DON PATRICIO LYNCH. 67 



Having ascertained that the trains to Chicla departed 

 only every second day, returning thence on the alter- 

 nate days, I arranged to start on the 20th. During 

 the two intermediate days, I had the opportunity of 

 making several agreeable acquaintances. Sir Spencer 

 St. John, the English minister, had lately returned to 

 Europe, and the legation was temporarily under the 

 charge of Mr. J. R. Graham, who had recently acted 

 as charge d'affaires in Guatemala. Among other 

 kind attentions which I have to acknowledge, Mr. 

 Graham was good enough to introduce me to Don 

 Patricio Lynch, commander-in-chief of the Chilian 

 forces in Peru. 



The object of boundless admiration from his own 

 followers, and of still more unmeasured denunciation 

 from his enemies. General Lynch is undoubtedly the 

 most remarkable man who has come to the front 

 during the late unhappy war in South America. Like 

 most of the men who have acquired military renown 

 in that part of the world, he is of Irish extraction, his 

 grandfather having settled in Chili early in the present 

 century. Having served as a young man for a time 

 in the English navy, he was promoted by the Chilian 

 Government, some time after the outbreak of the war, 

 to a naval command. The operations at sea had, up 

 to that time, been on the whole unfavourable to Chili, 

 and the successes which finally changed the aspect of 

 the war by sea were largely ascribed to the energy 

 and ability of Admiral Lynch. Passing from the sea 

 to the land, he so much distinguished himself in 

 various daring encounters with the enemy that he was 

 finally promoted to the chief command of the Chilian 



