Fénix 10, 203-234

222 FENLX thinks ahout you. 1 could have toId you so before your departure from this, but 1 thought it best to no saber nada del asunto. 1 cannot think of any thing else at present, so good bye and God bles you. W. Miller. MILLER TO PAROISSIEN Lima. 29 Novbre, 1823. My dear Paroissien, Yesterday 1 received your letter of the 5 of March, some parts of which 1 have decyphered with infinite difficulty. Although 1 feel that 1 am getting a worse and worse correspondent, in consequence of increasing avocations, occasional illness, and when in Lima, much less time, 1 will not suffer the pre- sent occasion to pass, without giving you the news of the day. But before 1 do this, as you appeai so ill informed, 1 will copy what I wrote some time ago to England 86 - so here begins. You are already informed that Gral Alvarado 87 sailed with 4000 troops for puertos intermedios, the finest men and best equipped 1 have seen in South America. Had they been tolerably directed they must inevitably have brought the war to a speedy and glorious termination. But, although a good man and gentlemanly sort [of] a fellow, Alvarado is hardly capable of cornmanding a dozen rnen. He rjses at noan, seldom crosses a horse, and was perhaps not per- sonally known by a hundred soldiers of his Army. His ignorance of tactics can only be equalled by his want of nerve, and supineness. He had no plan, consulted every body, and altered his mind every half hour. The general en second, Pinto 88, would hardly ride five leagues without taking some quackery to enabie him to bear fatigue. Hence the desasterous end oE the Exercito Li- bertador del Sur. Instead of landing at Quilca and marching at once upon Arequipa, or at Tarrapaca to advance upoti Potosi, Oruro, or La Paz, he disernbarked at Arica, of al1 places the most unhealthy, and against which he had been pre- viously warned. The idea of a ragid movement, or of falling in with the Enemy too soon, did not seem to hit his taste, for which reason he avoided Quilca and Yquique. At Arica he lost a month in unaccountable inactivety. Within 26 leagues of abundant supplies, he appeared to be affraid to risk a foraging party. The royalist General, Valdez 89, advanced with 800 men from Zama to Tacna. He $ 6 . The early part of this letter was obviously written in late May or early Jui~e. 87. See note '75. 88. Francisco Antonio Pinto. 89. Jerónimo Valdés. Fénix: Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú. N.10, 1954