Page:A history of Chile.djvu/214

CHAPTER VII -^ PARTY DISSENSIONS While the war was progressing in Peru several mat- ters worthy of notice were agitating the Chileans. There were several altercations between Lord Cochrane and the British naval commanders along the coast relative to the detention of alleged British vessels en- gaged in contraband trade. Chilean and Peruvian duties being enormously high, all manner of schemes were resorted to in order to smuggle in cargoes, chief among which was a system of licensing by which Brit- ish vessels were entered ostensibly as of British bot- toms, to escape the patriot navy, but with Spanish supercargoes to escape the tariff. Some of these vessels attempted to run the block- ades and were seized ; this raised a clamor against Lord Cochrane at Valparaiso by British mercantile agents. But his lordship continued to collect duties, and bid defiance to his detractors and the British naval offi- cers on the coast, who opposed him in favor of British commercial interests. Lord Cochrane also encountered considerable diffi- culty in his attempts to secure funds, first from San Martin and afterward from the Chilean government for the payment of his officers and men; and it was 194