that if, after the conduct he has
pursued he had sent me a private letter, on any such subject, it would
certainly have been returned unanswered; and you may also tell him, that
it is not my wish to injure him; I neither fear him nor hate him, but I
disapprove of his conduct."

Monteagudo, in spite of his reception, begged of me to reconsider my
determination, saying that the Marquis of Torre Tagle had got ready his
house for my reception; asking me further to recal the letter I had
written the day before, and accept the offers which had been made. I
again told him that "I would not accept either honours or rewards from a
Government constituted in defiance of solemn pledges; nor would I set
foot in a country governed not only without law, but contrary to law.
Neither would I recal my letter, my habits were frugal, and my means
sufficient without a fortune from the Philippine Islands." Finding he
could make no impression upon me, and not liking the scowl on the
countenances of those on board, though he wore his blazing decoration
of the first order of the "Sun," and was covered with ribbons and
embroideries, the minister retired, accompanied by his military escort.

Consequent upon my refusal to comply with his wishes the Protector
shortly afterwards, unknown to me, despatched Colonel Paroissien and
Garcia del Rio to Chili with a long series of the most preposterous
accusations, in which I was represented as having committed every
species of crime, from piracy to petty robbery; calling on the Chilian
Government to visit me with the severest punishment.

On the 8th of May, the schooner _Montezuma_, which had been lent to
General San Martin by the Chilian Government, entered Callao _under
Peruvian colours_. The insolence of thus appropriating a vessel of my
squadron was too great for forbearance, so that I compelled her to come
to an anchor, though not before we were obliged to fire upon her. I then
turned all the officers ashore, and took possession of her; the
Protectoral authorities, by way of reprisal, detaining a boat belonging
to the flag-ship, and imprisoning the men; but, rightly calculating the
consequences of such a step, they were soon set at liberty, and the boat
was, on the same night, permitted to return to the ship.

On the 10th of May we quitted Callao, and arrived at Valparaiso on the
13th of June, after an absence of a year and nine months, during which
the objects of the expedition had been completel