PROLONGED DESTITUTION OF
SQUADRON--THE MEN MUTINY IN A BODY--THE SEAMEN'S
LETTERS--SAN MARTIN SENDS AWAY THE PUBLIC
TREASURE--MY SEIZURE OF IT--PRIVATE PROPERTY
RESTORED--SAN MARTIN'S ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ME--THE
SQUADRON PAID WAGES--ATTEMPT ON THE OFFICERS'
FIDELITY--I AM ASKED TO DESERT FROM CHILI--ORDERED
TO QUIT ON REFUSAL--MONTEAGUDO'S LETTER--MY
REPLY--JUSTIFICATION OF SEIZING THE TREASURE--NO
OTHER COURSE POSSIBLE.
Previous to this time I had on
board the flag-ship the unexpended
portion of the money captured
at Arica, but as the Chilian Government,
trusting to Peru to supply the
wants of the squadron, neither sent funds
or provisions, I was compelled
to spend for our subsistence the
uncondemned portion of the
prize money belonging to the seamen--a
necessity which, no less than
their want of pay or reward, irritated
them beyond measure, as, in
effect, compelling them to fight the battles
of the Republic not only
without pay but at their own expense. In
addition to this, I was in
possession of the uncondemned portion of
other sums taken on the coast,
and these also I was obliged to expend,
at the same time transmitting
accounts thereof to the Minister of Marine
at Valparaiso, the
appropriation being fully approved by the Chilian
Government. The destitute
condition of the squadron, and the consequent
dissatisfaction of the crews,
will be best shewn by a few extracts from
the letters of the officers
and the men themselves.
On the 2nd
of September, Captain Delano, the Commander of the
Lantaro, wrote to me as
follows:--
"The
officers as well as the men are dissatisfied, having
been a
long time on the cruise, and
at present without any kind of meat
or spirits, and without pay,
so that they are not able to provide for
themselves any longer, though,
until starved, they have borne it
without a murmur."
"The
ship's company have now absolutely refused duty on
account of short allowance.
The last charqui (dried beef) they got
was rotten and full of vermin.
They are wholly destitute of clothing,
and persist in their
resolution not to do duty till beef and spirits
are supplied, alleging that
they have served their time, with nothing
but promises so frequently
broken that they will no longer be
put off."
"In your
Lordship's absence I took the liberty to write to
the
Government and make their complaints known, but the
Minister of
Marine did not even give me an
answer."
"The
greater portion have now left the ship and are all
gone
ashore, so that under existing
circumstances, and with the
dissatisfaction of the
officers and the remainder of the ship's
company I do not hold myself
responsible for any accident that may
happen to the ship until these
difficulties are removed, as the
cables are bad and not to be
trusted to, and we have no anchor
sufficient to hold her."
"PAUL
DELANO, Captain."
On Captain
Delano sending his first lieutenant on shore to
persuade the
men to return to the ship, he
was arrested by order of the Government
and put in prison, the
Protector's object being to get all the men to
desert, thus furthering his
views towards the appropriation of the
squadron.
The
Galvarino was even in a worse condition, so that I
deemed it
expedient to address a letter
to the ship's company asking them to
continue at their duty till I
could devise means for their relief; with
what result the following
letter from Captain Esmond, commanding the
Galvarino will shew.
Galvarino,
Sept. 8th, 1821.
MY LORD,
Pursuant
to your Excellency's order, I have read your
letter of the 6th instant to
the ship's company, respecting your
communication with His
Excellency the Protector, concerning
arrears of pay, prize-money,
&c.
I am sorry to inform your
Excellency that they still persist in
their demands, and are
determined not to proceed to sea.
I. ESMOND,
Captain.
On the
19th, the foreign seamen of the flag-ship itself
mutinied in a
body, on which my
flag-captain, Crosbie, wrote me the following
letter:--
MY LORD,
It is with
the utmost regret I have to inform your Lordship
that being ready for sea early
this morning, the foreigners
refused heaving up the anchor
in consequence of arrears of pay and
prize-money, and to my great
surprise many of the natives also
came aft.
I
endeavoured by persuasive means to induce them to
return
quietly and willingly to their
duty, which had no effect. Knowing
well, had I commenced hostile
measures to enforce those orders the
consequence might be serious,
I refrained therefrom, being aware of
your Lordship's wish to
conduct everything as peaceably as possible.
The names
of the foreigners who refuse going to sea I have the
honour to enclose to your
Lordship, and also to enclose several
letters sent me officially
from Captain Cobbett, of the Valdivia.
I.S.
CROSBIE, Captain.
Not to
multiply these letters from other Commanders, I will
adduce two
written by the whole of the
English and North-American seamen
themselves.
Captin
Crosby,
Sir, It
his the request of us all in the Ship's Company to
inform you that we would wish
to acquaint his Lordship that we was
promised by General San Martin
to receive a bounty of 50,000
dollars and the Total Amount
of the Spanish Frigate Ismeralda, it
his the Sole thought of us all
that if San Martin had any Honure
he would not breck his
promises wish out to have been fulfilled
Long a go.
Ship's
Company of O'Higgins.
Capt. Corbet
It is the
request of us all On Bord the Chili States
ship Valdivia To aquaint you
that we are disatisfied on account of
our pay and prize money, and
likewise the promises made to us on
leaving Valpariso, it is
likewise our Determination not to weigh the
anchor of the Valdivia untill
we get the whole of our wages and
prize money, likewise a number
of us is above twelve months above
our time that we Shipt for And
we should likewise wish our Discharge
and let them that wish to
Reenter Again May do as they think
proppre as we consider this a
patriot port.
The Ship's
Company at large of the Valdivia.
Capt Crosby, Esq
We would
wish to acquaint you of wot his bean read to
us on board of the different
C. States ship under his Lordship's
Command Concerning the Capture
of the Ismeralda.
Sir it was
thus the importance of the Service
performed by your Lordship to the
States by the Capture of the
Spanish Frigat Ismeralda, and the
brillant manner in which this
noble enterprize was conducted
under your Command on the
memorable night of the fifth
of November, has aurgumented
the claims which your previous
services gave to the
Consideration of the government and those
that is Interested in thar
cause as well as my present esteem.
All those
who partook in the risk and glory of this Interprise
deserves also the estermation
of thar Companions in the Army, and
I enjoy the pleasure of being
the Organ of thar Sentiments of
Admiration Wich so important
an action as praduced in the officers
and army, Permit me tharfore
to express such thar sentiments to
your Lordship that may be
communicated to the Officers and
Seamen and troops of the
Sqwardon.
Regarding
the premium for the Frigat It is to be regretted
that
the memorey of so herioic an
Interprise should be mixed with the
painful ideer that blood as
been shed in Accomplishment, and
we hope that your Lordship and
the Gallant Officers and Seamen
may be enabbled to give new
days of Glorry to the cause of
indispendence.
Ship's
Company, O'Higgins.
N.B.--Warre
One Single Sentiment his not been fulfilled.
This
letter, though somewhat incomprehensible, was
intended as a
farewell complimentary address
to myself, previous to the desertion of
the flag-ship; and, had this
taken place, there was no doubt that the
ships' companies of the whole
squadron would have followed the example,
so that the Protector would
have gained his ends, in spite of my
endeavours to keep the men
faithful to the flag under which they were
engaged to serve.
Fortunately for Chili and myself, an occurrence took
place which averted
the evil, and was brought
about by the very means which the Protector
had devised to promote his
individual views.
The
occurrence alluded to, was the embarkation of large
sums of money by
the Protector in his yacht
Sacramento, which had cast out her ballast
to stow the silver, and in a
merchant vessel in the harbour, to the
exclusion of the Lantaro
frigate, then at the anchorage. This money
was sent to Ancon, on the
pretence of placing it in safety from any
attack by the Spanish forces,
but possibly to secure it for the further
purposes of the Protector. The
squadron having thus ocular demonstration
that its arrears could be
paid, but were not, both officers and men
refused longer to continue in
a service which had brought them nothing
but prolonged suffering.
My own
views coincided with theirs, and I determined that
the squadron
should be no longer starved
nor defrauded. I therefore sailed to Ancon,
and personally seized the
treasure, before witnesses; respecting all
that professed to belong to
private individuals, and also the whole of
that contained in the
Protector's schooner, Sacramento, considering it
his private property, though
it could not have been other than plunder
wrested from the Limenos.
Independently of this yacht-load of silver,
there were also on board,
seven surrones (sacks) of uncoined gold,
brought down on his account by
the Legate Parroisien; so that, after all
the moveable wealth of Lima
was supposed to have been previously
deposited for safety in the
castles of Callao, but carried off by
Cantarac, the condition of the
unhappy Limenos may be imagined, from the
additional sums of which they
were subsequently deprived.
I
immediately made proclamation, that all private
individuals, having
the customary documents, might
receive their property upon application,
and considerable sums were
thus given up to Dr. Unanue, Don Juan Aguero,
Don Manuel Silva, Don Manuel
Primo, Don Francisco Kamirez, and several
others, though connected with
the Government. Besides which, I gave up
40,000 dollars to the
commissary of the army, who claimed it; so that,
having returned all the money
for which dockets were produced, there
remained 285,000 dollars,
which was subsequently applied to the payment
of one year's arrears to every
individual of the squadron; but relying
on the justice of the Chilian
Government, I took no part myself,
reserving the small surplus
that remained for the more pressing
exigencies and re-equipment of
the squadron.
Accounts
of the whole money seized, were forwarded to the
Minister of
Marine at Valparaiso, as well
as vouchers for its disbursement, and in
due course, I received the
approbation of the Chilian Government for
what had been done.
General
San Martin entreated, in the most earnest terms, the
restoration
of the treasure, promising the
faithful fulfilment of all his former
engagements. Letter after
letter was sent, begging me to save the credit
of the Government, and
pretending that the money seized was all the
Government possessed for
indispensable daily expenses. To this I
replied, that had I been aware
that the treasure spared in the
Sacramento was the property of
Government, and not that of the
Protector, I would have seized
it also, and retained it till the debts
due to the squadron were
liquidated. Finding all arguments unavailing,
and that no attention was paid
to his threats, the Protector--to save
the credit of his
Government--addressed a proclamation to the
squadron,
confirming the distribution
which was going on by my orders, at the same
time writing to me, that I
"might employ the money as I thought proper."
San Martin
afterwards accused me to the Chilian Government of
seizing
the whole of the treasure,
that in his yacht included, which, at a low
computation, must have been
worth several millions of dollars, which
were all left untouched. He
also asserted, that I had retained the
whole belonging to private
individuals, though each real claimed was
given up, as was well known to
every individual concerned, and he also
knew that I did not retain a
penny on my own account. Nevertheless, he
added, that I had kept the
whole myself,--that, in consequence, the
squadron was in a state of
mutiny, and the seamen were abandoning their
ships to offer their services
to the Government of Peru! the fact being,
that those who went on shore
to spend their pay after the fashion of
sailors, were prevented from
returning on board, a lieutenant of my
flag-ship being put in jail
for attempting to bring them off again.
The first
intimation of this outrage was conveyed by the
officer
himself, in the following
letter, from his place of confinement.
My Lord,
Whilst
obeying your Lordship's orders in bringing off the
men to the O'Higgins, Captain
Guise sent his Lieutenant to tell me
that I could not ship any more
men. My answer was, that, till I
received contrary orders from
you I could not think of desisting.
I then went to Captain Guise
to tell him your orders, and he told
me, that it was the Governor's
order that I should not do it; he
likewise told me, that several
officers had spoken against the
Government, instancing Captain
Cobbett and others. He then
asked me, whether I thought
that your Lordship's robbery! of the
money at Ancon was right? and,
whether I believed that the
Government meant to keep its
promise, and pay us, or not? My
answer was, that I thought
your Lordship had acted perfectly right,
and that, in my opinion, the
Government never intended to pay us;
upon which, he ordered me to
be seized.
My Lord, I
am now a prisoner in the Case-mates, and am told
that the Governor has written
to you on the subject. The men, my
Lord, will, I have no doubt,
come off, as many have promised me to
do so, to-morrow morning.
Hoping that your Lordship will enquire
into the circumstance, I
remain, &c. &c,
J.
PAYNTOR.
On receipt
of this, I immediately demanded his release, which
was
complied with.
Before
distributing the money to the squadron, I took the
precaution to
request that a commissary of
the Government might be sent on board to
take part in the payment of
the crews. As this was not complied with, I
again urged it, but without
effect--the object of not attending to the
request being, as was
afterwards learned, the expectation that I should
place the money in his hands
ashore, when it doubtless would have been
seized, without payment to
officers or men. This was, however, foreseen,
the Government being informed
by me that "the money was on board ready
for distribution, whilst the
people were on board ready to receive it,
there was, therefore no
necessity to take it on shore;" it was then
distributed by my own
officers.
Annoyed
beyond measure at my having taken such steps to
restore order in
the squadron by doing justice
to the officers and men, the Protector, on
the very day, September 26th,
on which he told me by letter to "make
what use I pleased of the
money," sought to revenge himself by sending
on board the ships of the
squadron his two aides-de-camp, Colonel
Paroissien and Captain Spry,
with papers for distribution, stating that
"the squadron of Chili was
under the command of the Protector of Peru,
and not under that of the
Admiral, who was an inferior officer in the
service; and that it was
consequently the duty of the Captains and
Commanders to obey the orders
of the Protector and not mine." One of
these papers was immediately
brought to me by that excellent and highly
honourable officer, Captain
Simpson, of the Araucano (now an Admiral
in the Chilian service), to
whose ship's company it had been delivered.
These emissaries offered, in
the name of the Protector, commissions, and
the promise of honours,
titles, and estates to all such officers as
might accept service under the
Government of Peru.
From the
Araucano, the Protector's envoys went to the
Valdivia,
where similar papers were
given to the men, and Captain Cobbett, nephew
of the celebrated William
Cobbett, was reminded of the preference which
an officer, for his own
interests, ought to give to the service of a
rich state like Peru, in place
of adhering to Chili, which must soon
dwindle to comparative
insignificance; besides which the authority of
the Protector over the Chilian
forces being unquestionable, it was the
duty of the officers to obey
the orders of the Protector as
General-in-Chief. Captain
Cobbett, who was a faithful and excellent
officer, sarcastically
inquired of Spry whether, if his disobedience to
the Admiral brought him to a
court-martial, the Protector's authority
would ensure him an acquittal?
This closed the argument; for Spry being
at the time under sentence of
court-martial, the question was much too
pertinent to be pleasant,
especially as he by no means felt confident
that Cobbett might not seize
him as a deserter.
Unfortunately for the emissaries, my flag-captain,
Crosbie, was on a
visit to Captain Cobbett, and
on learning their errand he pushed off to
the flag-ship with the
intelligence. Observing this movement they
immediately followed, judging
it more prudent to visit me than to run
the risk of being compelled so
to do. At one o'clock in the morning
their boat came alongside,
when Paroissien solicited an interview, Spry
remaining in the boat, having
his own reasons for not wishing to attract
my attention. Paroissien then
addressed me with the most high-flown
promises, assuring me of the
Protector's wish, notwithstanding all that
had occurred, to confer upon
me the highest honours and rewards, amongst
others the decoration of the
newly-created order of "the Sun," and
telling me how much better it
would be for me to be First Admiral of a
rich country like Peru, than
Vice-Admiral of a poor province like Chili.
He assured me, as one of the
Commissioners of confiscated property, that
it was the intention of the
Protector to present me with a most valuable
estate, and regretted that the
present unlucky difference should form an
obstacle to the Protector's
intentions to confer upon me the command of
the Peruvian navy.
Perceiving
that he felt nervously uneasy in his attempt at
negotiation,
I reminded him that the
Peruvian navy had no existence except in
imagination; that I had no
doubt whatever of his desire for my
prosperity, but that it might
be more agreeable to him to join me in a
bottle of wine than to
reiterate his regrets and lamentations. After
taking a glass he went into
his boat, and pulled off, glad no doubt to
escape so easily, not that it
occurred to me to resent the treachery of
visiting the ships of the
squadron in the dark, to unsettle the minds of
the officers and men.
This,
however, and other efforts proved but too
successful, twenty-three
officers abandoning the
Chilian service, together with all the foreign
seamen, who went on shore to
spend their pay, and who were either
forced, or allured by promises
of a year's additional pay to remain, so
that the squadron was half
unmanned.
The
fortress, notwithstanding the supplies so
successfully introduced by
General Cantarac, having
again--by the vigilance of the squadron--been
starved into surrender, I
received an order immediately to quit Callao
and proceed to Chili, although
the Peruvian Government believed that
from the abandonment of the
squadron by the officers and foreign seamen,
it would not be possible to
comply with the order. The following is
Monteagudo's letter conveying
the commands of the Protector:--\
Lima,
Sept. 26th, 1821.
My Lord,
Your note
of yesterday, in which you explain the motives
which induced you to decline
complying with the positive orders of
the Protector, temporarily to
restore the money which you forcibly
took at Ancon, has frustrated
the hopes which the Government
entertained of a happy
termination to this most disagreeable of all
affairs which have occurred
during the expedition.
To answer
your Excellency in detail, it will be necessary to
enter
into an investigation of acts
which cannot be fully understood without
referring to official
communications and documents which prove
the interest which has been
taken in the necessities of the squadron.
(Here
follows a reiteration of the promises and good
intentions of
the Protector, with which the
reader is already well acquainted.)
This has
been a mortal blow to the State, and worse could not
have been received from the
hand of an enemy, there only remaining
to us a hope in the moderation
and patient suffering of the
valiant men who have
sacrificed all!
You will
immediately sail from this port to Chili, with the
whole
squadron under your command,
and there deliver up the money
which you have seized, and
which you possess without any pretext
to hold it. In communicating
this order to your Excellency, the
Government cannot avoid
expressing its regret at being reduced to
this extremity towards a chief
with whom it has been connected by
ties of friendship and high
consideration since August 20th, 1820.
I have to
complain of the style of your Excellency's
Secretary,
who, perhaps from his
ignorance of the idiom of the Spanish
language, cannot express
himself with decency--his soul not having
been formed to conceive
correct ideas.
MONTEAGUDO.
The
complaining tone of this letter about the "valiant
sacrificing all,"
is worthy of the writer; when
I had left untouched many times the amount
seized, and the army,
according to the admission of the Protectoral
Government, had received
two-thirds of its pay, whilst the squadron had
even been suffered to starve.
On the 28th I replied to the Minister as
follows:--
Sir,
I should
have felt uneasy, had the letter you addressed
to me contained the commands
of the Protector to quit the ports of
Peru without reason assigned,
and I should have been distressed
had his motives been founded
in reason, or on facts; but finding
the order based on the
groundless imputation that I had declined to
do what I had no power to
effect, I console myself that the Protector
will ultimately be satisfied
that no blame rests on me. At all
events, I have the
gratification of a mind unconscious of wrong, and
gladdened by the cheering
conviction that, however facts may be
distorted by sycophancy, men
who view things in their proper
colours will do me the justice
I deserve.
You
address me as though I required to be convinced of
your
good intentions. No, Sir, it
is the seamen who want convincing,
for it is they who put no
faith in professions so often broken. They
are men of few words and
decisive acts, and say that "for their
labour they have a right to
pay and food, and will work no longer
than they are paid and
fed"--though this may be uncourtly
language, unfit for the ear of
high authority. They urge, moreover,
that they have had no pay
whatever, whilst their fellow-labourers,
the soldiers, have had
two-thirds of their wages; they were starved,
or living on stinking charqui,
whilst the troops were wholly fed on
beef and mutton; they had no
grog, whilst the troops had money
to obtain that favourite
beverage, and anything else they desired.
Such, Sir, are the rough
grounds on which an English seaman
founds his opinions. He
expects an equivalent for the fulfilment
of his contract, which, on his
part, is performed with fidelity; but,
if his rights are withheld, he
is as boisterous as the element on
which he lives. It is of no
use, therefore, to convince me, but
them.
In what
communication, Sir, have I insisted on the payment
of
200,000 dollars. I sent you an account of money due,
but told you
in my letter that it was the
mutinous seamen who demanded the
disbursements, and that I was
doing all in my power, though
without effect, to restrain
their violence and allay their fears. You
tell me in your letter that it
was impossible to pay the clamorous
crews. How, then, is it that
they are now paid out of the very money
then lying at your disposal, I
having left untouched ten times as much?
My warning to you, that they
were no longer to be trifled with, was
founded on a long acquaintance
with their character and disposition;
and facts have proved, and may
more fully prove, the truth of what
I told you.
Why, Sir,
is the word "immediate" put into your order to go
forth from this port? Would it
not have been more decorous to
have been less peremptory,
knowing, as you do, that the delay of
payment had unmanned the
ships--that the total disregard of all
my applications had left the
squadron destitute--and that the men
were enticed away by persons
acting under the Peruvian Government?
This being so, why are matters
pushed to this extremity?
I thank
you for the approval of my services since the 20th
of
August, 1820, and assure you that no abatement of my
zeal for the
Protector's interest took
place till the 5th of August, when I became
acquainted with his
Excellency's installation, and when, in your
presence, he uttered
sentiments that struck a thrill through my
frame, which no subsequent
act, nor protestation of intentions, has
been able to mitigate. Did he
not say--aye, did you not hear him
declare, that he would never
pay the debt to Chili, nor that due to
the navy, unless Chili would
sell the squadron to Peru? What
would you have thought of me
as an officer, sworn to be faithful to
the state of Chili, had I
listened to such language in cold, calculating
silence, weighing my decision
in the scale of personal interest?
No, Sir, the promise of San
Martin, that "my fortune should be
equal to his own," will not
warp from the path of honour
Your
obedient, humble Servant,
COCHRANE.
After a
lapse of nearly forty years' anxious consideration,
I cannot
reproach myself with having
done any wrong in the seizure of the money
of the Protectoral Government.
General San Martin and myself had been,
in our respective departments,
deputed to liberate Peru from Spain, and
to give to the Peruvians the
same free institutions which Chili herself
enjoyed. The first part of our
object had been fully effected by the
achievements and vigilance of
the squadron; the second part was
frustrated by General San
Martin arrogating to himself despotic power,
which set at naught the wishes
and voice of the people. As "my fortune
in common with his own" was
only to be secured by acquiescence in the
wrong he had done to Chili by
casting off his allegiance to her, and by
upholding him in the still
greater wrong he was inflicting on Peru, I
did not choose to sacrifice my
self-esteem and professional character by
lending myself as an
instrument to purposes so unworthy. I did all in my
power to warn General San
Martin of the consequences of ambition so
ill-directed, but the warning
was neglected, if not despised. Chili
trusted to him to defray the
expenses of the squadron when its
objects--as laid down by the
Supreme Director--should be accomplished;
but in place of fulfilling the
obligation, he permitted the squadron to
starve, its crews to go in
rags, and the ships to be in perpetual danger
for want of the proper
equipment which Chili could not afford to give
them when they sailed from
Valparaiso. The pretence for this neglect was
want of means, though at the
same time money to a vast amount was sent
away from the capital to
Ancon. Seeing that no intention existed on the
part of the Protector's
Government to do justice to the Chilian
squadron, whilst every effort
was made to excite discontent among the
officers and men with the
purpose of procuring their transfer to Peru, I
seized the public money,
satisfied the men, and saved the navy to the
Chilian Republic, which
afterwards warmly thanked me for what I had
done. Despite the obloquy cast
upon me by the Protector's Government,
there was nothing wrong in the
course I pursued, if only for the reason
that if the Chilian squadron
was to be preserved, it was impossible for
me to have done otherwise.
Years of reflection have only produced the
conviction, that, were I again
placed in similar circumstances, I should
adopt precisely the same
course.