mystery was, however, soon cleared up. When at Guayaquil, we met with
two officers, General Wavell and Colonel O'Reilly, to whom the Chilian
Government had given passports to quit the country, not estimating the
value of their services as tantamount to their pay. As no secret was
made of the object of the Chilian squadron, they had, owing to our delay
on the coast, carried their own version of our mission to Mexico, and
had reported to the Mexican Government, both personally and by letter,
that Lord Cochrane had possessed himself of the Chilian Navy,--plundered
the vessels belonging to Peru,--was now on a piratical cruise,--and was
coming to ravage the coast of Mexico; hence the preparations which had
been made.

The two worthies whom I have mentioned had represented to the
authorities at Guayaquil that they were ambassadors from Chili to
Mexico, deputed to congratulate the Mexican Government on their
achievement of independence. Knowing this to be false, I requested them
to shew their credentials, which of course they could not do. Their
passports were then demanded, and evinced by their dates that the
pretended ambassadors had quitted Chili prior to the intelligence of the
establishment of independence in Mexico. This disclosure having become
known to the lady of the Captain-General of Guatemala, who happened to
be at Guayaquil, she forwarded the account to her husband, and he
reported it to the Mexican authorities, who were thus informed of the
true character of their visitors; who, in revenge, trumped up the story
of our piratical intentions, to which the Governor of Acapulco attached
sufficient importance to strengthen his forts as narrated.

The reserve, however, immediately wore off, and the most cordial
relations were entered into; the President of Mexico, Iturbide, writing
me a very polite letter, regretting that he could not visit me