INTRODUCTION. 9] 
Cochrane to leave the coast of Peru, with all the vessels under his 
command *; on which order, communicated through Monteagudo, 
Lord Cochrane wrote the- following letter to that minister, which I 
insert because it corroborates facts which might otherwise appear in- 
credible : — + 
On board the O’ Higgins, Callao Bay, 28th Sept. 1821. 
Sir, 
I should have felt extremely uneasy had the letter you have ad- 
dressed to me, by order of His Excellency the Protector of Peru, 
contained the commands of the Supreme Chief to depart from the 
ports under his dominion, without assigning his motives; and I 
should have been distressed indeed, had these motives been founded 
in reason, or on facts; but when I find that the order originates in 
the groundless imputation, that I had declined to do what I had no 
power to effect, I console myself that His Excellency the Protector 
will be ultimately satisfied that no blame rests with me; at all events, 
I have the gratification of a mind unconscious of wrong, and glad- 
dened by the cheering conviction, that, however facts may be dis- 
torted through the refracting medium of sycophantic breath, yet 
mankind who live in the clear expanse, view things in their proper 
colours, and will do me the justice I deserve. 
You address your argumentative letters to me, as if I required to 
be convinced of your good intentions. No, Sir, it is the seamen who 
are to be persuaded ; it is they who give no faith to professions after 
they have once been disappointed. They care not whence the sup- 
plies of the squadron come, whether from the pockets of the Spaniards, 
in captured cattle and Pisco, as they have done, or from the treasury 
of their employers ; they are men of few words, but decisive acts ; 
they say, that for their labour they have a right to pay and food, and 
that they will work no longer than while they are paid and fed. 
* San Martin issued orders, knowing the state of the ships, that, at the ports of Peru 
where they might touch, all supplies, even wood and water, should be refused. 
+ This letter was communicated to me at a time when I could not ask the admiral if it 
was quite correct; but I have reason to believe it is so, with the exception of such verbal 
inaccuracies as may have occurred in translating it from the Spanish. 
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