At Guayaquil, I met General La Mar, the late governor of the fortress of Callao; and a report having been circulated by the Peruvian Government that during the recent blockade I had made an offer to supply the fortress with provisions, in order to prevent its falling into the hands of the Protector, I requested the General to favour me with a statement whether I did or did not promise to succour his garrison, to which request the General obligingly returned the following answer:—
Guayaquil, March 13th, 1823.
Most Excellent Sir,
In consequence of the official note which I yesterday received from your Excellency through the hands of the Government, it is my duty to assert that I have neither said, nor written, nor ever heard that you proposed to supply with provisions the place of Callao during the whole of the time that it was under my charge. God preserve your Excellency many years.
(Signed) JOSE DE LA MAR.
On the 27th we left the Guayaquil river, and on the 29th fell in with Captain Simpson, of the Araucano, whose crew had mutinied and carried off the ship. On the 12th of April we reached Guambucho, whither we had gone for the purpose of taking in water. To our surprise the Alcalde shewed a written order from San Martin, telling him that if any vessel of war belonging to Chili touched there he was to forbid their landing, and to deny assistance of every kind, not even permitting them to obtain wood and water.
To this order no attention was paid by us, and we took on board whatever was required, remaining further to repair the Valdivia. On the 16th we sailed, and on the 25th anchored at Callao, where we found the Prueba under Peruvian colours, and commanded by the senior Chilian captain, who had abandoned the squadron! On our arrival she was immediately hauled in close under the batteries, with guns housed, and ports closed, whilst she was so crammed with troops that three died on the following night from suffocation; these steps being taken to prevent her sharing the fate of the Esmeralda. To calm their fears, I wrote to the Government that there was no intention of taking her, otherwise I would have done so, and at midday too in spite of any such precautions.
Lima was at this time in an extraordinary condition, there being no less than five different Peruvian flags flying in the bay and on the batteries. The Protector had passed a decree ordering that all Spaniards who might quit the place should surrender half their property to the public treasury, or the whole should be confiscated, and the owners exiled. Another decree imposed the penalties of exile and confiscation of property upon all Spaniards who should appear in the streets wearing a cloak; also against any who should be found in private conversation! The punishment of death was awarded against all who should be out of their houses after sunset; and confiscation and death were pronounced on all who possessed any kind of weapons except table-knives! A wealthy lady in Lima was so annoyed at the rigour of these decrees, that her patriotism overcame her prudence, and having called the Protector ill names, she was compelled to give up her property. She was then habited in the garb of the Inquisition,—a garment painted with imaginary devils!—and taken to the great square, where an accusatory libel being fastened to her breast, a human bone was forced into her mouth—her tongue being condemned as the offending member—and then secured; in which state, with a halter round her neck, she was paraded through the streets by the common hangman, and afterwards exiled to Callao, where after two days she died from mental anguish arising from the treatment she had received. Such was the liberty conceded to Peru.
In the midst of this national degradation, the Protector had assumed the style of a Sovereign Prince. An order of nobility was established, under the title of "The Institute of the Sun," the insignia being a golden sun suspended from a white ribbon, the Chilian officers who had abandoned the squadron coming in for a full share as the reward of their subserviency.
A quasi-royal guard was established, consisting of the leading youth of the city, who formed the Protector's escort in public; a precaution which, notwithstanding that the exasperated Limeños were weaponless, was not altogether unnecessary. The Solar nobility were permitted to place their armorial bearings in front of their houses, with the sun blazoned in the centre, which was certainly an addition to, if not an improvement on all previous orders of nobility. In short, the Limeños had a Republic swarming with marquises, counts, viscounts, and other titles of monarchy, to which consummation all expected the Protector to aspire; the more so, as the only unfettered portion of the press was that which saluted him under the title of Emperor. (See Appendix, Ode of "The Dove," sung in celebration, of our Protector and Emperor of Peru!)
The strength of a State so constituted did not keep pace with the brilliancy of its court. On the 7th of April, General Cantarac had fallen upon a division of the liberating army, and cut up or made prisoners of the whole, capturing 5,000 muskets, the military chest, containing 100,000 dollars, and all their ammunition and baggage. It would have been thought that so serious a disaster occurring amongst a justly-exasperated people would have caused some embarrassment to the Government, but the Gazette of the 13th of April almost turned it into matter for congratulation.