94 < INTRODUCTION. 
since the 20th of August, 1820, which shall ever be devoted to the 
country I serve. And I assure you that no abatement of my zeal 
towards His Excellency the Protector’s service took place until the 
5th day of August, the day on which I was made acquainted with His 
Excellency’s installation, when he uttered sentiments in your pre- 
sence that struck a chill through my frame, which no subsequent act 
or protestation of intentions has yet been able to do away. Well 
do I remember the fatal words he spoke, which I would to God had 
never arisen in his thoughts. Did he not say, aye, did I not hear 
him declare, that he never would pay the debt to Chile, nor the 
dues to the navy, unless Chile would sell the squadron to Peru! 
What would you have thought of me as an officer, sworn to be 
faithful to the state of Chile, had I listened to such language in cold 
calculating silence, weighing my decision in the scale of personal 
interest ? No, Sir, the promise that my “ fortune should be equal 
to that of San Martin,” will never warp from the path of honour 
Your obedient, humble servant, 
CocHRaNE. 
After this letter, little communication, and none of a friendly 
nature, took place between Lord Cochrane and San Martin. His 
Lordship continued the payment of the officers and crews, and now 
that Callao had fallen, the great object for Chile being the taking or 
destroying the two Spanish frigates Prueba and Venganza, the last of 
the ships of that nation that remained in the Pacific ; he prepared to 
follow them to the northward, and accordingly sailed for that purpose 
on the sixth of October. * 
It is now time to return to the domestic affairs of Chile. Bene- 
vidies still kept up an active and cruel warfare in the south; and 
Jose Miguel Carrera, improved by the experience of eight years, 
and thirsting for revenge on the destroyers of his brothers, was at the 
* The squadron consisted now of O’Higgins, Captain Crosbie; Valdivia, Captain 
Cobbet ; Independencia, Captain Wilkinson; Lautaro, Captain Worcester; and the San 
Fernando. 
