After delivering to Captain Cobbett a paper similar in import to the one left with Captain Simpson, the two gentlemen began to expatiate on the munificence and liberality of their employer; the preference which an officer ought to give to the service of a rich and extensive state to that of Chile, which must necessarily dwindle into its former insignificance, and become tributary to Peru for its support; that the authority of the Protector of Peru over the whole of the Chilean forces was unquestionable, and it consequently became the duty of every officer belonging to the expeditionary forces to obey the orders of their general in chief. On being asked, if, for disobedience of orders or mutinous conduct, they should subject themselves to a court martial by the order of the Admiral, whether the authority of the Protector would ensure to them a favourable sentence or an honourable acquittal, they became silent. This was bringing the argument too close, and perhaps the idea of a trial and a sentence were not very congenial to the feelings of the nocturnal commissioners, at that time "in or belonging to" the squadron of Chile. Perceiving that the result was not likely to answer their expectations, and that Captain Crosbie had left them on board the Valdivia and gone to the flag-ship, they judged it more prudent to visit the Admiral, than to run any risk of being compelled to do it. At one o'clock the boat came alongside, and Colonel Paroissien requested an interview with his lordship, which was granted; but Captain Spry justly thought himself more secure in the boat, and remained there. After some extraordinary conversation between Lord Cochrane and Paroissien, who regretted and lamented in the most pathetic manner, "that the present unlucky difference between the two chiefs should deprive his lordship of the enjoyment of the command of the Peruvian navy, (which did not exist) and the possession of property in Peru, which it was the intention of the Protector to present to him," his lordship put a stop to the harangue, and said, smiling, "I do not doubt your wishes for my prosperity, Paroissien, but at present I know you would rather join me in a bottle of wine than be obliged to continue in your regret and lamentation." After drinking a glass or two of wine, Colonel Paroissien embarked in his boat and pulled ashore, more happy no doubt when under the guns of the batteries of Callao than alongside the O'Higgins.
San Martin having failed in this last honourable attempt to seduce the officers belonging to the state of Chile, and fearing that the publicity of the act might induce the people of Peru to be on the alert, ordered Lord Cochrane, in the most peremptory manner, to leave the bay of Callao, with the vessels under his command, being persuaded, that, for want of European seamen, it would be impossible to do so; but on the sixth of October, eight days after his notification, the whole of the vessels of war, with two prizes, weighed simultaneously, and stood out of the bay.
Having come to an anchor at Ancon, his lordship ordered the Lautaro and Galvarino to proceed on the eighth to Valparaiso; and the O'Higgins, Independencia, Valdivia, Auraucano, and prizes San Fernando and Mercedes weighed and sailed for Guayaquil, where the Admiral had determined to repair, and refit for a cruize on the coast of Mexico, in search of the two Spanish frigates.
On the fifteenth we reached the Puná in the river Guayaquil, and on the eighteenth came to an anchor close to the city, where the squadron was saluted with twenty-one guns, and the compliment was returned with an equal number.
CHAPTER XII.
Revolution and State of Guayaquil....Squadron leaves....Island of Cocoa....Bay of Fonseca....Visitors from the Shore....Leave Fonseca....Volcano....Arrive at Acapulco....General Waevell and Colonel O'Reilly....Letter from Iturbide....Leave Acapulco....Description of....Gale of Wind off Tehuantepec....Tacames or Atcames....News of the Enemy....Arrive at the Puná....Guayaquil....Lord Cochrane hoists the Chilean Flag in the Vengansa....Conduct of the People at Guayaquil....Treaty with the Government....Letter from General La Mar....Leave Guayaquil, and arrive at Huambacho....Callao.
Guayaquil, early in the morning of the ninth of October, 1820, effected her glorious revolution. The officers belonging to the Peruvian garrison, and many of the principal inhabitants, had, during the preceding night, formed the plan, and at daybreak the governor and several other Spaniards were embarked on board the schooner Alcance, and sent to the head quarters of the army under General San Martin.