Page:The History of San Martin (1893).djvu/386

356 Cumaná early in April. One ship-of-the-line, three frigates, and twenty-one smaller ships of war came in convoy of a fleet of sixty transports, carrying 10,600 men and a siege train. This was the greatest effort which had as yet been made by the mother country to crush the insurrection in South America, and it was the last. The troops were selected from regiments which had fought against the armies of Napoleon, and had been educated in the school of Wellington. They were under the command of Marshal Morillo, the best of all the Spanish generals of that time. Originally a sergeant of marines, he had won his way by distinguished valour to his present high position. He had seen hard service among the Spanish guerillas, and had learned the art of war in the Anglo-Spanish armies. He was no great military genius, but he had respectable talents and was a good fighter. He was popular among the soldiery, but was a strict disciplinarian, and tenacious in his enterprises. He was cruel by system, not from inclination, but was also of a suspicious and passionate temperament. He knew nothing of the country he was sent to pacify, and his instructions gave him no information of any value, being drawn up in complete ignorance of the actual state of South America, and were instinct with contempt for the Creole inhabitants, a contempt in which he also shared.

This expedition was originally intended for the River Plate, but on the fall of Monte Video its destination was changed. At the same time, as Panama was considered to be the key to the continent, another expedition of 2,500 men was sent, under command of General Miyares, to Vera Cruz for the purpose of securing the Isthmus.

Morillo was instructed to overrun the mainland from Guayana to Darien, first of all reducing the island of Margarita. He was then to take Cartagena, subdue New Granada, and to re-establish order in Venezuela. All this was thought so easy that he was further instructed to send his spare troops to Peru and Mexico. Vast as was this plan, Morillo accomplished it in the time given him for