cases accompanied by
documentary evidence, which admits neither dispute nor contradiction.

The trifling amount awarded by Chili, would probably not have been
granted at all, but for the earnest remonstrance of Lord Palmerston,
warmly seconded by the efforts of the Hon. Mr. Jerningham, British
Minister to the Chilian Republic, by whose joint exertions the
Government was induced to admit--that national honour was involved in
fulfilling national obligations; though an infinitesimal view of either
the one or the other was certainly taken when awarding me the
insignificant sum previously mentioned.

In Brazil the case was somewhat different. It is to His present Imperial
Majesty, Don Pedro II. that I owe any investigation of my claims, by the
appointment of a Commission (_Seccoes_), which reported that they ought
never to have been withheld, as being my stipulated right. But even the
limited amount awarded in consequence of this decision, was on the point
of being further diminished one half by its projected payment in a
depreciated currency--and, had it not been for the intervention of Lord
Clarendon, and of the Hon. Mr. Scarlett, British Minister at Rio de
Janeiro, of whose zealous exertions in my favour I cannot speak too
warmly--this further injustice would have been perpetrated without the
knowledge or sanction of His present Imperial Majesty.

It may be asked, why--with the clear documentary evidence in my
possession--and now adduced--I have for so many years endured an amount
of obloquy and injustice, which might at any time have been set aside by
its publication? The reply is obvious. The withholding of my claims by
the Governments of both sides the South American Continent, and the
ruinous expense to which I was put on account of Chili, entailed upon me
many years of pecuniary difficulty. To have told even the
truth--unbacked as I then was, by the British Government--would have
been to have all my claims set at defiance, so that compulsory
discretion was a sufficient reason for my silence. It was long before I
could induce a British Minister to satisfy himself of the rectitude of
my conduct--the soundness of my claims--or the dishonesty of those who,
believing me to be powerless, laughed at reiterated demands for my
stipulated rights. Yet more I have never sought from those to whom I
gave liberty and dominion.

There is, however, a reason for the present publication, of which I have
never lost sight. Amidst al