APPENDIX. 43 
« The regulating principles of the proceedings of the Viceroy shall always 
be those of such gentleness and condescension, as shall not derogate from the 
dignity of his official situation; and he will not now comment on the occu- 
pation of a nobleman of Great Britain, a country in alliance with the Spanish 
people, employing himself in commanding the naval forces of a government 
hitherto unacknowledged by any nation on the globe.” 
LT, 
The Admiral’s second letter, dated the 7th March, begins by proving the 
truth of the accusations against the Peruvian government of cruel treatment to 
the prisoners ; and then proceeds to quote the different codes of maritime laws, 
Srom that of Rhodes downwards, to show that the subjects of a regular 
government independent de facto, are not to be treated as pirates, notwith- 
standing that the mother country may not have recognised its legitimacy, 
and giving as instances the conduct of the various nations of Europe at the 
time of the emancipation of North America. He then refers to his own pro- 
ceedings on the coast of Peru, leaving to time the manifestation of their result. 
« Meantime,”’ he says, “ His Excellency the Viceroy does well not to 
make any comment on the employment of a British nobleman in the great 
cause of Southern America. A British nobleman is a free man, capable of 
judging between right and wrong, and at liberty to adopt a country and a 
cause which aim at restoring the rights of oppressed human nature. Without 
failing in any duty, and without incurring any species of responsibility, Lord 
Cochrane was honourably competent to adopt the cause of Chile with the 
same freedom with which he refused the offered station of high admiral of 
Spain, which was made to him by the Spanish ambassador in London.” 
His Lordship then anew proposes the exchange of the prisoners of the brig 
Maypu for those he has on board the squadron. 
LV: 
The Viceroy’s reply evades present compliance with the proposed exchange 
of prisoners, and artfully endeavours to convince Lord Cochrane, that the 
British government, so far from being favourable to the cause of South 
American emancipation, is inimical to it ; and points his attention to the pro- 
clamations forbidding the enlistment of soldiers and sailors in foreign services, 
and to the conduct of the French government on the occasion. He says, that 
3P 
