i88 , A HISTORY OF CHILE liberating army of Peru. " The fleet under Lord Coch- rane intended for the transportation of this army con- sisted of the seven or eight warships of the navy and from fifteen to twenty transports. On the 13th of August, the chiefs of the liberating army had issued a bulletin declaring the purposes of the expedition; that it was to redeem the land in which slavery had so long existed, and from whence the lat- est efforts to oppress the whole continent had been made; to decide whether or not the time had arrived when the influence of South America upon the rest of the world should be commensurate with its extent, its riches and its situation. As this expedition was a joint effort on the part of Chile and Buenos Ayres to aid the patriots of the north- ern state to throw off the Spanish yoke, and as the subsequent progress of the war is rather a part of the history of Peru than of Chile, we will give here only a brief account of the brilliant achievements of the lib- erating army after it had landed in Peru's territories; On the 2oth of August, the fleet sailed from Valpa- raiso, arriving at its objective point, Pisco, on the 7th of September. Four days after, the army, or a large portion of it, was landed, the Spanish troops hav- ing previously fallen back upon Lima, where the vice- roy intended to concentrate his forces. Colonel Are- nales was well acquainted with the country and marched a strong detachment of one thousand men into the vicin- ity of Lima, taking up a position east of the city. He was some time on the way, crossing the Andes by a circuitous route, and traversing a country filled with royalists. He encountered on the way a strong divi- sion of 1,800 of the royalist troops under General O'Reilly, which he cut to pieces and made prisoners. On the 2oth, an armistice was agreed upon between
