ter, a North
American, got up a cabal, the object of which was to bring about a
divided command between myself and Admiral Blanco, or, as they
expressed it--"two commodores and no Cochrane." Finding that Admiral
Blanco would not listen to this, they persuaded one or two of the
inferior ministers--whose jealousy it was not difficult to excite--that
it was dangerous and discreditable to a republican Government to allow a
nobleman and a foreigner to command its navy, and still more so, to
allow him to retain his title; the object being to place Admiral Blanco
in the chief command, with myself as his second--by which arrangement,
as he had not been accustomed to manage British seamen, they expected to
control him as they pleased. Admiral Blanco, however, insisted on
reversing our positions, offering his services as second in command, in
which arrangement I gladly acquiesced. This insignificant squabble would
not be worth narrating, but for its bearing on subsequent events; as
well as enabling me to confer a pleasing testimony to the patriotic
disinterestedness of Admiral Blanco, who is still one of the brightest
ornaments of the Republic which he so eminently aided to establish.

On the 22nd of December my flag was hoisted on board the _O'Higgins_,
after which the greatest despatch was used to get the squadron ready for
sea. Anxious to avoid delay, on the 16th of January I sailed with four
ships only, the _O'Higgins, San Martin, Lautaro,_ and _Chacabuco_;
leaving Admiral Blanco to follow with the _Gaharino, Aracauno,_ and
_Puyrredon_. A mutiny having broken out on board the _Chacabuco_, it
became necessary to enter Coquimbo, where the leading mutineers were
landed, tried, and punished.

I shall here narrate an incident which occurred on our departure. Lady
Cochrane, with her children, had returned from Santiago to Valparaiso,
to take leave of me on embarkation. She had just gone ashore, and the
last gun had been fired to summon all hands on board, when, hearing a
loud _hurrah_ near the house where she resided, she went to the window,
and saw our little boy--now Lord Cochrane, but then scarcely more than
five years old--mounted on the shoulders of my flag-lieutenant, waving
his tiny cap over the heads of the people, and crying out with all his
might, _"Viva la patria!"_ the mob being in a frenzied state of
excitement.

The child had slipped out of Lady Cochrane's house with the officer,
insisting on being carried to his f