San Martin, on finding that official correspondence did not produce the desired effect of bringing Lord Cochrane to agree with him that the squadron was under his controul, even after he had assumed the supreme authority in Peru, and constituted himself an independent chief, at the head of a separate government, whose views were seemingly opposed to the interests of Chile, now addressed the following private letter to his lordship, which on account of its uncommon expressions I give in Spanish:
"Lima, Agosto 13 de 1821.—Mi Lord,—De oficio contesto a V. sobre el desagradable negocio de los buques de la esquadra, que a V. y a mi nos causa disgustos impresindibles, porque no es posible hacer quanto se desea. Nada tengo que añadir si no es la protesta que no he mirado, ni miraré jamas con la menor indiferencia quanto tenga relacion a V. yo le dije en Valparaiso que su suerte seria igual a la mia, y ereo haber dado pruebas de que mis sentimentos no han variado, ni pueden variar, por lo mismo que cada dia es mayor la trascendencia de mis acciones. No, mi lord, yo no veo con indiferencia los asuntos, de V. y sentiria no poder esperar que acabe de convencerse de esto mismo. Si a pesar de todo V. deliberase tomar el partido que me intimó en la conferencia que tubimos ahora dias, esto sería para mi en conflicto a que no podria substraerme. Mas yo espero que entrando V. en mis sentimientos, consumirá la obra que ha empesado, y de la que depende nuestro comun destino. Adios, mi lord! se repite de V. con el mas sincero aprecio su eterno amigo. (Signed) José de San Martin."
Omitting the preamble of this letter, let us analyze the expressions from "Si a pesar: if in despite of every thing, you are resolved to observe the conduct which you intimated to me, in the conference which we had a few days ago, this would be to me a conflict from which I could not extricate myself. But I hope that, agreeing with my sentiments, you will consummate the work that you have begun, and on which depends our common destiny." The conference here mentioned, alluded to the delivery of the Chilean vessels of war to the Protector of Peru, on the condition of his paying to the officers and crews their arrears, and rewarding them according to his solemn promise made at Valparaiso, before the expedition left that port; and the agreement of sentiment cannot signify any thing more, than that Lord Cochrane should deliver up the squadron to San Martin, which would have been a most honourable "consummation of the work" to his lordship, and a most melancholy one to Chile; but she was to have been forgotten in the common destiny.
On the fourth of August Don Jose de la Riva Aguero was nominated President of the Department of Lima, with the authority of the ex-Intendente. On the same day the high chamber of justice, alta camarca de justicia was established in Lima, with the powers and attributions of the ex-Audiencia. On the same day San Martin issued a proclamation, not of the most flattering nature, to Spaniards resident in Lima and the independent provinces of Peru, but which served as the precursor to his future conduct. He here repeats, "I have promised to respect your security and property, I have fulfilled my promise, and none of you can doubt my word. Notwithstanding this, I know that you murmur secretly, and some of you malignantly circulate the idea that my designs are to surprize your confidence. My name is of sufficient celebrity not to stain it with the infraction of my promises, even though it be conceived that as an individual I might fail in their fulfilment. Spaniards! you well know that the public opinion is such, that even among yourselves there are many who spy and observe your conduct; I am informed of every thing that passes, in the most retired parts of your houses; tremble if you abuse my indulgence!"
Whether the system of espionage established by San Martin was in this state of activity, like a volcano ready to burst and to destroy with its ignited lava the peaceful habitation and the innocent inhabitant, who, confiding in its harmless appearance, ventured to dwell within its destructive range, it may be impossible to determine; but it seems somewhat derogatory to the character of a supreme chief, guarded by twelve thousand armed men, that he should thus threaten two or three hundred unarmed individuals, who, relying on his assurances, had sworn to follow the fortunes of the country, and live subject to the newly-established system of government. Besides, such a manifestation was calculated to do away with the apparent object of the proclamation of the seventeenth of July, already quoted, and to fan the flame of civil discord and dissention—the greatest enemies to public tranquillity.
The twelfth of August produced the publication of the act in Lima, which in all free parts of the ex-Spanish colonies so highly distinguishes, and justifies in such a particular manner the revolution in those countries. The voice of reason and of nature announced, that all children born of slaves on or after the twenty-eighth of August, 1821, were to be free, and that they were to be inheritors of the same rights and privileges as the rest of the citizens of Peru.
On the eighteenth the news arrived, that the divisions of the Spanish army under Cantarac and Caratalá had formed their head quarters at Jauja, thirty leagues from Lima; and that La Serna was at the town of Carania on the twenty-ninth of July, advancing with the troops towards the same point. Still the liberating army remained quiet in their barracks at Lima, or were employed in the siege of Callao.
One of the first acts of the arbitrary disposition of the Protector of Peru was the expulsion of the archbishop. The following is a copy of the correspondence: