INJUSTICE TO THE
SQUADRON--INCONSISTENCY OF THIS--ESTATE TAKEN FROM ME--MY
LOSSES BY LITIGATION--ENDEAVOURS TO ENFORCE MY CLAIMS--PETTY
EXCUSES FOR EVADING THEM--I AM CHARGED WITH EXPENSES OF THE
ARMY--AND WITH COSTS FOR MAKING LEGAL CAPTURES--MY CONDUCT
APPROVED AT THE TIME--MINISTERIAL APPROBATION--PALTRY
COMPENSATION AT LENGTH GIVEN--MINISTERIAL CORRUPTION--PROVED
BY SAN MARTIN--CAUSE OF OFFICIAL ANIMOSITY TO
ME----CONCLUSION.
My services to Chili and Peru have
been so fully narrated in these
pages, that recapitulation is
unnecessary. I will, therefore, briefly
notice their reward.
I was compelled to
quit Chili by the political dissensions previously
related--without any of the emoluments
due to my position as
Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, or any
share of the sums belonging to
myself, officers, and seamen; which
sums, on the faith of repayment had,
at my solicitation, been appropriated
to the repairs and maintenance of
the squadron generally, but more
especially at Guayaquil and Acapulco,
when in pursuit of the Prueba and
Venganza. Neither was any
compensation made for the value of
stores captured and collected by the
squadron, whereby its efficiency was
chiefly maintained during the whole
period of the Peruvian blockade.
The revolutionary
movements already detailed, also compelled me to quit
the Pacific without any compensation
from Peru, either to myself or the
officers who remained faithful to
Chili--though my absence ought not to
have operated as a bar to such
compensation as the Sovereign Congress
awarded to the generals and field
officers of the army, who, though
restrained by General San Martin from
effecting anything of importance
towards the liberation of the country,
nevertheless received 500,000
dollars as a reward, whilst nothing
was bestowed on myself or the
squadron, except thanks for "hazardous
exploits on behalf of Peru,
hitherto," as the Congress expressed
it, "under the tyranny of military
despotism, but now the arbiter of its
own fate." To the "military
despot" himself, a pension of 20,000
dollars was granted, no doubt, as
has been said, in order to be rid of
him; but it was I who gave the
death-blow to his usurped power, by
seizing the treasure at Ancon to pay
the squadron, and by my constant
refusal of his insidious overtures to
aid him in further treading under foot
the liberties of Peru. It is
scarcely possible that the Government
of Peru, even at this day, can
contrast with any degree of
satisfaction, the empty thanks which were
alone given to one--to use the words
of the Sovereign Congress in its
laudatory vote to myself--"by whose
talent, worth, and bravery, the
Pacific Ocean has been liberated from
the insults of enemies, and the
standard of liberty has been planted
on the shores of the South"--and
its lavish reward to the enemy of that
liberty, and even to those
officers who deserted from Chili to
aid the specious views of the
Protector, of which rewards all who
remained faithful to their duty were
wholly deprived.
Still more
inconsistent has been the neglect of succeeding Peruvian
Governments in not fulfilling existing
obligations. The Supreme Director
of Chili, recognising--as must also
the Peruvians--the justice of their
paying, at least, the value of the
Esmeralda, the capture of which
inflicted the death-blow on Spanish
power, sent me a bill on the
Peruvian Government for 120,000
dollars, which was dishonoured, and
never since paid by any succeeding
Government. Even the 40,000 dollars
stipulated by the authorities at
Guayaquil as the penalty of giving up
the Venganza was never liquidated,
though the frigate was delivered to
Peru contrary to written stipulations
previously adduced--and was thus
added to the Peruvian navy without
cost to the State, but in reality at
the expense of the Chilian squadron,
which ran it down into Guayaquil.
How the successive Governments of Peru
can have reconciled this
appropriation to the injury of one
whom their first independent
Government so warmly eulogised, it is
difficult to conceive.
To return,
however, to my relations with Chili. Shortly after my
departure for Brazil, the Government
forcibly and indefensibly resumed
the estate at Rio Clara, which had
been awarded to me and my family in
perpetuity, as a remuneration for the
capture of Valdivia, and my
bailiff, Mr. Edwards, who had been
left upon it for its management and
direction, was summarily ejected.
Situated as this estate was, upon the
borders of the Indian frontier, it
was, indeed, a trifling remuneration
for overthrowing the last remnant of
Spanish power in the continental
territory of Chili. To have resumed it
then, without pretext of any
kind, was an act reflecting infinite
discredit upon those who
perpetrated that act, whether from
revengeful feelings or baser motives.
The sum of 67,000
dollars, the speedy payment of which was promised to
me by the Supreme Director after our
return from Valdivia, was never
paid, though the conquest of that
fortress proved the immediate cause of
success in negociating a loan in
England, which, before that event, had
been found impracticable. By a
remarkable coincidence, the first
instalment of the loan arrived at
Valparaiso at the period of my
departure; but the English merchants
to whose care it was consigned,
refused to permit the money to be
landed, in consequence of the
disorganization in which the corrupt
conduct of the ministry had
involved the State.
No compensation
for the severe wounds received during the capture of the
Esmeralda was either offered or
received--though for these all States
make separate provision. Even the
Grand Cross of the Legion of Merit,
conferred for the capture of the
Esmeralda, was suspended; whilst, in
its place, I was exposed to the
greatest imaginable insults, even to the
withdrawal of every ship of war from
under my command.
Unhappily, this
ingratitude for services rendered was the least
misfortune which my devotedness to
Chili brought upon me. On my return
to England, in 1825, after the
termination of my services in Brazil, I
found myself involved in litigation on
account of the seizure of
neutral vessels by authority of the
then unacknowledged Government of
Chili. These litigations cost me,
directly, upwards of L.14,000, and
indirectly, more than double that
amount; for, in order to meet the
expenses, I was compelled to dispose
of property at a great sacrifice,
amongst which the loss arising from
the sale of my residence and grounds
in the Regent's Park alone was upwards
of L.6,000--whilst that on other
property also sacrificed was as much
more; thus, in place of receiving
anything for my efforts in the cause
of Chilian and Peruvian
independence, I was a loser of upwards
of L.25,000, this being more than
double the whole amount I had received
as pay whilst in command of the
Chilian squadron: in other words, not
only did I obtain no compensation
for my services in Chili--but was, in
addition, compelled to sacrifice
all I afterwards earned in Brazil to
satisfy claims arising from
seizures made under the authority of
the Chilian Government! No
consideration whatever for these
losses has been shewn by those whom I
so zealously and faithfully served in
their hour of need; not even by
Peru, in behalf of which country
nearly all these litigations arose,
though the services of the squadron
cost nothing to that country or
Chili, beyond the expense to the
latter of its original ineffective
equipment, the provisioning and
maintenance of the ships having been
provided for at the cost of the enemy,
even to the payment of the crews
with their own prize-money, none of
which was ever refunded!
For sixteen years
I made unceasing efforts to induce the succeeding
Governments of Chili to liquidate my
claims, but without effect. At the
expiration of that period, I was no
less surprised than annoyed by
receiving from the Accountant-General
a demand for explanation of my
accounts, though, whilst I remained in
Chili, I had urged incessantly
their official investigation, for,
notwithstanding that the Government
had pronounced its approbation upon
all I had done, I foresaw that
quibbles might arise as the pretext
for continued injustice.
That the accounts
were not adjusted previous to my departure from Chili,
was no fault of mine, as I was, in
self-defence, compelled to quit the
country, unless I chose to take part
with the late Supreme Director, in
supporting a ministry which, unknown
to him, were guilty of the most
avaricious and injurious acts--or aid
Gen. Freire in overthrowing one to
whom I was attached, as having always
believed him to be a sincere and
honourable man.
To call upon me,
therefore, in the year 1838, for an explanation of
complicated accounts delivered to the
Chilian Government and
unquestioned in 1821-2, was an
unworthy course, the more so as most of
the explanations required were of a
paltry description, even to the
expenditure of a single dollar in the
purser's accounts--as though
amidst operations of such magnitude as
had successfully resulted in the
accomplishment of every object
proposed, my time could be occupied in
minor details, yet even to these I was
compelled to attend, the
Government not furnishing me with a
competent person to register the
expenditure of the squadron.
The explanations
thus demanded, after a lapse of nearly twenty years,
were one hundred in number--no great
amount in a series of accounts
extending over more than three years'
prosecution of an arduous service,
during which I had to find the means
of supporting the squadron, the
expenditure of which was now, for the
first time, called into question.
The paltry character of many of the
matters in dispute will be best
judged of from the following items:--
No. 4. Vouchers
demanded for ten dollars' worth of mutton. 23 to 32. Certificates for cases of
gin lost in the San Martin. 40. Deficiency of nine dollars in the
pay-books of the Lautaro. 42. Do. of three dollars in the
pay-books of the Independencia. 69. Error of three dollars in the
valuation of goods captured at Arica. 73. Forty dollars for repairing pumps
at a time when the ships could hardly be kept afloat. 75. Imputed error of one dollar! in
the purchase of 756 gals. of gin, &c. &c.
In addition to
many such petty items, I was accused of giving bounty to
seamen unauthorised--though the seamen
had captured the very monies with
which they were rewarded--and was
expected to refund some which had been
stolen. My having supplied rudders and
rigging to the vessels cut out
from before the batteries at Callao,
was called into question, though
the ships could not be sent from the
port without re-equipment, the
Spaniards having dismantled them
before their capture. I was expected,
after the lapse of sixteen years, to
produce the pursers' books of the
division of stores captured, the books
having been sent in due course to
the Minister of Marine's office; yet
the Government had not furnished
the squadron with the necessary
articles for the safety of the ships,
whether under sail or at anchor,
whilst the stores which were taken from
the enemy and applied to the use of
the expedition, were so much clear
gain to the State.
A still more
unjust act of the Chilian Government was that of calling
upon me for vouchers for the
expenditure of 50,000 dollars, captured by
Col. Miller, in Upper Peru, and
expended by him in paying and
provisioning his troops, of which
transactions I was not at all
cognizant: the sums, however, were no
doubt faithfully applied by Col.
Miller to the exigencies of the
service in which he was engaged; he
merely apprising me that he had
captured or otherwise collected 32,000
dollars, with which he had given his
men two months' pay, and an
additional month's gratuity for their
gallantry, a transaction no less
essential than honourable, but one
which the narrow views of the
ministry failed to appreciate. No
vouchers were, however, remitted to me
whilst I remained on the coast, as the
following letter from Col. Miller
will shew:--
Ica, Aug. 27,
1821.
My
Lord,
Inclosed is a
memorandum of money received and
disbursed to the division under my
command. So soon as time will
permit, another more detailed and
circumstantial account shall be
forwarded for your Lordship's
approval.
I have written to Major Soler, who is
in Lima, to furnish your
Lordship with the necessary
particulars relative to the capture of
the cash.
I have the honour, &c.
Wm. MILLER,
Col. Comm. Southern Division.
I never afterwards
saw Col. Miller nor his division in Peru; but the
whole that was expended by him in
emancipating the country, was charged
to me, and thus I was made responsible
for the price of his victories,
though they did not cost either
Government a dollar.
But the most
flagrant act of injustice was the deduction from my claims
of costs and damages for the detention
of neutral vessels seized under
the orders of blockade issued by the
Chilian Government. The
circumstances were as follows:--
The Spanish
Government had chartered the Edward Ellice and other ships
to transport troops from Spain to
Peru, but internal divisions in the
parent state prevented their despatch.
The masters of these vessels
thereupon claimed demurrage, which it
was not convenient for the Spanish
Government to pay--but in lieu thereof
licences were granted to carry
Spanish goods to Peru. These ships,
being thus loaded, proceeded to
Gibraltar, where the house of Gibbs &
Co. provided them with British
papers, in addition to the Spanish
manifests supplied at Cadiz--this
fact alone shewing that they
considered the speculation illegitimate.
Furnished with
these double sets of papers, they came to Peru for the
purpose of trading; but as I had
advice of this proceeding--and
afterwards found the Spanish
duplicates in the Peruvian Custom Houses--I
seized the vessels on account of the
fraudulent papers, they having also
on board contraband of war, and was
about to send them to Valparaiso for
adjudication, when their commanders
offered to surrender to me all the
anchors, cables, and other illegal
cargo, if I would forego this
determination, which I did, and
applied these articles to the use of the
Chilian squadron, which at that time
had not a trustworthy anchor in any
of the ships.
The course pursued
was satisfactory to the masters and supercargoes, and
subsequently, on explanation, to Sir
Thomas Hardy, whilst it was highly
approved by the Chilian Government.
After my return to England, actions
were brought against me for even the
contraband which had been
voluntarily surrendered by the
masters; but as I was fortunately enabled
to produce the Spanish duplicates,
they were abandoned, otherwise I
should have been involved in utter
ruin, for releasing British vessels
subject to condemnation, and at the
same time gratuitously providing
for the Chilian ships of war, the
essential articles of which they were
entirely destitute.
In order to
conciliate the English merchants at Valparaiso, the
Admiralty Court acquitted various
vessels seized under the orders of the
Government, charging the costs and
damages to my account! and that in
the face of its own right to blockade
and seizure as expressed to the
British Commodore, Sir Thomas Hardy,
who, though he insisted on the
protection of British ships, disavowed
their taking advantage of his
protection to supply the enemy with
contraband of war, as had been done.
Sir Thomas Hardy's
view was this, that if the blockading power was not
in a position to render the blockade
efficient over the whole coast, it
was not recognisable anywhere by the
law of nations; but, whilst
expressing this erroneous view of
blockade, he added, "nor can I resist
the right which the Government of
Chili has to establish and maintain
blockade on the same footing as other
belligerents."
But even in the
extreme views of Sir Thomas Hardy, we were competent to
establish and maintain a blockade in
its widest extent, and the best
proof of the fact is, that the
blockade was established. Even Zenteno,
the Minister of Marine, pointed out to
Sir Thomas Hardy, the ability of
the squadron to maintain the blockade
which he recognised.
"Our naval forces,
perhaps diminished in apparent magnitude by
distance, was not believed sufficient
to maintain the blockade in all
its extent, yet it has had the glory
of setting at liberty, and of
placing in the hands of the American
Independents, all the ports and
coasts of Peru, excepting only the
port of Callao. Moreover, from the
very centre even of that port, and
from under the fire of the
batteries, the Spanish ship of war,
Esmeralda, has been cut out by
our naval forces, and our strength
thereby augmented, whilst that
of the enemy is reduced to nothing."
(Signed) "JOSE
IGNACIO ZENTENO."
So that, in face
of this declaration by the Chilian Minister himself, as
to the naval supremacy of the squadron
on the coast of Peru, and its
consequent right of seizure, the
Admiralty Court, for its own sinister
purposes, chose to decide that I was
liable for seizures of neutral
vessels made by my captains, without
my knowledge--condemning me in
costs and damages for their acts; the
result being that I was mulcted in
this, and every other charge it saw
fit to make in my absence. The
injustice of this was the more
striking, as San Martin was appointed
Commander-in-Chief of the squadron as
well as the army, so that, even
supposing the decisions of the
Admiralty Court to be right, the onus lay
upon him, not me. Yet he was rewarded,
and I was compelled to pay for
acts executed under his authority.
In the year 1845,
twenty-three years after the liberation of Peru, and
the annihilation of the Spanish power
in the Pacific, the Chilian
Government deducted all charges thus
unjustly placed to my account, and
awarded me the balance of 30,000
dollars (L.6000) for all the services
rendered to the country. I have before
mentioned that, from the
consequence of litigation proceeding
from obedience to the orders of the
Chilian Government, I was subjected to
a loss in England of nearly
L.25,000; so that in place of my
reaping any reward whatever for my
services to Chili and Peru, the
liberation of the latter and the
completion of independence of the
former cost me L.19,000 out of my own
pocket!
I would ask the
Chilian people and Government whether they do not now
see the injurious treatment pursued
towards me--arising from the base
impositions then practised upon them,
though these have been partly
compensated by the present enlightened
Government, which, as its recent
decision has shewn, is composed of men
of a far higher stamp than those
with whom I was placed in contact,
and, as I have every reason to
believe, would redeem the stigma left
on the national character by their
corrupt predecessors of 1820-23, on
fully comprehending the treatment to
which I was subjected. That
explanation is here truthfully laid before
them, enabling them to judge for
themselves. I will only add that not a
single statement has been made in this
narrative which is not based on
original documents, the more important
of which have been incorporated,
the whole being about to be
photographed and sent out to Chili, so that,
comparing them with their official
originals, their authenticity shall
be beyond question.
I have said that
the ministry which paralysed my operations, and by
their ill-disguised mercenary
practices overthrew the Supreme Director,
O'Higgins, was corrupt, though I have
thought it beneath the dignity of
historical narrative, more
particularly to expose their dishonest
practices, of which I was well
apprised. I feel, however, that in making
such a charge, some proof thereof is
incumbent on me, I will therefore
in conclusion simply adduce a solitary
instance of those practices, so
damning, that, unless supported by
irrefutable testimony, I might well
be deemed a malicious libeller for
making accusations otherwise utterly
incredible.
It has been proved
by the narrative--as indeed it has never been
disputed--that the vigilance of the
blockade before Callao starved the
Spanish garrison out of Lima, and
ultimately out of the fortress of
Callao, this being the main object of
the blockade. Whilst I was thus,
as the only means within my power,
endeavouring to starve out the
Spaniards, the Chilian Ministers were
sending corn to be sold, at a
thousand per cent, profit, to the
blockaded garrison!
To such an extent
was this carried, that even Gen. San Martin, aware of
the villainy of his pretended
supporters in the Chilian ministry, and
dreading the result, put me on my
guard by writing to me the following
letter:--
Haura, Feb. 21,
1821.
My
esteemed Friend,
I am expecting information from you
with great
anxiety, and sincerely hope that it may be as favourable as
that which I
received in Ancon when I was in similar uncertainty.
The Miantinomo is
on her way from Valparaiso, by permission of
the Government, to introduce a cargo
of corn into Callao! It is most
essential at all risks to avert this
mischief, for it would be perfect
ruin to admit such a cargo under
existing circumstances! I have
officially given you information on
this subject.
The day before yesterday the
Andromache arrived at Huacho;
Capt. Sherriff tells me that in a few
days he shall return to Callao.
Lady Cochrane is
at Huaita, making shift in the best way she
can. God give you happiness, my
friend. Always count on the
sincere esteem of your affectionate
JOSE DE SAN
MARTIN.
This testimony from one whose
creatures the more influential of the
Chilian ministers were, is
indisputable, but in the present case their
rapacity alarmed even their patron.
San Martin is however wrong in
attributing the traitorous attempt to
the Government collectively--the
Supreme Director, O'Higgins, not being
capable of such practices as were
carried on under his authority--of
which this is only one solitary
instance. The real perpetrators of
these enormities are fresh in the
recollection of many Chilenos still
living. Yet these were the men who,
under the mask of patriotism,
originated the most unworthy charges
against me, without giving me the
slightest credit for having carried on
the naval war without national
assistance either in money or stores. The
present generation of Chilenos are
proud of their country, and--as their
present excellent President, when
awarding me an admiral's pay for the
remainder of my life has
stated--desire to reward those illustrious
foreigners who assisted them in their
struggles for independence--but
they have great reason to regret the
conduct of those ministers who
imperilled that independence, and
jeopardised the liberties of Chili for
private gain.
It is scarcely
necessary to add that not a grain of corn in the
Miantinomo, or other vessels similarly
despatched, with the exception
of one which arrived during my
absence, found its way to the starving
garrison of Callao. Yet on their
arrival I was implored to permit its
landing, and on replying that no such
treachery to the people of Chili
should be carried on before my face, I
was coolly asked to stand off
during the night from the blockade,
that I might not see what was going
on! Such was ministerial honesty in
the first days of Chilian
independence.
The cause of
official animosity to me is now apparent. Had I
participated in these nefarious
practices, or had I accepted the rank,
decorations, and estates offered to me
by San Martin as the price of my
defection from Chili, I should now be
rich, however despicable to
myself--in place of having long and
severely suffered in consequence of
my rigorous adherence to the national
interests--with the proud
consciousness of never having done an
act which I desire to conceal |