I hope to prove that it is not owing to me. I have received
proposals from Mexico, from Brazil, and from a European state, but
have not as yet accepted any of these offers. Nevertheless, the habits
of my life do not permit me to refuse my services to those labouring
under oppression, as Chili was before the annihilation of the Spanish
naval force in the Pacific. In this I am prepared to justify whatever
course I may pursue. In thus taking leave of Chili, I do so with
sentiments of deep regret that I have not been suffered to be more
useful to the cause of liberty, and that I am compelled to separate
myself from individuals with whom I hoped to live for a long period,
without violating such sentiments of honour as, were they broken,
would render me odious to myself and despicable in their eyes."

That letter sufficiently explains the reasons which induced Lord
Cochrane to resign his Chilian command. He had, as he said, received
invitations to enter the service of Brazil, of Mexico, and of Greece.
The Mexican offer he declined at once, as acceptance of it would
involve little of the active work in fighting which, if for a good
cause, was always attractive to him. Assistance of the Greeks who, a
year and a half before, had begun to throw off their long servitude to
Turkey, and who were now fighting desperately for their freedom,
was an enterprise on which he would gladly have embarked, but
the invitation from Brazil was more pressing, and he therefore
conditionally accepted it. "The war in the Pacific," he said, on the
29th of November, in answer to two letters written on behalf of the
newly-elected Emperor of Brazil, "having been happily terminated by
the total destruction of the Spanish naval force, I am, of course,
free for the crusade of liberty in any other quarter of the globe. I
confess, however, that I have not hitherto directed my attention
to the Brazils; considering that the struggle for the liberties of
Greece, the most oppressed of modern states, afforded the fairest
opportunity for enterprise and exertion. I have to-day tendered my
ultimate resignation to the Government of Chili, and am not at this
moment aware that any material delay will be necessary previous to my
setting off, by way of Cape Horn, for Rio de Janeiro; it being, in the
meantime, understood that I hold myself free to decline, as well as
entitled to accept, the offer which has, through you, been made to me
by his Imperial Majesty. I only menti