58 



CHILI. 



Martin as their chief, — an honour, however, which 

 he resolutely declined, proposing, at the same time, 

 that General Don Bernardo CHiggins, his con- 

 stant companion in arms, should be elected. This 

 was accordingly done, and that meritorious oflBcer, 

 an Irishman by descent, though born in Chili, 

 has ever since remained at the head of the go- 

 vernment. 



The remnant of the Spanish army took refuge 

 in Talcuhuana, a fortified sea-port near Concep- 

 tion, on the southern frontier of Chili. Vigorous 

 measures were taken to reduce this place, but, in 

 the beginning of 1818, the Viceroy of Peru, by 

 draining that province of its best troops, sent off 

 a body of 5000 men under General Osorio, who 

 succeeded in joining the Spaniards shut up in 

 Talcuhuana. Thus reinfored, the Royal army, 

 amounting in all to 8000, drove back the Chi- 

 lians, marched on the capital, and gained other 

 considerable advantages ; particularly in a night 

 action at Talca, on the 19th of March 1818, 

 where the Royalists almost entirely dispersed the 

 Patriot forces. San Martin, however, who, after 

 the battle of Chacabuco, had been named Com- 



