280 



PERU. 



tors, and the possession of knowledge had been 

 thought a sufficient cause for persecution ; to think 

 that we could gain information and refinement in 

 a moment, as if by enchantment ; that we could 

 acquire every virtue, forget prejudices, and give 

 up false pretensions, was a vain expectation^ and 

 could only have entered into the visions of an en- 

 thusiast.''' 



At the time I left Lima, to return to Valpa- 

 raiso, in Chili, which was on the 10th of August, 

 the Royalist army, under the Viceroy La Serna, 

 having proceeded some way to the southward, had 

 struck into the interior, in order to join the other 

 divisions of the army under Generals Cantera and 

 Caratala in the valley of Jauja, a district in which 

 the rich silver mines of Pasco are situated. 



The Viceroy's ultimate intentions were not 

 known ; but it was supposed that after recruiting 

 his army, he would return upon Lima, with a view 

 to expel San Martin : a project he was the more 

 likely to undertake, as the Castle of Callao, an 

 impregnable fortress, was still under the Spanish 

 flag. It became, therefore, of great importance to 

 San Martin to gain possession of it, and he put in 



