One day an officer presented himself, asking for the citizen Don José de San Martin, and being admitted, confessed to him that he had lost at play regimental money which had been entrusted to him. San Martin opened a cabinet, took out gold coins to the amount named, and gave them to him, saying:—
“Pay this money into the regimental chest, and keep the secret; for if General San Martin ever hears that you have told of it, he will have you shot upon the spot.”
Two Franciscan friars who, according to him, had shown themselves unfriendly to “political regeneration,” were forbidden by him to confess or to preach, and were put under arrest in their convent until further orders. He instructed the parish priests to preach of “the justice with which America had adopted the system of liberty”; and seeing that they failed to do so, he further warned them that severe measures would be adopted if they neglected “so sacred a duty.”
Among his contemporaries there were, at that time, but few who estimated him at his real value. He himself indulged in no illusions on the matter, but stoically trusted to time and patience to give him his true place among them. As he wrote to Godoy Cruz, concerning reports which were in circulation: “You will say that I was vexed. Yes, my friend, somewhat; but, after reflection, I followed the example of Diogenes, I dived into a butt of philosophy. A public man must suffer anything in order that the vessel may reach her port.”
At that time he suffered from chronic disease, and could only sleep for a few minutes at once seated on a chair, and was compelled to take opium to gain needful rest.
On the 29th November, 1815, the army under Rondeau was completely defeated by Pezuela at Sipe-Sipe in Upper Peru. Morillo’s expedition was triumphant in Columbia, and the Royalists sang Te Deums both in Europe and in America. In these days of despair San Martin invited his officers to a banquet. Never did he appear in better spirits. When the dessert was placed on the board he rose to his feet and in a loud voice proposed a toast:—
“To the first shot fired beyond the Andes against the oppressors of Chile.”
His words found echo in every heart. Confidence revived. From that moment the passage of the Andes and the reconquest of Chile ceased to be a vague idea, it became a plan of campaign which was to change the aspect of the war.
CHAPTER X.
THE SPY SYSTEM OF THE PATRIOTS.
1815—1816.
THE restoration of royalty in Chile was attended with such excesses as might have been expected had some foreign power triumphed over the country. A system of blood and fire was established for its pacification, which had the natural result of reanimating the spirit of resistance. The great majority of the people were tired of war, and failed to see that revolutionary anarchy was any improvement on colonial despotism; they were anxious only for peace, and welcomed their conqueror as a liberator. A moderate policy might have consolidated Spanish power in Chile for a considerable time, but these excesses fanned into a blaze the embers of the old patriotic spirit, which was buried under the ashes of Rancagua.