particularly two 
negro regiments, which were placed under the immediate orders of 
General O’ Higgins. General Saleres also commanded a considerable 
body of troops; and the whole number of the “ army of the Andes” 
amounted to about 4000 men. 
While San Martin was preparing all things at Mendoza for his 
