"Spaniards, your destiny is in your own hands. I come not to declare
war against the fortunes and persons of individuals. The enemy of the
liberty and independence of America alone is the object of the vengeance
of the arms of the PATRIA. I promise you in the most positive manner,
that your property and persons shall be inviolable, and that you shall
be treated as respectable citizens, if you co-operate in the great
cause," &c. &c.

By the 12th the army was again disembarked, amidst evident
manifestations of dissatisfaction on the part of the officers, who were
naturally jealous of the achievements of the squadron, from being
themselves restrained from enterprise of any kind. To allay this feeling
General San Martin had recourse to an almost incredible violation of
truth, intended to impress upon the Chilian people, that the army, and
not the squadron, had captured the _Esmeralda!_--indeed stating as much
in words, and declaring that the whole affair was the result of his own
plans, to which I had agreed! though the truth is, that doubting his
confidants, I had concealed from him my intentions of making the attack.
The following is an extract from the bulletin issued to the army:--

"Before the General-in-Chief left the Vice-Admiral of the
Squadron, _they agreed on the execution of a memorable project,
sufficient to astound intrepidity itself!_ and to make the history of
the liberating expedition of Peru eternal!"

"Those valiant soldiers who for a length of time have suffered
with the most heroic constancy the severest oppression, and the
most inhuman treatment in the dungeons of Casas-matas, have just
arrived at our head-quarters. Flattering promises of liberty, and
the threats of death, were not sufficient to destroy their loyalty to