The following announcement appeared in the last number of the Censor on the tenth of July:
"To-day the staff officers of the liberating army leave Santiago for Valparaiso. We have authentic advices, that the expedition will leave that port for its destination on the twenty-sixth of the present month. The presence of the supreme director and of the general in chief has given in Valparaiso a most extraordinary impulse to the last preparations. At all events, the sun of August will behold the expedition on its march. Valparaiso is at this moment the most interesting point in America: it contains as in outline her destiny: the time will arrive in which its name will be the register of the most renowned epoch of our history. The army anxiously awaits the moment to embark on the Pacific, and to present a spectacle entirely new, a spectacle which has never been seen since the Continent was laved by its waters. Happy are those who shall partake of this enterprize! their lot shall be the envy of all those whom the love of glory inspires with a passion for great designs. Follow me in the path of my fame. Equal my deeds in the war."
A new difficulty unexpectedly presented itself, and which the government at first thought beneath their consideration—the want of foreign seamen in the vessels of war. The delay on the part of the presidency in the fulfilment of their contract had weaned this class of individuals from the service of the state; that great stimulus to exertion, prize-money, had been and was witheld, and despair instead of confidence had been so ripened in their breasts, that although many were unemployed and wandering about the streets of Valparaiso, few would enter themselves at the rendezvous opened for this purpose. The evil began to be most serious, and the supremacy consulted the admiral if coercion ought not to be used; but this insinuation met with just opposition from his lordship; he expressed to the government his total abhorrence of impressment, and stated to them, that such a proceeding would also meet with the lawful opposition of the senior British officer then in the port. Captain Sherriff would be compelled by his duty to interfere in the protection of British seamen, however interested he might personally feel himself in the cause of liberty and the views of Chile, which it was well known to every individual acquainted with the sentiments of Captain Sherriff, he regarded as of the first magnitude.
The day destined for the embarkation of the troops approached, still the vessels of war were deficient in their complement of seamen, and those who could not remain ashore preferred to serve in the transports, in which service greater pay was offered than in the squadron. General San Martin being convinced that the most energetic measures were necessary to man the vessels of war, subjoined his name to a proclamation dictated by Lord Cochrane, stating, among other things—"on my entry into Lima, I will punctually pay to all such foreign seamen who shall voluntarily enter the service of Chile, leaving the port of Valparaiso in the vessels of war belonging to the state, the whole arrears of their pay, to which I will also add to each individual according to his rank one year's pay over and above his arrears, as a premium or reward for his services, if he continue to fulfil his duty to the day of the surrender of that city, and its occupation by the liberating forces."
This proclamation, with the subjoined signature of Lord Cochrane, as a guarantee for the fulfilment of the promise, had the desired effect, and the crews of the ships were immediately completed.
On the twentieth of August the expedition left the port of Valparaiso. The following account of it was published by order of the government:
"The fortunate day to Chile has at length arrived; a day on which, by an extraordinary effort which almost elevates her above herself, she presents to both worlds an example of unheard of constancy and pure patriotism. Never did any people exert themselves with greater energy, nor obtain such rapid progress in the brief space which Chile measures of real and stable emancipation. The liberating expedition which to-day leaves our port to re-establish independence, and diffuse civil liberty among the oppressed children of the ancient empire of the Incas, will be an imperishable testimony of this truth, and a monument as lasting as time itself, in the history of the age of achievements.