INTRODUCTION. 8] 
invaders, and cruelly oppressive to the inhabitants of the country. 
However, as General Lacerna was no more empowered than his 
predecessor to acknowledge the absolute independence of the South 
American colonists, the negotiation only served to gain a little 
breathing time to both parties. 
But the blockade had been maintained with such vigilance and 
spirit by the squadron, that the viceroy found the city was no longer 
tenable for want of provisions. The people had become clamorous, 
and all hope of assistance from Spain was abandoned ; therefore, on 
the 6th of July, Lacerna evacuated Lima, and the liberating force 
was eagerly expected by the inhabitants to take immediate posses- 
sion. Nevertheless, to the astonishment of both Peruvians and 
Chilenos as well as that of the neutrals in the harbour, San Martin’s 
army made not the slightest movement towards the town until the 
9th, when a small detachment was sent thither.* In the interval. 
as all the troops were withdrawn and the government broken up, it 
was apprehended that serious disorders would take place in the city; 
and Captain Basil Hall of his Britannic Majesty’s ship Conway, sent 
to offer the services of his seamen and marines to the cabildo, in 
order to maintain tranquillity and to protect both the public and 
private property. The general himself arrived at Callao in the 
schooner Sacramento, on the 6th or 7th; and having waited till one 
detachment of his army was safely quartered in Lima, and a solemn 
deputation from the city to invite him to take possession had been 
sent to him, he landed and went thither quietly on the evening of 
the 10th. 
The first days were employed in publishing flattering proclam- 
ations, and in those acts of self-praise and congratulation which 
every general or army occupying a new territory is in the habit of 
indulging in, but which San Martin carried farther than any com- 
mander whose manifestoes I ever had occasion to see. Although he 
* Among other patriotic papers printed at the time, there was a sort of comedy, repre- 
senting the men and women of Lima all on the high road, looking anxiously for the 
excercito libertador, and lamenting the dilatoriness which keeps it from blessing their sight. 
M 
