Note 48 — Chapter V · INDEPENDENCE.

Chili was wise enough to offer the command of her fleet during this struggle to an English hero whom a less wise but scarcely more ungrateful English Government had wronged and cast out. Lord Cochrane, who combined in a singular degree prudence with daring, performed so many marvellous achievements that the terror of his name seemed to paralyze the enemy. Ultimately, with the inconsiderable force under his command, he drove the Spanish fleet away, and was supreme on the Chilian coast.