inhabitants, the interest of which has been somewhat forestalled by Captain Head. In January 1818 Captain Miller set out from Buenos Ayres to join the army. On the ninth day, after a ride of three hundred leagues, he reached Mendoza, the capital of the province of Cuyo. In connexion with this city is mentioned a curious fact, honourable to patriot liberality. Mendoza is remarkable for a fine alameda, formed by four rows of poplars of extraordinary height and regularity. This tree has been found to flourish exceedingly by the side of the small canals used to irrigate the cultivated spots of land in the plains of the Rio de la Plata. Within ten years from their first introduction, half a million poplars were planted. When the revolution commenced, the Spaniard by whom the tree was originally introduced was yet living, and in gratitude for the act, a decree was passed, excepting him from the persecution which befel his countrymen, and exempting him from the payment of taxes, as a public benefactor. Captain Miller crossed the Andes by the pass of Uspallata, and reached Santiago, eighty leagues distant, in a space short of four days. He arrived there January 24th 1818, and immediately repaired to the division of the army bivouacked at Las Tablas, near Valparaiso, and was ordered to his regiment, the Buenos Ayrean artillery. They were encamped in full view of the lofty peaks of the Andes; and among the novel objects which here attracted his attention, Captain Miller was particularly struck with the glorious spectacle of the setting sun. Long after he has sunk below the horizon, he continues to gild the mighty summits of the Cordillera, while broken masses of clouds, brilliantly tinged by his beams, impart inconceivable magnificence to the scene. Shortly after Miller entered upon duty, San Martin marched towards San Fernando, to form a junction with the director O'Higgins, and Colonel Las Heras; and here his military career in South America may be said to commence.

The earliest occasion which called for the active display of his talents, was in the affair of Cancharayada. The vanguard of San Martin's troops and of the royalists under Osorio came in contact March 18th, and the two armies continued near together until April 5th, when the patriots gained the splendid victory of Maypu, and completely destroyed or dispersed the enemy. Previous to this event, however, the Spaniards and Chilenos skirmished repeatedly, and on the night of March 19th, the latter were thrown into disorder by an unexpected attack on the plain of Cancharayada, and retreated with considerable loss. Las Heras distinguished himself greatly at this time, by conducting a larger body of infantry out of danger, and preserving them from dispersion. Miller attached himself to Las Heras, and acted as his adjutant during the arduous retreat. But he did not participate in the glory of the battle of Maypu, having been detached

with a company to take possession of the frigate Lautaro, and secure the means of safety for the patriots if they should be defeated. After this, he remained attached to the fleet until the liberating army entered Peru, where a more brilliant career awaited him.

Being promoted to the rank of Major, he sailed at first under the command of admiral Don Manuel Blanco Ciceron, as senior officer of the troops distributed in the squadron, and afterwards under Lord Cochrane in the same capacity. The Memoirs abound with interesting details of the incidents of this period, but we pass over them, to arrive at a period when Miller ceased to act a secondary part. He evinces considerable esteem for Cochrane, and among other characteristic traits of that personage, relates the following:

"He (Lord Cochrane) is remarkable for the quickness with which he can discern a shot coming, and the accuracy with which he can tell its direction. In a subsequent affair at the same place, he was sitting astride upon the hammocks according to his usual custom. Major Miller was standing on a carronade upon the quarter-deck, close to the admiral, who said, there comes a shot straight for us, but don't move, for it will strike below us'; and it entered just underneath, at the lower part of the port above which both had placed themselves. The shot struck off the head of a marine who had dodged to avoid it, and wounded four seamen. One, named José de San Martin, had been the chieftain of banditti in Chile, and had been sent on board from the condemned cell. His leg was carried away, and the bone shattered so much that he afterwards suffered amputation above the knee, which he bore with astonishing fortitude, exclaiming 'viva la patria' repeatedly during the operation. In February 1824, General Miller met the same man begging alms on horseback in the streets of Santiago. Upon asking if he received a pension from government, he answered with gayety, that he obtained so much in charity that he never thought it worth while to apply for a pension.”

This was in February 1819. In March, Miller was shockingly scorched by an accidental explosion of a laboratory formed on the island of San Lorenzo, and was confined to his cabin for six weeks in consequence of his burns. He regained his health, however, and continued in active service until November 7th 1819, when he was dangerously and almost fatally wounded in an attack on Pisco, receiving a musket ball in his right arm, another in his left hand, while a third entered his chest, and fracturing a rib passed out at the back. Contrary to all expectations, he recovered from his wounds in the course of two or three months, and in February 1820 we find him once more in the heat of battle, on occasion of the capture of Valdivia, when a ball passed through his hat, and grazed the crown of his head. But a few days after this, he was again desperately wounded in an attack upon Chiloe, a grape-shot passing through his left thigh, and a four pound shot crushing his right foot. Nothing but the devoted attachment of his brave followers preserved his life in this emergency; and all the hospitality and kindness of the warmhearted inhabitants of Santiago were necessary to the restoration

of his health and strength. In June 1820 he felt able to take the field again, and was promoted to a lieutenant colonelcy at the time when San Martin was organizing the expedition of the liberating army against the royalists of Peru. He embarked at Valparaiso August 19th 1820, and the following anecdote well illustrates the vicissitudes of military life, as also the singular good fortune of Miller.

"It is remarkable that Lieutenant Colonel Miller was the only field officer who sailed with the expeditionary army from Valparaiso, who was also present at the great final victory of Ayacucho. Thus it was his singular good fortune to have been the first patriot officer to land on the coast (1819), and to have heard the first and last shots fired during the Peruvian war of independence. Of nearly five thousand that sailed from Valparaiso in 1820, not more than ten officers and ninety privates continued in active service in Peru, to be present at the last victory. Be sides the proportion which fell by the usual casualties of war, many of the higher ranks were displaced by faction; numbers were swept off by the prevailing diseases of the country; and not a few for want of medical attendance."

San Martin had landed all his troops at Pisco by September 12th, and such was the success of the patriot-arms, that in less than ten months he entered Lima in triumph and was proclaimed Protector of Peru. The great events of this period belong to general history, and we follow them only so far as they appertain to our present subject. The annexed incident, which occurred in the earlier part of the struggle, indicates the spirit of the republican soldiery.

"The 2d December was an interesting day at Supe. Twenty-two officers, and eighty-five non commissioned officers and privates, were landed from a lugger. These unfortunate men had been released, in pursuance of the agreement between the viceroy and General San Martin for an exchange of prisoners. They were the only survivers of upwards of a thousand patriots, who had been made prisoners in the early part of the revolution, on the plains of Buenos Ayres, or in Upper Peru. Shackled together, they had been forced to march from four to six hundred leagues, and were afterwards immured in the dismal casemates of the castles of Callao. In order to induce the prisoners to become apostates to the cause they had espoused, specious offers were made by the viceroy to all who would enter the royalist service. When allurements proved unavailing, he threatened them with the death due to rebels, whilst the priesthood refused them the consolations of religion at the dying hour. To a man, they adhered firmly to the principles for which they had fought, but not more than one out of ten outlived the horrors of nine years of imprisonment. It was an affecting sight to witness the arrival of those heroic survivers. Their wan, sullen countenances, their meagre forms and tottering gait, bespoke the fatal inroads which prolonged captivity, under such ferocious gaolers, had made in their constitutions. They were, of course, received with open arms by the officers and soldiers of San Martin, amongst whom they recognised many an old companion in arms. General San Martin gave these devoted soldiers the option of returning to their homes; but such was their enthusiasm, that all volunteered to serve in the liberating army, to promote the cause of their country, and avenge their own individual wrongs. Several of them died in a short time, in consequence of the sudden change from imprisonment to a life of liberty; others were afterwards killed in action. Of the whole number, perhaps there are not twenty alive at this day."

From this time to the close of the war, the military talents of Miller had ample scope, and his activity, decision, and intelligence, were speedily so well known and duly appreciated, that

he was continually appointed to the most arduous and responsible duties, and acquitted himself so well, that he earned a rapid promotion through the various degrees of command. In May 1821 he was detached to land at Arica, and take possession of that part of the country; which he successfully accomplished, after gaining a battle at Mirabe. In August, having left Arica, he reoccupied Pisco, took Ica, annihilated the royalists under Santalla, whose atrocities had been the scourge of the inhabitants, and was promoted to the rank of Colonel, with the civil and military government of an extensive district, of which Ica was the centre. Of the nature of the hardships to which he was continually subjected, in the course of these movements, an idea may be formed from a curious circumstance which he mentions.

"At midnight on the 6th (August,) the troops halted in the desert. For the purpose of protecting themselves against the heavy dews, each man excavated a sort of shallow grave, and lay down in it, and then scraped the sand over his person, leaving only his head above ground, which he wrapped up in his pouch.

Thus as it were buried alive, all slept as comfortably as if reposing on a bed of down, and so soundly, that at daybreak it was difficult to rouse them from their delicious slumbers. The morning was foggy, as is very usual in these regions. They had marched about two leagues, when the sun suddenly dispersing the mist, they discovered that instead of advancing, they had retraced their route of the preceding night. To prevent the recurrence of similar mistakes, from that time, whenever they halted at night, they took the precaution to pile their muskets in such a way as to point out their proper direction."

How much unhappy Peru suffered from the contending armies, her capital and provinces being alternately occupied by the friends and foes to freedom, is feelingly signified in the language of one

of the sufferers.

"When the viceroy happened to be at Guamanga, a land-owner waited upon his excellency, and represented that one party-La Madre Patria,-having eased him of his cash and valuables, and the other party-El Padre Rey-having taken away his cattle and crop, he humbly besought the viceroy to inform him to what party he ought to deliver over his skin, that being all that was left which he could venture to call his own."

Colonel Miller was appointed in September to the command of seven hundred men, chosen from the light companies of the liberating army, to act as a column of observation, and to be in readiness at a moment's warning; and although suffering severely from ague, he succeeded in greatly annoying Canterac, the royalist general. On the formation of the Peruvian legion of the guard under Torre Tagle in November, Miller was selected to raise and command the regiment of infantry, which, together with a regiment of hussars and a troop of horse artillery, composed the legion. Early in the ensuing year, 1822, the patriots met with reverses, and San Martin resigned the protectorate, leaving the further prosecution of the war to Bolivar and the auxiliary Colombian army. Officers of more character and experience then had the control of the patriot forces, and the war assumed a character of greater determination, resulting in engagements of more digni

ty and consequence. Meanwhile Miller was employed in a difficult service, the expedition to the Puertos Intermedios under Alvarado, in October 1822, which terminated so unfavourably for the patriots. Miller, however, did not fail to distinguish himself; and on his return to Lima in April 1823, he was promoted to the rank of general of brigade. Other services, and further promotion followed; the command of the staff of the Peruvian army having been bestowed upon him in November of the same year, with the temporary command of the army itself. Indeed, about this time, the arduous duties in which he had been assiduously engaged, upon an unhealthy coast, brought on a serious attack of fever, which compelled him to repair to Valparaiso, and seek the restoration of health in a more salubrious climate. Of the interesting details, interspersed in this portion of the work, we extract a few for the amusement of our readers.

The soldiers of the Peruvian legion consisted chiefly of Indians and mulattos, the latter forming a prominent class of the population. Of these it is said :

"The mulattos of Lima are reckoned to possess a great aptitude for trades, being the best shoemakers, tailors, barbers, carpenters, &c. From the church and the bar they were excluded by the laws of the old regime, but many acquired a knowledge of medicine; and such is their extreme volubility, and the ease with which they express their opinion, that the nickname of palangana, or chatterer, is applied to all these classes. Sermons and preachers are favourite objects of their criticism, probably because it proves a never failing source in Lima, which abounds in altars dedicated to saints; and a sermon, or rather an eulogium, upon the life and miracles of the principal saints, is given on their respective feast days. It is on these occasions that the palanganas seldom fail to indulge in their critical propensity. They remember sermons that have been preached several years before, and when a friar repeats an old discourse, the palangana manifests his detection of it by violent gesticulation. One day a clergyman, wincing under the annoyance, exclaimed from the pulpit, Turn out that mulatto who disturbs me.' 'That,' said the palangana, with characteristic_readiness, 'is the only thing that is new; all the rest of the sermon was preached two years ago, by father Francisco, in the church of S. Domingo.' Sometimes a palangana not only remembers an entire sermon, but will versify it on the repetition. Mulatto servants will sometimes repeat a sermon word for word as delivered, and often attract their master and his family to become auditors."

The following anecdote is curious on more than one account. "A lad left Milan to seek his fortune, and resided two or three years in Paris. He passed three or four years in England, and then proceeded to Chile. He expresses himself imperfectly in French, English, and Spanish, but says he has altogether lost the knowledge of Italian. He is an honest, obliging, painstaking man, and at one time had accumulated several thousand dollars, which he lost at play. At the time he related his story he was owner and navigator of a coasting vessel of fifty tons burden. On being asked what he intended to do if he made a second fortune, he answered. 'If I make five hundred pounds a year, I will go to London and live like a gentleman. If I make only one hundred pounds a year, I must go to my own country, where I can live like an Italian prince.""

As an example of the shifts which the royalists had recourse to for raising supplies from the purses of wealthy patriots, an anecdote of Canterac is related, which seems hardly to comport with. the stately gravity of a Spanish general officer.