I am much less solicitous on the subject of the debt due to myself, but after repeatedly requesting the Accountant-General, Correa de Saa, during the last six months of my residence in Chili, to investigate and determine on my accounts, without his proceeding therein in any effectual way, I was astonished to receive from him a communication calling upon me to appoint an agent to explain certain particulars, which I had considered as explicitly set forth in the documents delivered. This delay and these obstacles, I cannot consider in any other light than as mere pretexts to avoid the payment of the balance due to me for my services, and for the expenditure of monies that were my own, inasmuch as I might, with perfect justice—instead of employing them for the maintenance of the Chilian navy—have applied them to the liquidation of the debt due to myself, and have left the service, as the Government did, to shift for itself. Besides, Sir, let me call to your recollection that not a real of these monies came out of the pocket of any Chileno, but that the whole were captured or collected by me from sources never before rendered available to supply the necessities of a destitute squadron.
I call upon you, Sir, as the Minister of Marine, to see justice done on the above subjects, and if in my accounts or demands you find anything false or fraudulent, let it be printed in the Gazette, and give me the privilege of reply.
I trust you will excuse my entering into the present detail, and do me the justice to feel that no part of it is irrelevant to the subject of your letter. Indeed, if I were not desirous of troubling you as briefly as possible, I could assign numerous other reasons for desiring to have demonstration of a change of ministerial conduct in the management of affairs in Chili, before again exposing myself to difficulties of so painful a nature, and re-occupying a situation which I have found to be harassing, thankless, and unprofitable.
When the puertos non habilitados (unlicensed ports) shall be thrown open to the national commerce—when those obstacles shall be removed which now render the transport by sea more expensive than carriage by land—when the coasting trade, that nursery for native seamen, shall be encouraged instead of prohibited, it will be time enough to think of re-establishing the marine, for, with regard to foreign seamen, such is the disgust they entertain for a service in which they have been so neglected and deceived, that I am confident that the ships of Chili will never again be effectively supplied with men of that description. Indeed, there was not an individual amongst the foreign seamen under my command during the latter period of my services in Chili whose fidelity was not shaken to such a degree as to be undeserving of confidence on any occasion of danger or emergency. Could the late Ministers even expect the natives to serve them faithfully without pay and without food?— but His Excellency the present Director can solve this question in a similar case with regard to the army.
It will be well if the foreign seamen have sufficient forbearance to refrain from revenging—by acts of hostility to the state—the deception and breach of promise which they experienced from San Martin, and that destitute condition to which they were reduced, especially during the last six months of my stay at Valparaiso, by similar frauds on the part of Rodriguez, who, I believe, as Minister of Finance, has been actuated by the hope of compelling the men to abandon their country without remuneration for their services, when they appeared to him and to other short-sighted individuals to be no longer useful.
The Chilian expedition to the Intermedios, and the mean methods by which it was proposed to obtain Chiloe without my intervention, excited in my mind at the time no other feeling than pity and contempt, mixed with regret that the sacrifices of so good a people should be rendered unavailing by the imbecility of their rulers. The failure of both these wretched attempts I predicted. From the men now in power I hope better things, and it will gratify me extremely to observe that you succeed in establishing just laws—a free constitution—and a representative body to direct civil affairs. In fine, that you succeed in all you undertake for the public good; and when I see you entered on the right path, my most zealous cooperation—if required—shall not be withheld.
I cannot conclude without expressing my high sense of the honour which His Excellency the present Director conferred upon me, by desiring my continuance in the command of the navy. To him I return my heartfelt thanks, and to you also for the polite manner in which you communicated his obliging wishes.
(Signed) COCHRANE.
To His Excellency Don Mariano Egana,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, &c.
I will quote one more letter, subsequently addressed by me to the Supreme Director, General Freire, in whose administration I felt a sincere interest, knowing him to be a truly honest man, having only at heart the good of his country; but from his rough training in the camp, without the administrative ability to contend with the intrigues by which he was surrounded.