officers retired to
their beds without placing any sentries on duty. The Spaniards in the
city sent spies to the royalists, informing them that the patriot
soldiers were all drunk, and totally off their guard. During the night
the royalists marched into the city and took possession of the forts,
which were very strong, (one in particular is said to mount three
hundred and sixty-five guns,) without meeting with any resistance, or
the loss of a single man. They killed about thirty of the patriots and
made the remainder prisoners, only twelve escaping. I here give you a
sketch of the complete success of the Spaniards, as recited by the
General's right hand man. Lieutenant Cookley, aid-de-camp to General
McGregor, about three weeks after the loss of the army, said, "That on
the night of the re-capture of the city by the royalists, he was
quartered in the second story of the government house in Porto Bello,
General McGregor occupying one room, and Governor Lopes another, and
being himself very unwell, he was obliged to get out of his bed and walk
the room. Between three and four o'clock he heard some persons coming up
stairs. Feeling alarmed, he seized his sword and pistols and ran to the
door of the room, where he met three men well armed; he shot one, and
killed another with his sword, the third one retreated with a slight
wound; in the meantime he cried out, 'General McGregor, you are
betrayed.' The general sprang from his bed, and taking his mattrass,
dropped it from the window on the ground; then letting himself down to
it, ran for the shore, and jumping into the sea attempted to swim to the
commodore's vessel; but being unskilled in swimming, he was picked up by
a boat and carried on board, having no clothing on except his shirt.
Another division of Spaniards ascended the stairs of the government
house, and proceeding to the room of Governor Lopes, killed him in his
bed."

Those taken prisoners were marched across the Isthmus to the South Sea,
where they were compelled to work in chains on the fortifications. Some
months after I learned that these prisoners, in trying to effect their
escape, were most of them butchered by the Spaniards.

After my release from the embargo at St. Andreas I sailed for the coast
of St. Blas, where I arrived without any further molestation, at the
harbor of De Ablo. My vessel was soon surrounded with canoes, filled
with old men and young ones. No ambassador returning from a foreign
missi