A new system of annoyance was hereupon practised towards me by Zenteno, who had again assumed the office of Minister of Marine. From the neglect to repair the ships--which were left in the same wretched condition as when they returned from Peru and Mexico--the _Independencia_ was alone seaworthy; and was sent to sea by Zenteno without even the formality of transmitting the requisite orders through me.
But a crisis was now at hand. The insult offered to General Freire, by sending Santa Cruz to supersede him, will be fresh in the reader's recollection. Soon after this the Provincial Convention of Conception met, and passed a vote of censure upon the Council of Government at Santiago, for re-electing General O'Higgins as Supreme Director after his resignation--an act which it considered illegal, as no such power was vested in the Ministry--and it became known that General Freire was about to march with the troops under his command to enforce these views. On the 17th, General Freire had advanced his troops as far as Talca, and a division of the army at Santiago was ordered to be in readiness to meet him. The marines belonging to the squadron, under the command of Major Hind, were also ordered to reinforce the Director's troops.
I was at this time at my country residence at Quintero, but learning what was going on, I immediately went to Valparaiso and resumed the command of the squadron, to which I found that orders had been issued at variance with the arrangements which had been entered into in regard to the prize-money due to the officers and men--the _Galvarino_, which was pledged to be sold for that purpose, being under orders for sea, to convey San Martin to some place of safety, for, not anticipating the disorganisation which he found in Chili, he was afraid of falling into the hands of General Freire, from whom he would doubtless have experienced the full amount of justice which his conduct deserved. The squadron in my absence had, however, taken the matter into its own hands, by placing the _Lautaro_, with her guns loaded, in a position to sink the _Galvarino_ if she attempted to move. The forts on shore had also loaded their guns for retaliation, though of these the squadron would have made short work.