HIS CAPTURE AND EXECUTION. 



13 



along with three hundred families who had as- 

 sembled on the island of Laja. 



" He lost no opportunity of destroying every 

 town he came near, burning as many as he possibly 

 could. And, not deeming all this sufficient to glut 

 his insatiable disposition, he opened a commu- 

 nication with Carrera, one of the chiefs of the 

 anarchists, who was laying waste the province of 

 Mendoza, and invited him to take a share in these 

 devastations. 



" He was at length defeated at Conception on 

 the 27th of November, 1820, upon which he pro- 

 posed terms of peace, only for the purpose of 

 being more perfidious. He sent the Presbyter 

 Ferrebu with the despatch containing his propo- 

 sals. His messenger, of course, enjoyed the im- 

 munity which the rights of war gave him ; but, at 

 the very same time, the chief who sent him took 

 advantage of the moment, and ordered a squadron 

 of horse to continue the hostilities. Eventually 

 he threw off the mask of the King's authority 

 altogether ; since, when Brigadier Prieto informed 

 him of the fall of Lima, upon which Benavides 

 had formerly declared himself dependent, he dis- 

 played his true character in his answer : and 

 declared ' that he would make war against Chili 

 to the last soldier, even if its independence were 

 acknowledged by the King and the whole Spanish 

 nation.' 



" It was natural that one crime should lead to 

 others. He had either been accustomed to pay 

 no respect to the laws of nations, or he hoped to 

 conceal those actions from his government : be 

 this as it may, he did everything to establish the 

 character of a pirate. He equipped a corsair to 

 cruise on the coast of Chili, giving the commander 

 instructions to respect no flag whatever, ' and to 

 put to death the crew of every insurgent vessel he 

 should meet with, and of every vessel which he 

 might even suspect to belong to insurgents.' By 

 what law of war can this be justified I 



" The situation of Arauco, so directly opposite 

 the Island of Santa Maria, where vessels, having 

 doubled Cape Horn, stop for refreshments, gave 

 him an opportunity of capturing the ships Hero, 

 Herselia, Perseverance, and another, exclusive of 

 the boats belonging to ships which he could not 

 take. These vessels were the property of the 

 English and North Americans ; the captains were 

 shot secretly, and the crews were made to serve 

 along with his troops. How came he to express 

 so energetically in his confession, ' that these peo- 

 ple had caused him an infinite deal of mischief % ' 

 — but it does not belong to Chili to inquire into 

 this matter. 



" At length, in the end of December, 1821, dis- 

 covering the miserable state to which he was 

 reduced, he entreated Brigadier Don Joaquin 

 Prieto, Intendant of Conception, that he might be 

 received, on giving himself up along with his 

 partisans. This generous chief accepted his offer, 

 and informed the supreme government ; but, in 

 the mean time, Benavides embarked in a launch 

 at the mouth of the river Lebo, and fled, with the 

 intention of joining a division of the enemy's army, 

 which he supposed to be at some one of the ports 

 on the south coast of Peru. It was, indeed, 

 absurd to expect any good faith from such an in- 

 triguer ; for, in his letters at this time, he offered 

 his services to Chili, and promised fidelity, while 



his real intention was still to follow the enemy. 

 He finally left the unhappy province of Conception, 

 the theatre of so many miserable scenes, over- 

 whelmed with misery which he had caused, with- 

 out ever recollecting that it was in that province 

 he had first drawn his breath. 



" His despair made his conduct in the boat in- 

 supportable to those who accompanied him ; and 

 they rejoiced when they were obliged to put into 

 the harbour of Topocalma, in search of water, of 

 which they had run short. On the 1st of this 

 month, (February, 1822,) he ordered a soldier to 

 swim on shore to look for a supply. At daylight 

 on the following morning, the tide admitted of his 

 boat approaching the shore, when he landed under 

 the pretext of procuring a messenger to carry 

 despatches to the Supreme Director, which he 

 said he had brought from Conception. He con- 

 cealed his name ; but the patriotic individuals, Don 

 Francisco Hidalgo, and Don Ramon Fuensalida, 

 proprietors of the neighbouring grounds, being in- 

 formed who he really was by the soldier who 

 swam ashore the day before, arrested him on the 

 beach. 



" From the notorious nature alone of his deeds, 

 even the most impartial stranger would have con- 

 demned him to the last punishment ; but the 

 supreme government wished to hear what he had 

 to say for himself, and ordered him to be tried 

 according to the laws. It appearing on the trial 

 that he had placed himself beyond the laws of 

 society, such punishment was awarded to him as 

 any one of his crimes deserved. As a deserter to the 

 enemy he merited death — as a frequent violator 

 of all military laws, he had forfeited every claim 

 to be considered as a prisoner of war — as a pirate 

 and a barbarous destroyer of whole towns, it 

 became necessary to put him to death in such a 

 manner as might satisfy outraged humanity, and 

 terrify others who should dare to imitate him. In 

 pursuance of the sentence passed on the 21st of 

 this month, he was this day dragged from the 

 prison in a pannier tied to the tail of a mule, and 

 was hanged in the great square. His head and 

 hands were afterwards cut off, in order to their 

 being placed on high poles, to point out the places 

 of his horrid crimes, Santa Juana, Tarpellanea, 

 and Arauco. 



" By the sentence of the 21st, it had been directed 

 that he should be executed on the 23d, thus ex- 

 pressly allowing him three days to avail himself of 

 that religious consolation which this faithful vassal 

 of his Most Catholic Majesty denied to General 

 Alcazar, Don Gaspar Ruiz, Captain O' Carrol, to 

 all the officers of the Coquimbo battalion, and to 

 many others. 



" The generosity of free states is never to be 

 found in the corrupted hearts of those who serve 

 tyrants ! 



" Every person in the least acquainted with 

 public rights, knows, that in war, the law of re- 

 taliation applies equally to both parties, and that 

 Chili is at perfect liberty to make equivalent repri- 

 sals upon the domineering Spaniards, for their 

 actions towards the Patriots. But his Excellency 

 the Supreme Director, wishing to draw a veil over 

 the past, has ordered that the rigour of the law be 

 directed against Benavides alone ; and that the 

 lives of his followers be spared, though justly for- 

 feited : he also extends the same mercy to others, 



