Fénix 10, 203-234

204 FENIX over tbe great entrance of the Palacio" (N"). Repeating this opinion on his return to Pisco (No 7), on the night of the 21st he set sail southwards and by May 3rd was within twenty-five miles of Arica (No 9) . I t is unfortunate that betweeri the landing of the troops a t Sama some days later and their final evacuation, of Tacna and Arica in July only two of Miller's letters to Paroissien survive, those written from the Valley of Locumba on 8th June and from Tacna on 1st July (Nos. 10 and 11), and the letters of 1821 ciose with two notes, one wrongly dated, sent from Pisco in July and August (Nos. 12 and 13). On the last day of the year, Paroissien, now promoted to the rank of Brigadier-Gen,eral in recognition of his services in the liberation of Peru, and, togcther with Juan García del Río, entrusted with the conduct of the first Peruvian diplomatic mission t o Europe, left Caílao en route for England by way of Valparaíso, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. He and Mi- ller continued to correspond, though only three of Miller's letters to him have been found. The first of th.-se, in April, 1822, gives the news of the defeat of Tristán by Canterac a t Macacona. "The affair", says Miller, "has been the most sharneful", adding "But what in the world could people expect from a man of 50 whose sole persuits have been the garnbling tabIe with a31 its attendant refinarnents?" (No 14). The second letter, written in May, tells of the departure of Cochrane with the O'Miggifls, the Valdivia and the Mante- zuma and of the arrival of Joaquín Mosquera -"a gentlemanly and clever fe1low"- from Colombia ( NQ l S ) , Th e final, long Ictter, of 29th November, 1823, embodying the contents of earlier draft letters, contains Miller's reflec- tions on Alvarado's disastrous expedition to the Puertos Intermedios and on the further expedition of Santa Cruz and of Sucre, together with a commen- tary on the political and military affairs of Peru; and its gossip of soldiers and civilians (including Alvarado, Monteagudo, Santa Cruz and O7I1iggins) is both lively and informative (No 16). The last of the letters here printed, from Captain Basil Hall ( NQ l 7 ) , then engaged in preparing for the press bis Extracts fronl a Joumal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, in the years 4820, 1821, 1822, has an jnterest of a different kind: and 1 malie no apology for reproducing it. It onfy rernains to add that in the text cf these documents 1 have corrected eccentricities in punctuation but that, except where the error i s rnanifestly inadvertent, 1 have left eccentricities in spelling severely alone. Fénix: Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú. N.10, 1954