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 FBOH TU8 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STA.TES, 
 
 TRANSMITTING, 
 
 (In pursuance of a Resolution of the Senate of the 25th inst.) 
 
 SUNDRY PAPERS RELATIVE TO 
 
 The 'Recognition of the Independence 
 
 THE SOUTH AMERICAN COLONIES, 
 
 APRIL 26, 1822. 
 Printed by order of the Senate of the United States 
 
 SBINTED By GALES ^ SEATOK 
 1821. 
 
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 0. OF 0, 
 CjGT' 9 1918 
 
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 [89] 
 
 TO THE SENATE OF .THE UNITED STATES; 
 
 I transmit to the Senate, agreeably to their resolution of yester- 
 day, a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the papers 
 requested by that resolution, in relation to the recognition of the 
 South American Provinces. 
 
 JAMES M-ONROE. 
 Washington, 9.6th April, 1822. 
 
189 3 
 
 Deja»tment OF State, 
 
 25£A Jpril, 182£. 
 
 The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred a resolution of 
 the Senate, of this day, requesting the President to communicate to 
 the Senate any information he may have, proper to be disclosed, 
 from our Minister at Madrid, or frem the Spanish Minister resident 
 in this country, concerning the views of Spain relative to the recog- 
 nition of the Independence of the South American Colonies, and of 
 the Dictaraen of the Spanish Cortes, has the honor to submit to the 
 President copies of the papers particularly referred to. 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS» 
 
 ENCLOSURES. 
 
 The Spanish Minister to the Secretary of State, 9th March, 1822^ 
 
 (Translation.) 
 Secretary of State to the Spanish Minister, 6th April, 1 822. 
 Spanish Minister to the Secretary of State, 11th April, 1822. 
 Mr. Forsyth to the Secretary of State, 14th February, 1822. (Ex* 
 
 tract.) 
 Bictamen of the Cortes, 12th February, 1822. 
 
7 , [ 89 ] 
 
 [transxation.] 
 
 Don Joaquin de Anduaga to the Secretary of State. 
 
 Washington, March 9, 182S. 
 
 Sir: In the National Intelligencer of this day, I have seen the 
 message sent by the President to the House of Representatives, in 
 which he proposes the recognition, by the United States, of the insur- 
 gent governments of Spanish America. How great my surprise 
 was, may be easily judged by any one acquainted with the conduct 
 of Spain towards this Republic, and who knows the immense sacrifi- 
 ces which she has made to preserve her friendship. In fact, wha 
 could think, that, in return for the cession of her most important 
 provinces in this hemisphere; for the forgetting of the plunder of her 
 commerce by American citizens; for the privileges granted to their 
 navy; and for as great proofs, of friendship as one nation can give 
 another, this Executive would propose that the insurrection of the 
 ultra marine possessions of Spain should be recognized? And, more- 
 over, will not his astonishment be augmented to see that this power 
 is desirous to give the destructive example of sanctioning the rebel- 
 lion of provinces which have received no offence from the mother 
 country, to those to whom she has granted a participation of a free 
 constitution, and to whom she has extended all the rights and prero- 
 gatives of Spanish citizens? In vain will a parallel be attempted to 
 be drawn between the emancipation of this Republic, and that which 
 the Spanish rebels attempt; and history is sufficient to prove, that if 
 a harassed and persecuted province has a right to break its chains^ 
 others, loaded with benefits, elevated to the high rank of freemen, 
 ought only to bless and embrace more closely the protecting country 
 which lias bestowed such favors upon them. 
 
 But even admitting that morality ought to yield to policy, what is 
 the present state of Spanish America, and what are its governments, 
 to entitle them to recognition? Buenos Ayres is sunk in the most 
 complete anarchy, and each day sees new despots produced, who dis- 
 appear the next. Peru, conquered by a rebel army, has near the 
 gates of its capital another Spanish army, aided by part of the inha- 
 bitants. In Chili, an individual suppresses the sentiments of the inha- 
 bitants, and his violence presages a sudden change. On the coast 
 of Firma, also, the Spanish banners wave, and the insurgent gene- 
 rals are occupied in quarrelling with their ow n compatriots, who pre- 
 fer taking the part of a free power, to that of being the slave of an 
 adventurer. In Mexico, too, there is no government, and the result 
 of the questions which the chiefs commanding there have put to Spain 
 is not known. Where, then, are those governments which ought to 
 be recognized? Where the pledges of their stability? Where the proof 
 that those provinces will not return to a union with Spain, when so 
 many of their inhabitants desire it? And, in fine, where the right of 
 
L 8^] » 
 
 the United States to sanction and declare legitimate a rebellion, 
 without cause, and the event of which is not even deci.led? 
 
 I do not think it necessary to prove, that if the state of Spanish 
 America were such as it is represented in the message; that if the ex- 
 istence of its governments were certain and established,- that if the 
 impossibility of its re-union with Spain were so indisputable; and 
 that if the justice of its recognition were so evident, the powers of 
 Europe, interested in gaining the friendship of countries so important 
 for their commerce, would have been negligent in fulfilling it. But, 
 seeing how distant the prospect is of even this result, and faithful to 
 the ties which unite them with Spain, they await the issue of the con- 
 test, and abstain from doing a gratuitous injury to a friendly go- 
 vernnaent, the advantages of which are doubtful, and the odium cer- 
 tain. Such will be that which Spain will receive from the United 
 States, in case the recognition proposed in the message should take 
 effect; and posterity will be no less liable to wonder, that the power 
 which has received the most proofs of thefi'iendship of Spain, should 
 be the one delighted with being the first to take a step which could 
 Lave only been expected from another that had been injured. 
 
 Although I could enlarge upon this disagreeable subject, I think 
 it useless to do so, because the sentiments which the message ought 
 to excite in the breast of every Spaniard can be no secret to you. 
 Those which the king of Spain will experience, at receiving a notifi- 
 cation so unexpected, will be doubtless very disagreeable; and at the 
 same time that I hasten to commtinicate it to his majesty, 1 think i^ni^ 
 duty to protest, as I do solemnly protest, against the recognition of the 
 governments mentioned, of the insurgent Spanish provinces of Jmerica, 
 by the United States, declaring that it can in no way, now, or at any 
 time, lessen or invalidate in the least the right of Spain to the said pro- 
 vinces, or to employ whatever means may be in her power to re-unitS 
 them to the rest of her dominions. 
 
 I pray you, sir, to be pleased to lay this protest before the Presi- 
 dent; and I flatter myself, that, convinced of the solid reasons which 
 have dictated it, he will suspend the measure which he has proposed 
 to Congress, und that he will give to his Catholic majesty this proof 
 of his friendship and of his justice. 
 
 I remain, with the most distinguished consideration, praying God 
 to guard your life many years, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 JOAQUIN DE ANDUAGA. 
 John Quinct Adams, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
9 [ 89 ] 
 
 The Secretanj of State to the Minister from Spain. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington, 6th Jpril, 1822. 
 
 Sir: Your letter of the 9th of March was, immediately after I had 
 the honor of i-eceiviiig it, laid before the President of the United 
 States, by whom it has been deliberately considered, and by whose 
 direction I am, in replying to it, to assure you of the earnestness and 
 sincerity with which this government desires to entertain and to 
 cultivate the most friendly relations with that of Spain. 
 
 This disposition has been manifested not only by the uniform course 
 of the United States in their direct political and commercial inter- 
 course with Spain, but by the friendly interest which they have felt 
 in the welfare of the Spanish nation, and by the cordial sympathy 
 with which they have witnessed their spirit and energy, exerted in 
 maintaining their independence of all foreign control, and their right 
 of self-government. 
 
 In every question relating to the independence of a nation, two 
 principles are involved, one of right and the other of fact. The for- 
 mer, exclusively, depending upon the determination of the nation it- 
 self, and the latter resulting from the successful execution of that de- 
 termination. This right has been recently exercised, as well by the 
 Spanish nation in Europe, as by several of those countries in the 
 American hemisphere, which had for two or three centuries been 
 connected as colonies with Spain. In the conflicts which have at- 
 tended these revolutions, the United States have carefully abstained 
 from taking any part respecting the right of the nations concerned 
 in them to maintain or new organize their own political constitutions, 
 and observing, wherever it was a contest by arms, the most impar- 
 tial neutrality. But the civil war in which Spain was for some years 
 involved with the inhabitants of her colonies in America, has, in sub- 
 stance, ceased to exist. Treaties equivalent to an acknowledgment 
 of independence have been concluded by the commanders and Vice 
 Roys of Spain herself, with the Republic of Colombia, with Mexico 
 and with Peru; while, in the provinces of La Plata and in Chili, no 
 Spanish force has for several years existed to dispute the indepen- 
 dence which the inhabitants of those countries had declared. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the government of the United States, 
 far from consulting the dictates of a policy questionable in its moral- 
 ity, has yielded to an obligation of duty of the highest order, by re- 
 cognizing as independent states nations, which, after deliberately as- 
 serting their right to that character, had maintained and established 
 it against all the resistance which had been or could be brought to 
 oppose it. This recognition is neither intended to invalidate any 
 right of Spain, nor to affect the employment of any means which she 
 may yet be disposed or enabled to use, with the view of re-uniting 
 2 
 
[ 89 ] 10 
 
 those provinces to the rest of her dominions. It is the mere ac- 
 knowledgment of existing facts, with the view to the regular estab- 
 lishment with the nations newly formed, of those relations, political 
 and commercial, which it is the moral obligation of civilized and 
 christian nations to entertain reciprocally with one another. 
 
 It will not be necessary to discuss with you a detail of facts upon 
 which your information appears to be materially different from that 
 which has been communicated to this government, and is of public 
 notoriety; nor the propriety of the denominations which you have at- 
 tributed to the inhabitants of the South American provinces. It is 
 not doubted, that other and more correct views of the whole subject 
 will very shortly be taken by your government, and that it, as well 
 as the other European governments, will shew that deference to the 
 example of the United States, which you urge it as the duty or the 
 policy of the United States to shevv to theirs. The effect of the ex- 
 ample of one independent nation upon the councils and measures of 
 another can be just, only so far as it is voluntary; and as the United 
 States desire that their example should be followed, so it is their in- 
 tention to follow that of others upon no other principle. They con- 
 fidently rely that the time is at hand when all the governments of 
 Eui'ope friendly to Spain, and Spain herself, will not only concur in 
 the acknowledgment of the independence of the American nations, 
 but in the sentiment, that nothing will tend more effectually to the 
 welfare and happiness of Spain, than the universal concurrence in 
 that recognition. 
 
 I pray you, sir, to accept the assurance of my distinguished c«n- 
 sideration. 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Don JoAQ,uiN DE Anduaga, 
 
 Envoy Extraordinariff ^c. 
 
 [thaxslatiok.] 
 
 Don Joaqutftr de Auduaga to the Secretary oj State. 
 
 PniLADEliPHIA, 
 
 l]th ofjpril, 1822. 
 
 Sir: I had the honor of receiving your note of the 6th instant, in 
 which you were pleased to inform me that this government has recog- 
 nized the independence of the insurgent provinces of Spanish Ameri- 
 ca. I despatched immediately to Spain one of the secretaries of this 
 legation, to cairy to his majesty news as important as unexpected; 
 and until I receive his royal orders upon the subject, I have only to 
 refer to my i)i'otest of the 9th of March last, still insisting upon its 
 contents, as if its substance were repeated in the present note. 
 
 With the greatest respect, I renew the assurance of my distinguish- 
 ed consideration. 
 
 JOAQUIN DE ANDUAGA. 
 
1.1 [ 89 ] 
 
 £xtract of a Utter from Mr. Forsyth to the Secretary of State, dated 
 
 Madrid, 14th of February, 1822, 
 
 ** I have the honor to enclose to you a hurried translation of the 
 last Dictainen of the commission of the Cortes on the affairs of Spa- 
 nish America, and the determinations made by that body." 
 
 JHcta'me7i of the commission to whom it was referred to report on the 
 state of the provinces of Ultramar , presented February 12, 1822. 
 
 The commission has meditated maturely and circumspectly on the 
 proposition of the minister of Ultrd.mar, and, after having heard him, 
 has considered the diverse circumstances in which the provinces of 
 both Americas are at present, and may be found hereafter, the fruit- 
 lessness and inefficacy of the commissions that have been directed to 
 the government established in them, and possessed with the noble de- 
 sire that the same may not again, with the waste of public treasure, 
 and the sacrifice of humanity, occur, is of opinion that the Cortes 
 ought not to lose time in considering the proposition of the ministry, 
 ^ince it will be a consequence of the results; and, in order to obtain 
 them, the government, and the commissioners it elects, ought to he 
 authorized to hear and to transmit to the legislative power every 
 class of propositions, be they what they may; at the same time, it 
 judges that the national decorum, and the protection which injustice 
 is due to the European and American Spaniards, call for the esta- 
 blishment of a basis useful and conducive to the welfare of the Spains. 
 
 Before fixing this basis, and that it may be as productive to the 
 common felicity as policy and the national honor require, the com- 
 mission lays down the fixed principle, that this new, grand, and le- 
 gitimate path for pacific communications being opened, all tieaties be 
 esteemed of no value nor efficacy that have been formed between Spa- 
 nish chiefs and American governments, which ought to he understood 
 as null, as they have been from their origin, as respects the acknow- 
 ledgment of independence, inasmuch as they were not authorized, 
 nor could such authority be given them, unless by previous declara- 
 tion of the Cortes. 
 
 The commissioners may hear all the propositions that may be made 
 to them, in order to transmit them to the metropolis, excepting such 
 as take away, or limit in any manner, the absolute right of the Eu- 
 ropean and American Spaniards, residing in whatever part of the 
 ultramarine provinces, to remove and dispose of their persons, fami- 
 lies, and property, as they may think proper, without being opposed 
 by any obstacle or measure that might prove injurious to tlieir for- 
 
[ 89 ] ±2 
 
 tunes. Witli this explanation the commission reproduces its anterior 
 dictamenjand the Cortes will resolve what may be most proper. 
 
 ESPIGA, 
 CUESTA, 
 
 ALVAREZ ESCUDEN. 
 TORENO, 
 MOSCOSO, 
 OLIVER, 
 MURPHY, 
 ]SAVARETTE, 
 PAUL. 
 
 The particular vote of the Senor Oliver proposes to add the follow- 
 ing clause to thedictamen: 
 
 ** That it ought to be understood as not affecting the responsibility 
 which persons, whoever they may be, may have incurred in this af- 
 fair, nor the rights of the Spanish nation represented by the Cortes 
 and the King." 
 
 The particular vote of the Senors Moscoso, Torcno, and Espiga, 
 proposes the following additions to the dictamen: 
 
 " 1st. That the Cortes declare that the treaty called that of Cor- 
 dova, celebrated between General O'Donojou and the chief of the dis- 
 sidents in New Spain, Don Augustin Iturbide, as well as any other 
 act or stipulation relative to tlie recognition of Mexican indepen- 
 dence by that General, are illegitimate, and null in their effects as to 
 the Spanish govei-nnient and its subjects. 
 
 " 2d. That the S|)anish government, by a declaration to all others 
 with which it has friendly relations, make known to them, that the 
 Spanish nation will regard, at any epoch, as a violation of the trea- 
 ties, the recognition, either partial or absolute, of the independence 
 of the Spanish provinces of Ultramar, so long as the dissensions^ 
 which exist between some of them and the metropolis, are not ter- 
 minated, with whatever else may serve to convince foreign govern- 
 ments, that Spain has not yet renounced any of the rights belonging 
 to it in those countries.*' 
 
 " 3d. That the government be recommended to take all possible 
 measures, without any delay, to preserve and re-inforce those points 
 of the provinces of Ultramar that remain united to the metropolis, 
 obedient to its authority, or that resist the separation from it by the 
 dissidents; proposing to the Cortes the resources it requires, and are 
 not at its disposal." 
 
 *' 4th. That the Cortes declare, that the provinces of Ultramar, that 
 have declared their independence of the metropolis, or do not ac- 
 knowledge, de facto, the supremacy of the government of it, ought 
 not to have deputies in the Cortes, during their continuance in this 
 state." 
 
 The additional vote of Senors Murphy, Navarrete, and Paul, to 
 the anterior dictamen, states, that it is their opinion, that, in case of 
 the approbation by the Cortes of the dictamen of the Commission, 
 
13 [89] 
 
 they should not approve the additional votes presented hy some indi- 
 viduals of it, as being conti'ary to the ends proposed by the same Com- 
 mission, but should put in execution the measures included in the 
 dictamen without delay, without prejudice to what the ordinary Cortes 
 may opportunely resolve upon, whatever else they may esteem conve- 
 nient. 
 
 After a short discussion, whether the dictamen should be discussed 
 by itself, or with the additional votes, it was determined that the dic- 
 tamen of the Commission should be first discussed. During the dis- 
 cussion, propositions to the following effect were presented by the 
 Senor Solanot, viz: 
 
 " That the Cortes, with a generosity peculiar to the constitutional 
 system by which we are governed, aud fur the general interest of 
 the Spaniards of both worlds, declare the independence of all those 
 provinces of both Americas, tiiat actually are so at this day, on con- 
 dition that each one of those governments pay an annual subsidy 
 in recompense of the rights which are renounced; that a treaty of 
 commerce be formed on the basis most convenient to the reciprocal 
 interests of the American and peninsular Spaniards; that all hostili- 
 ties be completely suspended, until this treaty is completely approved; 
 that all the Spaniards who may wish to retire to the peninsula may 
 do so freely, with all the funds belonging to them, without being 
 obliged to pay any duty whatever; that any Spaniard who wishes 
 to live in America shall have preserved to him the enjoyment of all 
 his rights and property; that every Spaniard who may have been 
 deprived of his property and of his rights, iu consequence of the 
 anterior disturbances, shall be reinstated in them; that all the 
 wealth and property belonging to European Spain shall remain at 
 its disposal, and be removed to the peninsula at the expense of Ame- 
 rica; that all the troops that are actually in America, belonging to 
 European Spain, shall be maintained in the same points at the cost 
 of the American government, until the ratification of this treaty; 
 that European Spain may dispose of the naval force it has in Ame- 
 rica; and that there be established a confederation composed of the 
 American governments, under the protection of European Spain, 
 upon the bases that may be most convenient, and guarantied as may 
 be accorded." 
 
 Senor Munoz Torrero demanded, that the author of these propo- 
 sitions should withdraw them immediately, as he had no powers to 
 authorize his making them, or if be had, to exhibit them. The Cortes 
 accorded, that these propositions should be withdrawn, as contrary 
 to the power given to them by the constitution. 
 
 After considerable discussion, the Cortes approved of the dictamen 
 as proposed by the Commission. 
 
 On the following day the particular votes were discussed, and de- 
 cided as follows: 
 
 That of Senor Oliver was not admitted to a vote. 
 
 That of Senors Moscoso, Espiga, and Toreno, the three first ar-' 
 tides approved, and the fourth withdrawn by its author. 
 
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