The first party of the conspirators crossed the Andes in July. Luis Carrera, disguised as a peon, was arrested at Mendoza for robbing the mails. Juan José, travelling under a false name and accompanied by a post-boy, was caught in a hailstorm during the night near San Luis; the boy died, he was arrested on suspicion of murder, and afterwards sent on to Mendoza and imprisoned with his brother. Luzuriaga, Governor of Mendoza, sent full accounts of these occurrences to Santiago. Meantime the other conspirators had arrived at a farmhouse belonging to the Carrera family, and had been put under arrest as a measure of precaution, in consequence of warnings from Buenos Ayres. These news from Mendoza made it certain that some conspiracy was on foot. Numerous arrests among the partisans of Carrera followed, the most notable among the prisoners being Dr. Don Manuel Rodriguez. Some said that the Government was the author of the conspiracy. The general excitement was so great that Quintana could no longer maintain his position, and eventually Don Luis de la Cruz, a native Chilian, chosen by the Lautaro Lodge, was appointed Deputy Director.
San Martin, the guest of the Chilian people, residing in a palace, still continued the simple, hard-working manner of life he had adopted in Mendoza. He dined alone at 1 P.M., but at 4 P.M. a state dinner was served at which Guido presided. At dessert he joined the company and took coffee with them. In the evening his saloon was a favourite resort of the best society of the city, the soirée being invariably opened by singing the Argentine National Hymn, after which San Martin led off the first minuet. These “tertulias” were celebrated in the society annals of the day; and not a few of the Argentine officers fell captive to the beauty and grace of the girls of Santiago, Las Heras and Guido among the number.
San Martin had small sympathy for the Chilian people; their manners and character did not please his austere mind, and he was not the sort of man to make many friends. In his own country he had but three, Belgrano, Pueyrredon, and Godoy Cruz; in Chile he had but one, O’Higgins. He also suffered much at this time from neuralgia and rheumatism, and could only sleep by an immoderate use of morphia. He thought that he could not live much longer; those about him thought the same and sent notice of their fears to Buenos Ayres, in consequence of which General Antonio Gonzalez Balcarce, the hero of Suipacha, was sent to join him as his second in command.
In spite of his forebodings San Martin did not falter in the prosecution of his great enterprise, and taking advantage of his friendship with Captain Bowles, Commodore of the British Pacific squadron, he sent, under his care, a trusty agent to Lima with letters to the Viceroy proposing an exchange of prisoners. This he was anxious to effect, not only for the sake of the prisoners and their friends in both countries, but also for the purpose of procuring an official recognition of Chile as a belligerent power. But under these was a third purpose, to him of more importance than either of the others. His messenger was a confidential agent, who might thus have a pretext for meeting the leaders of society in Lima, and opportunity for sounding them, and for spreading among them the Argentine ideas of which he was the champion.
CHAPTER XVII.
CANCHA-RAYADA.
1817—1818.
THE year 1817 had commenced with a victory and ended with a defeat, the year 1818 was to commence with a defeat to be followed by a victory which would decide the fate of Chile. From that moment all the forces of the revolution in South America would converge from the extremities towards the centre, shutting up the colonial power of Spain in its last stronghold, Peru, where the two great liberators of the South and the North, San Martin and Bolívar, would join hands.
In the epoch at which we have now arrived, Chile had as yet no definite form, but possessed all the elements of a vigorous nationality, patriotism, energy, and a pronounced tendency to independence; a democracy yet in embryo, combined with an aristocracy at once territorial and political. The instincts of the masses decided them for the cause of independence, while their political organization assumed the most elemental form, that of a people become an army, under the direction of a class and under a military dictatorship to which all were subject. The revolution and the leveling pressure of despotic rule, had destroyed provincialism and the social inequalities which stood in the way of national unity; common misfortunes and common efforts had created public spirit. Independence thus became a fact, and the establishment of a republic the necessary sequence. With the assent of all the convocation of a Congress was still postponed, but the political situation was compact. Yet there was some resistance to this system of government: the educated classes accepted it only as a transient necessity, and there were still some partisans of the royal cause in the South. Among the rulers themselves there were still some who clung to the fallen party of the Carreras; but for the presence of Argentine bayonets and the influence of San Martin the intestine dispute would have broken out afresh.
Viceroy Abascal, who had crushed the revolution in Upper Peru, in Quito, and in Chile, had in 1815 been replaced by General Pezuela, and the army of Upper Peru was put under the command of General La Serna. Pezuela lacked the talents of his predecessor but he continued his policy. Seeing Chile threatened by an invasion from Mendoza, he ordered La Serna to effect a diversion by marching on Tucuman. But La Serna was held in check by the Gauchos of Salta and Jujui under Martin Güemes, and the successful passage of the Andes by San Martin forced upon him a disastrous retreat.
Pezuela did not fully appreciate the importance of the victory of Chacabuco, and contented himself with sending back the fugitives, in the belief that the Royalist army was still able to hold the country unaided. The defeat of Ordoñez at Gavilán opened his eyes to the danger, and the arrival of reinforcements from Spain enabled him to fit out a fourth expedition. While busied in these preparations, the British ship of war Amphion, Captain Bowles, anchored at Callao, bringing Don Domingo Torres as special envoy from San Martin. So far as its ostensible object was concerned the mission was a complete failure, but Torres succeeded in communicating with the Patriots of Peru, and took back with him in January, 1818, full particulars of the expedition which followed close upon his heels.
Three thousand four hundred well equipped men reached Talcahuano early in January, in four ships mounting 234 guns. Most of these were veteran troops, and were commanded by General Osorio, the conqueror of Chile in 1814, who was sent to supersede Ordoñez. His instructions were, after driving the Patriot army to the north of the Maule, to re-embark his entire force, land in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso, and march on the capital. The plan was apparently a good one, but was drawn out in ignorance of the strength of the Patriots. The losses in the army of the Andes had all been made up, and the new Chilian army by this time almost equalled it in number. The united army now consisted of 9,000 men, of whom three-fourths were well drilled troops, while the total force collected at Talcahuano did not much exceed 5,000 men with twelve guns.