and ammunition, and was soon joined by Colonels Viel and Tupper, who found his troops badly clothed and paid, as he would not follow the example of his opponents, who impressed, without hesitation, every necessary supply for their army. They had, more- over, under their control all the resources of the capital, of which Freire had allowed himself so fool- ishly to be dispossessed ; and the infamous Prieto, # having organized a well-appointed force, commenced his march from Santiago for the south under highly favorable circumstances. The duplicity of this man, after he was so completely beaten on the 1 4th of December, could only be exceeded by the base collu- sion or extreme incapacity of those who treated with him. But it appears that he was only the willing tool of an unprincipled party, as he is represented as possessing neither military talents nor even personal courage ; and certain it is that his victory at Lircai was stained with that cruelty which is ever the at- tendant of cowardice.
A battle, w T hich was to decide the fate of one party, and which, it was foreseen, would be very sanguinary, was near at hand. The hostile armies approached each other with highly exasperated feelings ; the chiefs of the one were conscious of their inferiority of force, but they burned to punish the treachery of which they were the victims, while those of the other well knew that they had forfeited all claim to honor- able treatment, and were anxious to wipe away the disgrace of their late defeat. The deep and rapid Maule, whose fords are not always practicable for cavalry, much less for infantry, now alone separated the combatants. Colonel Tupper requested to be al-
- Prieto, in Spanish, signifies blackish, narrow-minded.
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