the participants in the great deeds of
that epoch appear, with justice, greater to the modern world than they
did in the eyes of their contemporaries.

CHAPTER XVII

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE--II

It was at Mendoza that the famous Argentine General, San Martin,
recruited the army destined for the campaign of Chile. In 1817
everything was prepared, and with an army of 4,000 men San Martin set
out on one of the most extraordinary military marches that history has
known. Indeed, his passage of the Andes is considered as unique by
numerous military experts.

The advance of San Martin was not altogether unexpected by the Royalist
forces, whose spies kept the Spanish commander informed of this latest
move on the part of the patriot army. General San Martin, becoming aware
of this, repaid these spies in their own coin. Taking them, as it
seemed, into his confidence, he informed them of the route he was about
to take, and when the time came chose another and a parallel pass.
Hastening down the tremendous rocky walls of the western side of the
Andes, San Martin engaged the Spanish forces and won an important
victory at Chacabuco. The Royalists, under General Osorio, rallied and
made a last desperate stand; but their forces were decisively and
finally defeated on April 5, 1818, at Maipu, and this action resulted in
the definite liberation of Chile.

San Martin was now the hero of Chile, and was begged to accept the
protectorship of the new Republic. His deeds on land were rivalled by
those of Admiral Cochrane on sea. The gallant Irish sailor was at the
time busily occupied in sweeping the Pacific Ocean clear of the Spanish
vessels, and in performing those extraordinary feats of valour for which
his memory is famed. Unfortunately, misunderstandings between the pair
eventually resulted in open enmity between Cochrane and San Martin. This
became accentuated when the campaign was undertaken in Peru, when San
Martin, not content with his victories in Chile, led his armies for the
liberation of the north into Peru itself, and into the head-quarters of
the remaining Spanish power.

It was in Peru, then, that the dispute between Cochrane and San Martin
broke out in a public fashion. Its origin in this instance was a
difference of opinion concerning the measures to be taken for the
capturing of Callao Castle. The impetuous Irishman was for storming the
place at once. The prudent San Martin, on the other hand, was desirous
of