“Next morning we called upon the deposed Viceroy, rather as a civility than a duty, for his authority was utterly destroyed, and he had retired to his country-seat, called La Magdalene, not far from Lima. He was more dejected than we thought a haughty grandee ought to have been; but he explained this to us, by saying, that he felt deeply for this lost country, which he foresaw would never prosper under such rebellious guidance. Instead, however, of his being afflicted at the change, it is probable he secretly rejoiced at his dismissal from the command. He had done his duty as long as he could, by making a respectable stand against the enemy; and it was clear, that he must, ere long, have yielded up the capital, not so much to the force of San Martin’s army, as to the overwhelming influence of public sentiment, the tide of which had decidedly turned, and was at this time flowing directly against the Spanish authority.
“During the first few days, our thoughts were so much taken up with official duties, that little time was left for observing either the town or the society. We became every day more and more sensible of our precarious footing, and the necessity of observing the greatest circumspection in our intercourse with these jealous people. Living entirety on board ship, would at once have confirmed all their suspicions of our favouring the enemy, whose squadron was anchored in the outer roads; while residing altogether in Lima might have been attributed to our wish to spy into the nakedness of the land. The course we did follow, of being at Lima, or at Callao, or on board, as circumstances required though it did not exempt us from suspicion, was the best we could adopt, and we hoped, by caution and forbearance, to avoid giving cause of offence; but in this, as will be seen, we found ourselves much mistaken.” * * * * * *
“18th of Feb. – I learned, when at Lima this morning, that two officers of my ship had been arrested at Callao on the evening before, and were imprisoned in the Castle, on suspicion of being spies from Lord Cochrane’s Squadron, though landed by my boat. In ordinary times, had such a mistake happened, it would have been easily explained; but at a moment of such popular ferment, especially when the English were held in universal distrust, it was likely to prove a serious affair. All Lima was thrown into commotion by this circumstance; every one implicitly believed the story, and at Callao, the uproar was described as infinitely worse. At the time of receiving a report of this transaction from the ship, a letter from the Viceroy was put into my hands, stating that two persons, giving themselves out as officers of the Conway, had landed in my boat; and that, as five men at Callao had recognized and sworn to their having belonged to Lord Cochrane’s ship, they had been confined in the Castle; and the formal declarations of the witnesses were to be taken preparatory to the trial of the prisoners. I immediately waited on the Viceroy, and assured him there must be some mistake: but, in order to prevent all further misunderstanding, before making an official requisition to the Government for the officers to be delivered up, I wished to have access to them at Callao. This, how-