46 INTRODUCTION. 
Chacabuco came to support the O’Higgins, whether from a doubt as 
to the result, or from mistaken orders, has never appeared; and,. 
therefore, the admiral, after sustaining the fire of three hundred guns 
from the ships and forts for two hours, was obliged reluctantly to 
retire. * The port of Callao was now declared in a state of blockade ; 
and the squadron, when not cruizing, lay under the island of San Lo- 
renzo, off the forts of Callao, about two and a half miles distant. On 
the 2d of March, the boats of the squadron, under Captain Forster, 
attacked the signal post on the island of San Lorenzo, destroyed it, 
released twenty-nine Chilenos, part of the crew of the Maypu who 
were chained and employed on the public works ; and a few Peruvian 
prisoners were made. 
As soon as the patriot squadron appeared in the bay of Callao, it 
had been debated in the vice-regal council whether red-hot shot might 
be lawfully employed against it, and the opinion of the archbishop 
declared in favour of it; but although some fell near the O’Higgins, 
as she was crossing the bay in spite of the firing of the ships and 
forts to stop a vessel entering, none seem to have done any damage. 
Between the 4th and the 17th of March a correspondence, of so sin- 
gular and characteristic a nature, that I shall give large extracts at 
the end of the volume, took place between Lord Cochrane and the 
Viceroy of Peru. The subject was, the exchange of prisoners, man 
for man, and rank for rank. The letters of Lord Cochrane are full of 
humanity and gentleness; they aim at introducing a more humane 
system of warfare than that which had hitherto disgraced the struggles 
in South America; and they contain, on the part of his country, him- 
self, and the men of his own rank in his country, the most dignified 
justification of his conduct in the war of independence. 
Meantime there were constant skirmishes with the gun-boats. 
On the night of the 22d of March, a project that was first planned 
for that of the 19th, but then abandoned because the enemy became 
* Lord Cochrane’s little son walked the deck during the whole time with his father, 
holding by his hand; a man being killed at the quarter-deck guns, he said to his father, 
“ The ball is not made for little Tom yet, papa !” 
