ious. You can hardly understand the deep and bitter hostility that has
been excited in the minds of my countrymen by the doings of your admiral.
Our hold on Peru when you arrived here was absolute, and it was morally
certain that, with the aid of the ships and men on their way out, we
should have very soon recaptured Chili again. All that has changed. Our
armies have been defeated, our ships captured by inferior forces, our
prestige destroyed; we find ourselves insulted in our ports, our ships cut
out from under our guns, the Peruvians ready at any moment to revolt, our
flag almost swept from the Pacific, and with every prospect that the broad
dominions won for Spain by Pizarro and Cortez will be wrested from us. You
can hardly imagine the wrath and humiliation of every Spaniard at the
misfortunes that have fallen upon us, the more so that these misfortunes
have been inflicted by a naval force that we deemed absolutely
contemptible.

"All this is due to Admiral Cochrane and his English officers. In the next
place, in addition to the political hate there is the religious one. It is
by heretics that we have been defeated, as we were defeated centuries ago
by your people and the Dutch. You know how great is the power that the
priests wield. We have still the Inquisition among us, and though its
power in Spain is comparatively slight, the institution still flourishes
on this side of the Atlantic. All this makes me anxious for you. No doubt
your admiral would exchange some of his prisoners for you, or might, did
he learn it, retaliate upon them for any ill-treatment dealt to you, but
you see he may never get to know in time. He may hear that the ship in
which you sailed was lost, but he may suppose that all hands were lost
with it, for the four Chilian sailors were captured an hour or two after
you were, and were at once shot. I am sorry now that I undertook this
journey. We have been friends and comrades since we started, and I cannot
bear the thought that any evil should befall you. You have an absolute
right to good treatment, for your admiral has always treated his prisoners
with the greatest kindness and consideration, but I regret to say that in
the present state of the feelings of the Spaniards I am not certain that
such treatment will be meted out to you."

"We must hope for the best, Don Filippo," Stephen replied. "I do not blind
myself to the fact that my position is not free from danger, but I confide
in the honou