In one respect I will boldly assert that this narrative of my life is worthy of example. It will show the young officer that, in spite of obstacles, warm attachment and untiring devotion to my noble profession enabled me to render some services to my country upon which I may be allowed to reflect with satisfaction, even though this be accompanied with bitter reflection as to what the all-powerful enmity of my political opponents cruelly deprived me of further opportunity to accomplish.
In conclusion, I must express my thanks to Mr. Earp, whose zeal has exhumed from documents almost, in my own estimation, beyond comprehension or arrangement*, the mass of facts condensed within the compass of this volume.
In the succeeding portion of this work, should God spare me to see its completion, I trust to render additional service, by an attempt to deduce from past
* In the great earthquake at Valparaiso in 1822 my house shared the common destruction, and from the torrents of rain which accompanied the unusual atmospheric disturbance, my papers were saturated with water, to such an extent that it became necessary to lay them to dry in the sun. Whilst undergoing this process one of the whirlwinds common on the Chilian coast suddenly came on, and scattered them in all directions. Many were lost, but more torn, and rendered almost undecipherable; whilst all that remained have been ever since in confusion. The labour of accurate compilation from such materials may be imagined.