On the third of August the following proclamation was issued at Lima:
"Don Jose San Martin, &c.—When I took charge of the important enterprize of the liberty of Peru, I had no other motive than a desire of forwarding the sacred cause of liberty in America, and of promoting the felicity of the people of Peru. A considerable part of this is already realized; but this work would remain incomplete, and my feelings little satisfied, if I did not establish for ever the future security and prosperity of the inhabitants of this region.
"After my arrival at Pisco I announced, that owing to the imperiousness of the circumstances, I was invested with the supreme authority, and that I was responsible to the patria for the exercise of it. These circumstances yet exist, because Peru has yet to combat with her enemies, and consequently it is necessary that the supreme command should continue in my hands.
"I hope, that because I thus act, you will do me the justice to believe that I am not induced by any ambitious views, but by public convenience alone. It is abundantly notorious, that I only aspire to retirement and tranquillity, after a life so greatly agitated as mine has been; but I hold a moral responsibility which requires the sacrifice of my most sanguine desires. The experience of twelve years of revolution in Venezuela, Cundinamarca, Chile, and the united provinces of Rio de la Plata have given me a knowledge of the evils attending the untimely convocation of congresses, while the enemy yet exists in the country; independence must first be secured; we must afterwards think of the solid establishment of liberty. The religious scrupulosity with which I have always in my public life fulfilled my promises gives me the right to be believed; and I compromise myself most solemnly with the people of Peru, that at that moment in which the territory is free, I will resign the command, to make room for such a government as they may think fit to elect. The frankness with which I speak ought to serve as a guarantee for the sincerity of my intention. I might have ordained that electors named by the citizens of the free departments should nominate the person who was to govern until the reunion of the representatives of the Peruvian nation. The simultaneous invitation of a great number of persons of elevated character and decided influence in this capital who have requested that I should preside at the administration of the state, ensures to me the popular appointment; besides, as I had obtained the assent of the people under the protection of the liberating army, I have judged it more decorous and convenient to follow this loyal and frank conduct, which must tranquillize all those who are jealous of their liberties.
"When I have the satisfaction to deliver up the command, and to give an account of my operations to the representatives of the people, I am confident that they will not find in the epoch of my administration any of those strokes of venality, despotism, or corruption, which have characterized the agents of the Spanish government in America. To administer strict justice to all, rewarding virtue and patriotism, and punishing vice and sedition wherever it may be found, is the model by which I shall regulate my actions, so long as I am placed at the head of this nation."
After this most fascinating description of what a chief magistrate ought to be, but in which the duties of a general are not even hinted at, San Martin declares himself the Protector of Peru, and Don Juan Garcia del Rio, Don Bernardo Monteagudo, and Dr. Don Hipolito Unanue, his three ministers of state. It is almost unnecessary to say how ill this self-constituted authority agrees with the promises made by the Supreme Director of Chile in his proclamation to the Peruvians; and in that of General San Martin issued after his arrival in Peru. I merely hint at these things, that my readers may not be surprized when they find that his promises were just as binding in one case as in the other.
On the following morning, the fourth of August, Lord Cochrane, uninformed of the change which had taken place in the title of San Martin, visited the palace, and began to beg of the general in chief to propose some means for the payment of the foreign seamen, who had served their times, and fulfilled their contract. To this San Martin answered, "that he would never pay the Chilean squadron unless it were sold to Peru, and then the payment should be considered as a part of the purchase money." To this Lord Cochrane replied, that by such a transaction the squadron of Chile would be transferred to Peru by merely paying what was due to the officers and crews for services done to Peru. San Martin knit his brows, and turning to his two ministers, Garcia and Monteagudo, who were in the room, ordered them to retire; to which his lordship objected, stating that as he was not master of the Spanish language, he wished them to remain as his interpreters, fearful that some expression, not rightly understood, might be considered offensive. San Martin now turned round to the Admiral, and said, "are you aware, my lord, that I am Protector of Peru?" "No," said his lordship. "I ordered my secretaries to inform you of it," returned San Martin. "That is now unnecessary," said his lordship, "for you have personally informed me: but I sincerely hope that the friendship which has existed between General San Martin and myself will still continue to exist between the Protector of Peru and myself." San Martin then, rubbing his hands, said, "I have only to say, that I am Protector of Peru!"
The manner in which this last sentence was expressed roused the admiral, who advancing, said, "then it now becomes me, as the senior officer of Chile, and consequently the representative of the nation, to request the fulfilment of all the promises made to Chile, and the squadron, but first, and principally, the squadron." San Martin returned—"Chile! Chile! I will never pay a single real to Chile! and as to the squadron, you may take it where you please, and go when you choose: a couple of schooners are quite enough for me: Chile! Chile! yo nunca pagare un real a Chile! y en quanto a la esquadra, puede V. llevarla donde quiere, e irse quando guste, con un par de goletas me basta a mi;" and snapped his fingers in the face of the Admiral. On hearing this, Garcia left the room, while Monteagudo walked to the balcony. San Martin paced the room for a short time, and, turning to his lordship, caught his hand, and said, "forget, my lord, what is past!" The admiral, dashing away the tear with which surprize and indignation had suffused his eye, replied, "I will, when I can," and immediately left the palace. His lordship was now undeceived by the man himself: the repeated reports he had heard of his past conduct crowded on his distracted imagination, and knowing what might be attempted, from what had already been done, his lordship agreed with me, that his life was not safe ashore; he therefore immediately took horse, rode to Boca Negra, and went on board his frigate.
This conversation has been denied by some of San Martin's partizans; but were it necessary more fully to substantiate the fact, the subsequent official correspondence between the protector of Peru and the admiral of the Chilean squadron would fully prove the truth of what I have stated.
San Martin, reflecting that the batteries of Callao were yet in the hands of the enemy, and that should the Chilean naval force raise the blockade, he did not possess the means of driving them out, nor of forcing them to surrender, exerted himself in conciliatory measures, heaping promise upon promise, both as to the payment of the arrears of the crews and premiums and rewards. He endeavoured to soften down his expressions of the fourth, stating that he only said, or meant to say, that "it might be interesting to Chile to sell some of her vessels of war to Peru, because this latter wanted them for the protection of her coasts." But even this subterfuge was exposed by his saying further, that "the government of Chile would at all times devote their squadron to the furtherance of the cause of Peru."