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