The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. I

by Earl of Thomas Barnes Cochrane Dundonald; H. R. Fox Bourne

LORD COCHRANE'S RETURN TO VALPARAISO.—HIS ILL-TREATMENT BY THE CHILIAN SENATE.—THE THIRD EXPEDITION TO PERU.—GENERAL SAN MARTIN.—THE CAPTURE OF THE "ESMERALDA," AND ITS ISSUE.—LORD COCHRANE'S SUBSEQUENT WORK.—SAN MARTIN'S TREACHERY.—HIS ASSUMPTION OF THE PROTECTORATE OF PERU.—HIS BASE PROPOSALS TO LORD COCHRANE.—LORD COCHRANE'S CONDEMNATION OF THEM.—THE TROUBLES OF THE CHILIAN SQUADRON.—LORD COCHRANE'S SEIZURE OF TREASURE AT ANCON, AND EMPLOYMENT OF IT IN PAYING HIS OFFICERS AND MEN.—HIS STAY AT GUAYAQUIL.—THE ADVANTAGES OF FREE TRADE.—LORD COCHRANE'S CRUISE ALONG THE MEXICAN COAST IN SEARCH OF THE REMAINING SPANISH FRIGATES.—THEIR ANNEXATION BY PERU.—LORD COCHRANE'S LAST VISIT TO CALLAO.

[1820-1822.]

Lord Cochrane returned to Valparaiso on the 27th of February, 1820. By General O'Higgins, the Supreme Director, and by the populace he was enthusiastically received. But Zenteno, the Minister of Marine, and other members of the Government, jealous of the fresh renown which he had won by his conquest of Valdivia, showed their jealousy in various offensive ways.

In anticipation of his failure they had prepared an elaborate charge of insubordination, in that he had not come back direct from Callao. Now that he had triumphed, they sought at first to have him reprimanded for attempting so hazardous an exploit, and afterwards to rob him of his due on the ground that his achievement was insignificant and valueless. When they were compelled by the voice of the people to declare publicly that "the capture of Valdivia was the happy result of an admirably-arranged plan and of the most daring execution," they refused to award either to him or to his comrades any other recompense than was contained in the verbal compliment; and, on his refusing to give up his prizes until the seamen had been paid their arrears of wages, he was threatened with prosecution for detention of the national property.

The threat was impotent, as the people of Chili would not for a moment have permitted such an indignity to their champion. But so irritating were this and other attempted persecutions to Lord Cochrane that, on the 14th of May, he tendered to the Supreme Director his resignation of service under the Chilian Government. That proposal was, of course, rejected; but with the rejection came a promise of better treatment. The seamen were paid in July, and the Valdivian prize-money was nominally awarded. Lord Cochrane's share amounted to 67,000 dollars, and to this was added a grant of land at Rio Clara. But the money was never paid, and the estate was forcibly seized a few years afterwards.

Other annoyances, which need not here be detailed, were offered to Lord Cochrane, and thus six months were wasted by Zenteno and his associates in the Chilian senate. "The senate," said Lord Cochrane, "was an anomaly in state government. It consisted of five members, whose functions were to remain only during the first struggles of the country for independence; but this body had now assumed a permanent right to dictatorial control, whilst there was no appeal from their arbitrary conduct, except to themselves. They arrogated the title of 'Most Excellent,' whilst the Supreme Director was simply 'His Excellency;' his position, though nominally head of the executive, being really that of mouthpiece to the senate, which, assuming all power, deprived the Executive Government of its legitimate influence, so that no armament could be equipped, no public work undertaken, no troops raised, and no taxes levied, except by the consent of this irresponsible body. For such a clique the plain, simple good sense of the Supreme Director was no match. He was led to believe that a crooked policy was a necessary evil of government, and, as such a policy was adverse to his own nature, he was the more easily induced to surrender its administration to others who were free from his conscientious principles." Those sentences explain the treatment to which, now and afterwards, Lord Cochrane was subjected.

He was allowed, however, to do further excellent service to the nation which had already begun to reward him with nothing but ingratitude. As soon as the Chilian Government could turn from its spiteful exercise to its proper duty of consolidating the independence of the insurgents from Spanish dominion, it was resolved to despatch as strong a force as could be raised for another and more formidable expedition to Peru, whereby at the same time the Peruvians should be freed from the tyranny by which they were still oppressed, and the Chilians should be rid of the constant danger that they incurred from the presence of a Spanish army in Lima, Callao, and other garrisons, ready to bear down upon them again and again, as it had often done before. In 1819 Lord Cochrane had vainly asked for a suitable land force with which to aid his attack upon Callao. It was now resolved to organize a Liberating Army, after the fashion of that with which Bolivar had nobly scoured the northern districts of South America, and to place it under the direction of General San Martin, in co-operation with whom Lord Cochrane was to pursue his work as chief admiral of the fleet. San Martin had fought worthily in La Plata, and he had earned the gratitude of the Chilians by winning back their freedom in conjunction with O'Higgins in 1817. Vanity and ambition, however, had since unhinged him, and he now proved himself a champion of liberty very inferior, both in prowess and in honesty, to Bolivar.

His army, numbering four thousand two hundred men, was collected by the 21st of August, and on that day it was embarked at Valparaiso in the whole Chilian squadron. Lord Cochrane proposed to go at once to Chilca, the nearest point both to Lima and to Callao. San Martin, however, decided upon Pisco as a safer landing-place, and there the troops were deposited on the 8th of September. For fifty days they were detained there, and the fleet was forced to share their idleness, capturing only a few passing merchantmen. On the 28th of October they were re-embarked, and Lord Cochrane again urged a vigorous attack on the capital and its port. Again he was thwarted by San Martin, who requested to be landed at Ancon, considerably to the north of Callao, and as unsuitable a halting-place as was the southerly town of Pisco. Lord Cochrane had to comply; but he bethought him of a plan for achieving a great work, in spite of San Martin. Sending the main body of his fleet to Ancon with the troops, no the 20th, he retained the O'Higgins, the Independencia, and the Lautaro, with the professed object of merely blockading Callao at a safe distance. "The fact was," he said, "that, annoyed, in common with the whole expedition, at this irresolution on the part of General San Martin, I determined that the means of Chili, furnished with great difficulty, should not be wholly wasted, without some attempt at accomplishing the object of the expedition. I accordingly formed a plan of attack with the three ships which I had kept back, though, being apprehensive that my design would be opposed by General San Martin, I had not even mentioned to him my intentions. This design was, to cut out the Esmeralda frigate from under the fortifications, and also to get possession of another ship, on board of which we had learned that a million of dollars was embarked."

The plan was certainly a bold one. The Esmeralda, of forty-four guns, was the finest Spanish ship in the Pacific Ocean. Now especially well armed and manned, in readiness for any work that had to be done, she was lying in Callao Harbour, protected by three hundred pieces of artillery on shore and by a strong boom with chain moorings, by twenty-seven gunboats and several armed block-ships. These considerations, however, only induced Lord Cochrane to proceed cautiously upon his enterprise. Three days were spent in preparations, the purpose of which was known only to himself and to his chief officers. On the afternoon of the 5th of November he issued this proclamation:—"Marines and seamen,—This night we shall give the enemy a mortal blow. To-morrow you will present yourself proudly before Callao, and all your comrades will envy your good fortune. One hour of courage and resolution is all that is required for you to triumph. Remember that you have conquered in Valdivia, and have no fear of those who have hitherto fled from you. The value of all the vessels captured in Callao will be yours, and the same reward will be distributed amongst you as has been offered by the Spaniards in Lima to those who should capture any of the Chilian squadron. The moment of glory is approaching. I hope that the Chilians will fight as they have been accustomed to do, and that the English will act as they have ever done at home and abroad."

A request was made for volunteers, and the whole body of seamen and marines on board the three ships offered to follow Lord Cochrane wherever he might lead. This was more than he wanted. "A hundred and sixty seamen and eighty marines," said Lord Cochrane, whose own narrative of the sequel will best describe it, "were placed, after dark, in fourteen boats alongside the flag-ship, each man, armed with cutlass and pistol, being, for distinction's sake, dressed in white, with a blue band on the left arm. The Spaniards, I expected, would be off their guard, and consider themselves safe from attack for that night, since, by way of ruse, the other ships had been sent out of the bay under the charge of Captain Foster, as though in pursuit of some vessels in the offing.