LORD COCHRANE. 421 



ment, agreed to take the command of their 

 navy, and which was conferred upon his 

 lordship in November 1818, on his arrival 

 in Chili. 



By September 1819, the Chilian fleet, 

 under the direction of Lord Cochrane, was 

 greatly increased, and rendered highly effi- 

 cient ; and an attack was then made upon 

 the batteries and shipping at Callao, which 

 served in some degree to intimidate the 

 Spaniards. He had previously, on the 1st of 

 March in that year, issued a proclamation, 

 declaring Callao and the other ports of Peru 

 in a state of blockade. His lordship after- 

 wards sailed to Guayaquil, where he sur- 

 prised and captured a number of valuable 

 Spanish ships, laden with timber and naval 

 stores : he subsequently went to Valdivia, 

 an important and strongly fortified town, to 

 the south of Chili, belonging to the Spa- 

 niards, where he not only successively car- 

 ried all the enemy's batteries, mounting 



