FROM Valparaiso, on the 22nd July, 1820, when on the eve of sailing on his daring enterprise, San Martin addressed a proclamation to his fellow-countrymen in justification of his refusal to enter into their civil discords, showing how the intervention of his army could only have added to their miseries, prophesying that when tired of anarchy they would seek refuge in oppression, and concluding:—
“Whatever be my lot in the campaign of Peru, I shall prove that ever since I returned to my native land her independence has occupied my every thought, and that I have never had other ambition than to merit the hatred of the ungrateful and the esteem of the virtuous.”
Later on he wrote to the Cabildo of Buenos Ayres, announcing the departure of the expedition, and declaring that:—
“From the moment a central authority is established the Army of the Andes will hold itself subject to its orders.”
The expedition took the name of “The Liberating Army of Peru.” It consisted of six battalions of infantry and two regiments of cavalry, in all 4,430 officers and men, of which more than half belonged to the Army of the Andes, with thirty-one guns, two howitzers, and two mortars, and also spare arms and equipment for 15,000 men. General Las Heras was chief of the staff, having with him Arenales and Luzuriaga; Guido also went with his friend the general-in-chief as aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel.
The squadron consisted of eight ships-of-war, mounting 247 guns, victualled for six months, and carrying 1,600 seamen and marines, of whom 600 were foreigners, chiefly English; also of sixteen transports, with four months’ provisions for the troops, and eleven gunboats. The military chest contained 180,392 dollars in coin and in letters of credit.
On the 20th August the expedition sailed from Valparaiso, Cochrane leading the way in the O’Higgins, San Martin and his staff bringing up the rear in the San Martin. The Chilian Congress had drawn up most implicit instructions for San Martin for the regulation of his policy in establishing an independent Government in Peru. O’Higgins had issued a proclamation to the Peruvian people, telling them that the object of the expedition was simply to liberate them from Spanish domination, and that they should be perfectly free to adopt any form of government they thought best; he knew also that in the face of a foe greatly superior in strength no general could afford to tie himself down to one fixed line of conduct; he therefore never delivered these instructions to San Martin, but left him perfectly free to carry out his own plan as he might deem it best. To Cochrane his instructions were very explicit, absolute obedience in everything to the orders of the commander-in-chief.
San Martin had thought of landing in the south of Peru, and effecting a junction with Belgrano; recent events rendered this impossible. His object now was to avoid coming into contact with the Royalist forces and to prevent their concentration, while he won over the people to act in concert with him, and arranged a combined plan of action with Bolívar, who was now master of New Granada. With these ends in view he effected a landing at Pisco, after a pleasant voyage of eighteen days, with the idea of drawing the attention of the enemy to the south and away from the real base of his operations, which he purposed establishing in the northernmost province of Trujillo. Cochrane tried in vain to persuade him to land near to Callao and march at once upon Lima.
The beach of Pisco is a long stretch of sand, lying at the foot of the Cordillera, about 160 miles south of Lima. In it the sea has cut out the bay of Paracas, seven miles to the north of which stands the town of Pisco, close to fertile valleys running up between spurs from the great mountain range.
The first division, under Las Heras, disembarked in the bay on the 8th September, and the same evening occupied the town without resistance. On the 13th the whole army was on shore and encamped in the valley of Chincha, while scouting parties scoured the country.