dissensions; which have continued to this
day, not in Peru only, but in the majority of the South American States,
which, having commenced their career in the midst of private feud and
public dissension, have never been able to shake off either the one or
the other monuments of their own incipient weakness.
The intelligence of Monteagudo's forced exile was received at Valparaiso
on the 21st of September; and if this excited the surprise of the
Chilians, still greater must have been their astonishment when, on the
12th of October, General San Martin himself arrived at Valparaiso, a
fugitive from his short-lived splendour, amidst the desolation of
despotism.
The story of this event is brief, but instructive. Having met Bolivar,
as previously agreed upon, the Liberator, in place of entering upon any
mutual arrangement, bitterly taunted San Martin with the folly and
cruelty of his conduct towards the Limenos; to such an extent, indeed,
that the latter, fearing designs upon his person, precipitately left
Guayaquil, and returned to Callao shortly after the expulsion of
Monteagudo. Finding what had taken place, he remained on board his
vessel, issuing vain threats against all who had been concerned in
exiling his minister, and insisting on his immediate recal and
reinstatement. A congress had however, by this time been appointed, with
Xavier de Luna Pizarro as its head, so the remonstrances of the
Protector were unheeded. After some time spent in useless recrimination,
he made a virtue of necessity, and sent in his abdication of the
Protectorate, returning, as has been said, to Chili.
One of the first acts of the Peruvian Congress, after his abdication,
was to address to me the following vote of thanks, not only marking my
services in the liberation of their country, but denouncing San Martin
as a military despot:--
_Resolution of thanks to Lord Cochrane by the Sovereign Congress
of Peru._
The Sovereign Constituent Congress of Peru, in consideration
of the services rendered to Peruvian liberty by Lord Cochrane, by
whose talent, worth, and bravery, the Pacific Ocean has been
liberated from the insults of enemies, and the standard of liberty
has been planted on the shores of the South,
Has Resolved,--
That the Supreme Junta, on behalf of the Nation, shall offer to
Lord Cochrane, Admiral of the Chilian squadron, its most expressive
sentiments of gratitude for his hazardous exploits
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