SAN MARTIN. 



417 



from pursuing their success, that troops were 

 sent to the frontiers of Chili, by the go- 

 vernment of Buenos-Ayres, under the com- 

 mand of San Martin, and which were join- 

 ed by a number of the patriots from Chili. 

 This army was gradually increased to four 

 thousand men; and the oppression of the 

 royalists having excited the greatest dis- 

 content in Chili, San Martin, as already 

 mentioned, invaded the country in January 

 1817. The royalists took a position at 

 Chacabuco, thirteen leagues from Santiago, 

 where they were attacked and totally de- 

 feated by San Martin, losing one thousand 

 two hundred men in killed and prisoners; 

 the remainder of the royalist force dispersed, 

 and the Captain-general Marco, who com- 

 manded in the battle, was taken prisoner 

 near Santiago. San Martin advanced to 

 Santiago, where a congress of the principal 

 inhabitants elected him supreme director of 

 Chili : he, however, declined the honour ; 



VOL. I. 2 E 



