half-musket shot. "The enemy thought that to view our camp was to
conquer us." They were only 3,000 to 12,000. "They trembled at the hour
of battle, _and profited by the hour of darkness_!" The fact being that
with droves of cattle and abundance of other provisions, they
triumphantly marched into Callao _at mid-day_! viz, from eleven A.M. to
three P.M. "The liberating army pursues the fugitives." This is the only
fact contained in the proclamation. The enemy _was_ pursued by 1,100
men, who followed them at a distance for ten miles, when Cantarac
suddenly facing about, let loose his cavalry at them, and nearly the
whole were cut up! The Spaniards in fact came to relieve Callao, and
fully effected their object.

Were not the preceding proclamation indelibly imprinted in the columns
of the ministerial Gazette, it would be deemed a malicious fabrication.
Yet the poor, _independent_ Limeños dared not utter a voice against
falsehood so palpable. Disarmed and betrayed, they were completely at
the mercy of the Protector, who, if he can be said to have had a motive
in not encountering the small force of Cantarac, no doubt founded it in
keeping his own troops intact for the further oppression of the unhappy
Limeños--with what effect we shall presently see.

This triumphant retreat of the Spanish force with its large amount of
treasure was a disaster which, after the Limeños had risen against the
tyranny of San Martin and forcibly expelled him from their city,
entailed the shedding of torrents of blood in Peru, for the Spaniards
were thus enabled to reorganize a force which would have subjected the
country to its ancient oppressors, had not the army of Colombia stepped
in to resist a common enemy. Even Chili trembled for her liberties, and,
after I had left the Pacific, begged me to return and check disasters
with which she was incompetent to grapple.