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