244 



SURRENDER OF CALLAO. 



[1826. 



ruin, presenting the most horrid spectacle I ever beheld. A great part 

 of the town was levelled to the ground, and every house left standing 

 was more or less injured. Unburied dead bodies of those who perished 

 by famine or by gun-shots were found in the houses, and lay scattered 

 about the streets. 



Among the persons of note who perished here were the Marquis 

 of Torre Tagle and nearly all the members of his numerous family. 

 He had abandoned the republican cause, and took refuge in Callao. 

 While president of Peru the government had presented to him a medal 

 valued at thirty thousand dollars ; and this he had offered to Rodil, 

 during the siege, for a half-barrel of beef and a small quantity of rice ! 

 The sufferings of the besieged can scarcely be conceived. The horses 

 and mules which they were compelled to kill to prevent their dying 

 of starvation were sold to the inhabitants at the enormous price of 

 seventeen dollars a pound. A single fowl has sold for eighty dollars, 

 and ship-biscuit at eight dollars a piece. At the time of the surrender 

 there was not a dog or a cat to be found in the place ; all had been 

 eaten by the inhabitants, with as many rats as they could catch. At 

 the commencement of the siege there were fifteen hundred troops in 

 the castles, and four thousand five hundred inhabitants in the town. At 

 the surrender there were but three hundred troops and five hundred 

 inhabitants. Thus out of six thousand souls there were but eight 

 hundred left ! 



This event was the extinction of the power of Old Spain on the 

 continent of America. The flag of Ferdinand now no longer floated 

 over one solitary spot between the Sabine River and Cape Horn. The 

 island of Chiloe, as I afterward learned, had surrendered ten days 

 previous, after having been obstinately defended by the gallant General 

 Quintanilla, whose friendly and hospitable attentions rendered my visit 

 to San Carlos so agreeable, in the month of November, 1824, as men- 

 tioned in Chapter II. An expedition under the command of Don Simon 

 Freire, supreme director of Chili, succeeded in this enterprise after a 

 skirmish in which they lost sixteen killed and seventy-eight wounded. 

 When first summoned to surrender, the Spanish general made the fol- 

 lowing characteristic reply : 



" Government of Chiloe. 

 " I know of no reason that ought to oblige me to fail in that duty 

 which I owe to my king, the army, and inhabitants of this province, 

 who desire, as I do, an opportunity of showing, for the third time, to 

 the army of Chili, that its attempts to subjugate us are vain, and there- 

 fore your excellency may spare menaces which you are in no condition 

 to fulfil. 



" God preserve your excellency many years. 



"Antonio de Quintanilla. 



"Head-quarters de San Carlos de Chiloe, Jan. 11, 1826." 



A few days, however, convinced this faithful servant of Ferdinand 

 that it would be a useless waste of lives and property to hold out 

 against such a disparity of force : he therefore acceded to terms of 



