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 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/stricturesonvoya01balt 
 
STUICTCUES 
 
 ON A 
 
 YOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA, 
 
 AS INDITED BY THE "SECRETARY TO THE [LATE] MISSION" 
 
 TO 
 
 Ik m 
 
 LA PLATA 
 
 INCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON THE CAPABILITY OF THE SPANISH AME- 
 RICANS FOR CIVIL LIBERTY. ON THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS (ciVIL 
 
 AND MILITARY,) OF THE REVOLUTION IN BUENOS AYRES, 
 CHILI, THE ORIENTAL BANDA, ETC. 
 
 Tixe Impoxiance of TTienAly Relations, 
 
 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL, 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 INDEPENDENT STATES OF SOUTH AMERICA. 
 IN A SERIES OF LETTERS, 
 
 ADDRESSED TO A GENTLEMEN OF DISTINCTION AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 BY A FRIEND OF TRUTH AND SOUND POLICY. 
 
 History is a sacred subject, because the soul of it is truth, and where truth ii, there 
 the Divinity will reside; yet, there are some who compose and cast off books, 
 as if they were tossing up a diih of pancakes. 
 
 ' boh auixoTK. 
 
 Baltimore: 
 
 BY RICHARD J. MATCHETt 
 
 1820. 
 
I 
 
 /A 
 
 
ATWEWTISEM^KT. 
 
 At the request of a friend, to whom I had read some pages 
 of the annexed letter, I have consented to deliver it to the 
 press,— "with all its imperfections on its head," — uncopied, 
 unpruned, and unadorned, except by rays of truth. It owes 
 its miscellaneous character to the method I had conceived, of 
 separating matters, in their nature distinct,— -a conceited wri- 
 terfrom the momentous subjects he has treated and obscured. 
 -*-We have a deep interest in the welfare of South America, 
 and ought to regard her with affection: Blows levelled against 
 her we' ought to consider as thrusts at ourselves. Her geo- 
 graphy, history, commerce, political institutions and capabi- 
 lities, are subjects universally studied.-f-The chaotic "Voy- 
 age" furnishes little to aid, and much to frustrate the curious 
 enquirer. It is destitute of order, void of perspicuity, want- 
 ing in veracity, discolored with gall, — a rudis indigestaque mo- 
 les, on which the spirit of intelligence has never breathed — 
 If these essential defects call not for exposure, the false enco- 
 miums of unreflecting men would provoke it. — To-day, I 
 met with an elegant poetical panegyric on this "Voyage," in 
 a paper printed at Wilmington, in Delaware, from which I 
 make an extract; — willing to give the opinion of others as 
 well as my own.— 
 
 "VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 "We would rather see our countrymen produce books of 
 merit than gain battles; we rejoice more at Mr. Walsh's Ap- 
 peal, and Mr. Brackenridge's Voyage than we would at ano- 
 ther victory at New Orleans, or the capture of another Guer 
 riere. Our courage and military skill are no more questi- 
 oned, but our literary character is yet to be established. An- 
 tiquity is indebted for the glory that environs her more to her 
 authors than to her generals. 
 
 "In depth and accuracy of research we know of few Ame- 
 rican books that can compete with Mr. B's. Voyage. The 
 
IT 
 
 labour of Mr. B. was much enhanced because many of the 
 facts, he has so luminously grouped, are scattered through vo- 
 luminous books written in a foreign language. Mind has al- 
 most as little to do with translation as with digging a ditch, 
 or felling a tree. When genius condescends to drudgery, we 
 feel, in a higher degree, the regret caused by seeing a high- 
 mettled racer harnessed to a dray." 
 
 There's for you ! Cedite Romani scriptores, cedite, Grait 
 cedite all of ye! — With Mr. Walsh I have no business, at 
 present: — a few years ago, I corrected his monarchical wri- 
 tings with all the severity of satire. — If he has not relinquish- 
 ed his anti-republican tenets, as his good sense should dic- 
 tate, he has at least drawn his pen in a national cause, and in 
 behalf of humanity. — I applaud his latter conduct as sincerely 
 as I condemned his first. He still adheres to political here- 
 sies imbibed from his original profession, — -the coaction of 
 precedent, the supremacy of the judiciary power, — 'in its na- 
 ture a subordinate, or at most a co-ordinate branch of the go- 
 vernment! ) but we cannot blame anprder of men for cherish- 
 ing an esprit de corps — Assumption is natural to them; and 
 for that reason it were madness in us to make them our poli- 
 tical oracles.— He is endowed with talent, employ it as he 
 may. 
 
 I cannot assent to the opinion of the Delawarian respecting 
 the drudgery of translating: I could not prescribe a more in- 
 structive, agreeable exercise to any person desirous of culti- 
 vating language, or improving his mind. It affords time for 
 meditating on the thoughts of others and comparing them 
 with our own. It tends to cure us of illiberal vanity, by 
 opening the mines of foreign lore to our inspection: it assures 
 us, that genius and learning are not necessarily confined to 
 any particular country, but that the tree of knowledge may 
 thrive in every climate. What is genius without discipline 
 or study, but an ignis fatuus?— The mind is formed, knowledge 
 is accumulated by studious labor; and the man, who has not 
 collected some literary treasure, ought not to be too eager 
 about composing books. 
 
 Ludere qui nescit, campestribus abstinet armis. 
 
 For this reason I agree with the eulogist, that his friend the 
 " Secretary" ought not to translate for the public, until he 
 learn his exercises under a preceptor, — as appears from his 
 
book. Yes, it is true that a genius must work like a ditcher 
 or a dray-horse, unless like the Secretary he can be "deep 
 learned and shallow read." I must not dispute about inspira- 
 tion! | 
 
 Oh! nature's noblest gift — my gray goose-quill! 
 
 Slave of my thoughts, obedient to my will, 
 
 Torn from thy parent bird to form a pen,l 
 
 That mighty instrument of little men! S- 
 
 To paint a monster in his murky den. ) 
 
 "What wits! what authors! dost thou daily raise, 
 How frequent is thy use, how small thy praise! 
 Condemn'd at length to be forgotten quite, 
 With all the pages which 'twas thine to write, 
 But thou, at least, mine own especial pen! 
 Once laid aside, art now assumed again," 
 To render homage to the social laws, 
 And sketch a parricide to freedom's cause. 
 
 "When vice triumphant, holds her sovereign sway, 
 And men through life her willing slaves obey; 
 When folly, frequent harbinger of crime, 
 Unfolds her motley store to suit the time; 
 When allied orders over all prevail, 
 When justice halts, and rights begin to fail; 
 E'en then the boldest start from public sneers 
 Afraid of shame, unknown to other fears, 
 More darkly sin, by satire kept in awe, 
 And shrink from ridicule, if not from law. 
 
 "Such is the foixe of wit! but not belong, 
 To me, the arrows of satiric song; 
 The public vices of our age demand 
 Ji keener weapon and a mightier hand. 
 Still there are follies, e'en for me to chase 
 And yield at least amusement in the race." 
 Or gay or thoughtful with the changeful theme: 
 "The cry is up, and scribblers are my game." 
 
 [Lord Byron, chiefly.] 
 
 I hope, my venerable friend, now at Washington, will not 
 discard my first letter, for the motley matter prefixed to it. — 
 I have shunned ridicule as much as possible,- but, the ridicu- 
 lous was often displayed before me. If the "Secretary" exhi- 
 bits a gallimaufry, the exposition must partake of the medley. 
 In future letters we shall strive to forget the unfortunate au- 
 thor, if not his deceptive book: the gravity of narration indeed 
 will not bear an association with extraneous topics. — If lei- 
 
VI 
 
 sure permit, I shall so arrange some valuable materials as to 
 reflect farther light on events in La Plata and Chili, &c. If not, 
 I rely on an abler hand to present the desirable information in 
 a better style than that of this notice. It is a hasty thing,— 
 a forced march in the service of truth. — Yet, I am greatly de- 
 ceived if the tissue that required eighteen months for fabrica- 
 tion, has not been unwoven in ten days. Much malignity 
 has been decomposed, and an antidote furnished against the 
 remainder. 
 
 An Impertinent A*. B. disconnected with the Book—entirely. 
 
 The government of Buenos- Ayres, (i. e. the late Admin- 
 istration,) disturbed by the reverberation of their victims' 
 moans, and more confounded at their expositions of tyranny, 
 began to study political catakoustics; — having already made 
 a grand progress in the casuistical arts of extenuation, subdi - 
 vision and justification! — They reasoned thus: — "If we are 
 not able to silence truth, we shall succeed in drowning it by a 
 louder clamor. As idolatrous priests overwhelm the cries of 
 those they sacrifice, by the brazen clang of trumpets, so shall 
 we conceal the groans of the dying, and the wrongs of the 
 dead. Calumny being the natural shield of oppression — those 
 w r hom we have proscribed and slain in South America, must 
 be deprived of sympathy in North America. It is a contest 
 between the living and the lifeless. — These can at most present 
 but the pleadings of paleness and gashes. — Their eloquence is 
 dumbness: — but we can scatter their ashes to the four winds 
 of heaven, (as Sylia did those of Marius) and fill the earth 
 with fictitious stories of their infamy. — We hold the reins of 
 power; we possess the tempting ore. Our enemies talked of 
 liberty; we must harp on independence. They would liberate 
 the Indians, and (in their exalted ideas) elevate them to the 
 rank of citizens. We shall propose to emancipate the conti- 
 nent, and perpetuate noble orders under pretence of reward- 
 ing merit. " Of the monologue I heard no more; but this ar- 
 rested my attention. — I was ever since a keen observer of 
 events and rumors, though merely a spectator." 
 
 A resolution was taken by the faction of Buenos Ayres, (who 
 judged of our habits by their own) to appoint jiscals from 
 among our citizens here; in the hope, that when enlisted as 
 lawyers, they would perform the incidental duty of defending 
 
YI1 
 
 their arbitrary measures also. In their Jirst application, they 
 were repulsed. Honorable men would not be retained in any 
 other than their professional capacity. What occurred sub- 
 sequently, is a secret; excepting the frequent creakings of 
 some abject presses here during the past summer and autumn, 
 under various misrepresentations, with the signature of alone 
 but busy "B;" and without it. — He sometimes worked for 
 the hive without humming. Perhaps, however, it might have 
 been the result of that extreme independence for which our pre- 
 sent newspapers are proverbial: the printers' disinterested- 
 ness, and the volunteer advocate's simplicity, are the antipodes 
 of collusion. Surely, no printer would become a deputy- 
 prostitute — i. e. the creature of a hireling. The modest ad- 
 vocate himself has hushed his notes on that tune since the 13th 
 of November last, and some surmise that he must have died 
 of the yellow fever: others guess that he shivers at the threat of 
 a residencia, and is weaving an apology for his unfeeling as 
 persions on the republicans of Buenos Ayres and Chili. Opi 
 nions are equally diverse respecting his motives; the question 
 being debated to this hour. C. conjectures, that from mean- 
 ness and poverty, he had sallied forth on the highway of syco- 
 phancy, equipped cap-a-pie to praise the D — 1 for his patron- 
 age, or plunder patriots of their brightest gem — their reputa- 
 tion. — (But C. is "an austere man.") D. ascribes his zeal to 
 the earnest belief of a mind half insane, that it was charitable 
 to vindicate murderers whom every body abhorred, and to ma- 
 lign worthies, at whose persecutions every worthy man was 
 enraged: That the author saw every thing inverted, and spoke 
 or argued like no other being above ground: that, in fact, his 
 feelings were not human, and he was a pitiable, not a censur- 
 able object. E. repeated with a significant shrug, the Span- 
 ish proverb, — "Nadie seria mesonero, si no fuese por dinero." 
 No fee, no lawyer; no trouble without recompense. Would 
 a man brave infamy for nothing? I am not sorry for the man's 
 death, but I hope he repented even at the eleventh hour.-*— 
 E. wisely suspended his opinion to obtain farther evidence. — 
 G. thought that Artigas durst not show his face in Baltimore, 
 without his gauchos at his back; and H, on the contrary, 
 clenched his fist and swore, 'Til bed — d, gentlemen, if the 
 pensioned biographer would think himself at home out of 
 Buenos Avres. He used to frolick at old E 's like a fish, 
 
VIII 
 
 A dark cloud seemed hanging over him, and he drew off the 
 lightning by its vapours; "which, if you are electricians, you 
 comprehend; if not, not." I. disliked enigmas and whispers, 
 and hoped that some gentlemen meant no more than met the 
 ear. — K. thought killing without trial a dreadful symptom. 
 And L. thinks, the princess Leopoldina a lovely woman. — M. 
 was adverse to mummery, backbiting and colloguing; and 
 compared the levity of some gentlemen to laughter at a funeral 
 procession. Unseasonable pleasantry, he said, was like the 
 jests of a grave-digger. 
 
 From matter so loose and contrariant, I can extract noth- 
 ing. — If there be any coincidence between the newspaper pub- 
 lications and the book, it is accidental and natural. As the 
 author of one is dead, let the other have a fair trial by the 
 judgment of his peers. — The former wished to obtain an office 
 to the South, for he had an itching palm; but he hid himself 
 in a tomb, (poor fellow!) without procuring his wishes.— 
 The latter is a high-minded man, who "would not flatter 
 Neptune for his trident," nor coax a government for an ap- 
 pointment, either in Florida, or Louisiana; for Buenos Ayres 
 or Brazil. — To be sure he is in love with New- Holland ', the 
 undoubted seat of the Elysian Fields. 
 
 Reader ! at present it is not necessary for you to know the 
 Author of this examination; it is enough that the writer of 
 the "Voyage" is acquainted with the exponent's pen. To 
 him I am unmasked. 
 
 January, 17, 1820, 
 
STRICTURES 
 
 ON A 
 
 Voijage to South America. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Baltimore, 10th January, 1820. 
 
 My very esteemed friend, 
 
 Whilst I was lately on a visit at Washington, several of my 
 friends, yourself among the number, enquired, "What is your opinion 
 
 of B 's Voyage to South America? and I invariably answered; 
 
 It is a scandalous book; but I might have added, morally and politi- 
 cally corrupt. It is the most plausible defence which the pettifogger 
 could frame for the military and political tyranny exercised in La Pla- 
 ta and Chili, and therefore a disgrace to our country. — To you sir, I 
 am bound to establish my assertion respecting this performance. — Yet 
 as neither adulation nor censure is mingled with my motives for under- 
 taking the present exposition, I frankly assure you, that individual 
 friendship ardent as it is, could not alone have vanquished my repug- 
 nance to an unwelcome task: allied however, with amor patrice it is 
 irresistible.— Accept then, this humble tribute, as an offering to one 
 of the purest and strongest of the social feelings, and an "oblation to 
 those principles," for which you took up arms in 1775, and for which, 
 our southern brothers are now heroically maintaining "the battle of Ame- 
 rica against Europe." — If I be instrumental in undeceiving my fellow- 
 citizens in matters of great moment; if I impose future silence on de- 
 famers of freedom; if /exhibit accurate views of parties, politics, per- 
 secutions, and usurpations in the states of La Plata and Chili, — their 
 commerce and power; — above all, if by this domestic review, I contri- 
 bute aught to rescue our laved country in the eyes of foreigners from 
 one of the charges so frequently alleged against us in the lump, in their 
 courts of criticism, I shall be richly rewarded. And if in the consci- 
 entious pursuit of those leading objects, I should merit your honest 
 approbation, I shall be proud. I have sifted facts, but have not stu- 
 died expression. There was no superfluous leisure for attending to 
 rules of composition: nor will you condemn my negligence, though the 
 flying vehicle of my thoughts, be like the "hunting razor," adapted 
 only for an hasty excursion. You had rather receive one line from the 
 heart, than twenty dictated coldly from the head.-- -'Tis well! I am 
 the nearer to my friend while no copyist stands between us. It is not 
 to be concealed, that in this my ramble, we must encounter some sad 
 sources of grief and bitterness, but there are springs of amusement 
 
10 
 
 also. — Should we dissect moral carcasses, it will be only for instruc- 
 tion and warning to moral life and purity. 
 
 As the flagitious "Voyage" was "got up" principally for the market 
 of Buenos Ayres, to be there re-echoed and cited as the sentiment of the 
 Vnited States! this notice of the commodity will help to advertise the 
 simple — of its quality. 
 
 But, lo! already the retributive course of cause and effect. Insidi- 
 ous arts have doubled on themselves; and the snake who had coiled 
 himself up to strike deadly venom into others, feels anguish from his 
 own fangs. — Or, to drop the similitude: the "Voyage" is a drug; — and 
 its wretched author, (tolerated for a moment through mistaken deli- 
 cacy,) is unmasked by his own sycophancy — fallen by this publication, 
 to rise no more. — To bring such ephemeral characters to the light is 
 to destroy them.— How scrupulous should men be to keep on good 
 terms with their own hearts! — Conscientious honor is a shield against 
 censure from without; but what can protect a man from upbraidings 
 within! 
 
 First impressions on men of sensibility are deep and strong; — beingin 
 the moral as in the natural world, proportioned to the impressive force, or 
 efficient cause. When we meet meanness or malevoleuce in an author 
 who assumes the character of an instructor, we feel.indignation, and are 
 apt to express it abruptly; but, when, to these qualities, a writer adds 
 absolute incompetency, moral and intellectual, (of heart and head,) to 
 investigate the subject he undertakes, he infallibly provokes our laugh- 
 ter. In this case, as a modern apologist makes Puerreydon say of his 
 declining popularity, "Be la risa al desprecio no hay gran distancia," 
 &c. the distance is short between laughter and contempt, &c. Dis- 
 dain and detestation will for a while dispute for mastery; but finally, 
 as in all experiments of checks and balances the contents of two scales 
 steal into one; the two powers will coalesce by affinity, and form a 
 third principle different from either though composed of both! As I 
 met with all those disgusting qualities in the ''Voyage to South Amer- 
 ica," I could not conceal my dissatisfaction: Now it becomes us to 
 speak with deliberation: scripta litera manet. He who condemns others 
 must himself be doubly scrupulous not to offend. Veneration for truth, 
 for the personage I address; respect for myself and for the great 
 subjects involved, effectually preponderate against the propensity to 
 disdain, which tempts me at every line I peruse in this peerless book. 
 I dare not, will not swear to be always grave: — I pledge myself to no 
 impossibility: but, I pawn my honor, that I shall be uniformly impar- 
 tial, and speak of the living with such candor and justice as I would 
 of the dead. 
 
 This work too seems foisted on the public under the deception of an 
 official title; "Voyage to South America, performed in the years, 1817 
 and 1818, im the frigate Congress, by (the admirable author himself, 
 late) secretary to the mission," viz. of Messrs. Bland, Rodney, and 
 Graham. 
 
 You, my revered friend, have been abroad; you have found your- 
 self released in foreign countries from the narrow shackles of party 
 spirit, and you beheld in the United States only your country. Its 
 defects were enveloped in the obscurity of space, as its promontories 
 were hidden from the sight by the convexity of the globe, (not to speak 
 
11 
 
 of other causes no less insurmountable; - ) and its honor like other ador- 
 ed objects, became if possible still dearer from distance. Whatever 
 tended to tarnish that brilliant gem affected your sensible heart and 
 rubified your cheek. A floating rumour, or a silly paragraph in a ga- 
 zette, would sometimes make your arteries beat vehemently. The in- 
 stance you related from your own experience, was remarkable, as it 
 was honorable to your nature. — Why is it ordained, thought I, 
 that in the commerce of the great human family, the worthless can thus 
 lay the worthy under contribution, and the callous disturb the sensi- 
 tive, almost to a degree of torture. Such sensations are more vapid 
 when we happen to be amongst a people on whose uninformed minds 
 foreign agents are endeavoring to stamp unfavorable prepossessions 
 against our country or the character of its government. They watch 
 for errors, like ill-natured critics; distort good actions, and magnify 
 the pettiest defects; generous policy, they ascribe to a selfish motive; 
 and a cautious course they interpret into coldness or hostility; whilst we 
 find it irksome to repel invidious arguments, and are forced perhaps 
 to retaliate illiberality by unworthy recriminations, or odious compari- 
 sons. 
 
 1 have had a little experience of the same kind, but in an humbler 
 sphere, and can estimate your feelings by my own. I was absent 
 some time ago, in********* and would often look for the most 
 vapid newspapers with as eager curiosity as for a casket of diamonds: 
 when lo! a bundle of gazettes arrive. I open them — discover many 
 an interesting item: Two thousand houses repaired in one city during 
 a single summer: — a list of more than forty steam boats, meets my eye- 
 Canals, after the glorious example of New York, are about to inter- 
 sect every state, as in China, or a part of Russia; — and Agricultural So- 
 cieties spring up with the rapidity of vegetation in the Torrid Zone: 
 Boards of Public Works are instituted here, Canal Commissioners are 
 appointed there. I boast of the prosperity of my country, and throw 
 in a pointed hint on the efficacy of a free government to nerve industry, 
 stimulate invention, secure property, and promote happiness. 
 
 I espy a table of exports from South Carolina, and an estimate of 
 the annual crops in Virginia. — I make a flourish on the margin of those 
 gazettes, and lend them with my rubrick, all around. — This file of ga- 
 zettes proved to belike Pandora's box inverted: the worst were under- 
 most. Lucubrations on the revolutions of North and South America, 
 next turn up, replete with absurdity and bloated with vanity; written 
 evidently from imagination, not from memory, aud possessed of all the 
 advantage which»an author of eminent wit and humour believes fiction 
 to have over fact, — among a people very prone to enjoy the envied feli- 
 city of being well deceived* If you credit those scribblers, we were 
 
 *The ironical andprofound rogue to whom I allude, a fellow who appears to have 
 stolen and treasured up all the knowledge among men, though richer than a Jew 
 in his unrivalled talents, gives recondite reasons for his opinion, viz, That all the 
 adjuncts and properties of happiness will herd under this short definition, that 
 it is a perpetual possession of being -well deceived. Fiction holds the vantage ground 
 of truth, "because the imagination can build nobler scenes, and produce more 
 wonderful revolutions, than fortune or nature will be at the expense to furnish." 
 
12 
 
 so free before the revolution, that the Declaration of Independence 
 must be a whining catalogue of imaginary grievances drawn up by 
 some hypochondriac who surveyed all objects, — the policy of kings, 
 and movements of colonies, through the illusions of his own black mel- 
 ancholy! Every line of the turgid nonsense flatters the northern por- 
 tion of this hemisphere at the expense of the southern. I am enraged,-— 
 hide away frothy effusions first, and at a convenient opportunity subject 
 them to the purification of fire; heartily but inwardly cursing' the ig- 
 noramuses, or the hirelings who "abuse" our "press as damnably" as the 
 king's press was misused in raising FallstafFs ragged recruits. 
 
 Insolvent notices, and bank frauds turn up in numbers, with the next 
 leaf. Mercantile failures, thought I, are the natural effect of cupidity: 
 where thousands adventure in a lottery, many must draw blanks. 
 All that a wise government is bound to do in the business, is to avoid en- 
 ticing crowds to engage in games of chance. In this light, the enor- 
 mous proportion of bankruptcies shows that the principles of society 
 are not so well understood by the citizens and their representatives 
 as they should be; and ignorance of any kind is a dis-commendation. 
 Far more disgraceful is the enumeration of abuses in banking,— collusion 
 in the purchase of stock, extravagance in the emission of notes, dete- 
 rioration of currency, the ruin of private fortunes, the enrichment of 
 paper-stampers, misdemeanor, spoliation and suffering in every point 
 of the compass. Who tempted our Legislators into these monstruosi- 
 ties, or what degraded the people to submit to them? Whence did out- 
 law-makers derive their "authority" to divest eleven men of their 
 rights in order to clothe the twelfth, (a ****** perhaps) with privilege? 
 Was the revolution only atchieved that we might commence another 
 round of incorporation, inequality, injustice, and tyranny? Did our 
 Declaration of Independence, our Bills of Rights, or our Constitutions 
 authorise this political robbery? No I they do not even countenance it. 
 Yet we have begun the work of usurpation already. We Lave shaken 
 off a foreign yoke to little purpose, if wepassively consent to wear fet- 
 ters from a domestic forge. Shall we, — we who boast such profundity 
 and superiority, shall we mimic the strange whims of the Spaniards, 
 who have driven out every race of foreign invaders, and then bowed 
 
 As our erudite and celebrated voyager has practised literally in what the humorous 
 Swift applauds, satirically. I give the remainder of the passag-e for illustration: 
 "Nor is mankind so much to blame in being thus determined in his choice, if we 
 consider that the debate merely lies between things past and th»igs conceived: and 
 so the question is only this, — whether things that have place in the imagination may 
 not as properly be said to exist, as those that are seated in the memory; which, 
 may be justly held in the affirmative, and very much to the advantage of the for- 
 mer, — since this is acknowledged to be the womb of things, and the other allowed 
 to be no more than the grave. Again, — if we take this definition of happiness 
 and examine it with reference to the senses, it will be acknowledged wonderfully 
 adapt. How fading and insipid do all objects accost us that are not conveyed in 
 the vehicle of delusion! how shrunk is every thing, as it appears in the glass of 
 nature! so that if it were not for the assistance of artificial mediums, false lights, 
 refracted angles, varnish and tinsel, there would be a mighty level in the felicity 
 and enjoyments of mortal men." (Sec. IX. in Tale of a Tub, the digression con- 
 cerning madness.) 
 
18 
 
 their necks to a despot of their own? A plural tyranny too in the guise 
 either of mercantile privilege or lawyer-privilege, — is the most galling 
 imaginable. Under a monarchy, liberation may be obtained by deposing 
 one mortal man; but, an order of men, a band of associates who never 
 die, who act on a deliberate system, feel the esprit de corps and stead- 
 ily follow its maxims, — how shall we extricate ourselves from these if 
 we suffer them to gain footing among us? Know thyself! know thyself! 
 Nations and individuals would be modester and wiser by a little self- 
 examination. And, the newspaper press is silent under these deadly 
 encroachments, — nay, is wielded as their auxiliary! The nation that 
 "would not suffer the lion to invade it" now sits down supinely to be 
 devoured by rats! The press too, that was vainly supposed to be en- 
 dowed with saving influence, the preserver, the palladium of civil lib- 
 erty! how did I execrate it as a traitor! All these empty, rhetorical 
 personifications fled in an instant: the illusion that had dazzled my 
 eyes for years, disappeared at once, and I sat wondering at past folly. 
 "The press," said reflections, "is but a copyist: It multiplies impres- 
 sions for those who employ it; and is most at the service of the rich and 
 
 powerful;" because they can best reward it. 
 
 As usurpers generally rise from these classes, they sound their way by 
 perverting the press; and their first ambitious projects are advanced un- 
 der color of public good. It is not wise to magnify or to underrate the 
 value of this machine. It is the instrument of good or harm; may be 
 employed by the philosopher or patriot, the traitor or the demagogue. 
 With this suggestion, I turned over another gazette, thinking, that we 
 had not gained so much as was desirable by banishing dictatorial li- 
 censers, if the machinery formerly directed by despotic agents, were 
 to be managed by ignorance, or controuled by patronage. This com- 
 pensatory sheet was to make amends for all disgust. It announces an 
 intellectual banquet! The sciences are dawning in the West, and 
 wise men shall come from the East, to behold and learn, to wonder 
 and worship. Some crazy projector in Ohio, seems emulous of the 
 celebrity of Partridge, the Almanack maker: To snatch equal fame 
 from the plaudits of mankind, he directs a chain of propositions to the 
 scavans of America, every one of which betrays the comp'Ietest igno- 
 rance of the elements of natural philosophy, and of long known ex- 
 periments which established facts, now notorious on the subject. — For- 
 getting the principles of JYeioton, ignorant of the observations of Mas- 
 kelyne at the mountain Schehallien, and of the elaborate calculations 
 of Hutton; having never heard a whisper of the ingenious experiments 
 of Cavendish, which by a different process nearly proved the same re- 
 sults with regard to the earth's density and attractive power, the lu- 
 natic suggests a string of nonsense on the concavities of the solid 
 globe!* He conceives that a set of nests are curiously built, and art- 
 
 *The absolute gravity or density of the whole mass of our globe ought now to 
 be as familiar as the alphabet. It was calculated and ascertained by Dr. Hutton, 
 from Maskelyne's observations in 1774, 1775, and 1776, at the mountain Schehal- 
 lien, in Perthshire. The attraction of that mountain on a plummet of lead being- 
 •bserved on both sides of it, [North and South, as at Chimborazo in 1736,] and 
 
14 
 
 fully concealed in the subterraneous parts of the hollow earth, which 
 he is very eager to descend and rob. The more the arcanum is buri- 
 ed, the more anxious he is to inspect it,* and immortalize himself by 
 an unprecedented discovery. If Theseus and Gulliver and Epistemort 
 visited the shades, why might not our philosopher creep half way to- 
 wards the earth's centre and fathom the other half? He knew not, that 
 atmospherical pressure would squeeze his poor carcase as flat as a floun- 
 der, before he had cleverly begun his downward pilgrimage! If the In- 
 dian sage was content in fancying that our globe reposed on the shelly 
 back of a tortoise, our western sage was nigh proving to his own satis- 
 faction, and that of some correspondents, (not a whit inferior to him 
 in cosmogeny or world making) that it leaned on a wool sack or some- 
 thing of the sort, like an English chancellor. The illiterate passive 
 press copies all his ravings; and it seemed anxious that not a fragment 
 of the banquet should be lost. Thus encouraged, he strikes up a cor- 
 respondence with foreign potentates, emperors, philosophers; — one 
 hemisphere being too narrow for the display of his transcendent doc- 
 trines. AH his effusions were copied by the press. I wished inconsid- 
 erately at the moment for a philosophical licenser to prevent a stupid 
 gazetteer from disgracing us by the insertion of articles reproachful to 
 our national character, "J deserved the bastilefor i£." It was feeling 
 not opinion. Better that a thousand follies be printed than that one 
 piece of wisdom be suppressed on any pretence — We will soon learn 
 to correct what is disreputable to us; — and golden truths will be re- 
 ceived with avidity; the dross will be thrown out of circulation.— 
 Our Franklins, our Jejfersons, our Jldrains, Boivditclies, and Craigs, 
 our learned statesmen and divines, chemists and geologists, shield us 
 from general reproach, with regard to political and moral science, ma- 
 thematical and physical knowledge; but as none of their beams appear- 
 ed on this occasion to be reflected on the ministers of the press, I could 
 not prevent a little suffusion of shame at the injured credit of our com- 
 munity. — Still, this is a venial sin, we may say, and other nations or fo- 
 reign governments attempt impossibilities, which none but individuals 
 dream of amongst us. England would sail to the arctic pole through 
 ten or twelve degrees of solid ice; for, at no less distance does the line 
 of perpetual congelation pass below the earth's surface. All the ar- 
 dour of ambition cannot melt this crystalline mound; — but England in 
 the hopeless trial, will ascertain the farthest bourne of navigation to- 
 wards the polar regions, — if the "ultima Thule" is yet unknown. 
 
 its mass being computed from a number of sections in all directions, and consist- 
 ing of stone; these data being then compared with the known attraction and mag-- 
 nitude of tbe earth, gave by proportion its mea?i density, which is to that of water 
 as 9 to 2, and to common stone as 9 to 5: from which very considerable mean 
 density, it maybe presumed that the internal parts contain great quantities of metals. 
 [See Hutton's Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, and Mathematical 
 Tracts:] 
 
 If to half its depth from the surface, the earth be composed of the ordinary 
 materials known to us, the residue of the globe from thence to the centre must 
 be of the density of solid iron, which is to water as about 7 to 1, or T645 to 1000. 
 fSee tables of specific gravities second volume. J 
 
15 
 
 It was with feelings somewhat similar, that I beheld Symmes's pro- 
 positions and the Voyage to South America. On reading this work, 
 one is puzzled to decide, whether incompetency or depravity had the 
 greater share in its composition. It is indeed a nice point to deter- 
 mine whether poverty of knowledge or contempt for veracity has the 
 superiority. — When a thing of this kind appears on a subject likely to 
 implicate our individual character with foreign states, or people, it is 
 paying them but a decent tribute of respect to repel the insult where 
 it is given, and vindicate our own fame by a just regard to that of 
 others. — It would probably save much foolish acrimony, were each na- 
 tion to make an erratum of its own errors on these delicate points. It 
 naturally belongs to every society to foster the virtues and chastise the 
 vices of its own members; to expose delinquency, and reward merit. — 
 These letters will be an attempt in favor of the moral justice here re- 
 commended. — The want of some information on this head is remarkably 
 proclaimed in the following extract from a periodical work deservedly 
 popular and truly respectable, — a work, which has much influence on 
 
 fiublic opinion, because it is conducted with assiduous labour and abi- 
 ity, by a gentleman known for his disinterestedness and public spirit: 
 — In Niles's Weekly Register of the 30th of October, 1819, appeared 
 the hyperbolical commendation which follows: — 
 
 "Brackenridge's Voyage to South America. — This interesting work 
 is just now published, in two neat octavo volumes, price five dollars. 
 Some extracts from it have been presented to the readers of the Regis- 
 ter, and we venture to say that it contains a greater mass of import- 
 ant information respecting the countries visited, than ever before, 
 and all together was known to the people of the United States. — 
 Every body is acquainted with the fitness of Mr. B. for a work like 
 this; and he has executed the task in his very best manner." 
 
 It seems impossible that the editor could have written this puff. — A 
 glance at the antiquated, ridiculous map, prefixed to the "Voyage," 
 would have convinced him how little our author had profited by the 
 modern labors of Messrs. BPArcy de la Rochette and Humboldt. 
 
 If every body be not aware of the learned Secretary's qualifications 
 for a work requiring capacity, elevation of mind, generosity of heart, 
 devotion to truth, and attachment to principles of liberty, it will be 
 my fault if his talents as a writer are not better known. Neither 
 in authorship nor in politics, you see, any more than in geometry, is 
 it safe to decline judging for ourselves for a single instant. We ought 
 to be answerable to the Supreme Author of Intelligence for the use or 
 abuse of our intellectual faculties; and to ascertain our diligence or 
 remissness in this trust, "must be, (as Sterne says of another matter,) 
 the great use of the day of judgment." It would no doubt be a great 
 advantage to morality, and for aught I know, to theology, if this day 
 of reckoning were- appointed to each mortal man and woman during 
 lifetime, (and betore the epoch of dotage;-) because the moral world 
 like the commercial, suffers grievous calamities, distress and bank- 
 ruptcy, by an excessive extension of credit. — How far drafts on the 
 treasury of the next world should settle accounts in this, I dare not 
 presume to discuss, lest "the Cordeliers should be upon my jacket". — 
 
16 
 
 That class of gentry have an observatory of their own, and pretend to 
 see objects unknown to others. — No man must venture within their 
 precincts, or take up their spy-glass, under risk of anathemas. It 
 would seem to be some apology for entering consecrated limits, that 
 the present generation are devout, and the age may be entitled piousi 
 Does not Alexander the Deliverer, — whose triumphs we celebrated 
 with orations and revelry in this republic, — does not he, the august 
 autocrat of all the Russias, and Poland into the bargain, preside one 
 day at a Missionary and Bible Society; — extinguish the press by an 
 ukase the next, and offer 400,000 bayonets, (the slaves who carry them 
 are not worth counting,) to exterminate the reformers of Germany? — 
 As this age is also distinguished by another extravagance, that might 
 be called precedent run mad; when the pattern of weakness or profli- 
 gacy is converted into a system, — when fact is seized to annihilate 
 principle, and subject reason to the authority of folly; — what harm 
 would it be at such a time to steal a proverb from Solomon or Sancho. 
 if it be adapted to the purpose? I think it only necessary to protest 
 against the frequent cant use of scripture, which I detest still more 
 than the cant of criticism. — In the repositories of princely wisdom, 
 there are truisms and denunciations sufficient to authorise this review, 
 if I had no other grounds for undertaking the residencia. 
 
 "A faithful witness will not lie, [that's certain;] but a false witness 
 will utter lies." c. xiv. 4. 
 
 "A righteous man hateth lying; but a wicked man is loathsome, and 
 cometh to shame." c. xiii. 5. 
 
 "A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh 
 lies." 
 
 '•A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh lies 
 shall perish." c. xix. 9. 
 
 Of which all concerned may take due notice, and govern themselves 
 accordingly. — But, I must disclaim all this authority; it being now for- 
 bidden by all the laws of courtesy, or even common civility to give any 
 son of Adam the lie. That remnant of pious and heroical politeness 
 went into perpetual exile with chivalry — In its meridian indeed, ap- 
 peals were made to the Deity every day, to witness a solemn duel, and 
 give victory to justice. This part of the request being unregarded, — 
 superior prowess and dexterity won the wager of battle, and the cus- 
 tom ceased when it was discovered that Omnipotence would not deign 
 to be a partizan in the frays of despicable mortals. I leave it to di- 
 vines (who know all about it!) to judge how presumptuous it was to 
 require the Great Supreme to become a second or bottle-holder, in a 
 prize-fight between nations or individuals, like Homer's factious Gods. 
 When kings and nobles had arbitrated in vain the accusation of the 
 count of Estaviel, against Otho, lord of Granson, the former in full 
 assembly renewed his charge of murder, and threw down the gage of 
 battle. No sooner had he finished than Otho, then sixty years old, rose 
 indignantly from his seat, and having signed himself with the sign of 
 the cross, addressed the judges in turn: — 
 
 "In the name of the Holy Trinity, of St. Anne, and of the Blessed 
 Daughter, I do here declare Gerard of Estaviel to be a liar. There 
 are ample grounds, most noble lords, upon which I might defer this com- 
 
17 
 
 bat, in which it is my intention to prove his falsehood, viz. that we 
 might have time to purify our souls betore God, to examine our limbs, 
 if they are sound and healthful, and to prepare our horses and arms 
 for the fight. &c. &c. But there lives not the man whom Otho of 
 Granson fears. To-morrow, this very moment, most valiant knights, 
 am I prepared to maintain my own innocence, and to prove the false- 
 hood of my antagonist. "This day have I reached my sixtieth year." 
 (See Nay lor' s Helvetic Republics, vol ii. 152.) 
 
 Such was the principle, and such the practice of that age. Equal 
 asseverances, pro and con, were the prelude to every duel. Thus 
 Shakespeare copies the usage, in Richard II. 
 
 Bolingbroke, for what I speak 
 
 My body shall make good upon this earth, 
 Or my divine soul answer it in Heaven. — 
 Thou art a traitor and a miscreant, &c. 
 
 Mo-wbray. — I do defy him — and I spit at him; 
 Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain! 
 Meanwhile, let this defend my loyalty, 
 By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie. 
 
 If we are not less superstitious now-a-days, we are less rude, — and 
 certainly more reasonable. Men being equal to one another in asser- 
 tion, it is a wholesome custom, which demands from disputants, their 
 proofs. Instead of tilting before the public, as heretofore on neighing 
 steeds, the parties are summoned to reason the case before that awful 
 judge. — The pen supplants the spear; knightly harness gives way to 
 solid argument, to impartial testimony, and indisputable facts. The 
 forfeiture, however, is severer than before. There, it was less of life; 
 now, the blight of reputation. The revolution is favorable to social 
 reason, morals and justice. Contests are reduced to a comparison of 
 opinions, and an exhibition of evidence. Yet, when the pen is perverted 
 to inflict a slanderous stab, it ought to be turned (for truth) against the 
 assailant; and, that is my resolve: — 
 
 "He that is first in his own cause, (says Solomon again) seemeth just, 
 but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him." 
 
 The right of search is now conceded — if not to the privy council 
 and judicature of Britain; at least, to the physical force of her navy; 
 and constitutes a sort of rule in parallel cases. He who refuses to sub- 
 mit to it, is fired into as if he were a pirate. — In truth, the last text 
 may be regarded as a search-warrant; by virtue of which, and of my 
 own impulse, I intend to recover the truth amidst the lumber of error, 
 which our "Secretary" has heaped over it. I shall endeavor to correct 
 the reckonings of our voyager, and calculate his lee-way, when I find 
 him egregiously at fault,— yelping false notes like an untrained beagle. 
 If you please, my friend, 1 pray you to bear us company. With such 
 a Mentor, the ardent enquirer would seldom run on shoals, and the de- 
 votee of truth and independence, be more rarely cast away on the 
 bleak, icy shores of ingratitude. As you have condescended to minis- 
 ter to my pleasure and instruction, by a frank disclosure of your sen- 
 timents on the most ticklish subjects, I shall repay your confidence in 
 the tribute of grateful esteem, and consult you without reserve. Should 
 C 
 
IS 
 
 I employ a little ridicule in this epistle, I do not use it as a "test ot 
 truth," but a good caustic for untruth. 
 
 To write comments on the numberless blunders of this Voyage, sin- 
 gulatim, as children heap up hillocks of sand, would not only swell the 
 review to a mountainous bulk, but murder method, and exhaust your 
 patience. Though its incoherence renders it difficult to systematize 
 this notice, T shall attempt to give you some samples of his reasoning 
 and mode of thinking on various subjects; then detect misstatements 
 in history, law, geography, and substitute the truth in their stead. — 
 "We shall thus unravel the intricacy of plots and parties, and discover , 
 that the Voyage is resolvable, like all erroneous books, into errors of 
 fact, false logick, and mistaken opinions: that the author labors to sup- 
 port a distinction between independence and liberty, and becomes a 
 hitter partizan against the advocates of the latter, in Buenos-Ayres, 
 Chili, Banda Oriental, &c. while he defends their antagonists with all 
 his powers: that he endeavors to soothe prejudices and apologises for 
 Brazilian tyranny and aggression, in order to conciliate corruption. — 
 Falling into frequent discrepancies, he often answers himself, and 
 shortens the reviewer's task in exposing absurdity. 
 
 I was in hopes of his amendment from the dignified castigation he 
 had received from a South American* gentleman in Philadelphia, for 
 his unfeeling censure against the people of Pernambuco. In his letter 
 to Mr. Monroe, our voyager had confessed, in page 34, that, in the late 
 contest with England, the "King of Brazils leaned rather to the side of 
 our enemy;" yet; he says in the next breath, — " I must confess, I felt 
 hurt at the manner in which the late insurrection was noticed in our 
 newspapers. With respect to the insurrection at Pernambuco, we were 
 led into an error by confounding it with the struggle of the patriots, 
 while their situation and their cause were, in fact, very different; 
 whatever we may think of the form, the Brazilians had already obtain- 
 ed the great object for which the Americans are contending, — a gov- 
 ernment within themselves!" Sfe. i. e. a despotical king. 
 
 He fi felt hurt!" why my friend? — the slave was in the vicinity of the 
 Brazilian minister, when he wrote his foolish, flippant, depraved letter 
 on South America. He did not "feel hurt" at the infernal cruelties prac- 
 tised on the unfortunate insurgents of Pernambuco, who were subject- 
 ed to barbarities more savage than Castlereagh inflicted on the reform- 
 ers of Ireland; or the usurpers of Buenos-Ayres on the republicans of 
 Chili; he felt nothing tor the miseries of the innocent! His cominisse- 
 ration was for the exquisite sensibilities of the king of Brazil, whose 
 oppressions forced his subjects into rebellion. — Observe, sir, that I con- 
 vey no censure on the minister of that power; it is laudable in him to 
 discharge his ambassadorial duties fairly; but it is baseness in an Ame- 
 rican citizen to volunteer so officiously and obsequiously, in offering 
 his sympathies for royalty; his reproaches against the people of Per- 
 nambuco! " It is base to be a bond-man." 
 
 *Yes; the sages of the South have already given lessons, and dealt reproof to 
 our conceited pettifoggers! — Vast indeed are oier interests, moral, political and com- 
 mercial, in the liberty and f elicit 11 of Spanish America. 
 
19 
 
 This abominable doctrine of our "Secretary," could not stand the 
 ordeal of examination; How could it? — It inculcates passive obedience 
 to tyrants, as the duty of men! I extract a few sentences from the 
 excellent reply: — 
 
 " So then, because he removed from the Tagus to Rio-Janeiro, are 
 the Brazilians already bound forever to obey the will of this despot, in 
 preference to the will of God?" [He had previously proved from scrip- 
 ture and history, the right of resistance. ,] 
 
 " According to this new political maxim, the sanguinary contest of 
 the Americans, in the Spanish colonies, will be at an end, as soon as 
 Ferdinand the Seventh removes thither, with all his train of tyranny, 
 all his pomp of superstition, and his Supreme Council of Inquisitors. 
 "Then the provinces of Spain will have a right to rise, because the fo- 
 cus of despotism has retired from them." 
 
 " You cannot be ignorant, that in Brazil, there is no constitution; no 
 representative government, nor law deserving this holy name. All the 
 Brazilians are slaves, because they all depend on the will of an indi- 
 vidual, which can never have any claim to the respectable character of 
 a law. That which is properly called law> is the expression of the ge- 
 neral will, &c. The forced duty of blind obedience is the only right 
 which, under this deceitful denomination, is acknowledged in the pro- 
 vinces of Brazil, by their oppressor. And yet, you «vill have it be a 
 crime to undertake the reformation of this abuse, by means of an in- 
 surrection — the only way to obtain it from a tyrant, who considers as 
 high treason, the attempt of setting constitutional impediments to his 
 arbitrary power!" 
 
 When his absurdities had drawn forth this masterly refutation, I 
 supposed that the "Secretary to the Mission," would, thenceforward, 
 weigh his paradoxes before publication; or that, if he could not abstain, 
 he would contrive to make his " failings lean to virtue's side." I was 
 mistaken: he flatters your admired friend, the Abbe, very grossly, and 
 censures his supposed opponents as coarsely. You cannot be ignorant 
 of the motive, as adulation has but one purpose. 
 
 Our voyager complains very feelingly in the preface, of the impos- 
 sibility of comprising an account of every thing valuable on the subject 
 of his enquiry in two small volumes. 'Tis true; but his work, under 
 a judicious plan, might have comprised an enchanting variety of im- 
 portant matter, as certain fluids, by compression, occupy less space in 
 a mixed, than a separate state. — Yet, he jumbles events, institutions, 
 and geography, from California to Cape Horn, in such an incoherent 
 mass, that, (in his introduction) there is little or no distinctness. 
 
 You will probably deny the correctness of his assertion: "what is 
 wanted at present, is not so much a work, embracing the necessary in- 
 formation on South America generally, as one that should create a de- 
 sire to be informed." No; no; it is the "necessary information we want, 
 and nothing else. — A reader will not peruse two volumes to excite 
 curiosity, but to satisfy it. The sound of a ten years' revolution, the 
 incidents of war, the struggles of factions had already inflamed our de- 
 sire to the highest pitch. What institutions are likely to be reared by 
 our southern neighbors? What is the character of the leaders? Will 
 the delightful region of the Oriental Banda be conquered by the king of 
 
m 
 
 Portugal, and his allies in Buenos- Ayres? or can its hardy defenders 
 persevere in an unequal war against Spain, Brazil and La Plata? These 
 are questions which the people ask. Bland and Poinsett have given 
 them much valuable intelligence, and they are athirst for more. The 
 commerce of South America, and the Pacific, though it may soon be 
 worth 15 or 20 millions of dollars a year to this nation, does not inte- 
 rest us so strongly as the character and issue of the war. 
 
 In the preface, page 9, our voyager acquaints us with the proficien- 
 cy he had made in the Spanish language, literature and law, Sec. while 
 he resided in Louisiana, "part of the time as one of the judges of the 
 state." It seems, however, that he was a very indifferent judge of the 
 language, for he could not hold a conversation in it at Buenos-Ayres: 
 the commissioners were necessitated to employ a Mr. Riglos, as inter- 
 preter, in their interviews with D. Gregorio Tagle, the secretary of di- 
 rector Puerreydon, &c. 
 
 What his law knowledge is, we may judge from his asserting, vol- 
 ume 1, page 62, that Cabildos are popular assemblies; in page 64, he 
 corrects himself: " the Cabildo, however, is far from being a popular 
 assembly, according to our ideas." He ought to have settled the de- 
 bate in his own mind, rather than commit contradictory assertions to 
 writing. To fifty passages, I might apply the same remark: 
 
 The revolution, he tells us, page 35, vol.1, has been much affected by 
 feuds between great and rival families, &c. That has happened in some 
 of the provinces; but will not afford a palliation for arbitrary measures 
 in Chili or Buenos-Ayres. San Martin and Puerreydon are far from 
 noble; and the republican exiles, though respectable, aspired not al- 
 ter power on family pretensions. — The Carreras were distinguished by 
 talents and qualities that command respect every where; but were not 
 noble, in the vulgar acceptation of the term. O'Higgins is not noble, 
 though descended of a president, being ol a nothus filius, or natural son. 
 The disorders of "feuds" proceed from parties, not families: Aristo- 
 crats and monarchists in one rank; republicans in the other. Do not 
 carry this fallacy too far! Fling down the fardel here, and travel with 
 a lighter load! 
 
 In page x. of the preface, he disavows party-spirit, in relation to 
 leaders in South America. He soon forgot himself; since he makes 
 free to censure Paraguay, and of course, her chieftains and people, for 
 a "timid, selfish, and narrow-minded policy, during the present revo- 
 lution," while ''Buenos Ayres (formerly the boast of loyalty,) is now 
 the blazing revolutionary comet of the Sonth;" page 81, vol. II ; at page 
 87, ib. he abuses the people of Cordova, or its inhabitants, of "despe- 
 rate fortunes and character," for a friendly predilection towards the 
 people of Santa-Fe; though in page 86, he admits that "the rich produc- 
 tions of Cordova" were perishing for want of a market; and this em- 
 barrassment, he knew, was created by the ambition of Buenos-Ayres.* 
 How did he learn the character of individuals in Cordova? 
 
 * I mean the leaders who command the military force; monopolize the civil 
 power, and direct the treasures of the country. Authority being 1 united in a few 
 hands, the people (as Dr. Horsley said of another country,) have little, or nothing- 
 
2i 
 
 He is a strange sort of apologist, I think: "In fact, (page 275, vol. I.) 
 it is chiefly by the commerce with Paraguay, that the sailors of the ri- , 
 ver are formed; as it was there also, that the only vessels used in its 
 navigation were constructed." This was at his conversation with the 
 skipper and conk, on La Plata, who taught him politics, revealed char- 
 acters, and unfolded profound policy, lie also learned that sloops as- 
 cended to Assumption, 11 or 1200 miles up the river, page 276; and 
 in page 69, vol. II. he asserts,, that it is navigable for small vessels, 
 from lat. 16, without the slightest interruption. But in page 92, ib. 
 he speaks contemptuously of Santa-Fe, 300 miles above Buenos-Ayres, 
 "as too high up the river for sea vessels to ascend with facility,"* to 
 enable it to rival Buenos-Ayres. — "I notice it at present, merely to 
 refute the charge of a monopolizing spirit alledged against Buenos- 
 Ayres," &c. Well! has he refuted it? No; he admits it. "That such 
 a spirit does exist, I have no doubt; but it is the same that prevails in 
 all cities, and in all countries." In like manner, the general turpitude 
 of human nature, though it is rather unfair and untrue to alledge it, may 
 be pleaded in excuse of particular crimes, and the robber may say, 
 "you would all rob if you had the opportunity. "--Santa-Fe never 
 sought a monopoly; she desired the right of importing and exporting 
 commodities freely; — Buenos-Ayres forbade it; and the citizens of San- 
 ta-Fe rose in mass to resist the unjust pretension. 
 
 At page 99, he retracts most of his previous assertions; — "The town 
 of Santa-Fe is in many respects favourably situated for trade, but it 
 is too high up to be the emporium of the countries situated on the ri- 
 ver, and its branches;" &c. This may be disputed, as the navigation 
 is not difficult, and her position gives her an advantage over Buenos- 
 Ayres in the trade of the interior. "The products also of Cordova 
 and some of the interior districts, are brought here, and carried down 
 to Buenos-Ayres to be exported."— 
 
 We cannot prevent this man from refuting himself. 
 
 "I question much whether any but an American or an Englishman" 
 has "a clear notion of the distinction between legislative, executive, 
 and judicial functions", vol. I. page 66. Yet the distinction origina- 
 ted with Montesquieu, (if he did not copy Aristotle,) and was adopted 
 by Blackstone, though inapplicable in the British system. How a man 
 of our voyager's erudition could thus stumble in his own profession, 
 is "passing strange;" especially as he seems to boast in the preface of 
 his acquirements. — We cannot affirm however, that the invention is 
 so important in practice as it might be. In the United States there 
 has been much cavilling about the division of power; but the object 
 was left too much out of sight. — Judicial usurpation has been the con- 
 sequence — for want of due responsibility.— In truth, every branch of 
 government is an agency for special purposes; and, the accountability 
 of the trustee to the people is the only pledge of freedom.— If a man 
 make a partition of his estate into ten or a dozen portions, and alien- 
 to do with the laws, but obey them. Mr. Adams had truly said, that many peo- 
 ple had no more voice in forming the constitution, than in the climate of their 
 country. — A case in point. 
 
 * Sebastian Cabot sailed 200 leagues up the same river. 
 
ate it without bond or condition, he is a pauper.— So, if the people 
 were stupid enough to rest tranquil under assumptions that filch away 
 their dearest inheritance, they are- enslaved. — Whether the robbery is 
 perpetrated by representatives, or judges, it is all one— their power 
 is, (as Taylor says) like Lear's after he divided his kingdom among 
 his three daughters.— 
 
 Page £13, volume II. "I saw a translation of 'Bissett's Sketch of 
 Democracy', which I was informed by the booksellers, had met with 
 a rapid sale.* This work might possibly have a salutary effect on a 
 people who are in danger of running wild in their notions of liberty; 
 and who, like the French, would be desirous of taking Greece or 
 Rome as their model. — It selects all that is bad in the ancient or mo- 
 dern republics". 
 
 Unless an impure fountain can send forth limpid waters, I cannot 
 readily conclude how a set argument against republicanism, can ope- 
 rate in its favour.— It met with "a rapid sale," and was extolled by the 
 members of government, while republican sentiments were fi owned out 
 of countenance, some of their promulgators shot, and others arbitrarily 
 banished after a jury bad acquitted them. Witness the fate of Pazos, 
 and the more unfortunate editor of the Independent! 
 
 Again, — page 214, ib. "The French is much more familiar to them 
 than the English, which is perhaps to be regretted, as the French re- 
 volutionary politics have been proved by experience to be unsafe." 
 
 This may be controverted; as France pressed on all sides by the 
 troops of the coalition, was obliged to divert her proper cares from 
 political research, and rush almost in mass to the field of battle. Her 
 principles therefore had not and could not have a fair trial, while she 
 was contending for existence. This mania against French principles 
 misbecomes an American. It reminds us of the anti-republican frenzy 
 of 1798, when so many of our fellow-citizens were stung by a British 
 tarantula. Let us not complain of our voyager's ambiguity; for he is 
 very candid elsewhere. But we must deny his position for another 
 reason. France is reviving in proportion as she looks towards the 
 principles, the decried principles of the revolution, as those who 
 were bitten in the wilderness were healed by looking on an image of 
 the serpent.~Is it not still true, that "the history of kings is the mar- 
 tyrology of nations?" So much conviction was there in the eloquent 
 discourses of that epoch that coalesced Europe, subsidized by England, 
 took the alarm, and crushed the revolution by force: — It is unkind to 
 wound Freneh feelings as our author does— by illiberal taunts: I must 
 exclaim with Lafeu in the play, of all such Voyagers: — "They are 
 bastards to the English; the French ne'er got them!" 
 
 These notions account in part for the acerbity of the Secretary to- 
 wards general Jlrtigas: "He is under the guidance of an apostate 
 priest, of the name of Monterosa, who acts as his secretary; and writes 
 
 *Of this abusive monarchical work, more hereafter. It was translated by C. 
 Ifenriquez, the government printer, with studied panegyrics by way of preface 
 and dedication, to the congress: I shall give them, or the substance of them in 
 the sequel. 
 
28 
 
 his proclamations and letters; for although Artigas has not a bad head, 
 he is by no means good at inditing. — Monterosa professes to be in the 
 literal sense, a follower of the political doctrines of Paine; and pre- 
 fers the constitution of Massachusetts as the most democratic, without 
 seeming to know that the manners and habits of a people are very im- 
 portant considerations.'" page 241, vol. 1. 
 
 Would to God! that his political doctrines were every where follow- 
 ed in the literal sense! — The coarsest, most rancorous aspersions in 
 the Euenos-Ayrean pamphlet against Artigas are levelled at his doc- 
 Jn'nes, his exalted ideas, his disorganizing precepts. We now under- 
 stand the motives of loyal gentlemen perfectly! — To be more explicit, 
 if possible, our Secretary censures the circulation of another republi- 
 can work: 
 
 " Among the productions issued from the press during the first year 
 of the revolution, I observed a translation of Rousseau's Social Com- 
 pact, by Dr. Moreno. f The translation is well executed, and seems 
 to have been much relished by the middle class of people. But it is 
 difficult to say, whether it was not more injurious than beneficial" &c. 
 page 205, vol. II. 
 
 Bissett's Caricature of Democracy, as he thought "might possibly 
 have a good effect;" Rouseau's masterly reasoning in vindication of 
 civil liberty might only produce disprofit, or "be more injurious than 
 beneficial!" Nothing can please him but paradox, or high, seasoned 
 abuse. 
 
 To banish republican sympathies, our voyager warns us of the fa- 
 tal consequences of indulging them to excess 1 The following is match- 
 less: — i 
 
 "There is; no danger for the present at least, that the great body of 
 the American people will look upon monarchy with a dangerous com- 
 placency: (if they imitate his example there would be some hazard,) 
 — but there is danger of their declining, on account of their antipa- 
 thy to certain forms of government, friendly and profitable relations 
 with foreign states." 
 
 Sacrifice our foreign trade for the sake of republican principle! Such 
 a disparate is worthy of a Shawanese, or a lunatic; 
 
 It is the very error of the moon — 
 
 She comes move near the earth than she was wont, 
 
 And makes men mad." 
 
 Look on the contrary at our sacrifices for commerce and foreign in- 
 tercourse. With what nation, tribe, or people, black, white, red, taw- 
 ny, coppery, mestizo, or quadroon, of locks straight or curled, — Hot- 
 tentots, Malays, Mamelukes, Manilla-men, Chinese, Turks, Jews s 
 Brahmins, children of the sun, or under the sun, have we not traffick- 
 ed? Commerce has been generally free as the winds. — From the 4th 
 of March 1789, till the 31st of December 1815, the expense of foreign 
 
 fThe most enlightened and distinguished citizen of* whom Buenos-Ayres could 
 boast, — the mainspring of the revolution, and author of the best institutions of 
 the country — It may be said that he formed his mind by French literature. 
 
24 
 
 intercourse, including that with the Barbary powers amounted to gl4, 
 S25,333::40. (See Seybert's Statistical Annals, page 713.) Add to 
 this the appropriations for naval defence, chiefly incurred on account 
 of commerce, and you will have a swinging item. — Much greater is 
 the danger that we may degenerately immolate principles on the com- 
 mercial altar. — Were it not indeed a question of too much magnitude 
 for a cursory digression, I would enquire in this place, whether we 
 ought not to discontinue two-thirds of the diplomatic expenditure 
 forthwith? whether we ought not to recall ministers resident from all 
 foreign courts, leaving consuls only in their ports, to attend to the in- 
 terests of trade? On occasions of moment we could more eligibly dis- 
 patch special ambassadors. Intrigue, (in which we are no novices at 
 home,) is increased by a residence in the purlieus of monarchies, where 
 it is more studied than the law of nations. Our statesmen me vitiated: 
 they return adepts; and naturally practise the arts in which they excel: 
 the citizens are debauched by force of example. Republican simplici- 
 ty is sent into exile. — Many do not hesitate to declare that they dis- 
 cern in this diplomatic extravagance, and the infectious mimicry 
 which follows, — the minnings of the disease, that threatens our repub- 
 lic with a premature grave. — Our dignity would perhaps be best con- 
 sulted by withdrawing from superfluous connexions in Europe. We 
 have no influence in her congresses, — no direct interest in her quar- 
 rels. Her priciples and ours are immiscible. Let us pay less court 
 to Europe, and more attention to South America. Let us never appear 
 in the incongruous character of a friend to our foes, and a foe to our 
 friends. — T trust we never shall! — ''There" said De Pradt, speaking of 
 the United States, "there exists the furnace which continually heats 
 the flame of independence.'*! We give the patriots the benefits of our 
 example, — if no more. — Many of them complain of our coldness.— But 
 to return: Did our "Secretary" intend by the finesse to extend our re- 
 lations to New Holland, — that "magnificent field for the enlightened 
 scientific traveller?" page 1,54, vol. 1. Since he speaks the Shavvanese 
 language quite as fluently as he does Spanish, did he mean to recom- 
 mend himself for minister plenipotentiary to that terrestrial paradise? 
 
 "No proposition can be more clearly proved than that the prosperity 
 of one nation is a general benefit to all. To illustrate the subject by 
 a familiar comparison, what man in any kind of business would not 
 rather place himself in the midst of a hundred free and industrious fa- 
 milies than in the neighbourhood of a planter, the master of as many 
 slaves?" p. 86, vol. I. 
 
 This is correct doctrine: but, by the time the consistent Secretary 
 has travelled to the 156th page, he forgets his own principle as just 
 laid down. On surveying the "vast capacities and resources of Bra- 
 zil," he recoils at the idea of a destined rival. Hear himself:— 
 
 "Looking at the Brazils therefore, as a rival, and in the nature of 
 things she must be such, it may be well that she is placed under a race 
 of kings, not likely to inspire the nation with the formidable energy 
 
 fOn the Colonies, page 333. 
 
25 
 
 of our republic, but rather to dissipate the force of the body politic in 
 childish projects and royal extravagance." 
 
 Which of these propositions is right? One of them must be wrong, 
 — unless it be possible to extract equal good from prosperity and from 
 ruin. Whatever be the resources of the Brazilian empire, it is illibe- 
 ral and irrational to maintain that they are disadvantageous to us. 
 Emulation-is a saving principle; an honest rival is a friend in disguise. 
 JImbition or avarice alone can dread rivalship: the one wishes domin- 
 ation, the other sighs for monopoly. What gained ancient Rome by 
 her perfidious and barbarous destruction of Carthage? — License to ruin 
 herself. What has England acquired by her malignant crusade against 
 France? — Distress and slavery. What does a dominant party acquire 
 in,; a state by stifling opinion and controuling suffrage? — Superiority 
 and loneliness, — apathy and servitude! — If we can profit by the wretch- 
 edness of Brazil, then it would be "well" that all Spanish-America 
 were "placed under a race of kings" to render it powerless. There 
 is among nations as among individuals, a cheering incentive of fellow- 
 ship, which cannot be removed with safety. The arts would retrograde, 
 — morals decline, and genius languish without the spur of partnership 
 — or associate exertion. — I might assert, that it were better to have 
 hostile collision itself than be without a rival. — I cannot conclude there- 
 fore from the whole current of history, or my slight acquaintance with 
 human nature, that in this instance the "Secretary" has spoken like a 
 statesman, philosopher or Christian. — Conquering nations may dread 
 competition; all others have need of it. 
 
 "Man is every where a noble and lofty being; and if the burthen 
 which bows him to the earth be removed; if the slavish bands in which 
 he is fastened are burst, he will suddenly rise with ease to the natu<- 
 ral standard of his character." (Letter in appendix 326.) 
 
 Through his whole work, he ridicules this worthy sentiment, and 
 inveighs against its supporters as visionary theorists. (See page 67, 
 vol. I.) "To visionary theorists it may appear an easy matter for a 
 people to shake off their old habits, and to unlearn at once; but expe- 
 rience and good sense forbid us to form any such expectation. I have 
 heard it expressed by persons of some pretensions, that nothing is 
 necessary but the introduction into any country, of the forms of free 
 government, and that the people will at once be free as a matter of 
 course. This is a great mistake. A people must be educated and pre- 
 pared for freedom." — This stands in array against his former opinion: 
 granting that it be practically and partially true, it is but an aukward 
 apology for the military despotism which defers preparation, and delays 
 education. To defend the military chiefs, he argues that they have to 
 govern "a slavish and ignorant people," incapable of being emancipa- 
 ted "suddenly." 
 
 Like the clergy whom he describes, vol. I. page 70, he seems "suffi- 
 ciently compliant to the party which happens to be uppermost." — ■ 
 "With respect to men at present in power, Puerreydon and others, he 
 [Mr. Sumpter] said they were the rational and moderate men of the 
 country, who were aiming at something like a settled order of things; 
 D 
 
26 
 
 but that the people were of a restless and inconstant character, and fit 
 subjects to be acted upon by turbulent demagogues." Page 125-6. 
 
 But in an humble letter of apology, which our voyager wrote to a 
 distinguished exile, relative to some passages in his letter on South 
 America, the voyager says that his impressions are very unfavorable to 
 Puerreydon: yet he could not distinguish between the people and go- 
 vernment: if the latter were bad, it was the fault of the people: that it 
 was in vain to tell us of hopes of better times, for of this we have no 
 security. ( Letter of November 1, 1817, to Br. M. M.J 
 
 It is untenable doctrine, that we cannot discriminate between the op- 
 pressor and his victims, but wrap the cause of a country and its betray- 
 ers in general confusion. There is as much difference between people 
 and government, as between principals and agents, constituents and 
 trustees. If the learned Secretary had studied the excellent political 
 treatise of Mr. Taylor,* rather than retail the stale dogmas of Brit- 
 ish lawyers and their admirers, he would avoid many blunders. 
 
 With the subsequent sentences, I cordially agree. — "They (the South 
 Americans) are capable of defending themselves, governing themselves, 
 and of being free, in spite of all that may be said by narrow-minded, 
 self-sufficient men. They expect friendship and good will from us, and 
 have a right to expect it. If we cannot speak favourably of them, at least, 
 ive ought not studiously to display what we conceive to betheir foibles and 
 faults." — Excellent; not less excellent that the author disregards it all 
 in the sequel, notwithstanding the paius he took (see preface 11 and 
 12,) to acquire correct information. 
 
 After this profession., we were surprised to discover so great a por- 
 tion of his book appropriated to invectives against the most gallant 
 republican chieftains and champions of the revolution. — The heroical 
 Artigas, he pourtrays as a monster, on the authority of an anonymous 
 pamphlet published by his enemies, and afterwards suppressed through 
 shame — Did our author learn this law of evidence whilst a. judge in 
 Louisiana? or did he acquire it from his intimate acquaintance, To- 
 ledo the traitor? — The Llaneros or gauchos of the plains, the best horse- 
 men in the world, and the terror of the Spaniards, he describes as dis- 
 gusting savages, page 225, vol. I. &c. &c; having previously espied 
 one asleep in a hovel, with myriads of flies around him, and no goddess 
 to drive them away; had lank black hair, almost as coarse as the mane 
 of a horse; no bad index of a robust frame. Had father Gumilla, and 
 
 ' * "An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United 
 States:" by Johx Tayloii, of Caroline County, Virginia.— It is one of the profound- 
 est works written in modern times, and inculcates the soundest principles in 
 civil polity. I could not refrain from rendering to the author this undissembled 
 homage of applause; respectfully suggesting to him the propriety of correcting 
 some obscurities of style which it was difficult to avoid in disquisitions of an ab- 
 struse nature.— In return for the instruction imbibed from that book, and in fur- 
 therance of useful information, I make free to offer this advice. The subject 
 exacts perspicuity, and a removal of little deformities or involutions: 
 
 " Since the more fair and crystal is the skv, 
 The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly!" 
 
27 
 
 other divines have seen this hairy man, they would have been confirm- 
 ed in their theory that the Indians were the progeny of the Jews, and 
 this gaucho had appeared a lineal descendant of the unsJwrn Sampson 
 himself, of whose hair we have heard things equally miraculous, though no 
 commentator has written a word on his whiskers, about which Mr. Sec- 
 retary is also silent. — Of the serious part of this subject, more anon. 
 
 We had already known that a revolution was in progress, and it was 
 desirable to ascertain its political character, the motives of its leaders, 
 and probable issue. — But, says our voyager, page 236, "We neither 
 know nor care who is the best patriot; all we look to is the great con- 
 test between South America and Spain."— On the contrary, it is its na- 
 ture solely we are interested in knowing; for we were aware of the 
 fact already — and, a mere exchange of tyrannies would not deserve the 
 name of revolution. 
 
 Our voyager held an instructive dialogue (embodied in his book) 
 with a skipper, cook and clerk, during his passage from Montevideo to 
 Buenos-Ayres, on the sublime topics of politics, generals and politi- 
 cians: page £70, vol. I. "When I informed them that I had heard that 
 some among them were for having a king, they seemed to express some 
 surprize, and said that they had got rid of one king, and it would be 
 singular if they should already think of another.'' — They were honest, 
 it appears, and therefore most unlikely to be in the plot: and the Sec- 
 retary gravely and disinterestedly receives their negative testimony in 
 preference to his own; — "against his better knowledge — not deceived, 
 but fondly overcome" by some latent cause or causes! 
 
 Yes; our voyager 'had warmly reprobated the machinations of the 
 Buenos-Ayrean faction in favor of monarchy, before his departure from 
 the United States. Writing on this subject from New-York, some time 
 previously to a gentleman in Baltimore, he subjoins a familiar post- 
 script, very like the iollowing: — 
 
 I have seen the dunce of a Buenos-Ayrean minister in this city: — I have tried 
 to draw all the information I could — but the fool knows nothing*. He repeated 
 to me the same sentiment as to the government of Buenos-Ayres, that a kin* 
 would suit them best! 
 
 He had an official voucher then for the intention of the anti-re- 
 publican faction; and he would disvouch it on a pretended conversa- 
 tion with a skipper. He had likewise been apprized that San Martin 
 
 acquiesced in the sentiment, though he was piqued at Don M. A • 
 
 for divulging it so roundly.* This exhibits another view of the Secre- 
 tary's idea of the comparative force of testimony, and of the best me- 
 thod of sifting out truth from impartial and competent witnesses. 
 
 From the opening of the 2d vol. to the 20th page, he relates the im- 
 portant affairs of lodgings, and visits, &c. The most welcome visitors 
 appear to be members of the government, or the dependants of men in 
 place. When persons of a different cast, sought a conversation, and 
 seemed to offer any thing unfavorable to his idols, the cidevant "judge" 
 
 * This subject caused some noise in the United States at that time. United to 
 the uproar made by deporting certain conspicuous republicans, it drew from ge- 
 
33 
 
 appears either to have dismissed the witnesses, or spurned their rela- 
 tions. — " I found ivith some regret, that the most unfavourable re-pre- 
 sentations as to the state of things in this country, were made by 
 some of our own countrymen. — These persons surrounded us, and were 
 extremely anxious to be closeted in order to disclose damning secrets 
 against the men in power $ as if it were the business of the mission to 
 sit in judgment on the political conduct and motives of those who had 
 the management of the government, like the visitadores under the Span- 
 ish system." 
 
 neral San Martin a zealous apology of summary proceeding's in a letter from San- 
 tiago in Chili, February 12, 1818, addressed to a gentleman in Baltimore: He 
 cites precedent, you see for tyranny: — 
 
 "EngUnd, justly regarded as the centre of liberty, suspended, last year, the 
 Habeas Corpus, at a time when national danger would not admit of judicial pro- 
 ceedings. The opposition was strong and obstinate,- but at last the weight of 
 reason and conveniency preponderated in favor of the counsel of the ministry. — 
 Who doubts that deportation and death were sanctioned? and who would have 
 preferred the conflagration of the city of London to the temporary suspension of 
 judicial forms?" 
 
 We confess, without admitting either premises or conclusion, that exile is hu- 
 manity compared with the usurpation and assassination, since become the order o 
 the day! — 
 
 "I cannot conceive (says he) howDon Manual Aguirre could penetrate into the 
 proposals which, he says, were made by my government to the king of Spain for 
 placing his brother in the United Provinces, when he has not held any immediate 
 station in the ministry; nor is it to be supposed that the hazardous steps of the 
 cabinet would have been made public, — as it is to be remarked that since the 25th 
 of May, 1810, public opinions has received several lessons in public administra- 
 tion, and that such measures have been disavowed by the general sentiments o* 
 the multitude." 
 
 We consider this subterfuge as an admission of the fact: — If a public agent 
 could not understand his government, who should? — Why were editors and citi- 
 zens banished for animadverting on Belgrano's proposals, and why were others 
 shot for publishing independent sentiments?— For, such was their offence! — 
 Wherefore murder the republican chiefs of Chili ? 
 
 Yes — you, San Martin, had the illustrious Rodriguez assassinated because he 
 was a popular soldier and a republican. — Of this, more again. — You and your crea- 
 tures seized and imprisoned Mr. Vera, a man of fine genius, and a poet, (a native of 
 Santa-Fe,) and banished him to Mendoza-for what? declaring in favor of a Congress. 
 Mr. Vbia, a Chilian of respected character, suffered the same punishment for the 
 same exalted ideas. Chaveria, another citizen of reputation and integrity, was 
 served in the same way. — Vast numbers were exiled for uttering their sentiments; 
 but the most distinguished were put to death. — Most victims were made amongst 
 the heroes of Coquimbo, who chiefly gained the battle of Maypu. 
 
 You, San Martin! have exterminated the Carrjeras, (root and branch, it is be- 
 lieved.) For what transgression did you, a stranger, imbrue your hands in the 
 blood of popular worth like theirs ?— A gentleman, intimately acquainted with 
 
No, truly, the judge had no jurisdiction of that kind; but as Secre- 
 tary to a Mission it was his duty to extract facts from any quarter, to 
 ascertain the motives and principles of men in power — and, as an 
 American citizen it was his "business" to hear his countrymen, and 
 keep their secret too. — Their information was levelled against the men 
 in power.! "There's the rub:" had it been against "men out of power," 
 he would have opened both his ears: it would have been welcome though 
 tendered by persons "connected with or friendly to the privateering 
 interest:" page 20—21. How did he, who was there only a few weeks, 
 presume to understand men or measures better than those who had re- 
 sided there for years? — He then accepts the testimony of the men in 
 power! and he was "a judge in Louisiana." 
 
 As uvoyager delineating natural curiosities, describing men or paint- 
 ing manners, we have not sufficiently attended to our author. In this 
 department he is very amusing if not always original. — He saw flying 
 fish on the passage to Rio-Janeiro, without mistaking them for birds, 
 and beheld sable countenances ashore, which he regarded with no de- 
 gree of pleasure. It is true, he would not condemn people by wholesale 
 merely for their looks — or "very dark complexions." See pajre 119— 
 122, vol. I. F ° 
 
 In places where negroes are to whites as 15 to 1 the compound must 
 be dark; It will require ages of bleaching.— But, I ask pardon, — it were 
 mocking misery to be mirthful where the thought of the slave trade 
 intrudes--it withers fancy in the bud as the sirocco of the desert blasts 
 vegetation wherever it sweeps. 
 
 events, says of this republican family. — "The aged father and his three sons are 
 admitted by their worst enemies, to have been polished gentlemen of good edu- 
 cation, talent, fortune, and general deportment. Considering the state of socie- 
 ty in that country, they were all as remarkable for their capacity and literary at- 
 tainments. Their popularity was extensive, but their enemies (like a certain class 
 in England and the United States) sneered; — it lay among the lower orders! and I 
 am inclined to believe it is true — because they were the advocates of the abolition 
 of slavery; of considering the civilized and mixed Indians in the Pueblos as a por- 
 tion of the people entitled to all the rights of citizenship. They -were in favour of 
 elections, and sustained and encouraged cabildos popularly chosen, [which you, Sir, 
 have abolished.] The Carreras curtailed the power of the clergy, and meant by de- 
 grees to reduce them to an equality with other citizens. They had begun improve- 
 ments about Santiago — they adhered to a Congress, however imperfectly chosen. 
 From these reasons, and from the circumstances of their having been abandoned to 
 the mercy of the royalists by the British in their mediation, as well as their being 
 generally disliked by the advocates of aristocracy in Chili, I can entertain no doubt 
 of the great republican principles which the Carreras had in view, and from their 
 being proscribed and hunted down by a faction who argue that independence 
 without liberty ought to content the people, you may judge of the political princi- 
 ples of this hostile party," — And you, San Martin! who exercise Spanish despo- 
 tism and cruelty, in the name of independence, — impartial history will decide whe- 
 ther you are a republican soldier, or an assassin. — Your original letter is before 
 me. — He was not a "Washington" who dictated it. 
 
30 
 
 ''Certain individuals (says De Pradt) form a horrible institution for 
 their own profit: they place their fellow creatures in the most revolt- 
 ing situation: a combat immediately commences between nature and 
 that state: it cannot be maintained but in iron and with iron." — 
 
 "You are cultivating your fields with tygers, and will you not one 
 day or other be devoured? You transport Guinea to the colonies: 
 will it not one day or other endeavor to become mistress in turn?" 
 
 Alas! that exhortation and example are useless. Custom has blunt- 
 ed southern feeling, and reconciled too many of our fellow citizens to 
 the infernal crime of manstealing. How lamentable that so base a blot 
 should be coeval with our Declaration of Independence! What a re- 
 cord of inconsistency! We united for liberty, and combined against 
 humanity on the same day. From the moment that the congress ex- 
 punged the paragraph on the slave trade from our catalogue ot com- 
 plaints against Great Britain, (inserted by Mr. Jefferson in the first 
 draft of that immortal production,)—- from that moment the guilt was 
 transferred to ourselves — it became all our own. That fatal compro- 
 mise with southern states subsequently renewed, prolonged the evil 
 till 1308, and threatens to perpetuate slavery forever.— If it must last, 
 let it not spread!— In the picture of remorse drawn by a dramatic bard, 
 a distracted accomplice in murder, delirious with anguish of conscience, 
 imagines her hands are stained with the blood of innocence. All her 
 efforts to wash it away are fruitless — 'tis indelible. Out damned spot! 
 is her agonized exclamation!— Many of our slave holders on the con- 
 trary are proof against compunction. — The foul "spot" is likely to re- 
 main for ages. 'Tis too horrible.— 
 
 The old congress and the convention, it must be observed, contem- 
 plated a time for terminating the importation of Africans, and pre- 
 venting, if necessary, the migration of" negroes already located. — All 
 their acts declare this intention. — How did I glow with shame, when 
 a majority of our House of Delegates lately passed a resolution for 
 transporting negro-slaves from their old nurseries over all the new 
 states! 
 
 Jauuary 7th, 1820. 
 •'HOUSE OF DELEGATES, ANNAPOLIS, 
 
 "The Missouri question was settled in the House ot Delegates this 
 day. Mr. Lecompte's resolution requesting our senators and repre- 
 sentatives in Congress, to oppose any restrictions on new states, was 
 adopted by a vote ot sixty to nine: 
 
 "Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland. That our senators 
 and representatives in Congress, be requested to use their utmost en- 
 deavors in the admission of new states into the union, to grant to such 
 states all the rights and privileges of the states heretofore admitted, 
 without requiring as a condition of their admission, the inhibition of 
 involuntary servitude, or any other condition, limiting their sovereign 
 powers in a greater degree than the sovereign powers of the original 
 states forming the union, are limited and restrained. 
 
31 
 
 Resolved, That the governor be requested to transmit copies of the 
 foregoing resolutions to each of our senators and representatives in 
 congress. Per order. 
 
 JOHN BREWER, clerk." 
 
 You will duly admire the genius of legislation which guides the glory 
 of Maryland! With guardians so liberal, independent, and pious with- 
 al, what can harm us?— Some nevertheless censure them for want of 
 knowledge and compassion: if they disliked emancipation, they were 
 not bound to solicit an extension of negro-slavery. 
 
 I regard the extension of negro slavery over two-thirds of our en- 
 larging union, as a death-blow to the representative system. — The nor- 
 thern, middle and some western states will comparatively decline into 
 the condition of Colonies — The less will revolve round the greater bo- 
 dy of black representation.— The fatal compromise of 1776, and the 
 indulgence of 1787, will end in ruin. — At least, if slavery be allowed 
 to spread, it ought not to be suffered to vitiate representation a mo- 
 ment longer. 
 
 This, 1 know, is a tender subject: I know too, it is a vital one. I 
 will admit, that some of our purest republicans shone in the south, 
 when monarchy and schism rose inauspiciously in the east. But, if 
 funds and banks and all their viperous brood were hatched in this 
 quarter, acquiescence came from that, — and the cancer is permitted to 
 shoot forth fresh roots. — I cannot readily assent to the belief, that the 
 perpetual example of slavery is necessary to foment republican senti- 
 ment. Must I be a tyrant to be a freeman? Ts there no alternative, 
 (as it has been written) between being hammer and anvil? Must we, 
 like monarchical Spartans, keep the drunken slave before our eyes, to 
 make us avoid inebriety? — But you will judge of this momentous sub- 
 ject more sedatety. I do uot believe that the best feelings can mis- 
 lead us. May our liberty and union be perpetual! 
 
 Thanks to the i evolution of Spanish America! it has terminated the 
 trade in Africans as to every independent state; while Cuba and Peru, 
 ripe for independence, dare not declare it — lest they should on that 
 signal be overpowered and desolated by hordes of negro slaves. These 
 provinces must await external aid. It is supposed that about 60,000 
 negroes are annually imported into Cuba, and a far greater proportion 
 into Brazils. — It is not strange our voyager saw "very dark complex- 
 ions" at Rio. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? 
 
 England would have had some merit, (though the greatest slave-tra- 
 der among nations,) if she had discontinued the accursed traffic before 
 her colonies were surcharged with negroes: but she has forfeited all 
 pretensions to applause by deferring the prohibition until it was extort- 
 ed from her fears. The measure is due to the independence of St. Do- 
 mingo, not to ministerial conscience. She trembled for her own em- 
 pire, when a black one was reared alongside.. 
 
 In the following table from De Pradt, the number is probably under- 
 rated, we have altered that of the United States according to the evi- 
 dent ratio of increase. 
 
32 
 
 TABLE OF NEGRO SLAVES. NUMBERS. 
 
 West India Islands 1,600,000 
 
 Brazils, [underrated] <i 1,500,000 
 
 Spanish America, do 600,000 
 
 United States, * 1,800,000 
 
 Total 5,500,000 
 
 The slave population of Brazil, augmented by constant and enor- 
 mous imports of Africans, and by natural multiplication, must now 
 exceed 2,000,000 of souls. Another point in which we rival the 
 subjects of "his most Faithful Majesty!" To the slave it matters lit- 
 tle, whether he is crushed in a republic, or under a despotism. — They 
 are rivals and equals to him. — Mature to be sure, is kinder to him in 
 the genial climate of Brazil, than in the United States, where he shiv- 
 ers half a year under a northern sky.— There is most probably a total 
 exceeding six millions and a half of slaves, (if not seven millions) 
 thrown into the American islands or continent.— Remaining in ser- 
 vitude, they corrupt our habits, and debauch our sensibility to just- 
 ice. — If we- jjossess a right to enslave Africans, we have a right to 
 enslave one another.— \ hope however, there is enough of principle 
 yet left in the United States, to prevent the slave dealers from diffus- 
 ing the nursery throughout our South Western and North Western 
 territories. Are we ambitious to spread Guinea through the finest por- 
 tions of the republic? But, let us dismiss the dreary subject, and re- 
 sume the peerless Voyage. Our author brings fairer objects in view. 
 
 Much as the Secretary had read of kings, queens and princesses, 
 (see page 130, vol. I.) he observed some of the breed for the first time 
 without quaking. "The princess Leopoldina was distinguished from 
 the rest by the fairness of her complexion; I saw nothing remarkable in 
 her appearance, and there are thousands of my countrywomen [whom3 
 I would choose in preference for a wife." 
 
 If such rejection is not unprecedented, it was ungenerous to publish 
 it to the world, and perhaps drive the princess to despair. The Secre- 
 tary, like other small lawyers seems wholly governed by precedent 
 in disregard of propriety. The grave author of the "History and Ad- 
 ventures of the renowned Don Quixote" informs us of the sensibility 
 of that hero to historic fame, "wishing for nothing more than a true 
 representation of his fidelity, and the decorum he always preserved, in 
 refusing queens, empresses, and damsels of all ranks," in attachment 
 to his famed mistress Dulcinea del Toboso. 
 
 You perceive, my friend, there is luckily some relief in this book. 
 If we were never to laugh at its preposterousness, its malice would be 
 insupportable. Though the mere effect of chance, its tragi-comic di- 
 versification answers all the purposes of art. 
 
 ♦In 1810, our black population was 1,377,310; in 1816, about 1,650,000. Clan- 
 destine importations and natural increase probably combine to raise it to the 
 amount of 1,800,000; The slaves cannot be less than the number set down. 
 
33 
 
 We find him next in Montevideo, returning; the kind urbanity of 
 general Carrera with unprovoked calumny. See page 217 &c. vol. 1. 
 He quotes the " Outline" of the revolution, dictated by one of his ene- 
 mies and written by another, as impartial history ! Of this hereafter. 
 Our voyager insinuates, that the general's narrative of the news of the 
 day &c. was unfounded. " According to him, every thing had gone to 
 ruin, the Spaniards had got possession of Conception in Chili, and 
 were joined by the inhabitants : the people of Uuenos-Ayres were dis- 
 tracted by factions, and on the eve of another revolution; while the 
 greatest cruelty had been manifested by the present leader, to his fami- 
 ly, in consequence of the attachment of the people, and their wish to 
 have them as their chiefs." 
 
 Is it not notorious that the Spaniards did capture Conception, and 
 that they hold that Gibraltar of Chili to this hour ? O'Higgins's army 
 was defeated in an attempt against it ? Why do not San Martin and my 
 lord Cochrane reduce it, or take it by storm as Carrera once did ? How 
 the Secretary could so placidly write slander against the illustrious re- 
 publicans assassinated by o'rder of San Martin — while they were rotting 
 in their graves, and their country subjugated by a foreign force in alli- 
 ance with a domestic faction, is surprising — but not unaccountable. 
 
 It is not possible, surely, that he could have received a fee for a pro- 
 duction of this kind. — His propensity to adulation on one side, and to 
 ingratitude on the other, unriddles the motive. 
 
 Another volley against Artigas is accompanied or preceded by some 
 explications of names, p. 241. " His followers are greatly attached to 
 him. They address him by th^e familiar name of Pepe, which may be 
 translated daddy." There never was such a translation as this, since 
 folks of olden time used to be translated alive in fiery chariots to 
 " kingdom come." If the learned secretary had turned to his diction- 
 ary, he would have found, " Pepe, Pepa, proper names — Joseph, Jose- 
 phine." Artigas may be the " father of his country" and of his troops, 
 yet he is not daddy-fed by them. 
 
 So, p. 302, vol. 1. "About forty miles north of this is a large village 
 ealled Luxan, at which the road branches oft" for Cordova and Mendo- 
 za" &c. — By referring to the map and to an excellent itinerary, this ap- 
 pears to be a small mistake in geography of only three hundred miles;* 
 a trifle for an author who labors to be exact and impartial ! Philologist, 
 etymologist, geographer, or jurist, he shines alike. " None but himself 
 can be his parallel," In viatic exercises this difference would have been 
 more considerable than on paper ; and the painted directions in Lantern- 
 land would have been literally very advantageous here. 
 
 '•You who presume to move this way, 
 " Get a good Lantern, lest you stray, 
 
 As it to compensate the reader for his constant depredations on matr 
 ter of fact, our author introduces the recreation of a bull-fight in the 
 1st chapter of his 2d volume : 
 
 * It is 99 Spanish leagues precisely from Luxan to Esquina de Medrano, where 
 the road turns off for Cordova. 
 E 
 
m 
 
 34 
 
 rt At one side of the toro [bull] there was a seat appropriated to the 
 city authorities." p. 60. 
 
 That seats should be assigned to the city authorities in contact with 
 a furious beast is remarkable, because the Spaniards are strict in cere- 
 monies of respect, and proverbially tenacious of etiquette. But, our 
 Secretary was present, and saw for' himself ! 
 
 ci Their irons [viz. the criminals,] were not taken off until imme- 
 diately before entering the toro.'''' p. 61. How ? did the combatants 
 go down his throat? He must then have resembled Phalaris's brazen 
 bull, to punish convicts. What a monster ! when such was the capaci- 
 ty of his paunch, there is nothing extravagant in his exterior dimen- 
 sions : "A town major, — a band of music,— and a guard of soldiers 
 about thirty in number, were distributed through different parts of the 
 toro." What a tremendous bull indeed ! — Jupiter, though his tauri- 
 form god ship swam the seas with miss Europa on his back, was a calf 
 to him. Was ever organized being comparable to him ? Yes ; I re- 
 collect one instance as authentic as this, of gigantic growths (but may 
 have read many) that need not decline competition : — " Then did they 
 [Pantagruel's army] put themselves in close order, and stood as near 
 to each other as they could ; and Pantagruel drew out his tongue only 
 halfway, and covered them all, as a hen doth her chickens." — So "that 
 if the army had displayed column, and he had displayed his entire 
 tongue., he could still overshadow them; for it is indubitable, that a cob- 
 ler who claps on a pair of half soles, could stitch and peg a pair of 
 whole ones ; or the Secretary who writes two such volumes, may as 
 conveniently write four or fourteen. • 
 
 If there were 45 persons on this terrific bull, and the combatants 
 within him, how much did he weigh ? To our deep regret the Secreta- 
 ry is silent as the grave about it. The bullocks exhibited in Baltimore 
 last year weighed about loOOlbs. — How is this? how could a Spanish 
 scholar so accomplished as Mr. Secretary, happen to confound La Pla- 
 za de Tor os with toro, the building with the beast ? He who began his 
 accidence in Louisiana, and finished the philosophy of language in 
 La Plata ! An ordinary school boy could not have made and repeated 
 the mistake; but, great minds, intent on great speculations will forget 
 words, though they are perfectly master of their elements — the alpha- 
 bet. Yet, 1 confess. 
 
 « It rais'd the whites of hoth my wond'ring eyes." 
 
 At o. 243, vol. I. He gravely informs us that the corps of Blendingnes, 
 was raised in order to extirpate the Montoneros or bands of marauders 
 who infested the country — that these are so called from Montons, or 
 " bands," &c. Neither of these phrases exists in the Castilian lan- 
 guage. Monton-es, we find indeed, as well as Montanero-s, ranger, 
 rangers, forester, woodsman. What a linguist ! — Common sense would 
 have told him that rangers cannot march in heaps or bands through a 
 dense forest : but, neither our Secretary's experience among the Shaw- 
 anese nor his copious readings in Spanish (though he cannot decline a 
 common noun substantive,) are very visible in his book. 
 
 Solecism in language becomes in its consequence tantamount to pa- 
 ralogism in logic. Our Secretary confounds an edifice or an arena 
 
35 
 
 with a quadruped, as friar Gerund in the sermon, misreasons the chief 
 personage of a convent into the head of the trinity. — Speaking of one 
 class of combatants, viz. banderilleros, persons armed with darts and 
 bannerols attached, lie calls them bandaleros, which bating a tor o sig- 
 nifies highwaymen or banditti. For matador he writes mattadore ! This 
 is the man, who presumes to criticise brief, pithy and faithful transla- 
 tions ! 
 
 Another proof of his attainments in Spanish, he furnishes in his des- 
 cription of the festivity of Corpus Christi, — during which he says, the 
 people shut up their shops, and abstained from labor for a whole week ; 
 the ladies muttered ave marias through the streets, and (their) servants 
 went before them to church. 
 
 Spanish custom forbids the latter as an unpardonable misdemeanor 5 
 the female attendants always follow those on whom they wait to 
 church. Corpus Christi is a public procession, which continues about 
 two hours, and religious exercises do notexceed the day. Our Voya- 
 ger confounds the devotions of Holy Thursday in Fassion Week, with 
 Corpus Christi, equivalent to putting Christinas for Easter. He must 
 have often heard the phrases, as the Spanish Americans are polite and 
 communicative ; bnt he did not stoop from ethereal contemplations per- 
 haps to pay attention to words. — This makes a fearful deduction from 
 the credit of his work ; for, with what accuracy can he paint the moral 
 part of customs, &c. when he cannot sketch material things subjected 
 to ocular inspection? His evil genius drove this man to write — For the 
 future he will be less presumptuous, and listen to admonition. 
 Nee tibi scribendi veniat tam dira cupido. 
 
 Page 220, vol. I. Our voyager acquaints us with the "incombustible 
 humboof a shady tr£e which graced the plains near Montevideo, and 
 whose trunk is so sappy as to be useless for fuel. To what language 
 the word humboo belongs, I cannot divine, and suspect it is an estray, 
 that has lost its cast. — There is a tree quaintly named embudo, which 
 answers to the properties of this, — lacks fissility and combustibility; 
 the term denoting literally a funnel, and figuratively deceit, fraud,— 
 q. d. cheat-tree, because its internal and real qualities do not corres- 
 pond with its appearances. The animal world has some parallels! — 
 Hey wood in his "Instructions" for steering up to Buenos-Ay res, page 
 14, mentions JSmbudo; and the embudo trees, as landmarks,— the lat- 
 ter giving their name to the former. See also the maps and charts of 
 that countty and the river. 
 
 Of mayorasgos or entailed estates, the learned "Secretary" has twice 
 spoken, doubtless to give his doctrine double force with the unlearned. 
 Hear himself. 
 
 Page 46 — 47, vol. II. "Nobility has been entirely abolished since 
 O'Higgins (or if you will, since San Martin, for I have heard him cen- 
 sured for it by a British officer at Buenos-Ayres,) became director. 
 Mr. Bland states in his Report, that the mayorazgos, or feudal privi- 
 leges, have been in like manner abolished. What more important steps 
 to elevate a people? A constitution! a constitution! some cry out." — 
 Again, page 155. "The Creoles constitute the third class in point of 
 number. These again are divided into the nobles, such as counts., 
 
36 
 
 marquisses, mayorazgos (or owners of fiefs! J aud knights of different 
 military orders." 
 
 Here arc two palpable blunders made on a single word, a law-term, 
 universally known.— He is continually aping the precedents of romance 
 or of the remotest history. He had possibly read how "Pantagruel of 
 one angel made two, which was a contingency opposite to the council 
 of Charlemagne, who made two devils of one, when he transplanted 
 the Saxons into Flanders, and the Flemings into Saxony." 
 
 Judge Bland sifts every subject of history and law too closely to be 
 capable of the misconception implied in the "Secretary's misstatement. 
 
 In page 104 of his Report on Chili, he says: "The lands thus granted 
 to the religious institutions being held in mortmain, were unalienable; 
 and those large tracts granted to individuals were commonly entailed, 
 and transmitted entire, as fettered inalienable inheritances, according 
 to the principles of the Spanish law of primogeniture called mayoraz- 
 go." He describes the pernicious effects "on husbandry, commerce, and 
 the state of society generally,"— and tells us that the director by his edict 
 of the 5th of June 1818, had abolished mayorazgos forever. — In the Ar- 
 gos de Chili of the 11th, I have read a pertinent commentary upon the 
 abolition. For one person that is dissatisfied, says the writer, ten are 
 delighted. How inhuman! he argues, is the law which condemns the 
 major part of a family to indigence in favor of a brother by casualty 
 born first? The institution of mayorazgos, or feuds, originates in the 
 paradox of preserving fortunes by maintaining them entire in an indi- 
 vidual, and rendering real estates inalienable. 
 
 The highly intelligent commissioner, who has gleaned up the most 
 important documents in every place he visited, was in no need of any 
 of them to inform him of the law of entails: but,*the "Secretary" would 
 make him as learned as his Secretaryship! A mayorazgo is not the 
 owner of a fief, any more than the cane or the crutch which a person 
 carries, or the right of carrying it, is the person himself. — He confounds 
 it with the feudal system, which he might have learned from Sullivan 
 or Robertson, or a hundred historians and lawyers. 
 
 Molina had already explained the subject of primogeniture, when 
 Don Juan De Castillo wrote of usufruct. — See, on this point Sol- 
 orzano's Politica Indiana, vol. I, page 241 — 2, in lib. iii. in chapters 
 5, 6, 16 and 20, for an exact explanation of it in Peru. — The possessor 
 of a mayorazgo could cede the usufruct *>f it for his lifetime; and the 
 number of mayorazgos or entailed estates heritable by oife person was 
 limited. Several particular regulations exist, in strict conformity with 
 the principle. 
 
 It was a pitiable omission in our Secretary, when he was delving in 
 Spanish literature and jurisprudence in Louisiana, that he forgot to 
 read a little of the Spanish annals. — Laborde has not failed to enrich 
 his "View of Spain" with the learned and liberal Memoire of Jovel- 
 lanos, "on the advancement of agriculture, and on the agrarian laws" 
 of Spain — a production that ought to be studied in every country on the 
 globe. Under the head of '•'Right of Primogeniture, or Majorats," he 
 describes the detrimental influence of mayorazgos. A much greater 
 proportion of unalienable property was vested in the different great fa- 
 
37 
 
 uulies, than was held by the ecclasiastical bodies by mortmain tenure, 
 "notwithstanding that mayorasgos were nut introduced in Spain till cen- 
 turies after the clergy had begun to make territorial acquisitions." He 
 contrasts this barbarous law with the juster principles of the ancients, 
 who made property freely transmissible. 
 
 "The ancient legislators, says he, gave an extensive latitude to this 
 faculty of conveying property after death. Solon perpetuated it in his 
 laws, and the Decemviri in those of the twelve Tables. Those laws, 
 although they allowed children to inherit after the demise of their pa- 
 rents without will, did not limit the testator; under the persuasion that 
 in case of good children there would be no necessity, and that no fa- 
 vor should be shown in case of bad ones. While Rome continued vir- 
 tuous this liberty remained, but when depravity began to enfeeble the 
 sentiments of nature, and to relax its bonds, men began to fix bounds 
 to this privilege, till then of unlimited extent. Children became in- 
 debted to the laws for what they might have vainly expected from vir- 
 tue, and that which was considered as the restraint of corruption, be- 
 came one of the most powerful means of encouraging vice. 
 
 "Yet how widely has our legislature differed from the practice of the 
 ancients! Neither the Greeks, Romans, nor any of the ancient legis- 
 lators had extended the right of bequest beyond the immediate heir; 
 and in fact, to extend it farther, instead of securing, would be to an- 
 nihilate property; for to give a citizen the power of disposing of his 
 property forever, is exactly the same thing as depriving of their right, 
 all the proprietors who may in future succeed him." 
 
 "Yet the vulgar herd of our lawyers, from a blind adoration of the 
 Roman Institutes, desire to perpetuate majorats." &c. &c. 
 
 He states that the Fuero Jazgo, which was the code of public and 
 private justice in Spain down to the 13th century, contains not the 
 slightest vestige of it. The barbarous establishment originated in the 
 feudal laws; transferred, by the Spanish students of law from Bologna 
 to Salamanca, and infused into the Alphonsine code, or laws of the Far- 
 tidas. "This was the germ of that plant whose fruit is now so fatal." 
 
 "And would to God, when they had introduced this destructive doc- 
 trine, they had taken fiefs as their model in the establishment of ma- 
 jorats. 
 
 "The most ancient precedents of majorats in Spain, reach no higher 
 than the fourteenth century, and they rarely occurred even in that 
 period." "Legal men then began to remove the barriers, which the laws 
 opposed to perpetual entail, till they were entirely abrogated in the 
 15th century, by the Cortez of Toro." 
 
 "But, admitting that majorats ( mayorazgos) are essential to the 
 support of the nobility, how can they be justified in the plebeian classes 
 of society?" 
 
 Primogeniture then is not feudal privilege, since plebeians have then- 
 share of it; nor is a raayorazgo, nobility. The abolishment of mayo- 
 razgos in Chili has been unluckily followed by the creation of nobility 
 and the extension of feudal privilege. — It may be hoped that our author 
 now understands the difference between a circus and a hill, a mayo- 
 razgo and a fief. — Had he comprehended it a little sooner, it might 
 
38 
 
 have saved his reputation, by causing some erasures — amounting to 
 more than a moiety of his book! — The diffusion of the law of entail over 
 Spain and her distant provinces brings us back to Jovellanos, who al- 
 ways deserves to be heard. — 
 
 "It is surprising to observe how justice in Spain has been overturned 
 by the very laws intended for its support. Our lawyers, exclusively 
 devoted to the study of Roman jurisprudence, have introduced at the 
 bar a mass of discordant opinions which wage a perpetual conflict with 
 the wisdom of the courts. — The cortes of Toro with the design of defi- 
 ning accurately legal verity, sanctioned opinions the most fatal in their 
 effects." 
 
 "The law of the Fuero, in granting the liberty of an unequal divi- 
 sion of his goods, had no other aim than that a virtuous father should 
 be able to recompense a dutiful son. — The law of Toro by allowing 
 perpetual entail to property unequally divided, has taken away from 
 parents the power of recompense, prevents virtuous children froiw re- 
 ceiving their merited rewards, and deprives virtue of all that which it 
 gauraatees to family vanity for generations to come." (Laborde vol. iv.) 
 
 The profound Jovellanos,— & philosopher and statesman as well as a 
 lawyer, is extremely severe on his own profession.— His investigations, 
 with those of Campomanes, on the injustice and impolicy of tolerating 
 the vast mass of ecclesiastical property, only drew down reproaches 
 and persecution on the authors. Campomanes happening to lose his 
 eyesight, the clergy affirmed that heaven had punished with that judg- 
 ment his impious arguments against the chartered "vested rights" of 
 the church. — Jovellanos incurring xhe displeasure of the king's favour- 
 ite, the Prince of Peace, was immured in a convent, and denied the 
 use of pen, ink, and books,— catechism and breviary excepted! — So 
 detestable are truth, reason, and independence in the eyes of tyrauts. 
 -^-(It is not likely that our Secretary will be persecuted for any of 
 these defects. J 
 
 A description of "five kinds or classes of inayorazgo," is given by 
 Laborde, volume v. chapter v. 
 
 It is not necessary to remind you, my venerable friend, that the 
 principle of entails was applied in England by the Statute of West- 
 minster 2, in 1285, about a century before it was introduced into Spain 
 — where it was not confirmed until Ferdinand after the death of Isa- 
 bella, convened the Cortes at the city of Toro. 
 
 Laborde could have likewise convinced our '-Secretary" that eccle- 
 siastical jurisdict ion, and the right of presentation to vacant benefices, 
 were neither simultaneous, nor the same! — But where errors swarm 
 thicker than locusts, who can bring down the whole at a single shot? 
 So many are winged and fluttering, that any one may catch them with- 
 out running a breathless race! 
 
 To put his political opinions out of doubt, the "Secretary" inculcates 
 the notion, (page 282, vol.11, et passim) that a people may be formed for 
 freedom under an aristocratic government. Yet, the uniform testimony 
 of history teaches us that civil institutions deteriorate instead of bein°- 
 perfected — unless the utmost care be exercised in laying their founda- 
 tions and regulating their forms. He forgets that governments have 
 
39 
 
 incalculable influence on the minds, manners, and principles of the ci- 
 tizens.— The following extracts scarce need a comment: — 
 
 "I should be sorry to see a Napoleon rise up among them; but if 
 there should be one, still would 1 wish him success in the great cause 
 of emancipation from Spain." — ib 234. 
 
 Yes' yes! if the Brazilians ought to be content with a king, why not 
 the Spanish Americans also? Emancipation from the tyrant is not 
 enough, without emancipation from the tyranny. 
 
 "Religion will be unavoidably blended with the government, as the 
 successor to the king is also the head of the church." 
 
 There is a more powerful reason: the clergy are left in possession of 
 their property and privileges, — exempt from civil jurisdiction; and for 
 their services in debasing the people, they are admitted into partner- 
 ship with the military upstarts who have seized the government. The 
 poor people are held in the triple leash of superstition, the sword, and 
 commercial monopoly. — Our Secretary frankly avows the maxims of 
 administration by which this system is to be perpetuated. 
 
 "The leading men can figure but a short time on the stage, unless 
 they contrive to close up all the avenues of improvement by a com- 
 plete restoration of the inquisitorial system of Spain." (285.) 
 
 It is in complete operation: a universal system of espionage places 
 the whole population in a state of surveillance, as to the usurpers. — 
 Will any rational man deny the fact? 
 
 "As far as the destinies of the nation can at the present time depend 
 on particular men, they apparently rest on three individuals, Puerrey- 
 don, Belgrano, and San Martin, who have a perfect understanding 
 with each other, and are supported by the leading men of the country." 
 
 This is a rare sentence in such a "Voyage;" for, it is true. They 
 erect a secret society or political cabal in Buenos-Ayres, another in 
 Santiago; whose members having an interest separate from the people, 
 are linked together as a faction. Clubs of this kind have a factious 
 tendency every where, and have the same eftectasan order of nobility. 
 Over this occult machinery is reared a politico-military order — a legion 
 of honor, with salaries and privileges annexed. Chili being really a 
 province of Buenos-Ayres, is governed accordingly. 
 
 "To condemn (San Martin) for supposed intentions, would not be 
 just: as long as a man's actions are great and honorable, it is ungener- 
 ous to supply improper motives." 
 
 Intentions! was he ever so much as censured for intentions? Did not 
 the "Secretary," callous as he is, regard the murder of two illustrious 
 republicans, by order of San Martin, as a "melancholy event?" And 
 he, after such an admission, talks of intentions! — though 
 
 All great Neptune's ocean cannot wash this blood 
 Clean from his hand. 
 
 Yet, our "Secretary" seems to argue as coldly on the butchery, as an 
 instigator could: "Things without remedy, should be without regard — 
 What's done, is done." -This baseness is unspeakably reprehensi- 
 ble in an American citizen. San Martin endeavors to buoy himself 
 
40 
 
 up in his arbitrary career by the example of England; of that England 
 who expended millions in bribes, distributed by her agents in Switzer- 
 land, Sfc. to excite the fury of factions, and spread horror among the 
 revolutionists in France; of that same England who now smiles benig- 
 nantly on the sanguinary conduct which disgraces and nullifies there- 
 volution in Buenos-Ayres and Chili.* — How culpable then is the wri- 
 ter who labors to misdirect public opinion in the United States? who 
 yields approbation to deeds that merit eternal execration? who tries to 
 present to honest Fame, the subjects, the favorites of Infamy? 
 
 If the note to page 58, vol. IT. be authentic and intelligible, the "Sec- 
 retary" confesses, that he acted as a spy over the republican general Car- 
 rera, by means of a royalist, — as he appears to have done at Montevideo 
 on another occasion. 
 
 Page 272. "Mr. Adams's Defence of the American Constitutions, 
 which at this time was very much read and studied, gave them ideas 
 of checks, and balances in government " &c. 
 
 Neither check nor balance has yet been discovered capable of con- 
 trolling the absorption of all influence by the executive branches of 
 government, whether elective or hereditary. A deliberative bodv may 
 balance a deliberative body, but no other- An executive power must 
 be poised by another, or limited in duration, or its patronage abridged 
 by distribution in various channels, — else the head becomes the su- 
 preme director of the members. Experience indicates no other alter- 
 natives—Our Secretary appears to have admitted this opinion, and pre- 
 fers the result! page 267. 
 
 "But, I have already noticed the peculiar tendency in this union to- 
 wards anarchy in the members, much more to be dreaded, than to abso- 
 lute power in the head." Again: "To preserve the balance, was an 
 extremely difficult task; the habits of the people inclined them to look 
 up to the executive for every thing; and this branch was therefore 
 found by degrees to have engrossed all authority." 
 
 Experiments made in all countries testify invariably to the same 
 principle. — This acknowledgement of our "Secretary" not only refutes 
 his aspersions on the South American republicans, who sought to re- 
 strain excessive power; but leaves himself inexcusablcfor attacking 
 them as visionaries, who had faith in paper-constitutions} while he had 
 none, or very little. True it is, that constitutions of civil government 
 are so often overturned by construction, that we are in danger of los- 
 ing a portion of our veneration for them.— We should guard them, 
 however, against the arts and the order that are forever sapping them. 
 We put the laws under the mgis of a corps interested in litigation.— 
 We suffer them to be couched in ambiguity, or overlaid by a technical 
 phraseology, having reference to the common law. Nay, more: We 
 select our legislators from decipherers and interpreters; or we send 
 illiterate delegates, who must be led by others. Confusion is the conse« 
 
 * To a consular and political agent at , the British government gives 
 
 a salary of 12,000 dollars, with other privileges— a good stipend for "fanning the 
 embers" of faction! 
 
41 
 
 quence. We sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. Every law ought 
 to be expressed in the common language,-- simple and intelligible- 
 Historians have wondered at the conciseness of treaties and public do- 
 cuments among the Swiss, who would comprise an ordinance in a few 
 sentences. The secret is, that they used no superfluous words, and 
 intended no evasion. — Their meaning was conveyed directly, perspi- 
 cuously, briefly. A law with them, as with Gulliver's great people, 
 was not the parent of a hundred law suits and subterfuges. — It is cu- 
 rious enough, saysNaylor, "to compare the concise and simple style 
 employed by the Helvetic states in regulating the conditions of their 
 federative government with the verbose and complex forms of modern 
 diplomacy." Can we not dispense with their translations, and ex- 
 press laws intelligibly ? They answer, NO. 
 
 The people have in reality lost their power, — the sceptre has de- 
 parted from their hands, by relinquishing the authorship and enact- 
 ment of the laws, to an order who profit by "universal doubt." — (Many 
 •executive offices, I grant, under this system, require to be filled by 
 lawyers.) 
 
 This accounts for the progeny of unconstitutional and anti-republi- 
 can ordinances spawned under "construction," — without express au- 
 thority. We professed strict equality of rights, and immediately in- 
 vaded our constitution to confer privileges ! 
 
 We stipulated most solemnly to have a sacred respect for property; 
 and we quickly invested a club of persons with the privilege of dis- 
 turbing all the property^ real and personal, in the nation. — The emis- 
 sion of paper-money, universally affecting prices, operates this effect. 
 
 Orders and parties thus created appear to be inextinguishable. — 
 Wherefore? Can the people not correct abuses, repeal the objectionable 
 laws, and resume, their lost power? — The high priests and the petti- 
 foggers of the law answer, NO. 
 
 What! Is iniquity irrevocable? is error unalterable? is assumption 
 irreversible? 
 
 The lawyers, the greatest of them too, reply that — IT IS. They 
 tell us, that the question is not even liable to be discussed ; that if con- 
 gress once stumble, the faux-pas is irreparable : if judges usurped or 
 erred for once, they are bound to abide by it forever. 
 
 But the interpreters cannot be serious in urging such tenets ? 
 
 They say they are. 
 
 Human nature being fallible, it was our boast that we had introduced 
 a 'system of moral liberty and legislative reason, under which error 
 could not be incorrigible; that the detects ot yesterday would be amend- 
 ed to-day, and improvement be progressive with knowledge.— But, our 
 luminaries of the 'law teach otherwise: the gentlemen blind us by their 
 light. They maintain dogmas of infallibility more transcendant than 
 the popes pretended to: for, in cases of the Supreme Pontiff, people 
 could appeal to general councils from an arbitrary or unscriptural bull, 
 but from the bulls of a Supreme Court there lies no appeal. It is the 
 last resort. Opinions fluctuate; but we must regard all their dicta as 
 infallible. We must not examine the doctrine, but submit to the de* 
 cision! 
 
43 
 
 And have the people lost all sensibility and bid adieu to their ra- 
 tional faculties? It seems so for the present. Perchance they are only 
 asleep, not dead. — 
 
 The consequences of these backslidings must be a practical govern- 
 ment widely different from that on paper, — and as originally intended. 
 —Orders are introduced: We have as your favorite author says, four 
 parties, the republican, monarchical, stock, and patronage. — (All are 
 divisible into two classes — friends and enemies of equal rights.) — The 
 confederacy of aristocratical interest threatens to overwhelm the pub- 
 lic interest. Election will degenerate apace into prescribed formality, 
 or a forestalled opinion. — The press will be silenced, or speak like a 
 parrot the lessons it is taught.— A small minority instead of a majority 
 can rule the many-headed multitude. — We have tacitly surrendered 
 the citadel where we had deposited the palladium of liberty. It was 
 not necessary to rifle it. We threw it open. 
 
 The worst calamity of all is the conduits prepared for the convey- 
 ance of executive influence through the instrumentality of these orders: 
 whenever (if ever) we happen to have an aspiring president. The most 
 subtile element in nature, the electric fluid, cannot pass without a me- 
 dium. It is inoperative and powerless in vacuo. — To keep tyranny at 
 a distance the instruments of it ought to be broken betimes. 
 
 From all which I conclude in partially excusing the "Secretary" for 
 his contempt of "paper constitution men;" but, to preserve the paper 
 constitution, I would draw their fangs, or bridle the sophisters that 
 destroy it, or explain it away. — We cannot possibly retain our respect 
 for an instrument which is stretched to-day and will be shrivelled to- 
 morrow, according to the interests or caprice of a ruling party.— It is 
 now extended to embrace incorporations, i. e. to admit the wooden 
 horse: It is again contracted to prevent the exit of slavery. — Let such 
 instruments therefore be written in comprehensible language; but pre- 
 sume not to supply an omission by construction. Amendments are 
 easilv procured, when obviously requisite; but, when glosses come in, 
 law walks out. The toleration of a single departure from the plain 
 literal import of a constitutional provision destroys the conditions and 
 relations of the whole. One breach in a fortress is quite sufficient to 
 let in the enemy. — To allow of forced constructions "is to give way to 
 the torrent of opinions." 
 
 " When our South-American friends begin to fortify their civil rights, 
 they must take care to exclude the termites who would prey upon the 
 leaves of their charter, and scatter the fragments to the winds,— unmean- 
 ing as the ravings of the Sybil.— Notwithstanding the worth and talent 
 perverted in the profession,* sustained in popularity by the pleasing 
 
 *I am not so illiberal as to insinuate that our ''Secretary" is a fair specimen of 
 the corps, — though his book reminds one of the quarter where advocates of abu- 
 ses may be indefinitely recruited. The profession opens the sublime study of mor- 
 al science, — but its practical tendency is indisputably pernicious. — As a particu- 
 lar class are attached by the disorders of society, they are tempted to create social 
 diseases. InW single county, the most opulent of this state at the last term of 
 the court, t-welve hundred new lawsuits were instituted for the recovery of debts, 
 
43 
 
 arts of declamation;--notwithstanding the eloquence that occasionally 
 adorns it, the people are reduced to the alternative of abolishing law- 
 yer-prerogative or of being politically demolished by it. — 
 
 The American revolution was undeniably the triumph of iasulted 
 reason over insulting authority. As we forget the maxims of that glo- 
 rious sera, the latter recovers the reins. Our experience confirms a 
 shrewd remark of De Pradt, that a state may be assailed by the parent 
 country with most success, sometime after its independence is establish- 
 ed As true principles disappear before constructive analogies, we re- 
 lapse into old practices, inconsistent with the new government. But 
 I have wandered too far from the text! 
 
 We must enter into a more serious reckoning with him by and by 
 than his deficiency as a linguist: he is even more unfaithful than in- 
 competent. His observations on men are as notable as on bulls and 
 circuses. 
 
 Of Mr. Tagle, the Secretary of State, he observes: — "His private 
 character is not free from imputation, with what justice, I shall not 
 take upon me to say." 
 
 Was this fraction of truth forced from him by Tagle's saying that 
 our Secretary could not converse in Spanish, while his flagitious crimes 
 are unnoticed, I suppose, because he (Tagle) is one of the "men in 
 power?" Did he not learn Tagle's celebrity in guilty intrigue? — taking 
 bribes with avidity, — and then pronouncing his opinion that republi- 
 canism was ridiculous, because he regarded all others to be base and 
 corrupt as himself? — The facts proved against him in the remonstrance 
 (now before me) of D. Benito Vidal to the congress, and disregarded 
 by that independent body, are not surpassed in the annals of iniquity. 
 
 He attended obsequiously, no doubt, to Mr. Alvarez, who is one of 
 the chiefs of the government — Formerly guilty of insubordination, he 
 was elevated for a season, by one revolt, and sent out of office in ano- 
 ther, loaded with accusations, for which he has never been brought to 
 account — notwithstanding the faroical enquiry of residencia, of which 
 our author must surely speak in jest. "He appeared extremely de- 
 sirous of cultivating our acquaintance," page 8: and his information 
 must have been acceptable, as he is "marrried to a neice of general 
 Belgramo," the monarchist, and one of "the three great men of the 
 country." 
 
 The Secretary represents Mr. Funes as a timid, querulous old man, 
 who harbors some ho>ror at the scenes of t\\z revolution, (though an 
 accomplice in one of the worst,) moody at the hard fate of Cordova, 
 his native city. "He is inclined towards the federative system." Dr. 
 Funes (I am informed) spoke of the monopoly of Buenos-Ayres, — of 
 the spoliation committed on the lights and library of Cordova; and evi- 
 dently felt some grief at the subjection of his province to the poten- 
 
 and only twenty -one had been determmeo! — Most of these had grown, I suppose, 
 out of bank debts, loans, and derangements of the currency. — How vast must have 
 been the distress throughout our country, from incorporations, &c! Privileged 
 corps united by a kindred spirit, become allies in oppression. 
 
44 
 
 tates of Buenos-Ayres. We devoutly wish the rest of his conduct had 
 been honorable as this! He decided it otherwise! 
 
 Old Mr. Escalada has the peculiar merit of being the father-in-law 
 of general San Martin, "unquestionably the great man of the country." 
 He became conspicuous soon after the revolution, bv menacing the new 
 republic with a counter-revolution, unless the government should de- 
 sist from punishing Concha, (the Spanish governor and intendant) 
 taken in arms against it. He was ordered to r oche, 12 leagues from 
 the city, for his misconduct. This is the true whig, in our Secreta- 
 ry's view. — We presume to speak only of gentlemen's political beha- 
 viour and principles. Their choice company may denote gentility; 
 their Falernian wine may evince hospitality; but it is immaterial to 
 this "residencia" whether the gay visitors danced minuet?, contradan- 
 zas or fandangos. Page 10, vol. II. 
 
 Mr. Frias and Villegas, though said to be devoid of abilities, or 
 great acquirements, are praised to the highest note, being "men in 
 power." 
 
 Mr. Iregoyen, secretary of war, he describes as a showy man, and 
 extremely ambitious, — "tormented by envy at the success of others," 
 and discontented, "that he is not placed above every one." Ambition 
 is no crime: if it be culpable in him, what is it in Puerreydon, or San 
 Martin and Belgrano, who sought for monarchy?* We must infer that 
 Mr. Iregoyen spoke unfavorably of the conduct of government, and 
 consequently forfeited the praise of its flatterer. 
 
 Page 14, vol. II. "I have frequently heard San Martin and his wife 
 cited as an example of a happy marriage, which is by no means nega- 
 tive praise in a country where morals are unfortunately depraved, and 
 where the marriage state is held in too little respect." 
 
 To me, my friend, it appears as impertinent as mean to debase a 
 whole people for the sake of paying more oily adulation to a man al- 
 ready corrupted by it. San Martin's deportment as a husband, does 
 not concern us — If he exterminated the bravest of brave patriots in 
 Chili, in order to oppress their country, quash republican sentiments, 
 and entrench himself in usurped power, the garlands woven for his 
 brow by the "Secretary of the Mission," must fade to bloom no more. 
 I shall rigorously enquire into the proofs of those "unhappy deeds" 
 in the sequel. Perhaps I may have pursued the Secretary's track to 
 an improper extent in some cases. — He had no business to enter the 
 sanctuary of private life, to extol "San Martin and his wife" as a rare 
 exception from the practice of the community. An American reader 
 will be apt to reprimand him with the blunt rebuke of Sancho Panza: 
 "miracle or no miracle," said Sancho, '"let every man take care how 
 he speaks or writes of honest people, and not set down at a venture 
 the first thing that comes into his jolter head." 
 
 * Mr, De Forrest, (we ask pardon for the reference) will not dispute this point: 
 though a republican himself, he believes the majority of men of property in Buenos- 
 Ayres are in favor of royalty, and that it would suit them better than republicanism. 
 They are not tingxilar.' 
 
45 
 
 Such are the features of the Secretary's observations on men and 
 measures. — He rejects the testimony of the Americans, English, 
 French, even of the Secretary at war, unanimous and impartial, and 
 forms his opinion from that of four or five placemen, who are interest- 
 ed. — But, he is a quondam "judge," you know — and it is the doctrine 
 of the present day in this lawyer-ridden nation, that judges and law- 
 yers are infallible as Popes. The pretensions are about equal. We 
 need political Luthers to reform the infallibles. 
 
 It has been pointedly remarked by gentlemen familiarly acquainted 
 with Buenos-Ayres, that the place where our Secretary planted hi3 
 observatory, is singular as his doctrine. Twelve dollars a month for 
 a lodging! when, for the credit of his country and station, he ought to 
 ha\e expended above a hundred. Oh fye!— However, if it was not 
 splendid, it was a clean, comfortable paradise, "a beautiful aromatic 
 shrub on one side of the door, and a jessamine on the other," (page 6, 
 vol. II.) and Dona Marcella within, like Prosorpine, — "herself a fairer 
 flower."— A1J was physically neat and orderly, and the lady and her 
 daughters had an extensive acquaintance. "I found my situation so 
 
 comfortable, says B , (page 6, vol. II.) that I was unwilling to 
 
 change it even after the commissioners had been fixed in their new es- 
 tablishment." — I say nothing of his residence in such a temple; sup- 
 posing it to have arisen from accident and misinformation. — It was not 
 a place adapted to political enquiry: and it was extremely unfortunate 
 tor another reason: It separated this false, indiscreet mortal from the 
 guardianship of the commissioners, gave astute men occasion for over- 
 reaching him through his vanity, and subjected him to intemperate de- 
 portment, in which he dishonored the Mission by his foolish loquaci- 
 ty, malignity and misconduct. His "insinuations" perhaps, endanger- 
 ed the life of one of them, and degraded the dignity of ail. An Ame- 
 rican gentleman was so wounded at the infamous proceeding, that he 
 mentioned the circumstance by letter to a late American agent then in 
 Chili, and now in Baltimore. — I extract the following: — 
 
 " Buenos-Ayres, 1st of May, 1818. 
 "Strange reports are in circulation respecting the object of his (Mr. 
 *****'s) journey. All have arisen from the indecorous and highly 
 scandalous conversation of the Secretary Braclcenridge, who spoke of 
 the Commissioners as of the most indifferent persons in this place — 
 and really rendered his utmost services to make them contemptible 
 in the opinion of all their fellow citizens. You know my unbiassed pat- 
 riotism. I felt hurt beyond expression, Government should be very 
 cautious in such appointments.— I have reason to fear his insinuations 
 have travelled on with Mr. *****, and if made public, ivill place him 
 in an aukward predicament.'' 1 ' 
 
 On perfidy like the Secretary's, remark is useless. The dictates of 
 duty could not bind him to prudence against the native malignancy ot 
 his disposition. — Decency and honor were to him unmeaning sounds:' 
 
46 
 
 he embarrasses a public officer in an important duty,- --he depreciates 
 them all in the very scene of their action; and actually occasioned a 
 cold repulsive treatment in a certain quarter, which stung the feelings 
 of the Commissioners, and thwarted their purposes in a great degree. 
 The treacherous cause, not revealed until this letter imparted it to a 
 friend, after their departure—this, I say, partially explains the ru- 
 moured want of cordiality in their reception or intercourse at Buenos- 
 Ayres.-— See! how he repaid the kindness — the charity of the commis- 
 sioners who generously retained him as Secretary, instead of dismissing 
 him, after they were obliged to call in others to perform an essential 
 part of the duty to which he was incompetent! — Perfidiousness so fla- 
 grant, so unpardonable, cannot but excite extreme disgust.— A detect- 
 ed impostor will not readily find any refuge but — Coventry. If I make 
 any reference again to him, it is only as a necessary instrument for 
 elucidating a highly interesting subject. 
 
 As he catechized a young American, (p. 35.) who was unfriendly to 
 men in power,* so we interrogate him, and answer for him on authori- 
 ty of his book : 
 
 How long was he at Buenos-Ayres ? Only six weeks. 
 Was he much among different classes of peopled Only among per- 
 sons in power : 
 Could he speak the language ? No. 
 Had he ever been out of the United States before ? No. 
 That no species of disingenuousness might be unattempted, our Sec- 
 retary devotes nearly two pages in his epitome of stromaticks, alias 
 hotch-potch, £37, 38, vol, II.) to mangle a most excellent letter, writ- 
 ten I believe, by the most distinguished ot the commissioners, to a pri- 
 vate friend in this city. It is characterised by the same impartiality 
 and independence that haVe uniformly marked that gentleman's 
 thoughts and actions. After garbling it the secretary says, ei Ihave 
 inserted it in the appendix." And yet he has omitted it, lest the whole 
 tenor of the letter should attract admiration and detect his fallacy. 
 It is the same production we read together heretofore, in JViles's Re- 
 gister, vol. xiv. p. 288,-9. 
 
 Before he went to Buenos-Ayres, the Secretary had expressed a de- 
 corous opinion that " it was equally wrong in us to pretend to take 
 sides in the political disputes which must occur in La Plata, as well as 
 in other republics." p. 351, vol. II. 
 
 We have no right, we claim none, to intermeddle in their internal 
 affairs; but it would be both humane and politic to interpose our friend- 
 ly mediation between conflicting provinces, if not parties. Buenos- 
 Ayres has been uninvaded since the revolution; — she grew haughty in 
 her security, and turned invader herself: she sought to humble equal 
 
 " He came to me, and in a kind of half whisper, as if afraid of being- over- 
 beard, and a mysterious face, related to me all those horrors which I have already 
 noticed, and many more " And all this civility seems to have been treated with 
 scorn.— He distrusted persons unconnected with place or power, but confides in 
 the exculpatory stories of the officers of government. 
 
47 
 
 states, and reduced Cordova and others to her domination. What 
 conspired to fan this ambitious spirit, I shall treat of hereafter. It 
 kindled a conflagration that rages to this hour. With the exit of 
 Fuerreydon from the directorship, a milder administration is believed 
 to have succeeded — Robespierrean executions and judicial murders 
 have abated or ceased — and possibly the sanguinary system is entirely 
 exploded. In Chili and Mendoza the priests of Moloch are perhaps 
 satiated with blood. The pause offers an occasion to interfere with ef- 
 fect. I entreat you to revolve this opinion in your clearer mind, and 
 give me yours. Sentiments published in the Censor of Buenos- Ayres 
 some time ago, (though rather sui generis) give plausibility to the 
 scheme. The editor observes in substance ; we vibrate between one sys- 
 tem of government and another, now looking to Europe,now to the Uni- 
 ted States, uncertain which of them will recognise us.* In truth, he 
 intimates that fluctuating between both, they were ready to grapple 
 themselves to the political principles of either ! so heavily weighed 
 foreign opinion in their judgment ! Here is an unusual deference to 
 the views of others. Its weakness strengthens the argument for my 
 position. Let us seize the occasion. How glorious, how God-like to 
 reconcile foes ! assuage acerbity, banish feuds, emancipate opinion, 
 fortify freedom, and bury the dagger ! This friendly, affectionate, 
 Christian part would I play. In this attitude of dignified benevolence, 
 we should petrify the disturbers with awe : patriots would hail us as sa- 
 viours : we should gain the sincerest benedictions. — Thus should we 
 disarm virulence by a moral weapon, " compel without force" and de- 
 pose usurpers by opinion. I mean, such would be the consequence of 
 our amicable mediation. This measure seems worthy of the nation, 
 to which Bolivar, Carrera, all Spanish-America, looked up, as to the 
 political head of the continent. This would be widely different from 
 cringing to vice (as our Secretary does) because it happens to be in- 
 vested with power. Let us exhibit more contradictions for variety's 
 sake. 
 
 P. 102, 3, vol. II. he reverberates the eulogium of Be Pradt, on the 
 city of Buenos-Ayres, that neither Tyre nor Carthage; the city of Al- 
 exander or Constantine, had higher destinies . " There is no other 
 town in South-America, whose position is in any way to be compared 
 with it." — If she possesses these advantages in herself, why prey upon 
 her neighbors ? — Why impose her governors and prsetors, and interdict 
 their commerce ? However, if he does not answer these questions he 
 settles the accouut. Hear per contra : — -His intention and his evi- 
 dence rarely agree : 
 
 " Unless the war terminates successfully in this quarter, (Upper 
 Peru &c.) Buenos-Ayres, from being a great emporium must dwindle 
 away" &c. p. 183. — " With Paraguay and the provinces of Peru an 
 
 * This indecision may be one reason why Buenos-Ayres, though sure of in- 
 dependence, has not reared a single institution in support of civil liberty, except 
 those introduced by Dr. Mariano Moreno, in the time of the first Junta, or by Don 
 M. Serratea soon after. Indeed the best of them has been evaded or arbitrarily 
 overleaped, as we shall see hereafter 
 
48 
 
 intercourse and trade can scarcely be said to exist" p. 103. — One day 
 or other, the whole of this table land, capable of supporting twice the 
 population of France, will be attracted to the shores of the Pacific, 
 through its means,'" viz. a communication from lake Titicaca, to that 
 ocean, (seep. 137,) Consult also Bland's report on Chili, p. 117. Unless 
 military or other despotism prevent, the commerce of Potosi and the 
 adjacent provinces will naturally be attracted to the nearer ports on 
 the Pacific. Why then this vapouring about Buenos-Jlyres as an em- 
 porium, when the foundation is denied next moment? Nature not 
 designating her for a great mart, intrigue cannot retain the exclusion 
 it seizes. From many letters written in Buenos- Ayre3, I select the 
 following extract of a letter, its author one of the most respectable 
 gentleman there. 
 
 " Buenos-Jlyres, 3d June, 1819. 
 " The celebration of an armistice with general Artigas's agents, of 
 the people of Santa-Fe, induced a belief that a friendly and lasting ar- 
 rangement was almost certain : I fear not. although this government has 
 ceded many pretensions. Without a peace with Artigas, this place 
 ivlll absolutely become a nullity, as respects the interior trade. The 
 leading points insisted on by Artigas were the independence of the 
 Banda Oriental, the establishing of Santa Fe as a free port of trade for 
 the interior. This admission will cut a very large slice from the trade 
 of this place, as Santa-Fe is a very central spot, a poor miserable town 
 now, but as a free port would flourish beyond all calculation ; for it 
 can easily supply Chili, Mendoza and Peru with all the yerba requir- 
 ed (which is immense) and at a much lower rate than this place — the 
 distance over land being considerably less, and carts of every kind are 
 to be had inabundance — There is plenty of materials for making them." 
 
 This simple relation speaks a volume. A practical merchant does not 
 aay that '• it is too high up the river for sea vessels." 92, vol II. Do- 
 cuments like it, from merchants ou the spot cannot be rebutted by flip- 
 pancy. Our " Secretary" abuses the cities and provinces for refu- 
 sing to be crushed, and the people he paints in English colors and his 
 own, (p. 110, vol. II. &c. &c.) as barbarous, vicious and ignorant, to 
 justify despotic cabal in Buenos- Ayres. He is right when he remarks 
 that" something has been said with respect to the town of Santa-Fe," 
 lor the attempt to conquer it by the " military republic" (as he fa- 
 cetiously calls Buenos-Ayres) has cost rivers of blood. And this un- 
 principled scribbling " Secretary" dares to insult the brave men who 
 resist chains ! to stigmatize as refractory barbarians the champions of 
 equal rights ! to asperse with opprobrium the intelligent citizens and 
 independent soldiers who distinguish things from names — who scorn 
 the absurd idea of setting up fallible judges to dole out infallible 
 opinions. 
 
 I fear that I am growing tedious — 1 have trespassed on your pa- 
 tience. Nevertheless I must crave your attention for a moment long- 
 er to a concise commentary on a subject very industriously misrepre- 
 sented, and strangely misunderstood— I mean general Jlrtigas's warfare 
 with Portugal, his privateers, cfc. 
 
49 
 
 Our hopeful Secretary, who calculates his work for three meridians, 
 — for Washington, — for Rio Janeiro, and Buenos-Ayres, is sometimes 
 distracted by attempting to keep watch on each. The hundred-eyed 
 Argus, you know, used always to keep a pair of eyes open whilst nine- 
 ty eight slept; sentinels relieved sentinels, and his guard-house was 
 never shut — till Mercury's time. But, a man who has only a couple 
 is obliged to close both at times, and snore or nod unguarded; eUe by 
 extreme watchfulness he becomes squint-eyed, or purblind. Hence 
 much incongruity, from the obliquity of vision. He shamefully mis- 
 takes a cautious policy at Washington for an illiberal one, and writes 
 accordingly. Your learned and justly celebrated friend the Abbe, he 
 knows to be a favorite there: and, as this diplomatist is in duty bound 
 fas such,) to vindicate that wicked policy, which as a moralist he must 
 abhor, Brack, mistakes the official character for the natural one. He 
 consequently misreckons with a vengeance: with tooth and nail he de- 
 fends the unjustifiable aggression of the king of Brazil. By volunteer- 
 ing in this unjust cause the pettifogger secures a king for a client, and 
 bears down upon the republican Artigas without mercy; annihilates his 
 ports, clips his territory (on paper,) scalps his character, tomahawks 
 his gauchos, d s his lubberly, piratical sailors, and mauls his con- 
 fessor and secretary. The "last not least" of his tripartite cares is to 
 bepraise the "men in power" at La Plata, and to malign their enemies 
 Hercules himself would have resigned his club, doffed his lion's skin, 
 and taken up the distaff, (jennies were not then in vogue.) rather than 
 lay his shoulder to such labour. 
 
 Though our Secretary treats of a law-subject, in glancing at the 
 rights (jf war, he stumbles at every step. — If he hirnples along so lame- 
 ly on his chosen ground, how must he figure on a different field? Let 
 us cite him in various parts verbatim. 
 
 "1 have uniformly condemned the whole scheme of privateering in 
 the name of the patriot governments, especially of those that have nei- 
 ther ships, seamen, nor even ports of their own." preface, page s. 
 
 "The town of Maldonado. at the distance of two or three miles from 
 the beach, had been abandoned by the Portuguese; and English or Am- 
 erican vessels were permitted to carry on a trade with the inhabitants. 
 The whole coast was in fact, under the controul of the Portuguese, and 
 was maintained by not less than eight or ten vessels of war. The Banda 
 Oriental does not even own a single ton of shipping: and I question 
 much whether Artigas has half a dozen seamen in the whole extent of 
 his government. Since my return to this country, I saw in the news- 
 papers the names of several ports under his jurisdiction; but I heard 
 nothing of them whilst I was there. — Some trade up the Uruguay is 
 carried on in small sloops, by individuals from Buenos-Ayres under 
 a kind of special license and favor from Artigas, and winked 
 at by the government of that place." page 259, vol. I. 
 
 "It is our policy to be on good terms with that government [of Bra- 
 zil,] and we have every reason to believe that a disposition prevails 
 to be friendly.— This was certainly the case, until the depredations 
 committed on Portuguese commerce by vessels notoriously fitted out 
 G 
 
50 
 
 from American ports." (Letters on South American affairs, as altered 
 and revised in the new edition. Ap. II. page 344. 
 
 "She [Spain, at the time of Beresford's expedition] had a few wretch- 
 ed troops at Buenos-Ayres and Montevideo; and an indifferent naval 
 force, chiefly stationed at the latter of these places, which from the 
 circumstance of being nearer the ocean, and having a better 
 harbour, was the naval depot." page 219, vol. I. 
 
 "It is chiefly by the commerce with Paraguay that the sailors of the 
 river are formed, as it was there also that the only vessels used in its 
 navigation were constructed." vol. I. page 275, (already cited.) 
 
 "Experience, he (Funes) says, has shown that moderation would 
 have been wiser than violence. It is no easy matter to say what would 
 have been the best manner of managing a man of this [viz. Artigas's 
 description," — "but they did not reflect that Artigas had in his hands 
 the effective force of the country," — ib. page 250. 
 
 "The men bearing arms under Artigas, probably amount to six or 
 eight thousand" page 241. —His fame and superior intellect command 
 their respect. — A few simple words, liberty, country, tyrants; to which 
 each one attaches his own meaning, [for they have yet no pettifog- 
 gers to explain away all meaning,] serve as the ostensible bond of their 
 union." ib. 
 
 "That there should have been such a leader as Artigas, is proba- 
 bly the greatest misfortune that could have happened. — Such is the peo- 
 ple against whom the Portuguese and the people of Buenos-Ayres are 
 at war." page 229. 
 
 "The simple fact is, that if his name had not been used to give sanc- 
 tion to privateers, we should have heard little in his praise," p. 230. 
 
 — "Three hundred men under a chief named Otorguez, appearing and 
 disappearing like the wolves of the plain, accomplish their purpose (of 
 blockading Montevideo) as effectually as if their numbers had amount- 
 ed to five thousand." 
 
 "No kind of force can be better adapted to defend this country against 
 the present invaders, though otherwise of no great importance, as it 
 cami *t be subjected to regular discipline, or be kept any length of time 
 embodied." 
 
 "A gaucho, with a piece of roasted beef, (which is almost the only 
 food) tied to his saddle skirt, is amply provided for several days." — 
 I cannot see how it is possible for the Portuguese to make any farther 
 progress in the conquest of this country," — the mildness of the cli- 
 mate is such, that the natives can live in the open air the whole year 
 round, and the immense herds which roam through the coantry furnish 
 them with ample means of subsistence; at the same time that the par- 
 ties which commonly hover round the march of their enemies, deprive 
 them of this resource." — p. 223, 4. 
 
 " The roving bands, or montaneros, sent over by Artigas, do not 
 merely distress Buenos-Ayres, but all the other provinces by cutting oft" 
 their connexion with their emporium. — p. 23, vol. II. 
 
 "This province [Rio Grande in Brazil] formerly exported and sup- 
 plied the others on the sea-coast with flour and wheat; but for the last 
 
51 
 
 two years there had been no exports of consequence, raising scarcely 
 sufficient for the supply of the troops which have been thrown into the 
 southern part of Brazil, for the purpose of keeping up the war with 
 Artigas." vol. I. p. 173. Finally, 
 
 " It is not more than a year or eighteen months ago, since we knew 
 any thing about Jlrtigas in this country." vol. II. p. 22. 
 
 I fear, my friend, that the Secretary has ensnared himself in a des- 
 perate cause : if this great lawyer has not received a fee, his plight is 
 bad; and if he has, it is worse : the inextricable lazo is around him : let 
 him disentangle it if he can. 
 
 That he knew nothing until lately of general Jlrtigas the president 
 of the Oriental republic, may be true; yet the fame of his valour is 
 coeval with the revolution of La Plata, he signalized himself by en- 
 terprize from the beginning — The first report of him came wafted with 
 the sound of victory — the last tidings announced victory — over supe- 
 rior forces too. Inflexible and wary, he adheres to his simple purpuse, 
 the liberation of his country; and cautiously evades the snares by which 
 he was once nearly circumvented. Anxious to confederate with Bue- 
 nosrAyres, he has made successive overtures for anunion on just repre- 
 sentative principles, but spurns subjection to Buenos-Ayres: no allure- 
 ments can inveigle him from his design. He never wavers. When 
 the biography of this popular chief shall be impartially written, he will 
 appear to mankind, an extraordinary personage. History will associ- 
 ate his name, and compare his deeds, (but not I trust, his fortune!) with 
 those of Viriatus, the intrepid champion, who bravely resisted the Ro- 
 mans, until treacherously murdered at the instigation of their consul; 
 with the fame of Sertorius, a warrior and sage, whose grand designs 
 for the liberty, greatness, and civilization of his hapless country, were 
 blasted also by the stroke of an assassin:* Yes, sir, Artigas must ap- 
 pear on the same roll with Sertorius and Pelagius, contending against 
 the united foes of liberty and independence. — The unequal strife he 
 maintains against Spain, — against Brazil, — against Buenos-Ayres, (a 
 "triple alliance" as to him!) elevates him before the world. Neither 
 the theatre nor the drama, is unknown; and much of the plot is devel- 
 oped in the progress of the action. Here, however, in limine, I ask 
 neither for your opinion nor viva! Admiration itself, might dazzle the 
 judgment. Let us recollect the Secretary's testimony, before we ad- 
 duce more. 
 
 The sanguinary war with "wild gauchos" or wilder democi-ats of the 
 Oriental Banda has desolated the important Brazilian province of Rio 
 Grande. Between Artigas's incursions, and the troops of His Most 
 Faithful Majesty, its prosperity is no more. 
 
 The Montaneros who pass both the Uruguay and Paraguay, not mere- 
 
 st is an admirable example of the fidelity of these unsophisticated people, that 
 neither public rewards for his head, nor private bribes offered by his enemies, 
 could corrupt a single adherent to murder their leader. — 6000 dollars had no ef- 
 fect — 70 ounces of gold and an elegant pair of pistols had no influence except to 
 augment the odium against Buenos-Ayres. None could be hired or seduced to 
 perpetrate so black a deed. 
 
52 
 
 ly distress Buenos- Ayrcs (on the right bank of La Plata) but all the 
 other provinces: 
 
 In that delicious climate, those martial herdsmen, or natural cavalry, 
 can neither be beaten, nor starved: they are inexpugnable; three hun- 
 dred of them can blockade a garrisoned town as effectually as jive thou- 
 sand. 
 
 Those Centaurs are united to a man, and almost adore their general: 
 their rallying words are, "liberty, country, tyrants:" [I need not 
 remind you, that this admission of their union undermines the defence 
 set up elsewhere for the Brazilian invaders, — viz. that they only wished 
 to repel the anarchy which raged in the Oriental Banda, threatening 
 to spread to their frontiers, — and Centre nous) infect their vassals.] 
 
 Artigas wields the effective force of the country; and it is the most 
 puzzling perplexity in the world, how to "manage a man of his des- 
 cription." — 
 
 Sailors are formed in the navigation of the river Paraguay, which is 
 interrupted by the people of Entre Rios whenever Artigas pleases; and 
 that of the Uruguay he controuls entirely, permitting his enemies to 
 spread their sails in it, under iicerise. — (mem. "a kind of license!") 
 
 English and Americans trade with the Orientals at Maldonado: You 
 will remember that there exists a commercial treaty for free trade be- 
 tween general Artigas and the British. — As he fosters commerce in 
 every di<ection, suffering his declared enemies to carry it on within 
 his territorial jurisdiction, we may conclude that he has an expanded 
 mind, which embraces the policy of promoting the best social institu- 
 tions, as soon as he triumphs over the troops of the coalition. — He har- 
 bors ideas of justice and equality. 
 
 The question of the rights of war is very simple. When nations 
 adopt the last resort, that is. appeal from reason to force, adjourning 
 from the council-room to the field of battle, each party may lawfully 
 exert aU his m*:al, intellectual, and physical energies against the other. 
 On the ocean or the laud, belligerent smites belligerent. Neutrals are 
 bound only to impartiality in the bloody fray.— Jw. this broil, a very stu- 
 pid clamor has been set up by the advocates of the aggressors, and re- 
 echoed ;ver the country, that Jlrtigas unjustly assailed by land has 
 no rights on the water!!! Let us examine the pretence deliberately: — 
 A famed nation of antiquity was thought tyrannical when she at- 
 tempted tu appropriate a portion of the Mediterranean, (as Great Bri- 
 tain the narrow seas, or channel,) to herself, and would not suffer 
 the Romans to wash their hands in the sea of Sicily. This sturdy rival 
 becoming dominant in turn, adopted the sordid precedent, and forbade 
 Antiochus to keep above ten small barques. Our Secretary, it seems, 
 would not license Artigas to wash his hands in the Atlantic, or the 
 great estuary of La Plata.*— How unsanctified, how desecrated must 
 
 *As usual, he contradicts himself when speaking of Buenos- Ayr es, whose naval 
 exertions, though made by privateers, he mentions with satisfaction. Page 178, 
 V lie relates ihe arrival of an English armed brig at Buenos-Ayres, "with a 
 
 complement of one hundred and fifty English sailors, commanded by an English 
 lieutenant." She belonged to the government, or was brought for sale, "A squad- 
 
53 
 
 that poor sinner be, who is inhibited from dipping his finger in this 
 grand basin of holy water! It is an aggravation of the torment im- 
 posed on Tantalus, especially, if all the commodious havens of La 
 Plata, and the finest rivers in all that delightful section of the world are 
 situated in the territory of the Banda Oriental, and that of her allies. 
 Of this fact, below: — 
 
 The pretension becomes intolerable, as every people are equally en- 
 titled to launch fleets on that element, and plow its surface from pole 
 to pole. From this equality, M. Jlzuni remarks, that "if at the pre- 
 sent day, a perfect democracy were possible, the sea alone would be- 
 come the theatre of its existence." As no nation can presume a pre- 
 rogative where none can acquire property, it is ridiculous to hear an 
 advocate of the king of Brazil challenging the lawfulness of a cruizer 
 that finds her way to the ocean under the commission of the Oriental 
 republic. Let the enemy pull down her flag in honorable combat, if 
 he can. — Insolent as was his tone, this was Cromwell's meaning, when 
 he wrote to admiral Blake, inviting him to drive back the [Dutch] frogs 
 to their native marshes, that they might not disturb him by their croak- 
 ing. — Exercise the rights of war, in God's name, fairly and manfully 
 against Artigas, and let us have less croaking from party-writers. — If 
 you will continue your raven notes, we shall accept them as ominous 
 to your cause, — as boding ruin to kingly ambition. — As our Secretary 
 hails the king's advent, so I hope, Artigas will give him a warm recep- 
 tion! 
 
 The complaint against privateering ought to have been couched in 
 language less ambiguous "I have uniformly condemned the whole 
 scheme of privateering in the name of the patriot governments." So 
 says Mr. "Secretary to the late Mission." — I have gone farther: — I 
 disapprove of harrassing and plundering individuals in a public quar- 
 rel, as wantonly increasing the miseries of mankind. Let public for- 
 ces assail each other, and private citizens be unmolested. It is lamen- 
 table that great maritime powers should have so long retarded the pro- 
 gress of justice. They have baffled the efforts of the liberal to incor- 
 porate in the conventional law of nations, a perpetual, universal, invi- 
 olable protection for private property of every description. "Political 
 Justice" and Christian equity invoke this safeguard for social inter- 
 course. Place the goods of individuals under the guaranty of public 
 law. Wherefore should a ship and her cargo be forfeited in the self- 
 same war, by the identical belligerent who respects a landed estate and 
 personal effects? The principle of property is invariable. It is an 
 
 ron will be absolutely necessary for their joint operation against Lima. They 
 have ten or twelve privateers in commission, which annoy the Spanish commerce so 
 much that it has already disappeared from the ocean." 
 
 If general Artigas thmks privateers "absolutely necessary" to his operations, 
 how does he incur censure? Is not the government which contends for freedom, 
 authorized to use as many engines as one that fights solely for the spoils of power? 
 — Our Secretary has not then "condemned the -whole scheme of privateering" — he 
 does not condemn the scheme as it respects Buenos-Ayres or Chili, but he would 
 tie up Artigas's hands while the Portuguese or Buenos-Ayreans should cut off his 
 head. 
 
oh 
 
 absolute right: and why is it violable in one case, and inviolable in ano= 
 ther? — Has a fleet more privileges than an army? In reason it has not; 
 in usage it has. Squadrons enjoy prerogatives of pillaging at sea, for 
 exercising the least of which an army would be decimated. — Soldiers 
 who commit robbery on individuals, in an enemy's country, usually 
 suffer prompt, public, exemplary punishment. Why have nations laps- 
 ed into a distinction in custom where there is no rational one? — It is 
 because the wpaker are controuled by the stronger. — To you, my en- 
 lightened friend, who could instruct nations on this subject, I need not 
 enlarge. The map of history is ever open to your capacious mind; you 
 have marked the boundaries of right with precision; and sure I am, 
 you repine at the stupor and cowardice which brooked innovations on 
 maritime law, and acquiesced in violations of natural rights that ought 
 to have been warmly resisted at the door. — Is it too late to plead for 
 the restoration of equitable principles? Nations, I hope, will yet com- 
 bine for universal rights, — though leagued for the last twenty-seven 
 years against them. 
 
 The proposition made in July, 1792, by M. Chauvelin, the French 
 ambassador, to lord Grenville, the English secretary of state, will for- 
 ever reflect honor on the French government: — it was proposed, and in 
 an eloquence worthy of the elevated principle, that the two govern- 
 ments should stipulate, in the event of future wars to discard the igno- 
 ble practice of seizing the private property of enemy's subjects on the 
 high seas.- — How was this offer relished by the cabinet of England? — 
 With silent, gloomy, indecent scorn: no answer was returned. Chau- 
 velin was soon dismissed. — England had already diverted nations from 
 her maritime rapine to a crusade against "French principles:" she held 
 the trident of the seas, and resolved to cover them with desolation — 
 a resolution too fatally realized. Why need I relate the horrors that 
 followed, any more than recount the arrogant pretensions which had 
 preceded that epoch of spoliation? — The laws of nations vanished be- 
 fore the dictation of Britain: In March 1793, the English and- Russian 
 cabinets arbitrarily prohibited all trade with France in naval stores, 
 corn, grain, salted meat, or other provisions! — Still more infamous than 
 this was the secret order issued by the English cabinet in November 
 following — by which their cruizers were ordered to capture all vessels 
 laden with the produce of a French colony, or carrying supplies for 
 the use of such colony. — What a pity that there is not a bedlam for 
 ambitious governments! — If the prohibitions of the Grand Alliance in 
 1689 were abominable as those of Elizabeth had been a century before, 
 (the one levelled at France, the other at Spain) the outrages since the 
 coalition against France have exceeded them all. The violence that 
 supplanted the law, became itself the law: Professional sophistry al- 
 ways stood ready to render its aid, by turning infractions into prece- 
 dents. England had condemned vessels for apparently steering towards 
 blockaded ports; and confiscated ships for having salted provisions on 
 board. Pronouncing sentence of condemnation on the Swedish ship 
 Maria, Sir William Scott professed sacred regard for the immutable 
 laws of nations; but in the next breath vaults into the excuse of pre- 
 cedent, as the nature of that contest, he said, gave Britain the rights of 
 
55 
 
 war in as large a measure as they had been previously exercised at 
 any period of modern cizilization. When principles of law are thus 
 driven from their moorings, he must be a poor quibbler who cannot 
 steer them whither he pleases. — Admit the introduction of past extra- 
 vagancies as a rule for present proceedings, and a laywer's decision is 
 an ingenious jest—but British jests (in the courts of admiralty) have 
 proved rather dear for neutrals.— The unalterable laws of nature, as 
 applied to nations, the British judge evades by a sarcastic antithesis, 
 viz: — that the doctrine inculcated by the new philosophy, or philan- 
 thropy, tends to usher in a state of things not before seen in the world, 
 "that of a military war and a commercial peaceP — Arguments of this 
 sort cost little trouble— it is only necessary to subject reason to autho- 
 rity, and it follows passively without farther enquiry. What a simple 
 device for holding orders, parties, and nations in leading strings! 
 
 The unrestrained transgressions of the strongest have thus been in- 
 terpolated into the code; the feeble tacitly yielding where resistance 
 was impracticable. Humanity has been banished by little and little 
 from naval warfare. The audacious pretence of yesterday becomes pre- 
 cedent to-day, and law to-morrow. Neutral nations have been in a 
 manner enslaved like a particular people, through want of concerted 
 opposition to the first encroachments. 
 
 Practice of search was originally limited to the port; — maritime vio- 
 lence has extended it over the ocean; — and British writers have 
 styled it the right of search. 
 
 It was the law of Europe, that neutral property was safe in an ene- 
 my's ship : England has violated that maxim, though she acknowledg- 
 ed it so late as 1753, in the reply to the Prussian manifesto.* 
 
 It was also the settled conventional laws of Europe, that the flag- 
 protects the cargo (free ships, free goods) England set it at nought, and 
 even engaged the royal parties to the compact of armed neutrality in 
 a league against civil liberty. 
 
 Thus she innovated from time to time on the more civilized maxims 
 introduced by the Dutch, French, Germans, Italians and even Span*- 
 iards; misemploying her immense power to release herself from the 
 common obligation. — In all her vagaries and deviations we faithfully 
 aped her, excepting only one conspicuous instance. 
 
 It was very natural that Frederick II. of Prussia, seeing no prospect 
 of reparation at sea for English spoliation, on his commerce, should se- 
 questrate the monies due to the British upon Silesia by way of mort- 
 gage, when that duchy was ceded by Austria. His manifesto in justi- 
 fication of the measure is a masterly defence of neutral rights. — Bri- 
 tain constantly pursued her career of naval depredations; her law ora- 
 cles varnishing all her acts by strained constructions; — insisting that 
 
 * In 1438, it was ordained by the Dutch in their general assembly, that during 
 the war then existing against the Hanse towns, the goods of neutrals should not 
 be good prize when taken in an enemy's ship, provided they put in their claim 
 and proved their property. — Such honesty was there in early usages of many na- 
 tions until English superiority drove them into disuse; and her admiralty courts 
 executed the orders of the government, — intimating that laws might be modified 
 as wars had became more naval. 
 
56 
 
 every thing was in a state of perpetual gyration, and all depended on 
 occasional interpretation. Their ethical system resembles the Carte- 
 sian theory of atoms floating in aerial vortices : all is in endless whirl. 
 The atomists are lords of the ascendant : their subtile particles now 
 flow so copiously throughout juridical and political space that our verv 
 legislators have caught the disease of precedent from the courts of 
 law. Points and atoms govern supremely: English "authority" has 
 been more pernicious than all her navies and her intrigues: we have 
 chained our destiny to opinions, and turned principles adrift; whereas 
 known principles ought to govern opinions. 
 
 Such isthe vagueness of maritime law, and the certainty of maritime 
 devastation^ violence must be used against violence. If nations then 
 will not desist from plunder; — if they will not admit a "military war 
 and a commercial peace," but mimic England in all her fashions, 
 whims or precedents, they must take the consequences. Brazilian 
 commerce must run its hazard with that of the Oriental republic. 
 In this condition of affairs, it is weakness, it is hypocrisy to decry 
 privateering. Wrong must be retaliated by wrong; desolation by de- 
 solation. May the experiment of the lex talionis prove restorative of 
 justice ! — In this aspect of things it was, that a publicist frankly con- 
 temned the " affected delicacy of conscience" which shuddered at the 
 employment of privateers, Public navies and privateers are autho- 
 rised by the same law : they have the same object : we cannot discri- 
 minate between them as weapons of war. It was perfectly ludicrous 
 to hear murmurs against French privateers, when the enemy-govern- 
 ment had refused to relinquish maritime pillage, and had scoured eve- 
 ry sea. " As much then, says he, as these declaimers are censurable, 
 so much are they worthy of praise, who generously expose their lives 
 and fortunes to the danger of privateering. — As they are in a better 
 situation in some respects (says V&lin) than the government with its 
 apparatus of formidable fleets, they render an additional service to 
 their country by relieving it from the burden of arming at its own ex- 
 pense, a great number of vessels which without their aid, it would be 
 obliged to fit out as cruizers." (See maritime law of Europe by 
 Azuni, part ii. ch. S.) 
 
 So, privateers prosecute a public quarrel at private risk. Love of 
 booty is a common motive . privateers fight for pnze-money as na- 
 vies do. It has not been objected to the public brunch of the naval 
 force, that it is degraded by cupidity in fighting for plunder, while an 
 army fights only for duty and honor. If privateers have no right to 
 capture individual property, neither have navies.— But the objection 
 unseasonable at present. 
 
 You sir, recollect too vividly the scenes of our revolution. When the 
 continental congress were straining every nerve at home, and Franklin 
 was issuiug their commissions to naval officers abroad, no man could have 
 
 •j- Barrere, who so strenuously recommended a European pact for freeing the 
 ocean, beautifully depicted its blessing's : " It would cause to be forgotten the 
 crimes and calamities which a centurv of English policy has spread over the 
 *arth." 
 
57 
 
 conceived'such absurdity as we are now exposing. No man durst avow 
 sentiments so hostile to an infant, nation, and so repugnant to common 
 sense. We were solicitous to obtain the service of enterprising spir- 
 its from every clime. The same illustrious sage who had drawn his 
 pen against private plunder, then abetted privateering— zealously abet- 
 ted it. He saw the necessity of galling the enemy with his own ar- 
 rows. Britain was harrassed,— the maritime leviathan was annoyed by 
 our sword-fish in every latitude— he bellowed with rage.— his angry 
 foam was mixed with that of the ocean.-he ungenerously tried to inti- 
 midate the feeble states of Denmark and Holland. He carried his 
 mean effrontery so far as to demand capt. Paul Jones from the Dutch, 
 who were thus required to violate the laws of hospitality — the com- 
 mon right of asylum. Jones was claimed as a pirate, though he held 
 the commission of our revolutionary congress— What then were your 
 sensationsj and those of your fellow-soldiers and compatriots ? — 
 The same Dutch who recalled governor Van Graaf from St. Eustatius 
 to pacify the British government, behaved with modest dignity on this 
 occasion: they firmly refused the requisition in a pertinent answer: — 
 They would not judge, they said, the legality of capt. Jones' s conduct; 
 they only afforded him shelter from storms without permitting him ta 
 unload his cargoes or sell his prizes. 
 
 Have we not sacrificed amply to neutrality?— Some think that we 
 did too much, as no nation is bound to abridge her passive commerce 
 for the accommodation of a belligerent. —especially an unprovoked ag- 
 gressor warring on liberty. Both parties receive asylum in our ports; 
 both may repair their sea-beaten ships, and receive provisions.— As in 
 the former instance, it was entirely in the power of England to parry 
 privateering thrusts, by acknowledging our independence, so in the 
 present, His Most Faithful Majesty holds the remedy in his own hand. 
 Let him retreat from an unjustifiable war.— Bis murmurs at unequal 
 hospitality must be a diplomatic joke —I know that the patriot gov- 
 ernments consider the detention of their vessels in our ports as a sensi- 
 ble grievance. Their causes have been hung up for months and months 
 in our courts under libel. #c. the Spanish agents playing off a ruse de 
 guerre under color of reclamations. Our lawyers and officers have 
 been at the service of the Spanish and Portuguese consuls,— while the 
 patriots had no friend — in court.. 
 
 The Banda Oriental has no legitimate right to wage a naval war, 
 —according to the Secretary's logick (if I understand it,) because she 
 '•has neither ships nor seamen, nor even ports." — I believe that this 
 caveat is as distant from reason and law, as Fepe from Daddy. Sup- 
 pose tor argument's sake, that the joint power and artifice of Puer- 
 reydon and king John, had snatched all the ports, anchorages, and 
 roadsteads from the Oriental republic, (impossible as the undertaking 
 is) would that disaster deprive her also of the right to recover them? 
 Were our rights, think you, diminished during the late war, because 
 British squadrons held possession of the Chesapeake Bay? Did they 
 not rather widen, if possible, with the emergency?— If by their supe- 
 rior navy the British had occupied all our sea ports, would we have been 
 likewise deprived of the right to dislodge them? if we have no seamen, 
 H 
 
58 
 
 ought we not to hire them? if no ships, ought we not build or pur- 
 chase them? or employ foreign officers and crews willing to hoist 
 our flag and fight in our cause? If no ports, the more pressing the 
 necessity of retaking them. What sort of right is that which most 
 fails us when most wanted? In verity we might say of such a phan- 
 tasm what your favorite does ot paper-money, or stocks: "Paper- 
 stock always promises to defend a nation, and always flees from dan- 
 ger." — It is a vaunted cheat. If our author's logick be genuine, ye 
 halt and decrepid, cast down your crutches; none but the robust are en- 
 titled to their support! — Ye dim-sighted book-worms, pluck off your 
 spectacles, — the lynx-eyed alone have a right to their superfluous aid. 
 A vaunt ye penny-less wretches, you have no claim to the bounty of 
 benevolence; go, despair and die — the benefit of alms is reserved to 
 the opulent. "To him that hath, much shall be given, and he shall 
 have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken even that 
 which he hath." — And you, brave, shrewd, revered, patriarchal, state* 
 ly, — "Daddy" Artigas, you have no maritime rights, though the 
 finest rivers flow through your vales, and the sublimest cataracts dash 
 from your mountains; though nature has given you so many canals that 
 you want no artificial ones, — though the ocean and bay embrace two 
 sides of your enviable territory, and numberless rivers intersect the 
 whole, your image, or that of your trusty Llaneros must never be re- 
 flected from their even surface — those watery mirrors belong to the 
 toilet of king John, and all your rights are concentred in his diadem. 
 
 What jurist ever conceived grades of rights among nations?— In peace 
 or in war they are relatively the same. The youngest is equal with 
 the oldest, the weakest with the strongest. Their equality in the. eye 
 of the law is complete. To argue that a man has no right to procure 
 food or refreshment, when accident or violence deprives him of both, is 
 to decide that he is debarred from eating when hungry, and from drink- 
 ing when dry. — Necessity, heretofore deemed law-paramount, is now 
 rejected: B's doctrine is, that rights recede as exigency approaches. 
 "1 question much whether Artigas has half a dozen seamen," and con- 
 sequently above as many rights — or rather none at all. Juvenal nev- 
 er thought of depreciating the rights of virtuous men, when he was 
 moralizing on their small proportion to the vicious: — From their pau- 
 city they seemed more precious in his sight! 
 
 Rari quippe boni.- rmmero vix sunt totidem, quot 
 
 Thebarum ports veldivitis ostia Nili.-* 
 
 All the woild will argue contrariwise from the Secretary. If Arti- 
 gas have few sailors, he should augment them: if his army decline, re- 
 cruit it; if his treasury fail, replenish it; if his ammunition be spent, 
 replace it. Whatever is exhaustible is also renewable. 
 
 Finally, as a practical difference exists with regard to property, our 
 argute disputant appears to transfer it by a forced parity to persons: 
 he concludes no doubt, that is is admissible to subsidize soldiers but 
 
 * The good are few; iheir numb .i-'s scarce at par 
 "With the gates of Thebes, or mmths of fruitful Nile. 
 
59 
 
 not sailors. If he means not this, he argues still more absurdly, that 
 we cannot repair the mischances ot war, and that losses are necessa- 
 rily irretrievable! — Was ever such a strange quiddity gravely obtruded 
 on the people? 
 
 Here, sir, we may take our leave of a topic worn threadbare. Though 
 never disposed "to treat a friend's amusements with neglect," I should 
 deprecate putting his patience to a severer trial. With a few concise 
 reflections I hasten to the close. What I have said cannot be mis- 
 timed, if it contribute in the slightest degree to stem the torrent of 
 delusion that is rolling over the land. — It was artfully excited and ea- 
 gerly fomented — It must be firmly repelled. 
 _ If we sell vessels to Spaniards, we dispose of them likewise to pat- 
 riots, and stand acquitted of partiality. It is a fair commerce. With 
 respect to our seamen, none can reasonably murmur; when unemploy- 
 ed at home they adventure abroad; for the seaman's "home is on the 
 deep." English sailors are equally erratic. English seamen and some 
 Americans enabled commodore Brown in 1814 to beat the Spanish, 
 squadron before Montevideo; a victory that led to the capture of that 
 city. British sailors enter the service of Venezuela, of Buenos Ay res 
 and Chili; admiral Cochrane's squadron is almost wholly British. — So 
 some of our sailors have emigrated to South-America, and shipped on 
 board of patriot privateers. This is not the greatest of evils— -if in- 
 deed it be an improper act at all. — The Spanish marine is open to them 
 also, as our bays are open to the Spanish fleet. — Do they prefer the pat- 
 riot service? It is natural. We must not blame their choice, unless 
 we resolve to become forgetful, ungrateful, unnatural, and unwise. 
 Let us remember the succor we received "in our utmost need." All 
 we are bound to perform is to execute the laws and prevent improper 
 outfits in our territory.— To interdict our seamen from emigration is 
 impossible; and it were unlawful if practicable: nay more, it would in- 
 crease present calamities: There are but too many complaints of pira- 
 cy. Would we drive seamen to piracy by restraining privateers; I mean 
 lawful, regular privateers? Governments are answerable for the dis- 
 tress they occasion to any productive class of the community. Why is 
 the most villainous of all traffic now so fatally brisk? Why are hundreds, 
 perhaps thousands of American and English sailors engaged in the ac- 
 curst, nefarious, facinorous, damnable, infernal slave trade? Why! 
 but because they were starving; and urged by want to man kidnapping 
 fleets? Brazil and Cuba are openly receiving a ceaseless current of 
 wretched Africans; and I have reason to believe, that an immense num- 
 ber of slaves are smuggled into several of the West India islands,-- 
 prohibitions notwithstanding. Twenty-one vessels are commonly en- 
 gaged in the trade of manstealing out of the poor barren island of St. 
 Thomas. Where do they sell their cargoes? — Ill-judged measures to 
 restrain immorality always promote it. So it will be in this case. A 
 gentleman of much experience in a sister city lately observed, that a 
 puritannical restriction on the manly and elegant amusement of ska- 
 ting on Sundays &c. tempted many into grogshops, or a private in- 
 dulgence of tippling— Annihilate pirates and slave-dealers, if possible 
 —they do not deserve to live. — With the independence of all Spanish- 
 
60 
 
 America, now near at hand, the privateers may furl their sails-— their 
 vocation will be gone.— To have been consistent with himself, our "Sec- 
 retary" ought to have censured com. Brown and his English sailors for 
 beating the Spaniards before Montevideo: for, if Buenos-Jlyres might 
 legitimate! j enlist English sailors there, why may not Jirtigas natura- 
 lize American tars at Santa Lucia or Maldonado?---He has not denoun- 
 ced the British government for buying Hessians to fight yourself and 
 your comrades; and that is the reason perhaps of his pardoning the re- 
 volutionary congress for accepting the voluntary aid v>f French seamen 
 and soldiers. — God knows, what would be our condition without them! 
 1 am sorry, my friend, that the saving examples of that day have slip- 
 ped from the memory of our pert scribblers, whose pates are so stuffed 
 with British law-precedents that there is no room left for sober reason. 
 We ought not to forget the circumstances inseparable from the gene- 
 ral pacification of Europe and North America— the ships laid up,— the 
 sailors turned adrift. Looking to causes, we would regard the needy 
 tar with sympathy— perhaps we should as often be obliged to condole 
 with unfortunate victims, as to rail at culprits, if we moderate our 
 blind rage, and reflect impartially. Be kind to the gallant tar in peace 
 who was loyal to us in war.— 
 
 I deeply regret this clamor for another reason: it distracts popular 
 attention from the lamentable pr3gress .of anti-republican institutions 
 in the United States; institutions which, in form of banks and funds 
 are cancer-like corroding the vitals of the republic,— while the people 
 are gradually familiarized to the pest that must destroy civil liberty— 
 if the usarpation be not checked. Incorporations, stock and patronage, 
 infallibly transform a ■ free government into an aristocracy, the worst 
 of all systems. They transfer the reins of power to an interested par- 
 ty, always at variance with the public interest; they corrupt elections; 
 they give the controul of the majority, the country and its fortunes to 
 a minority. And we behold the erection of such a deadly system, with 
 indifference,— when we ought to resolve to-day that the edifice shall be 
 demolished before to-morrow.— If we hesitate at this precious moment 
 to put our better destiny beyond the reach of chance, fallibility, or de- 
 pravity, the occasion may never recur.— Preposterous custom acquires 
 force from the indolence of mankind. We speedily learn to tolerate 
 what we hated at first sight; and the quaint quibble of to-day, becomes 
 in time a venerable relic. Forced analogy and false respect for sophis- 
 tical jargon are leading the republic to its grave.— Manly thinking is 
 going rapidly out of date; for the reign of the sophists is established.-— 
 The cabala of a venal order is the object of popular reverence.— Laws 
 are nothing, interpretation every thing; a dictionary of obscurity is the 
 standard of authority— like the grand Lama, most adored when most 
 involved in oarkness. Thus the torture of a conjunction and two pre- 
 positions was made the instrument of the "civil extinction" of the il- 
 lustrious Horne Tooke. "For mankind in geneial are not sufficient- 
 ly aware, that "words without meaning, or of equivocal meaning, are 
 the everlasting engines of fraud and injustice: and that the grimgrib- 
 ber of Westminstei -hail is a mitre fertile, and a much more formida- 
 ble source of imposture than the abracahabra of magicians." (See 
 
61 
 
 Divisions of Purley, vol. I. page 61, 62.) I speak not against the 
 Ciceros of the profession, a few of whom appear in an age; but against 
 the pernicious principles of the profession itself, and the idolatrous 
 homage paid to dicta in form of juridical doctrines, some of which are 
 worthy only of contempt or laughter. — It is the progress of this influ- 
 ence I dread as fatal to the republic; the order being ever ready to 
 league with corruption or parties as they happen to be engendered in a 
 state.— Has old age so withered my faculties that I am labouring under 
 an i!lusion?--Is not our inheritance already partitioned out among in- 
 vaders? Have not bankers and brokers taken one half, and the pet- 
 tifoggers the other? We are losing our relish for equity and republic- 
 anism every day. — The very sapient legislature of this great state has 
 just adopted a grave resolution, not for extending rights but slavery.— 
 You will judge impartially. 
 
 Having prostrated the Secretary on his own testimony and his own 
 argument, it remains to view the extent, situation, principal rivers and 
 ports, of Entre Rios and the Banda Oriental. Their geographical po- 
 sition, climate and fertility are so accurately described in Bland's 
 Report on Buenos-Ayres, (in pages 11, 15, 16, 25 and 26,) that to you 
 or any attentive reader, it is almost superfluous to say a word on the 
 subject. — The Secretary must have presupposed total ignorance or 
 entire indifference in the public when he ventured (for a daring under- 
 taking it was) to publish his book. 
 
 Tou will please to open Faden's edition oi ITArcy's elegant map 2d 
 edition corrected in 1817. You may peruse it with the same delight 
 that we do a painting of any beautiful object. Eastward of the river 
 Uruguay, and north of the bay of La Plata lies the Banda Oriental, a 
 territory hardly surpassed in conveniency of scite or beauty of scenery 
 on the globe. It is washed on its western side by the great river Uru- 
 guay, into which disembogue numerous refreshing streams arising in 
 the mountainous spaces to the eastward. Taking in the whole territo- 
 ry eastward of the Paraguay, and south or southeast of the Parana, — 
 casting your eye from the northern limit on the river Ignaca, about 26 
 deg. 20 min. south latitude, to Funta del Este in 35 deg. and travers- 
 ing the line of demarcation with Brazil, from the landmark on the At- 
 lantic margin, north of the Invernada de San Feliz Jose to the conflu- 
 ence of the river San Antonio with the Iguacu; you will pause to ad- 
 mire an incomparable aiea of 146,170 square miles.* This tract is 
 unsurpassed for advantage of soil and inland navigation. In fact its 
 
 *I omit the remnant of territory belonging 1 to Santa Fe, as traced in Bland's Re- 
 port, page 16 — as not necessary in this enquiry. It probably amounis to 50,1 '00 
 square miles: both provinces: including 4 the jurisdiction of Cornentes, the seal of 
 the Guarani missions, &c. contain, according to Mr. Bland, 190,500 square h les. 
 The Banda Oriental has an extent of 86,000. — Eastward of the Paraguay tliere are 
 93,548,800 acres; which, divided into farms of 100 acres, would support 935,-88 
 families; supposing 5 persons to each family, we find it capable of supporting a 
 population of 4,677,440 souls. — Estimating the capabilities it affords for commer- 
 cial cities, this superficies may one day or other contain eight millions of inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
Q2 
 
 masters will command all navigation in that quarter, for all the rivers 
 of note pour their tribute into the Uruguay or Paraguay. Whoever con- 
 trouls these, controuls all the others. From the northeast the Para- 
 guay receives the vast volume of the Parana — from the north west, on 
 its right bank, the Pilcomayo, Rio Grande, Vermejo; and Rio Salado, 
 successively — omitting less considerable streams though navigable. 
 
 If these provinces be so enviable from their fertility and other natu- 
 ral advantages as to have occasioned frequent wars between Portugal 
 and Spain, (the former holding the post of Colonia del Sacramento for 
 above two hundred years,) the Banda Oriental is relatively as de- 
 sirable on account of its ports. I say relatively, as there are no very 
 good ports on the La Plata; the most tolerable are on its northern shore, 
 if we may after Maldonado except Ensenada de Barragan, the only 
 harbour on the bay. in possession of Buenos-Ayres. It is 12 leagues- 
 below the city; an open anchorage off Buenos Ay res itself does not de- 
 serve the name of harbour. Access to Buenos-Jlyres is impeded by a 
 bank, ( Banco de la Ciudad*) which has only one fathom depth on its 
 inner edge. — Ranging along the northern shore, from cape Santa Ma- 
 ria, we find to the west of the projecting point at Maldonado, G and 7 
 fathoms; but the cove is much obstructed by a sand bank. Abreast of 
 Montevideo (or San Felipe,) is a clear roadstead, with four fathoms 
 water* t Apparently the most eligible position for an harbour on the 
 bay is a little to the westward of Montevideo, a natural cove being 
 formed by the indentation of the land at Santa Lucia. — It was formerly 
 remarked by the Abbe Raynal as the best haven. Impediments have 
 accumulated on its east side; but they are easily cleared. Vessels of 
 light draught have free ingress and egress, and may chuse an anchor- 
 age in 2, 24, and 3 fathoms. This place as well as Maldonado is pos- 
 sessed by the Orientals. Colonia del Sacramento, nearly opposite Bu- 
 enos-ilyres, has an anchorage of 5 and 6 fathoms, above the Baxo de 
 Pescadores (or fishers' tdioals,) and three between those shallows and 
 Funta de los Jlrtilleros. There are several anchorages along shore be- 
 tween the places named. Passing up the river and north of the island 
 of Martin Garcia, we may anchor in three or four fathoms, and abreast 
 of Punta Carretas, 6 and 7. Ascending the Uruguay about 50 miles 
 north of this, we encounter the embouchure of the Rio JYegro, having 
 rolled its charming course from the mountains to the N. E. About 80 
 miles directly above the mouth stands the town of Furificacion, the pre , 
 sent capital of the Banda Oriental. §It is situate on the left, or south- 
 em bank, a few miles below the entrance of the little river Perdido (or 
 Grande.) The selection of this spot shows correct judgment, either 
 
 * Literally, the city-bank,- and like other privileged banks, an impediment. 
 
 -fThe harbour of Montevideo, (says captain Heyvvood) is very shoal; having 
 only from 14 to 19 feet water, but the bottom is so very soft that vessels receive 
 no damage by grounding- there. A south south west wind, according to Azara, 
 raises a tremendous surf; and sometimes drives vessels ashore, as it blows direct- 
 ly into the harbour. 
 
 § Without estimating the windings, a gentleman acquainted with the country, 
 has pointed out its position to me. 
 
63 
 
 for commercial or military purposes. It is neither too far from com- 
 merce, nor too near a blockading squadron. The example of former 
 wars taught its founder, that the Spaniards by founding a city at Mon- 
 tevideo, threw a force very readily in rear of the Portuguese at Colo- 
 nia, He keeps up his communication with the rugged country to the 
 east and north east, or darts upon the plain when invited by the scent 
 of game; while the commerce of the Uruguay and La Plata, takes oft" 
 hides and produce, and brings in return munitions of war. But these 
 he principally receives at Maldonado. — Can the Portuguese insulate a 
 chieftain like this? Not without feeling a shock in the attempt. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this sketch to repeat the dangers of naviga- 
 ting the La Plata. English Bank, Bank of Cortex, 8fc. are noted in 
 every chart. Sands, tides, and winds, render it perilous to mariners. 
 Captain Heywood's Instructions are ueemed valuable. The chart be- 
 fore me, constructed by the late Mr. Bernard, (and inscribed to gen- 
 eral Samuel Smith,) does not correspond entirely with Heywood's de- 
 scription. Depth sometimes varies at different, points with winds, &c. 
 
 Vessels of 300 tons can navigate the Paraguay to Corrientes, about 
 700 miles above Buenos-Ayres; of course with entire facility to Santa 
 Fp, distant only 300. The fact is incidentally stated in a manuscript 
 memoir on the advantages of encouraging the cultivation of coffee in 
 the jurisdiction of Corrientes, written by a distinguished citizen of Bu- 
 enos-Ayres. (See also Bland's Report, pages S3, 34.) 
 
 Until the middle of the last century, Ensenada de Barragan was the 
 regular naval station for the Spanish frigates, as well as a port for mer- 
 chantmen. The Buenos-Ayreans contend that it is more commodious 
 than Montevideo, and confidently cite Azara's voyages in proof of it. 
 This city was founded by the Spanish government, not, (as Raynal as- 
 serts,) because Ensenada was unsuitable as a port, but to curb more 
 effectually the encroachments of the Portuguese. Don M. Moreno 
 affirms that Montevideo obtained many privileges injurious to other 
 towns. It became the naval depot of the government, and a station for 
 government-ships &c. The spirit of monopoly spread from the cabinet 
 of Spain through all classes in the state: Spanish statesmen had not 
 judgment sufficient to promote the interests of one set of subjects with- 
 out the ruin of another. (See Vida <Sfc. Be Moreno, page 280 et seq.J 
 Buenos-Ayres beheld the rise of Montevideo with an invidious eye; 
 but with little reason, if she herself could have beeu satisfied with an 
 enormous monopoly. This account of its ports does not wholly explain 
 the Portuguese invasion of the Banda Oriental, however attractive they 
 are * 
 
 ENTIRE LIST OF PORTS AND SITUATION 
 
 Ports. — Maldonado, Montevideo, Santa Lucia, Colonia, Ensenada, Capilla Nu- 
 eva, Arroyo de la China, Purificacion, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Balisas de Buenos- 
 Ayres, Patagones, Bahia de San Gregorio, Puerto Deseado, and Cobija, on the 
 Pacific. 
 
 Of these the following belong to the Banda Oriental: — Maldonado, Montevideo, 
 Santa Lucia, Colonia, Capilla-Nueva, Arroyo de la China, and Purificacion. 
 
64 
 
 "The soil of the Banda Oriental," says Bland, "is uncommonly pro- 
 ductive, and well adapted to all kinds of grain: of which it can easily 
 be made to yield a most liberal return. Its surface is very waving; 
 and every where abundantly irrigated with never-failing springs and 
 streams of the purest water. — There are some great spaces destitute of 
 timber, particularly along the coast of La Plata, toward the Portuguese 
 settlement of Rio Grande de San Pedro. Groves of fine timber, more 
 than sufficient for all its necessary probable wants, are however scat- 
 tered over its whole extent; and its more northern extremity is, for the 
 most part, an entire forest. There has no quality yet been discover- 
 ed in its generous soil which indicates the least unkindness to any ve- 
 getable growth. There are no bogs, swamps, or lakes to be found in 
 any part of it; and its climate throughout is remarkably salubrious. In 
 short, buxom nature frolics over this beautiful scene, aud with an open 
 hand bestows every where health, variety, gaiety and fecundity. The 
 Banda Oriental has however hitherto been applied to no other purpose, 
 than pasturage, and the rearing of cattle, mules and horses." 
 
 "The country properly called the Entre Rios, is, in most particu- 
 lars, similar to the Banda Oriental; it is very fertilp, and is furnished 
 with an abundance of timber." 
 
 A natural boundary, the Uruguay and La Plata, fruitful soil, good cli- 
 mate and various ports, are tempting objects to H. M. F. Majesty. — It 
 was to wrest this admirable territory (the key of the rest) from the hands 
 of the Portuguese, that the Spaniards carried on such obstinate wars 
 against them. The warlike character of the Spanish colonists is noted 
 from the earliest epoch of their settlement. This martial genius sup- 
 plied a volunteer army, and gave at length a decided preponderance to 
 Spain. The treaty of Ildetonso was to settle territorial boundaries for- 
 ever. — The people who had frustrated so many invasions at their own 
 expense and by their own intrepidity; who had defended their frontier 
 against the independent Querandis,t who curbed the audacity of Cav- 
 endish and other English corsairs; who drove back the Dutch in 1628; 
 who had defeated the attempts of the French in 1 698, and of the Danes 
 in the following year; who expelled the French from their colonial es- 
 
 In possession of Artigas or his associates. — Santa Lucia, Capilla Nueva, Arroyo 
 de la China, Purificacion, Santa Fe, and Corrientes. — 6 free ports. 
 
 Maldonado harbor is formed by the island Gorriti and the mainland. The Por- 
 tuguese hold the island; the Orientals occupy terra firma 
 
 In the river Plata: — Maldonado, Montevideo, Santa Lucia, and Colonia. 
 
 On the Uruguay and Rio Negro: — Capilla Nueva, Arroyo de la China, Purifica- 
 cion. 
 
 On the Parana.-* — Santa Fe and Corrientes. 
 
 * Called Paraguay, on the English maps; the Parana bearing its name no farther 
 than its confluence with the Paraguay. — It sometimes confounds foreigners; as if 
 we were to give the name of Missouri to the Mississippi from its junction, confin- 
 ing the title of Mississippi to all the space from thence upward to its source. 
 
 fThe Querandis Indians had never been subjected to the Incas — but were ut- 
 terly exterminated by the Spaniards. 
 
65 
 
 tablishment at cape Santa Maria, in 1777', the same people, I say, af'te 
 three sanguinary wars, had conquered Colonia from the Portuguese, 
 and earned a reputation of which they may justly vaunt; whence comes 
 it, that they now look tamely on the inroads of the same Portuguese; 
 or co-operate with them to subjugate the republicans of the Banda Ori- 
 tal and Santa-Fe? — (See, La Vida y Memorias del Dr. Don Mariano 
 Moreno, page 92-93.) — The Brazilians should remember, says this 
 author, (page 277) that in the year 1776, our troops held possession of 
 Rio Grande and the town of San Pedro, extending their domination a 
 hundred and thirty leagues within the territory of Brazils; that Buenos- 
 Ayres has often triumphed by her own resources^ that she has just des- 
 troyed before their eyes, an English expedition of 11,000 men, who, 
 if directed against Brazil, could have conquered it; they should re- 
 member that the strength of our population does not consist of wretch- 
 ed slaves and stupid Indians. — As if its contact with us by a frontier 
 line of more than five hundred leagues were not enough to produce col- 
 lision, — as if its vast territory were not sufficient to satisfy its thirst 
 for ruling wilderness, the court of Brazil had cast its covetous eyes to- 
 wards the coasts of La Plata, and striven for a long course of years to 
 occupy wholly or partially, the delicious country on its northern banks.* 
 It was about the meridian of her successes against the Portuguese 
 that La Plata was erected into a vieeroyalty,— having been previously 
 dependent on the government of Paraguay, and on the viceroy of Lima, 
 the supreme authority acknowledged from Panama to Magellan. (See 
 Funes's History torn. III. ch. 12, lib. v.) 
 
 The enlightened author who furnishes so much information on the 
 colonial state and revolution of Buenos-Ayres speaks with patriotic re- 
 sentment of the Portuguese invasion. — Their king had ruined his own 
 colony by a sordid policy; had fled from Portugal and taken refuge in 
 Brazil; he had not brought any accession of funds or forces with him, 
 yet he is hardly landed on this continent when he mimics the conduct 
 of Buonaparte,! whose abilities or power he is far from possessing. 
 
 It seems extraordinary that the government should leave these fine 
 territories exposed to the armies of Brazil,— and more extraordinary 
 that it should unite in the war against them. The high-spirited people 
 who shed tears of rage and mortification when they saw the British 
 
 *The king of Brazil has not fulfilled the prediction of an enthusiastic writer.-— 
 "He cannot fail to become entirely American, and anti-European as soon as he has 
 become extra-European." — Geographical distinctions are imperceptible and fu- 
 tile, compared with the impressions of moral and political tuition. — What is it to 
 u«, or to his vassals, that he has crossed the Atlantic, since he has brought his 
 kingly principles with him? — It was at his court the scheme of a dynasty for La 
 Plata was hatched, should a branch of the old one not be transplanted thither. — 
 At his court was fixed the fulcrum of that lever which pulled down the new Tem- 
 ple of Liberty in Buenos-Ayres. — Our "Secretary" not only passes these things 
 by, but writes panegyrics on the "men in power" — on the upstarts who snatched 
 the government from republican hands. 
 
 fit will be recollected that this work was published ih London, in 181S. 
 I 
 
66 
 
 troops march into the Plaza, how can they unsheath their swords 
 against the gallant champions of the Oriental Banda? Are the purpo- 
 ses of the revolution changed? Have they disappeared with the illus- 
 trious leaders who began a system of amelioration so auspiciously in 
 1810? — No alternative is left to the Orientalists but extirpation or sub- 
 jugation. They must pass under the yoke of Brazil or of Buenos- 
 Ayres! We know the resolution — to maintain their equal rights or 
 perish in their defence. 
 
 Passing over the pretensions of the queen of Brazil in 1810, 11, 12 
 &c; the intrigues at Rio Janeiro, and the correspondence with certain 
 characters at Buenos-x\yres and Montevideo; overlooking for the pre- 
 sent the brave atchievments of the Orientals, first against the Span- 
 iards, and next against the coalition,— «it strikes us as a remarkable 
 coincidence, that the last Brazilian invasion correspond with the as- 
 cendancy of the present party in Buenos-Ayres.— Puerreydon had 
 been banished (but not without trial) to Punta San Luis, for his con- 
 nexions with the Portuguese, at whose court he had been an agent — 
 was recalled from exile and promoted by the influence of Alvear, who 
 was soon after denounced as a traitor. — Puerreydon becomes Supreme 
 Director,— carries on the system with a bolder hand, and exiles or 
 dispatches every man who refuses compliance with hie behests. The 
 congress (so called!) had been shuffled, cut and packed as he pleased. 
 
 While a monarchy was in agitation at Buenos-Ayres, it might have 
 been agreed that Brazil should be a neutral spectator, unless Artigas 
 and his stubborn, uncomplaisant gauchos spurned the measure— Then 
 these should be surrendered as malefactors to be crucified by the Bra- 
 zilians; Buenos-Ayres to furnish her contingent to enforce the con- 
 tract — To perpetuate the spirit of monopoly under the new govern- 
 ment, the Portuguese could have engaged on their part to prevent ri- 
 vals from starting up in the Banda Oriental, whilst Buenos-Ayres was 
 to subdue Entre Rios, coerce Santa-Fe, secure the navigation of the 
 Paraguay, and command the commercial scites on its banks, or those 
 of its tributary waters. 
 
 Monopolists would readily support royalists: they recollected that 
 Ensenada declined after the erection of Montevideo: might it not 
 therefore be convenient to disenable all the towns on the North of La 
 Plata from emulating Buenos-Ayres? What means more effectual than 
 giving them into the safe-keeping of a despot? Where men are degra- 
 ded, the arts, must decay — Commerce and freedom expire together. 
 At worst — If Artigas should not be annihilated by the arms of tlie coa- 
 lition, the Portuguese would engage his attention during the conquest of 
 Chili and Peru by the troops and fleet of La Plata -^c. Thus ambi- 
 tion trades with avarice in the government of nations; and the happi- 
 ness of the million is bartered away for the aggrandisement of the few. 
 If Montevideo drew the petty patronage of the Spanish fleet from 
 the opposite side of the bay, Buenos-Ayres enjoyed more solid privile- 
 ges: Some of these will impress us with wonder. La Plata having 
 been the outer commercial door to the kingdom of Peru, merchants ra- 
 ther choosing that entrance than doubling Cape Horn, Buenos-Ayres 
 was the centre of an extensive commerce inward and outward. Three 
 
m 
 
 hundred merchant vessels annually sought its ports. Merchandize to 
 the amount «»f eighteen millions, for the consumption of Peru, passed 
 chiefly through this channel. The major part of the herb of Paraguay 
 was deposited in her warehouses before distribution through the pro- 
 vinces;* and, to finish the climax of monopoly, she had the exclusive 
 right of furnishing negro slaves for ail that part of America.! Chili 
 and Peru received most of those unfortunate beings by that route; 
 but, the vessels engaged in this inhuman traffic, were more recently 
 obliged to enter the Rio Negro an important and beautiful river, which 
 disembogues into the Atlantic in lat 41 South. This, you recollect, is 
 one of the proposed points of communication between the two seas. 
 The country around is inhabited by Indians. 
 
 Too much of the old leaven entered into the new government: capi- 
 talism, or the towering ambition of Buenos-Jlyres, has prevented the 
 fruition of the most natural and equitable benefits, which ought to 
 have been consequences of the revolution. — This glorious event was 
 effected in La Plata with little commotion; in Chili without spilling 
 blood: but the great founders were soon thwarted, and honest purposes 
 defeated by selfish plots. — When Buenos-Ayres laudably turned its 
 attention to the Ensenada, to Colorado, and the Rio Negro, (of the 
 South, &c.) her rooted love of monopoly on whose lap she had been 
 so affectionately dandled, seduced her into the sordid policy of paraly- 
 zing the natural advantages of other cities and provinces. She made 
 war on Cordova — on Santa-Fe, on Paraguay, on the Oriental Banda, — 
 on Chili {in effect,) whosoever dissented from becoming her commer- 
 cial subjects, must be her enemies. Many of them she has reduced to 
 political dependence. Hence, the unhappy feuds which stain the 'scut- 
 cheon of the martial people of La Plata, derive their origin from ava- 
 rice and ambition. — It is a curious fact which cannot elude your pene- 
 tration, that the Portuguese (exclusive of the secret compact) have fur- 
 thered her domineering views on one side, and the Spaniards on the 
 other: those leave Artigas no alternative in the Banda; these equally 
 destroy alternative in Chili. Still keeping possession of the fastness- 
 es of this lovely country ,— the island of Chiloe, Talcuhana (or Concepj 
 cion) &c. &c. the key to the Pacific and the Gibraltar of the land, the 
 honest Chilians have no option between obeying Buenos-Ayrean or 
 Spanish masters. The heroes who had planned the recapture of Chi- 
 loe and Talcahuana, were denounced, imprisoned, assassinated. — Lest 
 remorse should enter guilty bosoms, our conscientious "Secretary" 
 writes gloziug apologies for their crimes— justifies usurpation, paints 
 hideous deformity with an angelic mien, scoffs at republicans as Jaco- 
 bins, and patriots, as demagogues — misrepresents the known institu- 
 tions of the country— and decorates his idols in a full suit of the "he- 
 roic virtues." 
 
 * A most grievous hardship, to compel cultivators and merchants to transport 
 matte to the distance of 12 or 1500 miles, to be thence retailed for Lima;, 
 Chili, or to the consumers of that article scattered intermediately to the W. and 
 N. W. 
 
 f See Moreno's Memoirs, p. 87. 
 
68 
 
 Another illustrative instance may arrest attention: — mark it: 
 The "Secretary" confesses that "previous to the revolution, the pro- 
 duce of Tucuman had begun to be transported down the Vermejo:" (p. 
 82, v. II.) And, wherefore does it not continue to follow the path ex- 
 plored by that enterprising citizen of Salta, col. Cornejo, so justly ex- 
 tolled in the Met curio Peruana of May 19, 1791? — Let the conduct of 
 Buenos-Ayres answer the question. She has deprived affrighted com- 
 merce of the advantages of Cornejo's ''fluvial voyage." Under the 
 patronage of Josephine, the lady of Arredondo, viceroy of La Plata, 
 with a couple of canoes and a small xebec, "he arrived after a naviga- 
 tion of 44 days at the junction ot the Bermejo with the Paraguay, 24 
 leagues North of the city of Las Corrientes, having sailed 382 leagues 
 without meeting the smallest obstruction." Here was discovered an 
 immense saving of time and labor, in transporting by water the pro- 
 ductions theretofore carried by mules; — promising a grand accession to 
 the commerce of Tucuman and Peru with Paraguay, and eventually 
 with Buenos-Ayres. It would connect the traffic of Assumption &c. 
 &c. with that of La Plata: bat, Buenos-Ayres determined to enslave 
 all, and monopolize every thing. Paraguay very fortunately refused to 
 exchange Spanish for Buenos- Ayrean fetters.* But, a faithful narra- 
 tion of this affair would have defeated the imposture which! the "Sec- 
 retary" endeavors so smoothly to effect, at p. 27. He there tells us, 
 that the Banda Oriental might have united with Buenos-Ayres "upon 
 the same terms with the other provinces." What were those terms, 
 those equitable conditions? The question involves an absurdity; be- 
 cause Buenos-Ayres required implicit unconditional submission to her 
 dictation. — As in the conquests of old Rome, the queestors, prsetors, 
 and proconsuls used to take the reins of the colony, so the military ca- 
 bal of La Plata sent out their governors to occupy conquered districts 
 . — Montevideo was occupied in this way as soon as it capitulated: Bue- 
 nos-Ayres seized the government, without consulting the gallant citi- 
 zens and soldiers of the Banda, who had co-operated in the siege, and 
 whose right it was to have governed themselves as a co-state. No choice 
 was left them but to obey or be proscribed. And, the conspirators 
 against civil liberty had the effrontery to upbraid equal citizens as schis- 
 maticks, — aye, and to proclaim their chiefs as traitors!!! On the same 
 plan of subjugation, Puerreydon was formerly dispatched to rule Cor- 
 dova, and subsequently (with the army) to govern Charcas, if he could 
 then have taken it. 
 
 *In opposition to the acknowledged fact of this government's spreading offen- 
 sive wars into every province, our "Secretary" says, page 179, vol II. "It must 
 be recollected that these people are at war for their existence!" — The city exhi- 
 hibits a great proportion of soldiery, drums continually beating, trumpets bray- 
 ing, and troops every where in motion. There are several extensive barracks 
 distributed through the city, filled chiefly with black troops." ib. Was it a war 
 for "existence" that produced the invasion of Entre Rios and all the wanton strat- 
 agems to circumvent their neighbours, to seduce Artigas's troops, — to attempt 
 his assassination by fifty various contrivances? 
 
69 
 
 It results from all these assumptions and atrocities, that the despot- 
 ic government of La Plata has become worse fif possible,) than that 
 of Spain; because Buenos-Ayres tyrannizes in the name of independence; 
 and, associating barbarous havock, domination and plunder with the 
 name of freedom, must bring odium on the term; they will disgust the 
 ignorant with that which is only known by abuses. — How interesting 
 in this aspect if things appears the opposition of general Jlrtigas! His 
 hostility is the only hope of liberty. If he can maintain himself against 
 the hosts and frauds of Buenos- Ayres, some favourable conjuncture may 
 enable the people elsewhere to throw oft" the yoke. He seems the only 
 rallying point for the friends of freedom. The Buenos- Ay rean cabal 
 having imbrued their hands in innocent blood, and begun their career 
 of usurpation by the extinction of republican leaders, will not relin- 
 quish their purpose, while the agents of a foreign government counte- 
 nance their crimes. Their bond of union is cemented by self-interest, 
 avarice, ambition and murder. — And yet that cabal can procure an 
 apologist in these United States! Assassination finds tolerance! What 
 a stigma on our country! 
 
 Some little truth has inadvertently fallen from the "Secretary's" pen, 
 page 245, vol. II. "that Buenos-Ayres did not abuse the advantages she 
 possessed, is scarcely to be believed, because it would not be human 
 nature. — One of the strongest inducements held out to the provinces to 
 acknowledge the junta, was the promise of convening a congress of 
 deputies, so that every part of the viceroyalty might share in the govern- 
 ment; a promise which, there is every reason to believe, was not as 
 faithfully complied with, as it might have been. — There may be reasons 
 for and against, which I do not feel inclined to weigh!" Why not?— ~ 
 I will answer for this bashful man: because it would expose plots and 
 despotism. 
 
 P. 246. "It would require another volume to complete what I have 
 to say on South-America. I have been compelled to leave a great part 
 of my materials unemployed. It is possible that I may prepare them 
 for some periodical work." 
 
 It is also possible, that this olio, this spurious compound of left-hand- 
 ed politicks, statistics, geography and history, may put a period to his 
 work. — If his limits were narrow, why spend so much pen, ink, paper, 
 time, space and fabrication in calumniating republicans — and republi- 
 canism? He will find that he has too much luggage. — Bad authors 
 and retreating armies have sometimes to abandon their baggage. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, that our Secretary surpasses in abusive 
 asperity the declared Buenos-Ayrean enemies of Jlrtigas, personal 
 and political: The author of "El Protector Nominal," an officer of 
 the government, brands him with all the reproach imaginable, — un- 
 packs his magazine of scandalous epithets, arraigns his vituperable and 
 "antisocial doctrine," deplores his "fatal ascendancy," — upbraids him 
 with his "sarracenism" or Turkish despotism, while he pretends to be 
 the Protector of a free people. Although this writer raises a hue and 
 cry against the ambition of Artigas, and declares that he propaga- 
 ted seduction in Santa Fe and Cordova, &c. &c. had volcanized (i. e. 
 inflamed) the popular mind in these districts; although he calls him? — 
 
70 
 
 "monster, patriarch, false apostle ot liberty,-— -impostor, — pretended re- 
 formers-rebel, traitor, deserter, new Attila — ravenous and blood v wolf, 
 ---novel legislator, new fangled politician, tyrant, Vandal/' &c. -&c. 
 and opens the very floodgates of obloquy and ribaldry at page 45: al- 
 though he affirms that general Artigas has "demoralized public opinion 
 by his doctrines,'' and he is seconded by the Censor of Buenos-Avres, 
 of June IS 18, which pronounces him u a Minotaur, whom we cannot as- 
 sign to any class in nature or zoology , v yet there is detersion in the 
 superlative character of their abuse. — And having seen their polished 
 legions foiled by the impolite gauchos, the creature of the Buenos-Ay- 
 rean government was obliged to admit some traits of heroism into his 
 disgusting picture of the "Oriental"" chief. Our Secretary has copied 
 the shade without introducing the light of the original: we shall there- 
 fore give what he omits,* As it is in the words of an enemy, who thus 
 accounts for the success of an antagonist, you will be at no loss to de- 
 cide whether the tirade is not a panegyric. I translate from the ''Pro- 
 tector Nominal*' very closely, the author's view of those physical and 
 moral causes to which Artigas owes his influence. — 
 
 PHYSICAL CAUSES. 
 
 "Artigas has been always in campaign. Here is the cause of cause* 
 in a single line. Diligence is commonly the parent of good fortune. — 
 The rapidity which has sometimes been observed in his operations, has 
 been the result of that appropriate attitude which he always maintain- 
 ed. War bears a great resemblance to a game of hazard in the charac- 
 teristic transicoriness of its periods. The gamester who neglects toim 
 prove the moment of good luck, generally loses every thing in the turn 
 ot bad. Whoever has to strengthen his pretensions must not lose an in- 
 stant. Activity is commendable in all affairs; but in w^ar, and in great 
 undertakings, it is indispensible. Artigas has been infatigable, whe- 
 ther by temperament or bv system, or both. By this he has acquired 
 physical advantages— moral respectability. The soldier who sees his 
 general, — the gang of thieves who behold their leader sharing in just pro- 
 portion the fatigues of war and hardships of the field, doubly exert them- 
 selves to serve the interests of a comrade who understands how to re- 
 commend himself by means of example. To these are to be added the 
 natural facilities of the Banda Oriental and the territory of Entre Rios, 
 
 Mu the same uncandid spirit, he overlooked the excellent biographical and his- 
 torical articles said to be written by the respectable colonel Poinsett, on the cha- 
 racter and political conduct of the Carreras, &c, in Chili. — His long 1 residence 
 there gave that distinguished citizen a complete knowledge of men and measures; 
 he intimately knew the republican virtues and valor of the Carreras, and he de- 
 picted them it is said, in the Maryland Censor. Afraid of such irrefragable testi- 
 raid of the expositions printed in Baltimore by the exiles, he lays them 
 as;de, and pursues his calumnious job, as if those veridical works had no exist- 
 ence. — The writings of our gallant Pouter too stared him in the face. The com- 
 modore had penetrated the real character of general Carrera with the quickness 
 of intuitive sagacity; and as the honest "Secretary" could not "damn by faint praise" 
 a witness of this stamp, he compliments him unequivocally — but disregards his 
 ''Journal,*' and slanders the Chilian chief with all the vehemency of malice 
 
71 
 
 as well as their numerous horse-herds which assure celerity of move- 
 merit. This is a most powerful mean of waging successful war, especial- 
 ly in spaces of country so immense as ours. Nor must we forget their 
 numberless forests and defiles for shelter in case of adversity. To none 
 is this so easy as to persons who have a practical acquaintance with their 
 entrances, issues, and other circumstances. Finally, we must consi- 
 der their superabundance of three articles of prime necessity, beef, wa- 
 ter, and wood, a plenty so much the greater as the population of those 
 countries is scanty. From all this it is not strange that such a conjunc- 
 tion of circumstances has constituted a mass of grand resources, which 
 have enabled Don Jose Artigas to advance his plans, gain some advan- 
 tages and extend his influence farther than could be expected under a 
 different state of things." 
 
 MORAL CAUSES. 
 
 (Abstracts &c.) He adopted a system of terrorism in the first place 
 to compel a greater number of families to migrate with him, — itfter the 
 Biienos-Ayreans raised the first siege of Montevideo. Those who 
 would not accompany him were harrassed by his bands. 
 
 "This man's apparent disinterestedness, the simplicity of his appar- 
 el, and the identity of his sentiments, customs and manners with most 
 of the people who surround him, enter likewise into the number of 
 moral causes we are analyzing.* Mankind are much pleased v\ith 
 these relations of mutual similarity. It operates more powerfully when 
 they exist between the superior and the subordinate. The affections 
 which are formed from the result of this analogy are generally most 
 durable because the most natural. On the other hand, all the marches 
 of Artigas's adherents have proceeded from a single point, from one 
 sole direction — his own will. An origin so exclusive reconciles all. — 
 A secret is impenetrable: the course of operations rapid. Much is done 
 and little said. There is no alteration of plans, because there are no 
 changes of administration, and he always meliorates the permanent 
 concentration of power, though the hands that manage the reins of go- 
 vernment are not the most dextrous. But this is not all. Artigas has 
 always had a favorite spring to set in motion for the attainment of his 
 purposes — fomenting hatred against Buenos- Ayres. This capital as 
 
 •During the second siege of Montevideo he was dining one day in his quarters of 
 the Three Crosses with several officers of his division, and some from the army of 
 the line, who had marched from this capital. He is notified that a countryman 
 was inquiring for him. He makes him come in, and as soon as he sees him, turns 
 his back on the table, places one leg over another, and quitting the decent pos- 
 ture in which he was eating, takes a lump of meat in both hands and in this situ- 
 ation treats of business with the good countryman. The latter would no doubt 
 depart highly captivated at seeing that general Artigas remained with his hands 
 full of grease. — Such is the miserable finesse of the modern sage.'.'.'" 
 
 Admitting the authenticity of this characteristic anecdote, it shows that Arti- 
 gas does not postpone business to etiquette. As a military man, he would be cul- 
 pable if he should. As lie was not "prinked up" like afopling, his primitive mode 
 of feeding, would not dishonour the patriarch. — Greasy hands are better than bloo- 
 dy ones! It is enough that they be morally clean. 
 
72 
 
 directress of plans for consolidating the political emancipation of ther 
 United provinces would have many rivals among narrow minds, ex- 
 alted with false ideas of civil liberty. Artigas has artfully excited these 
 jealousies." [Has he indeed?] p. 26 to 31. "Lastly, the condition of 
 many of Artigas's followers ought to be kept in view. The greater 
 number of those who move in his neighborhood are men of no estate or 
 property. Some of them tor years back infested the Banda Oriental 
 with their crimes. All those live in disorder, and overpower the class 
 of proprietors, and worthy gentlemen of that precious territory, who 
 deplore in silence the misfortuues of their country." 
 
 It appears that mister Artigas is a saucy, stubborn fellow. Though the 
 government sof Spain and Buenos-Ayres vied with each other in promot- 
 ing him in the army, he would not accept an office from either: he un- 
 civilly refused the deputy-governorship of Yapegu with a salary of 3000 
 dollars and a military command annexed, (p. 11, 12) He was given to 
 rash projects, which displeased Rondeau: — his intrepidity is owing to 
 his ignorance — "La impavidez siempre ha sido regalia de. ignorancia." 
 p. 15. deserted the standard of his country, (i. e. of Buenos-Ayres!) 
 and had communication with the enemy*.\Thinking men foresaw these 
 calamities, when they beheld him lettingXcrimes go unpunished, and 
 instilling false notions on the sacred right of civil liberty, p. 16, 17. 
 
 "But for this occupation (viz. of Banda Oriental by the Portuguese) 
 there was probably another concurrent cause. It is not credible that 
 the insulated state to which the Banda Oriental was reduced by her 
 untimely secession from the other provinces, could have been the only 
 motive that decided the cabinet of Brazil to take possession of it The 
 leading cause of this conduct, we think may be found in the disgust 
 and scandal with which the pernicious doctrine of Don Jose Artigas 
 was heard in the neighboring court. Undoubtedly his extravagant 
 maxims roused against him the justice, policy, and apprehensions of 
 that power. She trembled without doubt lest symptoms of this conta- 
 gion should be introduced into her house, and resolved to strangle it in 
 the cradle. She beheld an adjacent territory in a blaze of anarchy by 
 the adoption of anti-social principles subversive of all order; and this 
 unquestionably decided her to extinguish a conflagration that might 
 have been propagated to the centre of her states.*; &c. &c. 
 
 "Such are the melancholy effects of Artigas's doctrine; seductive 
 theories as impracticable as ruinous: abuse of liberty instead of its ra- 
 tional use." p. 36, 37. 
 
 * A similar story has been forged with respect to the leaders of the republican 
 party in Chili. 
 
 f Another cause may be repeated,— viz. the intrigues of Puerreydon and others 
 in Buenos-Ayres and at Rio Janeiro— In consequence of a secret plot, the Portu- 
 guese were requested by a party in Buenos-Ayres to occupy the Banda Oriental. 
 
 When the British ministry asked for explanations on this point, (which they 
 
 were probably well acquainted with,) the Portuguese ambassador produced a co- 
 py of the written invitation as signed in Buenos-Ayres. — Our Secretary was in an 
 extacy in Buenos.Ayres at hearing the word state. He now learns how it is ap- 
 plied to enslaved provinces. In short, the embers of discord are constautly stir- 
 red in Buenos-Ayres and Chili, as elsewlierc, by British intrigues. 
 
73 
 
 «If Entre-Rios should have followed the deplorable example, {here is 
 no doubt, but it would have been also occupied by the arms of his Most 
 Faithful Majesty. These would not have operated on other principles 
 than those manifested in taking possession of the Banda Oriental." p. 
 39. He insinuates that the people of this territory have deserted 
 Artigas. 
 
 "Artigas at the very time he was treating with it, audaciously pro- 
 voked the government by circulating the Baltimore-libel with comments 
 among the people, by which he endeavored to discredit the present ad- 
 ministration: he unshipped the rudders and detained several merchant 
 vessels from this capital that were trading up the ports of the Uru- 
 guay; and lastly has declared war against Buenos-Ayres in Colonia 
 del Sacramento and other points, disseminating by means of secret 
 agents incendiary proclamations to the very bosom of this capital, p. 41. 
 
 In 1810, he (Artigas) warmly recommended the blockading of Bue- 
 nos-Ayres, by sending a squadron of gun boats up the Parana to in- 
 tercept the passage of troops and other auxiliaries which the capital 
 might desire to pass by the Baxada. p. 44. 
 
 "It appears from the same well known diary, that as soon as the pre- 
 sident of the supreme executive power arrived at the Little Falls (Salto 
 Chico) of Uruguay, in June 1812, and assumed command of the army, 
 Artigas one day, before his soldiers tore off the badges of colonel with 
 which the government had decorated him, and formally returned the 
 president's dispatches, saying that he would have nothing from Buenos- 
 Ayres; and thence forward whatever he was to be, should proceed from 
 the will of the people. And his performance has even exceeded his 
 word." p. 45. 
 
 I supposed sir, that even this invidious profile of an energetic old cam- 
 paigner, crayoned out by a foe, might probably afford you some amuse- 
 ment. You may perhaps interpret it, like our Secretary's philology, 
 quite contrary from the authors' intention — and the linguist and biog- 
 rapher be apostrophized together!—* 
 
 "Philologers of future ages, 
 
 How will they pore upon thy pages! 
 
 Nor will they dare to break the joints, 
 
 But help thee to be read with points.- 
 
 Or else, to show their learned labour, you 
 
 May backward be perused like Hebrew, 
 
 In which they need not lose a bit 
 
 Or of thy harmony or wit." 
 Instead of honest history, these writers seem to emulate each other in 
 pasquinade and satire, and clumsy calumny. Did they hope to be be- 
 lieved, when they do not even take the trouble to conceal the hatreds 
 and predilections of party-men? 
 
 Perhaps, sir, you do not know, (since grovelling characters are be- 
 neath your notice) that this wretched pamphleteer so venal and f uri- 
 bund, is an unnatural native ot the Banda Oriental; that, by his defa- 
 matory apology for the Portuguese intrusion and abuse of Artigas— 
 this abandoned libertine has obtained promotion in the department of 
 
 Jv 
 
?4 
 
 state under Mr. Tagle. He has combined with conspirators against 
 freedom; and fulminates his anathemas against Artigas, because he will 
 not enter into the same league. By anarchy he means liberty: by or- 
 der — passive obedience to the orders of Buenos-Ayres. And so those 
 creatures have their deceitful vocabulary. 
 
 In p. 21, 45, 55, he accuses general Artigas of actingin concert with 
 the Spaniards! A sham plot, to excuse a real one! A stronger rea- 
 son for the denunciation is explained by the following, at p. 20: 
 
 "We have seen that he (Artigas) revolutionized the provinces of 
 Entre-Rios and Corrientes; that he passed the Parana^ and spread dis- 
 affection to Santa-Fe, Cordova, and Santiago del Estero." 
 
 His exhortation is not directed against the Portuguese, but against 
 the champion of independence: — 
 
 "To arms, to arms, ye rational beings, against this new-Carib, the 
 destroyer of the human race." p. 66. 
 
 If enough has not fallen from their own lips to condemn the antago- 
 nists of Artigas, I promise you not to leave the matter much longer 
 doubtful — if I am blessed with life and leisure. — Philosophers advise 
 us that "the surest of all sure things is to doubt" (de las cosas mas se- 
 guras, la mas segura es dudar:*) and the maxim is safe and certain: for, 
 he who suspends his judgment will not be mistaken. But, mankind 
 incline to the opposite and positive extreme; and from impatience or 
 indolence, will rather make up an opinion without evidence, or with 
 insufficient grounds than remain in a negative undecided state. — If you 
 encounter a moral certainty in the sum of all these observations and 
 citations, you will not hug suspense. I assure you, again and again, 
 that I wish not to trepan you into a decision. Love of truth and sound 
 policy,— or indignation at the violation of both, compelled me to un- 
 sheath my quiet goose-quill.— If this episode is of no other service, it 
 will amuse you by a transition from things to persons. 
 
 Whether we consider the principles and popularity of general Arti- 
 gas, or the conduct of his adversaries, I think you will not only pro- 
 nounce our Secretary guilty of rashness and injustice in siding with 
 one of the parties, but conclude that he may possiblv expose the Uni- 
 ted States to serious injuries in their relations with one of the most 
 important sections of that country. Such are the provinces under Ar- 
 tigas. You are aware how the British government through its agents, 
 has opened and preserves commercial intercourse with that general. 
 Far from treating him as a barbarian or a rebel, they were prudent 
 enough to stipulate with him for a free trade. Suppose— that general 
 meets with the "elegant extracts" from this voyage which are to adorn 
 the governmental prints of Buenos-Ayres; wnat will be his feelings 
 under such indecorous abuse from the Secretary of our Missinn? He 
 might infer from the title, that its publication was countenanced by our 
 government. "What is he to think when he perceives that all the cal- 
 umnies invented by his enemies at Buenos-Ayres are re-echoed and 
 extended by a man ostensibly acting under the orders of this adminis- 
 
 *A remark of D. Pedro Montengon, the author of "El Eusebio," a work I have 
 not seen- ; but have lit on this quotation from it. 
 
7* 
 
 tration? Is this conduct calculated to attach general Artigas to the 
 United States? — Is it consistent with the object of the mission to con- 
 vert the republicans of that quarter into enemies; since the usurpers 
 are naturally inimical to us? — Our commissioner's reports answer No! 
 The refractory Secretary has written for one side, ---not to promote the 
 present or future interests of the United States. He may gain a disho- 
 norable popularity with the leaders of a faction, serviceable to him 
 if he intend to emigrate from the United States. I will not question 
 his superh r fitness for a country where character and virtue are assail- 
 ed without scruple.— If the Secretary had had any facts of a delicate 
 nature to communicate, he might have done it silently. It was not 
 wise nor honest to attempt provoking the ill-will of a man so influen- 
 tial as general Artigas, toward the citizens of this country. If resent- 
 ment is in proportion to wrong, his may only be measured by the ma- 
 lice of his calumniator. — Things worthless in themselves may be high- 
 ly noxious and pernicious to others. — The viper and coral-snakes are 
 useless in creation— but their bite often proves mortal in five minutes. 
 
 How different are the portraits of this chieftain, as drawn by honor- 
 able or more impartial men! Mr. Rodney affirms, on the authority of 
 "persons entitled to credit," that general Artigas is a "firm friend to 
 the independence of his country;" thathe is "unquestionably a man of 
 rare and singular talents"— The "animated letter" to Puerreydon, an- 
 nexed to his Report, is a pretty convincing proof of his ability. (See 
 Rodney's Report, p. 26 and documents.) 
 
 Dean Funes, now arrayed against him, speaks of Artigas as "that 
 singular man, who unites keen sensibility to a temper apparently 
 phlegmatic, an insinuating simplicity to a polite and stately gravity; 
 an intrepid frankness to a complaisant familiarity;" &c. He equally 
 extols his ardent patriotism, but adds sufficient shading to render the 
 likeness tolerable in Buenos-Ayres. See torn. iii. page 522. 
 
 Other incidents evince his good sense and modesty: — "General Ar- 
 tigas returned to the commissioner de cruzada, at Buenos-Ayres, his 
 bulls (which bad been offered for sale] saying, his people wanted arms, 
 not bulls."* He would not allow of comparisons with Washington. 
 Would to God! said he, that we had but Washington's little finger 
 among us; and our dissensions and errors would soon vanish. 
 
 * See Pazos' Letters, page 89. "This fair of bulls, or indulgences, (says he) 
 which is a branch of public revenue, has in latter times fallen into contempt in 
 Buenos-Ayres, and been abolished; the people of that city, who ten years ago be- 
 lieved in their efficacy, now laugh at the imposture." — This is an excellent symp- 
 tom; it augurs a remarkable revival of reason when a gentleman educated a cler- 
 gyman, writes in the style of Mr. Pazos. — He attributes the principal vices of so- 
 ciety to the celibacy and the debauchery of the priests The present faction of 
 Uuenos-Ayres, contrary to the spirit of reformation, uphold the clergy in their 
 immunities, and employ them as powerful political machines. 
 
 Page 15, Mr. Pazos remarks, that the abuse of the expedient of confession was 
 productive of great debasement on one side, and irresistible influence on the 
 other. "These disciples of Loyola, (the Jesuits) being possessed of the c6nfea- 
 sionals, and by this means of the most secret thoughts of the people, — and avail- 
 ing themselves of their pretended Divine authority, it is easy to conceive that no- 
 
76 
 
 Traits like these refute mercenary tales.— The calumniators have 
 our commissioners' Reports against them; they have the overtures and 
 arts of Buenos-Ayres and Spain against them; they have his extraordi- 
 nary popularity against them; all of which are tests of talent, or evi- 
 dence of reputation. 
 
 Among the "names of the gallant chiefs, who have so heroically led 
 to the field of glory an undisciplined and inexperienced multitude to 
 resist the incroachments of foreign tyrants, and that will be transmit- 
 ted with honor to posterity;'"' among these, says Pazos, "general Ri- 
 vera and Don Jose Artigas must have the most splendid pages" ot his- 
 tory allotted to them: — "Don Jose Artigas, that extraordinary 
 
 " MAN, WHOM NATURE HAS SO PRODIGALLY GIFTED WITH GENIUS, 
 
 " and who has so gloriously sustained himself and his country, amidst 
 " the convulsions of intestine war, and the conflicting passions of the 
 " human heart; who has been the stable rock of the ocean, against which 
 "the ambitious billows of the Brazilian cabinet have beat in vain, and 
 " whose important services to his country must command the gratitude 
 li of his compatriots and the admiration of the world."— 
 
 This is the testimony of a man who knows both Artigas and his ene- 
 mies; "and his record is true." Whence is it that the "learned" Sec- 
 retary explodes statements so manifestly authentic? Did he translate 
 them and adopt the version?— On that ground only can he be acquitted 
 of malice prepense. He is fully entitled to plead his erudition in 
 extenuation.— But, we must arraign him on other counts, I fear, 
 
 "Besides his nonsense in translating 
 For want of accidence and Latin." 
 
 The "Censor" of Buenos-Ayres with all the government-prints hav- 
 ing raised a hue and cry against the political doctrines of Artigas, it is 
 natural to enquire for a specimen of their own. In the Censor of Fe- 
 bruary 12th, 1818, extracts of Carnofs Memoir of 1814 are published, 
 with comments. "Carnot, (says the writer) does not defend the dan- 
 gerous doctrine of tyrannicide, and says that it is, with grief he 
 is compelled to make these horrible citations." 
 
 "Perfect equality does not exist in nature, and is regarded general- 
 ly as a chimerical system." 
 
 This is enough, I imagine, to exhibit the monarchical commodity. 
 Perfect equality of right to the laws was never reputed "chimerical" 
 except by the enemies of civil liberty. Political equality is the perfec- 
 
 thing could be concealed from them, and that no scheme could be projected 
 among the people which they could, not turn to their advantage. And here I 
 cannot but remark that a system of religion which obliges its professors to act as 
 self-accusers, and to regard th'e councils and doctrines of their priests as oracles 
 of Heaven, is without doubt the most patent engine of despotism ever devised. 
 This moral power, superior in itself to the armies of kings, was of unimaginable 
 force when wielded by the Jesuits." 
 
 Superstition is debilitated by the phlebotomy of the revolution; it is now a 
 mild mechanical custom rather than a religious frenzy. — Except among the gross- 
 ly ignorant, there is less fanaticism by far in South America than in our own coun- 
 try. 
 
77 
 
 tion of governments,— which indeed are a blessing or curse as they con- 
 tain or lack this vital principle. 
 
 How fortunate that there is an Artigas to expose the rottenness 
 and resist the dictation of a Buenos-Ayrean party who combine all the 
 essences of British, Portuguese, and native intrigue! To his glorious 
 resistance we may justly apply the panegyric of Ercilla on Lautaro. 
 The one was no less the rallying point of patriotism than the other: 
 
 Though Rome exulting give the Decian name 
 With their sad off 'ring, to eternal fame; 
 Tho' Curtius pass'cl the gloomy gulph below, 
 And Mutius' burning hand amazed the foe; 
 Though Codes long maintain'd the bloody post, 
 And with his single arm repell'd a host; 
 Though in the pass Leonidas was seen, 
 Tinging with Median gore the fatal green; 
 Since first the world was shook by war's alarms 
 A greater ne'er was known in deeds of arms. 
 Let Furius with Mareellus join his claim; 
 Fulvius and Quintus with the Sergian name; 
 Say of these famous chiefs can one exceed 
 Or match this patriot chieftain's brilliant deed?— 
 
 Many there are who with a brave disdain 
 Face all the perils of the deathful plain; 
 Who fir'd by hopes of glory, nobly dare, 
 Yet fail the stroke of adverse chance to bear; 
 With animated fire their spirit shines, 
 Till the short splendor of their day declines; 
 But all their valour, all their strength expires 
 When fickle Fortune from their side retires. 
 The brave Jlrtigas, when the die was cast, 
 War's dire decree against the country past, 
 Made the stern Power the finish' d cause resume 
 And finally reverse the cruel doom; 
 By manly efforts in the dread debate 
 Forc'd the determin'd will of adverse fate. J ' 
 
 His enemies hoped to crush him by letting in the Portuguese; but he 
 has sometimes letreated into the very pampas of Buenos-Ayres and 
 Santa-Fe, when pressed by a superior force in the Banda or Entre Rios. 
 — He moves and wheels whithersoever he pleases, — now acting offen- 
 sively, now defensively. The name of his Montaneros is a terror 
 even in Chili; and, the usurpers who are harassing that country by re- 
 quisitions, and creating three orders of nobility, to be endowed with 
 plundered estates, look towards the Andes— lest Artigas should come 
 and enter a protest against them with his lance. 
 
 It never occurred to our Secretary (why did it not?) to enquire of 
 any of his Buenos-Ayrean visitors, or of "mine hostess of the garter," the 
 causes of the trastornos which so often harrassed the patriots, and shiv- 
 ered the best institutions founded by the fathers of the revolution. Did 
 he foresee, that no answer could be returned to such interrogatory 
 without implicating the "men in power?" Their party having occa- 
 sioned all the excesses,;confusion and'cruelties, which afflict the coun- 
 try, and nullify the labours of the republicans.— He never asked how 
 
it came to pass, that a ministerial editor (Antonio Valdez) who mana- 
 ged two government-presses, was rewarded by a mission from Puer- 
 reydon to Europe, for his philippics against republican government 
 and his vindication of monarchy; while the editor and others who an- 
 swered him, were banished: He never reflected that the Censor and 
 Gazette were supported by government; and that a newspaper cannot 
 (at present) find sufficient patronage from the community to defray the 
 expenses of its establishment. Disbursements must be made by a party, 
 or by the government. — The law which secured the freedom of the press 
 behind trial by jury was rendered a dead letter and openly violated by 
 the "men in power." They would not tolerate argument. — To justify 
 this arbitrary restriction, their writers inveigh against the licentious- 
 ness of the press in England, France and the United States. "The 
 Tom Paines, the Holcrofts, the Thelwalls, the Cobbetts in England; 
 and in France the Brissots, the Petions, the Robespierres, les ecriva- 
 niers de la violette, disseminate their daily journals and libels to excite 
 the rabble (el populacho) to anarchy." (See El Americano of Bue- 
 nos-Ay res.) — Of the condition of the newspaper press in the United 
 States, the editor of the Censor, &c. had spoken with supreme con- 
 tempt; and we must acknowledge with some reason — but a reason very 
 different from the one he assigned. 
 
 Had the Secretary here turned his inquiring eyes in this direction, 
 perhaps I should not have been compelled to pull the visor from him- 
 self or his work — He would have discerned the object of the "men in 
 power," by their efforts to conceal it. He would have learned that 
 while some of them were oscillating between an incorporation with 
 Brazil under a monarchical form, and others preferred the sacrifice of 
 the Banda Oriental and the creation of a new dynasty in Buenos- 
 Ayres, — the whole party were unanimous in deriding republican gov- 
 ernment. — To effect this purpose, democracy was painted in hideous 
 shapes and frightful colors; while monarchy was made to appear with 
 the blended beauties of Hebe, of Venus, and Minerva. To the trans- 
 lation of Bissett's Sketch of Democracy, by C Henriquez, a govern- 
 mental editor, is prefixed this dedication; literally translated: — 
 
 "to the sovereign congress. 
 "Sir,— The luminous principles, the profound and useful observa- 
 tions, comprised in this little tract, embolden me to present it to the 
 hands of those on whom depend the destinies of these provinces. 
 With the profoundest respect, I am &c. &c. 
 
 C. H'z." 
 
 In his Advertisement he says, "the author (of this interesting valu- 
 able work") knew how to combine abstruse philosophy with truth of 
 narrative. — The nature of the treatise requires a deliberate reading, 
 and a calm, temperate, and circumspect judgment." 
 
 But the moderation recommended, was only on one side, and on pa- 
 per. Monarchy was to be admitted by an open avenue smoothed by 
 the pressure of a political roller; and its opposers squashed under 
 ground. In the dialogue described between Tagle and Puerreydon, 
 the former animates the drooping spirit of the latter: 
 
7a 
 
 " Tagle— Have you forgotten San Martin's plan — drive out of the 
 country, or out of the world, every man ot worth and ability who can 
 bring us into discredit by directing public opinion Where should we 
 now be, if this balsamic measure had not relieved us from the canaille, 
 who wander in foreign lands or quietly repose in the dust of the tomb? 
 One of the methods (and beyond all doubt the surest) to subjugate the 
 people, is, to sacrifice the part who think in order to retain the por- 
 tion who only vegetate. To retreat is imprudent: we must command, 
 be the means what they may: to promote this purpose we possess the 
 moral influence of the Grand Lodge,* and the physical force of bayonets 
 without counting on the cowardly stupidity of the people. 
 
 I am not possessed, more than yourself my venerable friend, — of 
 that charitable apathy which like our Secretary's, could chant. — 
 
 "Be to such faults a little felind." 
 
 nor could I as a citizen of these United States look with pleasure on 
 monarchies springing up all around us on this continent. 
 
 Had the Secretary but perused the history of Buenos- Ayrean. in- 
 trigues with the slightest attention, he might have extracted a little ta- 
 ble from it illustrative of the motives of the ruling faction.-- Why he shut 
 his own eyes or would blind others,' he best knows! But, it we should 
 rejoice at the servitude and disabilities of Brazil, as our author inti- 
 mates, we ought, for the like reason to invoke tyranny to seize domi- 
 nion every where else. Let all be degraded and manacled, lest they 
 rival us! Let us monopolize air and light, and freedom and — the tobac- 
 co or cotton market! How base, abrupt and stupendous a descent 
 
 some creatures make from principles to — pelf! 
 
 Their previous acts however are mildness — beneficence itself, in com- 
 parison of their subsequent ones. By clearing away as much of the 
 voyager's rubbish as possible in this letter, we shall secure a better 
 foundation for historical investigation in the sequel. 
 
 Every one will admit, that honor and confidence are the natural re- 
 ward of patriotism. Among an incorrupt people it is ever so. — They 
 are never ungrateful, though they may mistake friends for enemies 
 sometimes; as the most honest are most liable to be deceived by cun- 
 ning. I am enabled to supply the Secretary's omission from a manu- 
 script commentary on Funes's History and on the exculpatory publica- 
 tions uf the party at Buenos-Ayres. Independently of this, their own 
 statements condemn them.- — We behold at one view the fate of those 
 
 *A combination or factious club formed at Buenos-Ayres by San Martin, — af- 
 ter the fashion probably of Orange Lodges and other intolerant cabals in England 
 and Ireland. There being a silly religious prejudice against ii-eemasons among 
 Spaniards, &.c. a foolish and unwarrantable attempt has been made to confound 
 one with the other, — the good with the bad, and light with darkness. — This ex- 
 planation would be due to truth alone, were the honor of the fraternity not of the 
 utmost concern to the humblest brother. 
 
 The appellation given to this association by its founders, is "Patriotic Society, or 
 Friends of the Country;" — and is a governmental machine, for arraying individual 
 against public interests. It is enumerated among the public institutions \, by Mr. 
 secretary Tagle's communication marked J), in page 109 of Rodney and Graham's 
 Report, 
 
80 
 
 citizens who effected the revolution, or composed the first congress of 
 La Plata. — You will perceive traits of ingratitude and violence from 
 which our revolution was in general exempt. The first column is ta- 
 ken from Funes, who could not conceal facts in this case, although he 
 often evades truth or violates it. 
 
 Who planned and executed 
 
 the revolution of 1810. 
 Dr. Juan Jose Castelli; 
 
 Manuel Belgrano; 
 
 Feliciano Chiclana; 
 Juan Jose Paso; 
 Hipolito Vieytes; 
 Nicolas Pena; 
 Jose Darragueyra; 
 
 Francisco Paso; 
 Florencio Terrada; 
 Martin Thompson; 
 
 Dr. Ramon Vieytes; 
 Juan Ramon Balcavce; 
 Jintonio Luis Beruti; 
 Martin Rodriguez; 
 Jlugustin Donado; 
 
 Matias Iregoyen; 
 
 £ Their fate and fortune. 
 
 Died in prison at Buenos-Ayres eleven 
 months after. 
 
 General in the army, arrested until he 
 came to terms.* 
 
 Just returned from exile. 
 
 Often disgraced but now in office. 
 
 Died under arrest at Buenos-Ayres. 
 
 Disgraced and banished. 
 
 Once exiled, but died subsequently at 
 Buenos-Ayres. 
 
 Once exiled, now lives in private, [ter. 
 
 In the army; saved by his want of charac- 
 
 Late agent for Puerreydon in the Uni- 
 ted States, (insane.) 
 
 Was exiled, and lost his health. 
 
 In the army. 
 
 After being exiled is tolerated in the army. 
 
 Lives privately. 
 
 After exile, lives privately at Buenos- 
 Ayres. 
 
 In office. 
 
 FIRST CONGRESS of 1810. 
 
 Jose Jintonio Olmos, 
 Fr. Jintonio Ocampos, 
 Dr. Manuel J. Molina, 
 
 all dismiss- 
 
 Dr. Francis Turragona, 
 
 Jose Garcia Cosio, 
 
 Frdncisco Garruchaga, 
 
 Dr. Manuel Felipe Molina, 
 
 Juan Ignacio Gorrito, Marcellino Foblet, 
 
 Dr. Jose Julian Perez (now insane) Gregorio Funes. 
 
 Second Congress, } Deposed and imprisoned in 1815, by the 
 in 1813, 5 present ruling party. 
 
 Jose Ignacio Marradona, f e W1 1S " 
 j grace. 
 
 D. Cornelio Saavedra 
 D. Juan Jose Castelli; 
 Manuel Belgrano;* 
 Miguel Azcuenaga; 
 Dr. Manuel Mberti; 
 Domingo Mattieu; 
 Juan Larrea; 
 Dr. Mariano Moreno; 
 Juan Jose Paso; 
 
 FIRST EXECUTIVE, 
 
 Arrested and exiled. 
 
 (As above.) Died in prison. 
 
 lit supra. 
 
 No character. 
 
 Died, broken-hearted. 
 
 Disgraced. 
 
 Banished. 
 
 Died at sea a victim to ingratitude. 
 
 Often disgraced. 
 
8t 
 
 Only the indifferent, or those who joined the league against the peo- 
 ple, it seems, could escape proscription. 
 
 Mr. Graham, who writes very circumspectly,"observes, p. 39. that 
 "great allowances are doubtless to be made for the circumstances of the 
 times, and the danger and difficulty of tearing up ancient institutions, 
 or of adapting new principles to them. But after due allowance for all 
 these considerations, it did not appear to me that so much has been, 
 done for the cause of civil liberty, as might have been expected, or that 
 those in power were its strongest advocates.^ 
 
 I would unite our South-American brothers on the ground of prin- 
 ciple: /would admonish them to beware of "wolves in sheeps' cloth- 
 ing," who enjoin concord only to extinguish opinion; who preach up 
 charity only to screen offenders from stripes, or usurpers from expo- 
 sure. — I begin to hope, that the people of La Plata will learn to distin- 
 guish their friends from their enemies: I am consoled in the belief that 
 our government will act with liberality and wisdom. — The expedition 
 of the chivalrous Bolivar, — the devotion of the Granadiansto the cause, 
 •—the prudence of the Venezolanian congress, deserve our friendship, 
 and will receive it. If we have not aided, let us applaud. I know not 
 why we should be backward in acknowledging the republics of Venezu- 
 ela and New-Grenada: their independence is sure as their union. — 
 Collisions and domestic oppression in La Plata and Chili would seem 
 to claim a prudent pause and an affectionate mediation.— Weigh these 
 suggestions, my good friend, and, if you pronounce me in error, I 
 shall implicitly bow to the award of your unclouded judgment: but, if 
 you approve, an unthinking crowd may condemn in welcome. 
 
 And to you, my worshipful "Secretary!" if in detection of your ma- 
 licious misrepresentation, [ have sometimes sunk into asperity, (against 
 my intention of not exceeding the ridicule due to vice,) I shall now take 
 my final leave of you, — but not of the subject, — ana address a piece 
 of solemn advice more worthy of your hearty assent than all the pre- 
 cedents your tribe ever quoted.— 'Tis filched, if I must confess it, from 
 the 8th Satire of one Juvenal, who made some noise in corrupt, impe- 
 rial Rome, and was no less severe against vice than your worship 
 against virtue. To save you from the arduous trouble of construing the 
 original, I accept an exquisite version by an able hand: — 
 
 Be a good citizen, an upright judge, 
 
 A guardian incorrupt. It" ever call'd 
 
 To give thy witness in a doubtful case, 
 
 Though. Phalaris himself should bid thee lie, 
 
 On pain of torture in his flaming bull, 
 
 Disdain to barter innocence for life; 
 
 To which life owes its lustre and its worth. 
 
 You may perhaps fiee to reformation when your poison is neutrali- 
 zed, and calumny unsaleable. Your power to do mischief being at an 
 end, you may as well resign the will also.— -Even could you escape 
 now, — were there no idler to occupy himself in refuting you, still you 
 would one day or other be obliged to settle accounts with yourself. 
 
 T have here, Mr. Secretary, detected a. few of your faults<-hut who 
 
82 
 
 can animadvert on the tythe of them in a single letter? I have noted 
 in your book upwards of one hundred and twenty malicious fictions, 
 contradictions, or misrepresentations: Let samples of the teculent 
 mass suffice. As I shall not for the future descend from the elevation 
 of historical narrative to expose your particular iniquities and gross 
 impostures, I shall now remind you of the awful ruin that awaits you. 
 You were obscure; you courted publicity; but you forsook the path of 
 honor, and must forever be consigned to disgrace — unless you public- 
 ly abjure your calumnies, reform your conduct, and implore forgive- 
 ness. — One or two cases more, and I dismiss you: 
 
 In one passage, (page 207, vol. II.) you insinuate, that there was no 
 trial by jury to protect the press at La Plata; and this was your in- 
 tended shield for Puerreydon, who had banished republican citizens 
 for resorting to the press to refute monarchical doctrines, — overlook- 
 ing the important fact that jury-trial was introduced for the very pur- 
 pose, — and disregarding the assertion of the trial and acquittal of the 
 party, — though published in this city long before your departure from 
 Baltimore. Did you suppress the incident by design; or did you ne- 
 ver learn an occurrence so notorious? Take your choice. 
 
 Did you, — [to select one case from a hundred) did you stifle the cir- 
 cumstance of the Banda Oriental sending delegates to the constituent 
 congress called in 1813, — who were rejected because they claimed their 
 seats on an equal federal principle? Were you ignorant of this fact, or 
 did you smother it, to justify the men who dissolved that congress tumul- 
 tously and packed another? — Take your choice again. 
 
 You insinuate that arbitrary measures were justifiable in some cases 
 to prevent revolutionary excesses, (page 17, vol. II;) and when despo- 
 tic and sanguinary excesses were perpetrated by the "men in power," 
 you ridicule dean Funes's regret as a weakness. You boldly insist, that 
 such "scenes" are "necessary," inseparable consequences of all revo- 
 lutions: (page 10, 11, vol. II.) — You hint, that the clergy are timid po- 
 liticians; which certainly was not their character formerly, when they 
 trod on necks, kicked oft'erowns, and excommunicated whole nations. If 
 the American clergy are timid politicians, we cannot say as much in 
 vindication of the lawyers, who have in a great measure overthrown 
 the constitution, and reversed the great principles of the American re- 
 volution. — The Popes in the plenitude of their power, did not main- 
 tain doctrines more monstrous or alarming than are now asserted as in- 
 disputable conons by some of the lawyer-tribe. In fact, they have vault- 
 ed overevery constitutional barrier and ^'superseded the sovereignty itself 
 by one of its creatures."* So completely too are the people sophisticated, 
 or so supine are they under invasion, that political blasphemy is now 
 uttered by great lawyers as orthodox tenets. — Thjs order is the more 
 
 •See Taylor's Inquiry, page 532; but the -whole treatise ought to be in every hand. 
 
 Doctrine worthy of Constantinople, where law and religion are prescribed in 
 the same code, — is often heard in our courts and legislatures. Present error 
 or usurpation is fortified in past folly or corruption. It has been once done, and 
 the people have acquiesced in it: — The "authority" of this example is paramount, 
 obligatory, irreversible. It is not even open for examination! — Where this law- 
 
83 
 
 dangerous, as the habit of sophistry saps the judgment and extinguish- 
 es the moral sense. Accustomed to petty, minute constructive squab- 
 bles, the mind loses its expansive capacity as the eye its power of dila- 
 tation; and when a great subject is to be discussed, an ordinary lawyer 
 cannot take a comprehensive view of it: When it is to be contemplated 
 fairly and directly, the pettifogger can only look at it obliquely. Thus 
 he contracts his mind to a mere point; and people preposterously rely 
 on them as oracles who are incapable of forming a solid rational opin- 
 ion. Thus, two third* of the calamities iviiich gall the nation, (and 
 which menace the extinction of civil liberty) proceed from the silly 
 fashion of electing lawyers for legislators. People forget that the Hen- 
 rys and Jejfersons, the Emmets and Blands, appear but seldom.— It 
 would be less mireasonable to select our naval and military officers, 
 sailors and soldiers from the pacific, non-combatant [but, I admit, re- 
 spectable] quakers, than to fill legislative offices with lawyers.— And, 
 for the same reason, as all encroachments are to be apprehended from 
 the executive and judicial parts of a government, the lawyers (from 
 their habits and esprit de, corps) are the most unfit beings to resist them. 
 Indeed, they justify them all round.— In speaking, however, against 
 the political* operation of the profession, I do not mean to deny the 
 private worth of many of the order. Our "Secretary," I fear, is an 
 exception from the remark. Rut, that is out of our jurisdiction. 
 
 You, Mr. '"Secretary," cite the "Outline of the Revolution," in re- 
 lation to Chili, particularly; and that very part is unworthy of credit. 
 It is, you well know, the splenetic fabrication of Jonte and Vrrisari, 
 personal and political enemies of the republican leaders, especially of 
 the Carreras. (I do not embrace the rest of the book in this remark, 
 communicated by different deputies, &c. in London.)— -When the ad- 
 verse party, L and Co. had surrendered the country in 1814, to 
 
 the royalist Gainza, the Carreras were excepted from the benefit of the 
 
 g-ibl/erish is listened to With patience, the people are already half bent to the yoke. 
 The practice of resigning' our own judgment to the authority of others must 
 speedily terminate in slavery, because it engenders slavish habits. Having yielded 
 in one instance, people blindly succumb in every other; studious only of finding an 
 example for it! A more fruitful hot-bed for rearing sycophants could not be im- 
 agined. The devotees to precedent are dangerous partizans of power in a coun- 
 try that has (of late) too closely mimicked all the judicial, mercantile, and aris- 
 tocratical trumpery of England — her party-idols, her monopolies in banks and 
 funds, — her stock-jobbing and patronage. In tact, we have in operation much 
 apparatus for "infusing aristocracy into the policy of the United States." At 
 Athens, such a system of education for debauching the mind, wovdd have been 
 suppressed. Encouraged longer here, it will suppress every trace of manly re- 
 publican sentiment. As worms in a putrid body, so are these satellites in a state. 
 Their number and inlluence in one case as in the other are direct evidence of the 
 degree of putrefaction. Well might Taylor exclaim: "Oh! America, America, 
 thou art. the truly begotten of John Bull !" — The principles, the simple theory of 
 our government have been forgotten. — We had cast ourselves loose from Britain; 
 but, the lawyers have again towed us along side, by judiciary aid and juridical 
 tow-ropes. 
 
81 
 
 base treaty.* They escaped from their dungeons, and their presence 
 was enough to rouse the people; yet, on the recovery of the capital, 
 Frrisari, though guilty of collusion with the royalists, was magnani- 
 mously pardoned by general J. M. de Carrera, but in a contemptuous 
 manner. This generosity he returned (as you requited every act of the 
 same kind) by bitter calumny and black ingratitude. He is now am- 
 bassador in London, and Jonte holds a law-office, connected with the 
 admiralty, or lord Cochrane's squadron. It is not to forestall the his- 
 tory of Chilian affairs, that I advert to this matter here, but to bring 
 you on the carpet once more as a lawyer and judge! — To palliate the 
 connivance of Buenos-Ayres at the dismemberment of the territory of 
 La Plata, you retail a conversation, (or invent it) to show, that "it was 
 a private and local war between Artigas and the Portuguese."— We 
 supposed that the right of private war had ceased some centuries ago. 
 
 Another instance of your mode of judging by evidence is more cu- 
 rious; when you speak of Artigas, for example, page 25, vol. II. — 
 "As to his refusing a bribe, I thought it rather an equivocal evidence 
 of integrity '." I believe you are the only person who could make such 
 a decision. 
 
 When the count de Casa-Flores, (Spanish ambassador) sent an offi- 
 cer from Rio-Janeiro, last summer, with flattering overtures from the 
 king of Spain, Artigas read the dispatches with stern indignation, and 
 ordered the bearer to instant execution. Was this also "equivocal 
 evidence of integrity?" 
 
 In the preceding page also, you make up your judgment against the 
 testimony:— "They said that he [Artigas] was a plain old man, with no 
 show or parade; that he has no riches, and indulges himself in none of 
 the luxuries or ornaments with which men are generally pleased; that 
 he is the true friend of independence, and the genuine lover of liberty; 
 that the Spaniards offered him a brigadier's commission, which he re- 
 fused. They also said much of his good intentions, and keen discri- 
 minating mind." — Had we met with this portrait in Roman story, we 
 should have associated with it the image of Junius Brutus, Fabricius 
 or Cincinnatus. We should never have inferred that the rigid repub- 
 lican was a disobedient savage. Our Secretary and "judge in Louis- 
 iana" treats the evidence very differently: "What they urged in his 
 behalf only increased the unfavorable opinion I had begun to entertain." 
 Oh! rare. A second Daniel come to judgment! 
 
 If the "men in power" had been drawn in such colors, — instead of 
 a philippic against Paine "in the literal sense" he would have run a 
 descant on their simple lives and unostentatious manners. Paine would 
 have been his text-book,— ''French revolutionary principles" would 
 have been tolerated, and BisseWs Caricature of Democracy, banished 
 to Punta St. Luis, or JVew-Holland.—Pi&y, perhaps it would have been 
 burnt, like the murderous proclamation against Artigas, by a public exe- 
 
 *To cover their own treacherous league with Gainza, the Spanish general, in 
 1814, proofs of which I possess, the faction have fabricated a Spanish despatch 
 which insinuates that the Carreras had surrendered Chili to Spain! Like your 
 book, it contradicts itself, and exonerates the Carreras by styling them "rebels.' ' 
 
So 
 
 cutioner.— Bat, the calculation is for the meridian of Baenos-Jlyres, 
 not for that of Purification. At page 26", vol. I. you imbibe your be- 
 lief from a skipper, that "San Martin was pre-eminent," &c. How 
 facile and credulous in one case! and how fastidious in the other! Your 
 ''rules of evidence" are all your own. 
 
 I would dissuade you from misrepresentation, Mr. Secretary,— -if 
 not too late. — You would probably insist on the beauty of fiction, as of 
 indispensible utility in the moral world. Panurge could hardly be re- 
 claimed from his predilection for borrowing; and affirmed, as you know, 
 that borrowing and lending cemented society in the utmost harmony; 
 that the custom was one of the harmonies of nature and morals; that 
 without this accommodation the world would be surrendered to "rap- 
 parees, assassinators, haters, poisoners, &c." In short, it would be an 
 easier task to have fish entertained in the air, and bullocks fed in the 
 bottom of the ocean, than to support or tolerate a rascally rabble of 
 people who would not lend. — He was aware, that the debtor has no will 
 but that of the creditor; which greatly promotes social concord, and 
 confirms the glorious policy of unconstitutional banks in a. republican 
 land !* When a superior power laid his commands on hiln to get 
 out of debt, he acknowledged the goodness and munificence of his lord 
 and patron, but protested against the hardship of the injunction: "for 
 henceforth, being quiet and out of debt, (says Panurge) what coun- 
 tenance shall I be able to keep? — You may imagine that it will be- 
 come me very ill for the first month; because I have never hitherto 
 been brought up or accustomed to it, I am very much afraid of it. — 
 Furthermore, there shall not be one hereafter, native of the country 
 of Salmigondy, but he shall level the shot towards my nose. — My life 
 will be of very short continuance, I do foresee it. I recommend to 
 you the making of my epitaph."— Try the experiment, at any rate, 
 Mr. Secretary, with regard to misreDresentation. — Inveterate, usage 
 may be irremediable in personal as in juridical cases; though we de- 
 ny that it ought to be law in any case. 
 
 Were it possible to obtain forgiveness for your misrepresentations of 
 fact, or your defence of the parricides of liberty; were it possible to 
 reconcile the public to your attacks on the republican party ot Chili 
 and Buenos-Ayres,— there is another trespass in the account against 
 you, which is unpardonable: What is that? Your endeavor to deprive 
 some of the republican exiles from Buenos-Ayres, of the benefits of 
 our hospitality — of that holy law of sympathy and charity, which the 
 very Arab holds sacred.— His necessities in a strange land, friendless 
 and moneyless, compelled one of them to return and risk the chance 
 of death there — having no means of living here.— He was seized in the 
 river, put in irons, and imprisoned for many weeks on board a ship; 
 
 * A young merchant in a neighboring- city refused to suSer his clerk to carry a 
 check to a bank, drawn by another merchant, although but a few dollars of it were 
 required in specie, and the rest in paper. In such dread did the people stand of 
 
 the bank-directors. — Let send his artm clerk, said he, if he wants sraciE ! We 
 
 can't risk it. 
 
86 
 
 when he finally yielded to a bargain to support the measures of Puer- 
 reydon, and was qualified by thus passing under the yoke for manag- 
 ing one of the government presses.— This outrage on one side, and hu- 
 miliation on the other, corroborate the tyrannous character of Puerrey- 
 don's government: — When the usurpers so treacherously defeated Car- 
 rera's expedition, and prohibited his return to his native land, even 
 then they proffered him a salary of §10,000, provided he should con- 
 nive at their usurpation, and banish himself to the United States, as 
 their ambassador! — He spurned the insulting overture, and was in- 
 stantly proscribed as a traitor — (against the majesty of usurpers) — 
 his friends put to death, and his country enslaved.— What excuse do 
 we find here, for steeling our hearts against persecuted men? Why 
 should we be proof against commisseration, because a sanguinary party 
 in a foreign country have made victims?— -Yet you have recommended 
 such churlishness in some of the papers of Baltimore! You would 
 have us imitate the demi-savageness of that inhospitable region, 
 
 — where the rude Carinthian boor 
 
 Against the houseless stranger shuts the door.' 
 
 Herein you were blind as well as malicious; because, you might have 
 received important information from some of those worthy men, — who 
 are as remarkable for a correct deportment as for studious habits,— 
 Their acquirements are the fruit of deep and diligent research. — Rely 
 upon it! that your ruthless conduct towards the exiles will embitter 
 your own cup, when detection will expel you from honorable society. 
 Had you nothing in view but to gratify their persecutors? 
 
 I. read your work with a charitable disposition: — Aware of human 
 imperfections, I was determined to make all possible allowance for er- 
 rors; — but I was soon obliged to witness your depravity — and the pe- 
 rusal of your book resembled the moral dissection described as a phy- 
 sical one, by the immortal author of the Tale of a Tub! — "Yesterday, 
 I ordered the carcase of a beau to be stripped in my presence, when 
 we were all amazed to find so many unsuspected faults under one suit 
 of clothes. Then I laid open his brain, his heart, and his spleen: but, 
 I plainly perceived, at every operation, that the farther we proceeded, 
 we found the defects increase upon us in number and bulk." 
 
 If you, my indulgent friend, forgive my prolixity for this time, I 
 promise as unfeignedly as any repenting sinner, never more to trespass 
 above half so long" on your bland, Uncle-Tobian temper. 
 — With a sketch of the composition and characteristic proceedings 
 of the congress (as it is called,) I shall finish my tiresome letter and 
 your present trouble. 
 
 The 25th May 1810 is always given as the commencement of the re- 
 volution in the late viceroyalty of Buenos-Ayres; it is therefore of im- 
 portance that the political principles and objects of this commencement 
 should be carefully noted. — The Buenos-Ayreans designate it: "as the 
 day on which the people of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Pla- 
 ta, were, by a singular providence, delivered from the slavery which 
 the Americans had suffered for threejhundred years, and as the day of the 
 
87 
 
 political regeneration of those provinces, by the free use of the rights 
 of man, of which they had been despotically deprived by the Spaniards 
 since the conquest of both Americas."—- On which it may be observed, 
 that the people had then only determined to disengage themselves from 
 the bonds of slavery, and to commence the work of political regenera- 
 tion, but that no determination was taken (whatever was the intention 
 of the leaders) to renounce all further connexion with the Peninsula.— 
 This final step was not conclusively resolved on and published until the 
 9th July 1816.— Hence it would seem, that during the first six years ot 
 the revolution, the nature, forms, and principles of self-government 
 were not fully and freely canvassed or tried by the leading men; be- 
 cause they had not then openly determined on the establishment of ab- 
 solute independence; and therefore their actions and conduct in this in- 
 terval ought to be viewed with many allowances, and cannot be consi- 
 dered as aifording such decisive evidence of political character, as af- 
 terwards, when the minds of all and the opinions of all were openly 
 directed towards the establishment of a frame of independent govern- 
 ment.* 
 
 It is well recollected, that in our own country, many were suppo- 
 sed to be sound patriots uutil the trying epoch of the 4th of July 1776; 
 the next refining period of our political men was that of the formation 
 of the new constitution, under which we live at present. — And it is 
 remarkable that, with very few exceptions, those who were on the side 
 of aristocracy on the 4th July 1776, and when the present government 
 was framed, have been found ranged on the same side in support of 
 aristocratic principles of administration ever since. — It has thus been 
 by the declarations and conduct of men in office and their advocates 
 out of office on such decisive occasions, that the leading characters 
 among us have had their political principles unequivocally developed. 
 — Let us then resort to similar acts and epochs, (public and notorious,) 
 as tests of the political principles of the present ruling faction at Bue- 
 nos-Ayres. — Laying aside therefore all particulars prior to the meeting 
 of the congress at Tucuman, and the declaration of absolute independ- 
 ence, as equivocal, (if you choose it for illustration's sake) we will be- 
 gin from that period to trace the views of the reigning party. 
 
 Dean Funes has given us (torn. S. page 531 in note,) in the sketch 
 of the revolution affixed to his History of Buenos-Ayres, a list of the 
 members of congress convened at Tucuman on the 25th of March 1816, 
 with the names of the provinces, cities, or districts they severally re- 
 presented. — In the Report of the commissioners we are in like manner 
 told the number of members and the provinces represented in the con- 
 gress which sat in Buenos-Ayres in March 1818. From an official do- 
 
 * *Nevertheless, the greatest melioration was effected in the first period of the 
 revolution. — A public library and a free press, method, dispatch, and economy in 
 the public departments, — not to speak of illustrious examples, and many laudable 
 improvements, are indisputable memorials of the ardour, intelligence and patriot- 
 ism of Dr. Moreno and his colleagues ■ (See Moreno's Memoirs.) It was the gold- 
 en age ef the republic. Much was done for liberty before independence was de- 
 clared; more against it, since the declaration of independence. — The causes will 
 be carefully traced in my third and fourth letters — to which I reserve the proper 
 discussion and relation. 
 
88 
 
 cument signed by Jose Eugenio de Elias, secretary of congress, and 
 dated 31st July, 1819, after the establishment of their permanent con- 
 stitution, we are informed of the numbers and places, representing and 
 represented in that august body henceforward. From these sources, 
 the following comparative view is made out, and submitted to your un- 
 biassed judgment: — 
 
 Congress of 1816. 
 
 Congress of 1818 
 
 • 1 
 
 Congress after July IS 19. 
 
 Buenos-Ayres, 
 
 7 
 
 Buenos-Ayres, 
 
 7 
 
 Buenos-Ayres, S 
 
 Cordova, 
 
 5 
 
 Cordova, 
 
 3 
 
 Cordova, 3 
 
 Rioja, 
 
 1 
 
 San Luis, 
 
 1 
 
 Cuyo, 2 
 
 Tucuman. 
 
 2 
 
 Mendoza, 
 
 1 
 
 Tucuman, 5 
 
 Catamarca, 
 
 2 
 
 San Juan, 
 
 1 
 
 Salta, 2 
 
 Santiago del Estero 2 
 
 Rioja, 
 
 1 
 
 Charcas, 3 
 
 Mendoza, 
 
 2 
 
 Catamarca, 
 
 1 
 
 Cochabamba, 2 
 
 San Luis, 
 
 1 
 
 SantiagodelEsterc 
 
 1 
 
 Potosi, 1 
 
 San Juan, 
 
 1 
 
 Tucuman, 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Misque, 
 
 1 
 
 Salta, 
 
 1 
 
 8 Provinces and 21 Re- 
 
 Chuquisaca, 
 
 4 
 
 Jujuy, 
 
 1 
 
 presentatives. 
 
 Cochabamba, 
 
 1 
 
 Potosi, 
 
 1 
 
 
 Chichas, 
 
 1 
 
 Misque, 
 
 1 
 
 
 Salta, 
 
 2 
 
 Charcas, 
 
 3 
 
 
 Jujuy, 
 
 1 
 
 Cochabamba, 
 
 1 
 
 
 15 Provinces and 
 
 33 
 
 15 Provinces and 26 
 
 
 Representatives. 
 
 
 Representatives. 
 
 
 . 
 
 According toFunes's account of revolutionary events, the royalists 
 regained the entire possession of Upper Peru in the year 1813, as far 
 as Jujuy* at the eastern foot of the Andes, and have continued in the 
 uninterrupted possession of it from that date to this. — So that the pro- 
 vinces, or by whatever other name those districts may be designated, 
 of Chichas, Potosi, Misque, Charcas, and Cochabamba, which were 
 then, and have ever since been in the possession of the royalists, and 
 consequently could not within themselves make an election of any sort, 
 had in the congress of 1816 seven members, and in that of 1818 six 
 members which number they are still allowed to have, notwithstand- 
 ing that body has been reduced in numbers from thirty-three to twen- 
 ty-one! — 
 
 Can any one doubt that these members, nominally from the districts 
 of Upper Peru, are placed in their seats by the chiefs of Buenos-Ayres? 
 And is it not evident, that this sham congress is a mere machine in the 
 hands of the leaders of Buenos-Ayres, made and unmade by them at 
 pleasure?— The object of those military chiefs, it is well known, and 
 as it has been manifested by this kind of shifting and packing of con- 
 gresses, has been to throw every thing conducive to the establishment 
 of the representative system into utter confusion. — Mr. Aguirre, the 
 late agent of Buenos-Ayres in this country, as well as Mr. Deforest the 
 present agent, have both (I repeat) publicly and frequently declared, 
 that a monarchy was the only and proper kind of government suited to 
 
m 
 
 the people of that country.— Those agents, no doubt, spoke from what 
 they knew to be the occult designs of the heads of the Buenos-Ayrean 
 faction by whom they were commissioned. — 
 
 Their election was never regular; nor their numbers or term of service 
 well regulated. "About half the body are priests, and the citizens of 
 Buenos-Ayres seem to be deemed eligible, and suitable to represent 
 any province; in consequence of which the church and that city have 
 always had their full influence" (See Bland's Report pages 48, 49.) 
 —From this "rump parliament" has emanated such a scheme of civil, 
 military, and ecclesiastical rule, as might have been expected from a 
 kody so constituted. 
 
 ABSTRACT OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 "The constitution of the United Provinces in South America, adopt- 
 ed and published by order of the sovereign, general constituent con- 
 gress, April 22d 1819," is a strange compound. 
 
 It is arranged in VI. sections, including 138 articles, besides an ap- 
 pendix consisting of an extra, dozen. A few of its features will an- 
 nounce the political tribe and spirit of the government: — 
 
 Religion of the State. — Section I. The Catholic, Apostolical Romish 
 religion is that of the state, which owes it the most effectual and power- 
 ful protection. An infraction of this article is regarded as a violation of 
 the fundamental laws of the country. 
 
 The Legislative power:— -Is to be vested in a national congress, com- 
 posed of two chambers, representatives and senators. 
 
 The house of representatives will be formed of deputies chosen at a 
 ratio of one for 25,000 inhabitants, or a fraction equal to 16,000.—- 
 Members must possess a property of 4000 dollars at least, or in default 
 thereof, an useful art, profession or vocation. They are chosen for 
 four years, one half renewable biennially; have the initiative of taxes, 
 and imposts, and the exclusive right of impeaching the "members of 
 the three great functionaries, ministers of state, envoys to foreign 
 courts, archbishops or bishops, generals of the army, governors and su- 
 perior judges of provinces, or other officers of equal rank, — for of- 
 fences of treason, abuse of trust, malversation of public property, 
 breach of the constitution, or other crimes punishable by death or in- 
 famy. 
 
 The Senate: — Shall consist of a number of provincial senators equal 
 to that of the provinces; three military senators not of a lower grade 
 than colonel-major ( ;) a bishop and three 
 
 ecclesiastics; one for each university; and the director of state after 
 the completion of his term of office. 
 
 A senator must possess an estate of g8,000, an equivalent income, 
 or a profession serviceable to society. The senatorial trust shall last 
 for twelve years, one third of the number renewable quadrennially.-— 
 An ex-director to hold his seat until replaced by his immediate succes- 
 sor in authority. 
 
 Their election or appointment, — Each municipality shall appoint a 
 
 member of their chapter (capitular,) and a proprietor worth g 16,000, 
 
 for electors. These shall assemble at a central point in the province 
 
 designated by the executive power, elect three persons out of the civil 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 class, one of whom at least must reside out of the province. When 
 the returns of these ternaries are made to the senate, (but for the first 
 time to congress,) they will examine the votes, and those who have the 
 majority, computing by provinces, shall be senators. If there be not a 
 plurality, the senate shall elect them from those proposed. 
 
 Military senators shall be appointed by the director of state. The 
 bishop of the diocese resident at the seat of the legislature, shall be 
 senator for the first time; for the future, to be elected by the bishops 
 of the territory. Ecclesiastical cabildos, &c. will elect three of their 
 order, one of whom must belong to a different diocese. 
 
 Both chambers are to assemble in this capital, (Buenos-Ayres) for 
 the first time, and afterwards in whatever place they themselves may 
 determine; — will hold their sessions in the months of March, April and 
 May; September, October and November. 
 
 Article SO. Each chamber may require the attendance of executive 
 ministers in their hall, to receive such information as they think proper. 
 
 The general congress enacts laws for the union, decrees war and 
 peace, establishes duties, and makes appropriations of imposts, (levied 
 equally throughout,) for a term not exceeding two years: fixes the land 
 and naval forces during peace; authorises the construction and equip- 
 ment of a national marine; receives loans on public resources; creates 
 and abolishes offices or employments of every kind, &c. &c. &c. se- 
 cures to authors and inventors of useful works, &c. exclusive privi- 
 leges for a limited time, and regulates money, weights and measures'. 
 
 Executive power. — The supreme executive power of the nation shall 
 be exercised by the person who may be chosen director; who, on his 
 installation, takes an oath to comply and enforce compliance with the 
 constitution of the state, — to protect the Catholic religion, and pre- 
 serve the integrity and independence of the union. — He remains in 
 office for five years; is eligible by the two houses in joint meeting, and 
 must have a majority (i. e. more than half) of all the votes: is re-eli- 
 gible for once by a vote exceeding two third parts of each chamber. He 
 enjoys the usual attributions: gives reports, and makes propositions in 
 writing to the legislature; appoints and removes public officers; con- 
 cludes treaties by the concurrence of the senate; grants letters of ci- 
 tizenship according to law, and appoints to all offices not especially 
 excepted; names archbishops and bishops on proposals of threes by 
 the senate; (a propnesta en terna del senado:) presents to all digni- 
 ties, canonries, prebends, and benefices of cathedral and other churches. 
 
 Judicial power.— An Mta Corte, or supreme court, composed of se- 
 ven judges and two jiscals, (attorneys-general) shall exercise the su- 
 preme judicature of the state. — None can be appointed a member of it 
 except a regular barrister of eight years public practice, and 40 years 
 old.— [In most respects the organization, jurisdiction, and pay, &c. of 
 this court resemble our own.] 
 
 Equal right to protection of property and person, &c. under the laws 
 is recognized; and trial by jury is to be established as circumstances 
 permit. 
 
 The disposition in favor of personal security cannot be suspended; 
 but, when by a remote and extraordinary contingency, which endan- 
 
gers public tranquility or security, these provisions are impracticable- 
 the authorities who find themselves in this fatal necessity, shall im- 
 mediately give an account of their conduct to the legislature, who will 
 examine the motives of the measure, and the time of its duration. 
 
 Exclusive advantages, distinctions or privileges shall not be granted 
 to any man or association, except what may be due to virtue or talent; 
 and which, not being transmissible to descendants, new titles of here- 
 ditary nobility are forbidden. 
 
 The rights of the Indians are acknowledged, and personal service 
 extinguished.— The legislature is to meliorate the condition of the 
 aborigines so as to raise them to a level with other classes of the state. 
 Introduction of slaves is abolished forever. 
 
 All persons are to swear allegiance to this constitution; an attempt 
 against which shall be punished by death or banishment, according to 
 the degree of criminality. 
 
 Until the legislature devise and ordain the mode of electing depu- 
 ties, the next chamber is to be formed according to the prescription of 
 the provisional ordinance. 
 
 The three grand powers collectively shall have the title of Sovereign- 
 ty., and Sovereign Sir, in speech or writing. 
 
 The national congress, composed of the two chambers, which consti- 
 tute the legislature, will receive that of Most Serene Highness, and 
 Serenest Sir. 
 
 Either branch of the legislature, and of the supreme executive and 
 judicial powers, severally, shall have the title of Highness only in 
 speech or writing: and that of Sir, (Senor) at the beginning of petitions 
 and remonstrances addressed to them. 
 
 Ceremonial of seats at every renewal of the representatives, when 
 the executive is to open the sessions, is most etiquettically prescribed. 
 President and vice-president are to occupy the central seats of the 
 front; the senate are to take the right, and the representatives the left: 
 next to them, the members of the Alta Corte. 
 
 Insignia.— Senators and representatives in exercise of their official 
 duties, will use a plate or 'scutcheon of gold, on the centre of which 
 is engraved the motto (\cmn)— Law— bordered with two boughs of 
 olive and laurel. 
 
 Senators shall wear dependent from the neck a cordon or chain of 
 gold; representatives one of silver, which they may use out of their 
 hall or in it. 
 
 Members of the Alta Corte will be clad in the toga or gown, for their 
 costume of ceremony; at other times they may use a plate of gold with 
 the device of Justice — encircled as above, and pendent from the neck 
 a chain of gold and silver mixed. 
 
 This form of constitution is dated at Buenos-Ayres, 22d, and the 
 appendix, the 50th of April 1819. Both are signed and countersign- 
 ed by Dr. Gregorio Funes, president, and Dr. Josef E. de Elias, sec- 
 retary. 
 
 I think I cannot imagine any critique on this rare constitution wor- 
 thy of its noble quality, or equal to your penetration. 
 The duke was not so scrupulous in decorating Sancho Panza, when 
 
about to be installed in the government of his island.— The honest 
 'squire resisted his court-costume, and vowed he should still be Sancho, 
 dress, him as they would. So will it be, I fear, with the dignified sena- 
 tors and judges with their chains of gold, their titles, and piintillos; 
 "Sovereignty," — Serenity and Sirship — Though bedizzened in the ve- 
 ry bon-ton of man-millinery, I suspect that Law and Justice will stick 
 on the outside of their breast-plates, or dangle from their buttons, or 
 be hanged [if not quartered] on their supreme necks. — With due in- 
 dulgence for Hispano-American habits, you will be apt to dscide, that 
 this instrument was "conceived in sin and produced in iniquity." 
 
 Was it of this paragon of civil institutes and its effects, that the au- 
 thor spoke at p. 97, vol. II. viz. "It is idle to talk of their (the peo- 
 ple's) not being able to settle down in a sober and rational govern- 
 ment, suited to their situations and exigencies, although it may not 
 be exactly like ours?" 
 
 A member of the English house of commons spoke more rationally 
 many years since on a motion to repeal the Septennial Act. Sir John 
 St. A.ubin says, that "Human nature is so very corrupt that all obliga- 
 tions lose their force unless they are frequently renewed." "For this 
 reason, short parliaments have been less corrupt than long ones: They 
 are observed, like streams of water, al. -ays to grow more impure 
 
 THE GREATER DISTANCE THEY RUN FROM THEIR FOUNTAIN-HEAD." 
 
 I record with pleasure an opinion in point, given by an English gen- 
 tleman in Buenos- Ayres to one of our commissioners; and he spoke 
 from an intimate knowledge of the cits of Buenos-Ayres, and of the 
 population of the country. "What, said he, is the foundation of this 
 boastful pretension of townsmen, who can read and write &c. &c. over 
 uneducated rustics? — Why do those presume to consider these incapa- 
 ble of civil liberty? — What were the barons of England, who controll- 
 ed arbitrary kings? — Why, sir, you know that many of them could not 
 write their names. — Freedom is a possession too plain and substantial 
 to depend exclusively on a few artificial acquirements or accomplish- 
 ments. Rights are easily learned when leaders earnestly wish to dis- 
 seminate instruction.— People ought not to be enslaved because they 
 are illiterate, nor oppressed because they happen to be weak. Away 
 with these insolent airs of superiority!" 
 
 Thus conversed this honest Englishman; and thus speaks every hon- 
 est man. — Whatever governments may be, let us be just to honorable 
 individual*. 
 
 No provision is made for obtaining the sanction of the people to this 
 fundamental act. He that sweareth to it may be saved, but he that 
 sweareth not shall be damned. So ordains the constitution — not dic- 
 tated by the general will. 
 
 No provision is prepared for popular election; and to me it appears, 
 that the legerdemain of a few cabildos and commandants will dispose 
 of the whole business of election. If the practice were known, this in- 
 strument would make them forget it; how then can it teach precepts of 
 civil liberty! 
 
 Swift justly admired the good old Gothic custom of annual parlia- 
 ments, and saw no safeguard without them. A quadrennial term is 
 
93 
 
 much too long — The celebrated Peterman of Goldentingen, avoy- 
 er of Lucerne, fell gloriously at the battle of Sempach. "As he was 
 expiring of his wounds, a friend who saw his danger, ran to his assist- 
 ance, and finding him in the agonies of death, enquired with tender 
 solicitude, if he had any family arrangements to make, while he was 
 yet in a situation to do it. — "Tell my countrymen, replied the expiring 
 <: hero, that Goldeltingen with his latest breath, conjures them never 
 "to continue an avoyer in office for a longer term than one 
 "year. It is the advice of a dying man who loves his country, and 
 '•'who falls contented in having discharged his duty." 
 
 The principle is a sound one as regards all offices in all departments. 
 They are public trusts;— and will assuredly be violated, without certain 
 means of responsibility. 
 
 What then shall we say of the sacerdotal-civil-military-Senate? — 
 Its cycle of service seems fitted to correspond with the number of the 
 Apostles— but it would answer just as well to square it into a hundred 
 and forty-four. Instead of cutting down the ecclesiastical fueros, the 
 leaders cut down republicans, and erect privileged bodies to equilibrate 
 with the bishops and archbishops.— What a solemn farce! 
 
 For such a legislature, the executive holds neither inordinate pow- 
 er nor a disproportionate term of office.— But, in all offices of such 
 elevation, precautions should be taken against feuds and intrigues 
 among the members or states of the confederacy, by securing all from 
 the machinations of each. No province should be allowed to claim the 
 chief directorship for any of its citizens, twice in succession. Justice, 
 respect and harmony would then be maintained throughout. This is 
 of great importance. It would check encroachment, and preclude im- 
 proper stratagems in the transmission of power It would prevent the 
 
 executive power from absorbing all the rest. 
 
 As to the judicature, they have copied our error it is of a piece 
 
 with their system; but incompatible with a free government by respon- 
 sible agents. 
 
 Upon the whole, I do not wonder that ther dictators of this constitu- 
 tion should have laid a thousand snares to destroy republican chieftains 
 of worth, constancy and valour. It is not for freemen. 
 
 But no comments that I can hastily form are entitled to notice in 
 comparison with principles already laid down and admitted by all 'our 
 eminent men. 
 
 Election in itself affords a very feeble barrier against the inroads of 
 tyranny,— a subtle principle that assumes an inconceivably greater 
 number of shapes than the Proteus of mythology. Here a^ain, your 
 old favorite Taylor has so handled the subject as to leave ^nothing to 
 be said by others.— Apply to Buenos-Ayres, what he has written of the 
 United States; moral, physical, and mathematical truths being the same 
 in all nations and times. 
 
 "Election is almost the only barrier opposed to executive ambition 
 in the United States. Alone, it has universally been insufficient. Ma- 
 rius, Sylla, Pompey, Csesar, Cromwell and Buonaparte were elected. 
 The English house of commons, and the French legislatures under se- 
 veral forms, were elected. Election furnished in all these cases, the 
 
94 
 
 means for introducing or exercising tyranny. By conveying too much 
 power, or consolidating within a narrow compass the power it did con- 
 vey, it awakened or excited ambition and avarice."* 
 
 "The question is, whether the experience of all ages, — that great pow- 
 er cannot be controuled by election, shall induce the Americans to ac- 
 cumulate power; or whether our own existing experience, that divided 
 power may be controuled by election, shall induce us to divide the mass 
 collected in the national executive. 
 
 "The evidence on both sides yields exactly the same conclusion. 
 All ancient experiments, to control undivided or great masses of pow- 
 er by national willj failed; our modern experiments, to control power 
 in a state of considerable division, have succeeded. The first demon- 
 strated the evil, the second demonstrates the remedy." 
 
 Hence he argues, that an increase of executive power by "paper and 
 patronage, — war, fleets and armies," will carry into effect in a state of 
 maturity the monarchical propensity observable in our infancy. This, 
 he says, cannot be prevented, but by interposing a timely provision 
 against it. "A blow cannot be avoided which is not foreseen." 
 
 "Abbreviation of the time of service, and rotation in office, are aux- 
 iliaries in unmonarchising executive power, called forth by the state 
 constitutions, and abandoned or relaxed by the general constitution. 
 Our policy will not be made to flourish by inconsistent principles. Its 
 two parts can only act with effect by acting in concert. The tempta- 
 tion to form factions and perpetrate usurpation, is graduated by the 
 chance of reaping the contemplated fruit. A long time of service, con- 
 nected with rotation, is an inducement to obtain influence by corrup- 
 tion, in order to destroy rotation; and a short time without rotation, is 
 an inducement to use the same means to secure a re-election, nota- 
 tion and the annual power of the Roman consuls, united, prevented 
 consular usurpation for centuries; annual appointment of proconsuls, 
 without a strict rotation, produced proconsular usurpation in a few 
 years. 
 
 "All mankind do in fact believe, that a short duration of delegated 
 power is the best security for its continuing a delegation." 
 
 A despot in his own case, — all men indeed — are unanimous in these 
 principles. "He (a despot) carefully divides his provinces, his armies 
 and his powers, so that no one dividend should be strong enough to de- 
 throne him. If he is so imprudent as to place his army and his trea- 
 sury under one man, and irrevocably to invest him with the command 
 of them for four years, with a power of appointing and removing all 
 officers civil and military,— -he is dethroned by his first able, artful and 
 ambitious general." Consequently, popular sovereignty is prostrated 
 in the same manner, — by giving up too much power. 
 
 '•As countries are divided into provinces to secure kings, power 
 
 *If election is insufficient, even with some imperfect regulations, to preserve 
 the purity of public officers and agents,— how tremendous must be the influence 
 of official power in the hands of permanent agents, as judges &c. who assume the 
 prerogative of extending the sphere of their own authority by dint of construc- 
 tion? Popes grew out of elective bishops, 
 
95 
 
 ought to be divided into provinces to secure nations; and, as each geo- 
 graphical division is subject to the monarch, each potential division 
 should be subject to the people. 
 
 "Power changes moral character, and private life regenerates it. 
 The children of hereditary power are not tyrants from a procreative 
 cause. They are made such by contemplation of the power to which 
 they are destined. 
 
 "If the prospect corrupts, will the possession cleanse? It is not in 
 a natural but a moral birth, that the defect of the hereditary principle 
 lies. Great power, or a long possession of power, changes a man's 
 moral nature, whether.it is derived from inheritance or election. Pat- 
 riots, as well as princes become tyrants from being steeped in the 
 same menstruum; and yet nations are still to learn that its intoxicating 
 qualities are the same upon both." 
 
 What soul-awakening but neglected truths are deposited in this un- 
 equalled book, like gold in an unknown mine! 
 
 "Even a hope of office corrupts eloquence. It ceases to be the ani- 
 mated auxiliary of truth, and becomes the mercenary ally of interest. 
 Honesty is exchanged for art. An artificial character is formed by a 
 possibility of continuing considerable power. It assumes different 
 principles with different persons. It gilds its bait with patronage, con- 
 tracts and charter, at the public expense. And the varnish it assumes 
 is to conceal the foulness of the stuff it hides." — (See Taylor's Inqui- 
 ry, &c. p. 170—189.) 
 
 It is a consolation to recur to reasoning like this, — after the paid of 
 reading the burlesque constitution of La Plata, her twelve years' sen- 
 ate, mitres, and other cachivache. 
 
 What is the Secretary's apology?— Why, — he says that the public 
 mind is not yet prepared for religious toleration, and will not be for 
 many years to come, p. 297, and talks of the "savage character of the 
 population of the plains, and of the gloominess of the colonial faith," 
 being "serious considerations," in regard to Buenos-Ayres. He would 
 place Puerreydon and his politicians in a dilemma where difficulties 
 stand so thickly on either hand that it is impossible to make any choice 
 whatever. There may be military plots, insurrections, he thinks, and 
 the government be deposed — or rather, the persons who have seized it. 
 But, let us recollect, that they were basking in sunshine; if they have 
 conjured up storms, it must have been because they preferred them. 
 They may have had their hardships; but their severest privation was 
 not worse than that which a grave author states of the "poor — rich, 
 humble, — sovereign" missionaries of Paraguay, viz — "They have plen- 
 ty of roots and herbs; and the on,ly thing they want is oil to their sal- 
 lads, instead of which they are forced to use honey and sugar." 
 
 After all, I agree with the unfortunate "Secretary" in one point: 
 "We pay too little attention to South America."* Whether we 
 
 * I again point your eye to the deceptive title of the Votaoi: ^Performed 
 
 by order of the American government in the years 1817 and 1818!" — They were not 
 one year occupied in the mission.— It i« quite perceptible, that this petty ruse 
 was intended to promote the sale of a dull article here, or help its circulation at 
 Buenos-Ayres.— He justified the constitution in the newspapers! ! ! 
 
96 
 
 are to close as friends, or clash as foes, let us be nearer. If we are 
 cold to her chiefs, let us evince friendship for the people. Endowed 
 with a happy genius, the South-American is entitled to our respect; 
 he will command our admiration, when he unfolds his faculties under 
 a protective government. — Wherever Venezolanians of education take 
 refuge in the islands, their talents win an ascendancy. The advocates 
 in Trinidad, who lead the bar, Mendoza, Garcia, Vena and Salazar, 
 (absit invidia!) are South Americans. They are accomplished scholars 
 beside, especially the latter, who is a poet, biographer and historian ot 
 no ordinary merit. — It was he, who, after commemorating his martyr- 
 ed colleagues in Santa-Fe, &c. wrote a poetical tribute to the memory 
 of our glorious and lamented Perky. — Would to God! that their tal- 
 ents were at this moment in the service of their country, and that 
 country disenthralled from Spanish habits, (for she will soon be rid of 
 Spanish troops) from British plots and machinations, and the Portu- 
 guese and mercantile conduits through which they are injected! I need 
 not assure you, sir, that the calico-war, the broad-cloth war, and the 
 hard-ivare hostilities of John Bull, are a thousand times more formi- 
 dable than the catapults and scorpion-engines of Roman besiegers. — 
 They resemble the hurdles that screened the battering-ram and the 
 soldiers who worked it: Or, as president Adams has said, in one of his 
 letters — They "conceal the asp in a basket of figs." — I wish you could 
 extricate the South Americans from this venomous influence. — The 
 interposition would, like mercy, be "twice blessed," — to the giver and 
 to the receiver. — In a commercial light, an intimacy with South 
 America is of inestimable importance.— But, of this in my next. I 
 run the hazard perhaps of making my varied communication like the 
 S ecretary's "Introduction" or Geography, a hodge-podge, 
 
 Where every something-, being blent together, 
 Turns to a wild of nothing. 
 
 I will retreat from the subject, and give you the respite of a week, 
 when I hope to receive the benefit of your reflections, — and 'till then. 
 Adieu. 
 
 NOTE OF LATEST INTELLIGENCE FROM CHILI,— RECEIVED SINCE THE 
 PRECEDING WENT TO PRESS. 
 
 Letters from Buenos- Ayres and Chili, written in September and Oc- 
 tober last, and entitled to the highest credit, are before me. Their con- 
 tents confirm my opinions, and chill my hopes. The republicans there 
 seem stretching forth their supplicatory hands towards the people of 
 the United States, and to implore their guardianship: " Will you suffer 
 " us, your brothers and imitators, to be crucified between native usurp- 
 " ers and foreign emissaries? Internal traitors and European cabinets 
 " are consigning freedom and its votaries to one common tomb. We 
 " thought you would vindicate our rights, because we believed you were 
 " friendly to civil liberty. What stoicism has so frozen your blood, 
 "that you can calmly behold us tortured on the rack, and bleeding at 
 i( every pore. — We do not wish you to be involved in war on our ac- 
 
97 
 
 " count — All the assistance we require you can render without violat- 
 ing national duties." But, to the abstract. 
 
 "Three grades of military nobility, (says one of our countrymen,) 
 with specific privileges, have been established in Chili, under the dic- 
 tation of Buenos-Ayres. They are exempted from ordinary tribunals, 
 have fueros as extensive as the nobility of Spain, or Great Britain; and 
 can be tried only by their peers. Estates are to be given them from 
 the confiscated lands of the republicans and a few old Spaniards. In 
 the meantime they enjoy pensions beside their stipend as officers. 
 
 "The army consists of 9000 regulars, and a division of 3000 called 
 the auxiliary army of the Andes. Orders are issued to raise 26 batta- 
 lions of cavalry and 20 regiments of militia infantry. An expedition, 
 was ready to sail for Peru as soon as lord Cochrane destroys the ene- 
 my's squadron of ships and gun-boats at Callao, which you know is the 
 harbour of Lima. 
 
 "No elective right whatever exists among the people; for there is no 
 representation. Power confers right, and consecrates every public act 
 
 "There is a senate (so called!) of five members always in session. 
 It is a sort of extra cabinet and seldom ventures to oppose the supreme 
 director and his ministers in any thing. The principal laws, if they 
 deserve the title, consist of directorial decrees, proclaimed by a crier, 
 a guard, and drummer in the streets. There are some ordinances. 
 
 "Since Irrisari went to London, one Garcia manages the government 
 press; which teems with philippics against the government and people 
 of the United States. An advocate of eminence, Iganu, author of the 
 first aristocratical constitution of Chili, (the same who ridicules trial 
 by jury, &c.) is writing Letters from the Puenches, to answer the an- 
 ti-republican views of the "men in power." Notwithstanding this un- 
 disguised enmity to freedom, a scheme is formed for misleading the 
 people of the United States by means of hired writers and agents, and 
 false publications. — Some ren'egado North-Americans have become sub- 
 servient to the fraud; and one at least has raised himself from the rank 
 of accomplice to that of principal in the plot by proposing amendments 
 to the project. Hence some give him the honor of hatching it. Cap- 
 tain 's misconduct on the other side over-heaps the measure 
 
 of inequality. He brought into the port of Valparaiso from Lima, and 
 under the American flag, a cousin of the viceroy and colonel of the 
 royal lifeguards, a colonel of artillery and chief engineer, with some 
 of their families, merchants and a large sum of specie. He had receiv- 
 ed a sword from the viceroy, said to be worth 50,000 dollars. — He de- 
 parted with this contraband freight so precipitately from the harbour, 
 that American merchants were deprived of an opportunity of remitting 
 their money. Under pretence of negociating an exchange of prisoners, 
 an emissary was also brought who had different speculations in view. — 
 These acts have rendered us both despicable and detestable in the eyes 
 of the Chilians; and the monarchical faction gladly avail themselves of 
 them to bring our principles into disrepute. 
 
 "The English and Buenos-Ayreans go hand-in-hand in propagating 
 injurious and false impressions respecting the United States. President 
 Monroe's good intentions are reversed by the perfidiousness o f ■ 
 N 
 
98 
 
 and—--* n The royalists dislike us from policy, and the re- 
 
 publicans are tempted to contemn our coldness. Inimical industry has 
 been but too successful against us. — The Chilenos did entertain favor- 
 able sentiments towards us before their minds were contaminated by 
 Englishmen and Buonos-Ayreans. In a word Buenos-Ayres is become 
 almost a colony of Great-Britain, and Chili a dependency of Buenos- 
 Ayres. 
 
 "Extraordinary efforts are making through the medium of the bishops 
 and priests, of processions and mummery, to make popular reason re- 
 trograde towards barbarous superstition. — In a sermon lately the cre- 
 dit of the victory of Maypu was roundly ascribed to Nuestra Senora 
 del Carmen,— -an ascription that makes the Virgin Mary as warlike as 
 Pallas or Minerva. I pass over the circumstance of a chapel being 
 built and dedicated to her on the spot; as the gallant Swiss celebrated 
 some of their most glorious triumphs by piously erecting chapels as me- 
 morials." 
 
 Thus marches British plot with contemporaneous step towards its 
 consummation. In Buenos-Ayres and Chili the same malignant star 
 sheds its blasting influence. 
 
 Assuredly, an openly avowed nobility, with vast domains, is better 
 than an indirect one, secietly introduced, in shape of incorporations, 
 or other orders; but perhaps not so easily expelled. 
 
 ''Hereditary aristocracy, supported by perpetuities, is preferable to 
 a paper and patronage aristocracy, because its taxation would be less 
 oppressive, since its landed estate would furnish it with opulence and 
 power; whereas eternal and oppressive taxation is necessary to supply 
 the aristocracy of paper and patronage with these vital qualities."— "It 
 aggravated the misery of Prometheus that his liver was made to grow 
 for the gratification of a harpy, without appeasing its voracity." — And 
 such is the impalpable taxation perpetrated by banks and funding sys- 
 tems. 
 
 "The aristocracy of ancient superstition defended itself by exclaim- 
 ing, the Cods! the temples! the sacred oracles! divine vengeance! and 
 Elysian fields! — and that of paper and patronage exclaims, — national 
 faith! sacred charters! disorganization! and security of property!" 
 Yes, of the very property it saps, cheapens, undermines and — acquires 
 
 In one point both agree, with the same author's description: Each is 
 "a minority organized, not to preserve, but to suppress popular influ- 
 ence." — There is this variation: the one is from the beginning above 
 and independent of the people; the other becomes the people's mas- 
 ter from their influence over leaders of the rank-and-file of party. For 
 these, like true soldiers, follow their officers to — Jerusalem if necessa- 
 ry. But, I trust there is a greater difference,— that ours is curable, 
 and may be abolished, while the other is incurable and must continue 
 forever, — if suffered to take root. In "this regard" ours is as a pim- 
 ple; theirs a cancer. I trust that we shall relieve ourselves from po- 
 litical blotches, which deform our fair system; and primitive principles 
 recover their lost ground. I hope that we shall yet hold forth an ex- 
 ample to be imitated by all the nations around us. 
 
 From our tardiness in aiding the cause of freedom to the southward, 
 I am apprehensive of our losing the opportunity forever. I deprecate 
 
the organization of monarchies on our continent. If we are faithful to 
 republicanism and to our best commercial interests, we will prevent 
 that mischief. We are bound to exclude the pest. Brazil would have 
 been forced to relax her despotism by the moral and commercial ope- 
 rations of free governments in her vicinity: at any rate, we should have 
 had but one monarchy in America. — If we are political defaulters, on 
 the contrary, darkness is likely to prevail against light; and contagion, 
 corruption, and monarchy will occupy the better portion of the conti- 
 nent. — It will be surrendered to the machinations of England, Portu- 
 gal, and other cabinets. Are our statesmen asleep? — I hope they are 
 only maturing a general and efficacious system. 
 
 Another letter from an American citizen dated at Valparaiso, 12th 
 of October, 1819, and worthy also of unlimited confidence, has the 
 following: — 
 
 "Lord Cochrane found at Payta, considerable booty, such as sugar, 
 brandy and household furniture.* Indeed, it appears to me that his 
 lordship is carrying on the same pitiful warfare that was waged against 
 the poor farmers on the shores of the Chesapeake during the late war. 
 I am of opinion that his lordship and general San Martin will do more 
 injury to the cause of freedom in this part of the world than could ten 
 thousand of Ferdinand's troops. For, it is my belief, that their inten- 
 tion is to make use of the resources of Chili to conquer Peru for them- 
 selves: and the government of Chili which is calculating on the wealth 
 of Peru to restore its credit, will find itself without money, without 
 troops or credit. 
 
 "The people here generally regard San Martin with a jealous eye, 
 and some are seriously alarmed; but none dare publicly express their 
 sentimeuts. San Martin has command of the army, and the country 
 is consequently at his mercy. The major part of his troops are from 
 Buenos-Ayres: he has removed all the principal Chilian officers from 
 the army and put his new creatures in their places. None dare mur- 
 mur for fear oi being dealt with as traitors. If any one offend he is 
 shot without ceremony. 
 
 *This despicable predatory warfare carries on its face the family-likeness of 
 that power whose admiralty-court ridiculed the new philosophy, and commended 
 pillage. — Hear Franklin's list of those who ought to be exempt.— 
 
 "1. Cultivators of the earth, because they labor for the subsistence of mankind. 
 
 •«2. Fishermen for the same reason. 
 
 "3. Merchants and traders in unarmed ships, who accommodate different na- 
 tions by communicating and exchanging the necessaries and conveniences of life. 
 
 "4. Artists and mechanics, inhabiting and working in open towns. 
 
 "It is hardly necessary to add, that the hospitals of enemies should be unmo- 
 lested — they ought to be assisted. It is for the interest of humanity in general, 
 that the occasions of war and the inducements to it should be diminished. — If ra. 
 pine be abolished, one of the encouragements to war is taken away; and peace 
 therefore more likely to continue and be lasting." Nations would have agreed 
 on the majority of these propositions before this time, if the influence of England 
 had not stopped the progress of civilization. — To maintain her monopoly and ma- 
 ritime supremacy, and to spread her dominion, she has leagued against all the 
 "Rights of Man," — set up superstition, established despotic power over Europc s 
 and plunged modern nations in the barbarity of past ages. 
 
100 
 
 "If San Martin and his army were out of the country, and the peo- 
 ple united, I should consider Chili as completely emancipated. O'Hig- 
 gins is a brave and good man, and a sound patriot;* but he is surround- 
 ed by the tools of San Martin, and is completely at their mercy." — 
 The influence acquired with the director and patriots in?so short a time 
 
 by the republican judge , in the face of a host, evinces what 
 
 patriotic zeal can effect. A North-American who does not speak and 
 act there with republican ardor is regarded as a monster. 
 
 * This has never oeen doubted; but his want of ability has ever made him the 
 dupe and the instrument of ihe artful. Doubtless, the disgraceful surrender in 
 spring- 1814, was the work of designing-, corrupt men around him. The aristo- 
 crats made use of him against the Carreras. ^ 
 
 APOLOGETIC AL POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 It has occurred to me- — like some other considerations perhaps rather 
 late.* — that I ought to assign my reasons for turning aside to censure 
 forensic sophistry or judicial assumption. If the latter be the natural 
 fruit of the former, the disease ought to be attacked in the germ, else 
 our liberties are blighted, and the constitution may become an empty 
 sound — Law questions I leave to persons as competent as yourself; but 
 those arising under a plain constitution, every intelligent man may 
 comprehend and compare. It was framed to circumscribe power; but 
 it is often made to confer illimitable and discretionary powers. — Some 
 of our profoundest lawyers laugh at the idea of a paper-guarantee: they 
 insinuate that every barrier will be constructively overleaped, the gates 
 unbarred, and the judicial circle extended to embrace all the rest. Ad- 
 mitting this to be founded, I could not but be alarmed at the suction 
 of a vortex which would indicate a bottomless abyss. Perhaps the lu- 
 minaries mistake. 
 
 Judge Cooper, a gentleman of universal science, and of great eru- 
 dition as a lawyer, suggests the opinion that written guaranties are fra- 
 gile and nugatory. "But in that country [England] the high character 
 and station of the judges, and the great cenfidence so universally and 
 (a few instances excepted) so deservedly reposed in them, and the at- 
 tention due to the opinion of the bar, as well as of the bench — form a 
 & public safeguard of great practical importance: a much more effica- 
 cious one than the farce of a written constitution in this country, 
 which every party, bold and unprincipled in proportion to its ignor- 
 ance, construes and misconstrues, uses and abuses, as the temptation 
 of the moment may happen to dictate." Cooper's Justinian, page 631. 
 This is extraordinary doctrine. If perverted construction has wi- 
 dened judicial jurisdiction for uncounted leagues beyond the bourne of 
 the constitutional one, we ought not to abolish a "written constitution" 
 on that account, but clip the wing of assumption/. He prescribes as a 
 
 *The preceding letter had been printed off before I thought of this. 
 
101 
 
 remedy out- surrender to the disease — If an unruly ass or an ungovern 
 able horse break into my enclosure, would it not be better to turn them 
 out, and strengthen the fence, than to pull it down in despair, and suf- 
 fer all the beasts of the neighbourhood to trample my clover, and browse 
 upon my shrubbery?— Where reason is left free, errors may be repair- 
 ed; and therefore I disagree with the celebrated commentator on Justi- 
 nian. We have resources of safety under this constitution, and in the 
 general intelligence which may drive back transgressors into the pale, 
 of delegated power. And this is the excellence of our system, that none 
 can long pretend to infallibility and supremacy. Society never parts 
 with its sovereignty, and ought to resume what every spe*cies of agents 
 attempt to fritter away or to transfer — I deny also, that the bar and 
 bench of England have formed "a public safeguard" for freedom: they 
 have commonly been the instruments of tyranny, the authors of en- 
 croachments, and the pandars of the court. Coke the greatest, ablest 
 of them all, was the obsequious tool of corruption and a firebrand of 
 persecution, until despotism and corruption were levelled at himself. 
 He then resisted arbitrary power with ingenuity and vigour. In all 
 countries we find human nature the same: every order grasp at politi- 
 cal power, when they can do it under pleas that secure impunity. The 
 church and the bar have displayed the same ambition— have lent them- 
 selves to tyranny, when they could not tyrannize themselves. We 
 must watch them: In a monarchy, errors are almost eternal; in a re- 
 public, they are corrigible. 
 
 Professor Cooper might be quoted against himself— in his reply to 
 Burke, and in his eulogium on our federal constitution contained in 
 Priestley's Memoirs. I hope the divine instrument there is no "farce" 
 here! 
 
 Again. "There is no reply to be made to the arguments in favor of 
 republicanism over monarchy: in theory they are triumphant. But, in 
 practice there are objections that may give occasion to a considerate 
 man to pause: especially where under the influence of universal suffrage 
 the ignorance of the community is almost exclusively represented, and' 
 wisdom and wealth are held in equal distrust."— ib. 633. 
 
 In plain English,— Monarchy with all its defects, is preferable per- 
 haps to our frame of representative government. I am not of this opi- 
 nion. And though wisdom may cry in our streets, wealth is too apt to 
 acquire great influence. A few abuses do not disprove the general ex- 
 cellence of our system. Whatever invasions happen, the gentlemen of 
 the bar are employed to give them plausibility.— Of them we have cause 
 to beware by their own account. 
 
 I had made many annotations to justify opinions expressed in this let- 
 ter. I had seen many things decided as contracts which where destitute 
 of every principle necessary to constitute them such, whether we regard 
 parties, purpose, assent, or equivalents.— But it belongs not to my plan 
 to dwell upon them here. They are of too great magnitude I am sa- 
 tisfied in bringing the subject before you, and to you I resign it. That 
 representative body, in which you ought to have much influence, will 
 probe the allegations to the bottom/(as I hope) and adopt proper mea- 
 sures. If there be foundation for the charges, I trust that they will 
 
10& 
 
 not slumber over them.— And so I dismiss that topic,—turning for a 
 moment to other parts of the theme. 
 
 Others, however, ought not to be deterred from forming "written 
 constitutions," even if the sophisters have occasionally tugged and 
 stretched, and abridged our own. Extravagance has spread alarm, and 
 is about to correct itself. The poor people of Germany and Russia 
 would be happy, if they could extort such a guarantee from their mas- 
 ters. Spain would be happy: France would deem herself stable; and 
 England avert a revolution by such a reform. I am still willing t<» re- 
 gard the invention of letters as divine — were it only because it has 
 given birth to a "written constitution."— If Europe is scourged by in- 
 dependent kings, any other country would be scourged by independent 
 judges, or independent officers of any description. — Within society, 
 — (and the very term society denotes internal dependence and collec- 
 tive independence,) the phrase is foolish, deceptious, extravagant and 
 iniquitous. No agent can safely be independent of, or uncontroulable 
 by his constituents. Responsibility is the virtue and the power by which 
 public functionaries are held within their orbit. Responsible kings, re- 
 sponsible chiefs, responsible representatives, responsible judges, can 
 alone be harmless, useful, or trustworthy. Were the miserable peo- 
 ple of Europe to draw the claws of their kings, hierarchs and nobility, 
 — and reduce the monsters to men, they might play with those dread 
 animals as with tame rattlesnakes, — that are deprived of their fangs 
 and venom. — For farther illustration, I may add, that a robber is a per- 
 son who throws off the shackles of law, and strives to render himself 
 independent of society: and so of all culprits round. They endeavor by 
 a centrifugal force to escape from local restraiut and from the social 
 sphere. A great king sets himself above society by fraud or might, or 
 the "grace of God." If other stewards of any denomination can sepa- 
 rate themselves from social dependence on any pretence, the principle 
 and consequence are comparatively the same.— A government of laws 
 is displaced by the hocus-pocus of construction; and the general repre- 
 sentative will be thus set completely at nought. 
 
 To hasten that reform, which is feared by the despisers of written 
 constitutions in South America, or derided by some learned gentlemen 
 here, I shall exhibit the pretensions of the pettifoggers in full relief, 
 in shape of their own harangue. But it is for pettifoggeis alone — not 
 for liberal lawyers, or politicians of reading and common sense. Who 
 knows but it may weaken the force of that assuetude which they so 
 artfully propagate? — Who knows but it may turn an eye of jealousy 
 on those ceaseless efforts which we witness to establish a government 
 over the people, but independently of them? 
 
 "Messieurs plebeians, — Why do you at times appear so gloomy and 
 disconsolate? You are the happiest mortals that ever trod the stage 
 of life. Every thing is done for you, and you are kindly relieved of 
 all solid concern in legislation, government, and the administration of 
 justice. We allow you as much participation in those things as is be- 
 neficial to yourselves and us. Lawyers are created to protect you, and 
 consequently ordained to rule you. The end confers the means. Dis- 
 miss all your cares: five or six judges can think for you all,— assisted 
 
10S 
 
 as they are by tens of thousands of counsellors, and supported by 
 your implicit fail h. — Till your fields; sow, reap and mow; — pursue 
 your commerce; think of amusement and labor, but avoid the useless 
 labor of thinking. It is far more reasonable, — you may rest assured 
 of it, — that half a dozen should guide and govern a nation, than that 
 a nation should delegate prescribed duties to half a dozen of eminent 
 citizens. There is but one centre of light for the whole circle of plan- 
 ets; one sun, but numerous moons. You are the opaque, we the luminous 
 bodies. It is a fallacy then, — nay, a damnable heresy, to suppose that 
 the greater number govern the lesser: no; no; the precedents of all na- 
 tions declare the reverse. The lesser bedazzle and controul the great- 
 er; and you must not presume to alter this settled order of the moral 
 world. Confide in us; we are always ready, for a fair fee, to counsel 
 and console you. What more could you possibly require? By con- 
 structions and glosses we will furnish you with laws. We'll manu- 
 facture for your accommodation as rare a constitution as you could 
 make, or meet in a summer's day. True, it is, your representatives 
 have the name of enacting statutes; but, they are totally transformed 
 or refracted in passing through the medium of our courts. It is no ob- 
 jection that our code becomes formless. The Deity himself is conceiv- 
 ed to be amorphous. — It is as vain to argue that laws should emanate 
 wholly from the general will, as to insist that children should be indul- 
 ged in their whimsical inclinations. Nations like infants are spoiled 
 by too much liberty. No; no; genuine laws issue like oracles from the 
 mouths of judges and "special attorneys." You are mistaken, gentle- 
 men; it is finally for lawyers to make laws; for shoemakers to make 
 shoes; for tailors to make breeches, and for grave-diggers to make 
 graves. You know not what light is until it is refracted and transmit- 
 ted through the lawyer-lens and prism. (What right had Paine to 
 think, or Monterosa to comment?) You cannot complain of deception: 
 all your predecessors liked to be deceived. They did not dive into 
 mysteries, but like good people believed whatever the parson enjoined 
 or the lawyer expounded — except among Anglo-Saxons &c. who settled 
 all their contests civil and criminal by battle or by jury. That mon- 
 struosity we soon dissipated— and took the law into our own hand. 
 What sort of a world would it be, if all the inhabitants were quakers? 
 Neither lawsuits nor wars! O Mercury! what would then become of law- 
 yers? what would become of priests? not one of them would ever chaunt 
 a Te Deum laudamus! Our forefathers (now in glory) were not so super - 
 humanly unreasonable: and would you forget the wisdom, and depart 
 from the sanctified usage of your ancestors? Rather "let chaos come 
 again!" What new-fangled philosophy like a hedge-hog has crept into 
 some of your sculls, and sharply served hoary custom (the venerable old 
 tenant!) with a writ of ejectment! It is the business of the multitude, we 
 tell you, to hear and obey. Be silent, and submit yourselves to the higher 
 powers. We are the guardians appointed by fate to take care of you. 
 And who so fit for the paternal task of superintendance as verbal critics 
 and etymologists like us, who can acutely resolve slavery itself into a 
 mere word, and words into letters, and letters into sounds?— We can de- 
 monstrate that diffusion of servitude is quite contrary to the extension of 
 
104 
 
 it,- — one implying circular, the other rectilinear motion. We can even 
 show that extension is the direct road towards abolition; and we can 
 prove, that just and impartial, though vulgarly deemed to be closely re- 
 lated, never belonged to the same household. When expedient we can 
 show that controlling all is not governing all. We can convince any 
 body, except a sceptic, that equity and law are not cousin -gerinans: that 
 the former is simple as the homespun dress of a quaker, but the other 
 a dandefied, party-colored, variable, fashionable buck, adapted to Bond- 
 street or Broadway. One is intelligible and unchangeable, the other 
 as fickle as an April day. We are his barbers, and dress and shave 
 him seven times a day: for he pays us like a prince,— and answers all 
 our purposes. — The nobility have often labored to rescue him from our 
 tutelage, and take him under their own — but we outflanked them in Penn- 
 sylvania, where they were ignorant of manoeuvres; and the example 
 has affrighted others. We have him now entirely at our disposal. When 
 expeditions have been fittihg out against us, we dispersed them by di- 
 viding the members. We assured them that the people never hold any 
 thing in veneration which they understand; and therefore, law must 
 be a mystery like religion. Who can reproach the priest or the law- 
 yer for taking advantage of this foible? If men love to be cheated, they 
 will be cheated. Our strength consists principally (if I must confess 
 it) in others' weakness. Hence, diversion is always in our power: we 
 can distract combinations whenever we please. 
 
 Are our prerogatives menaced with attack? — We adroitly and as- 
 suasively convince the multitude that it is their rights which are in 
 danger. Thus we meet popular clamour, as the devout friar began his 
 sermon, with cries of Fire! Fire! Fire! We can spring our rattles 
 and ring our alarum-bells, and confound the people. — We can all march 
 at the signal, as if we had but one pair of legs amongst the corps. 
 
 Formerly we harbored some uneasiness lest legislature should prove 
 restive; but they soon received our bitts and consented to our rein. 
 Principles were drowned in usage, more effectually than the fly in Bur- 
 gundy; and we are not in the least afraid of a resurrection. 
 
 Party-spirit, party -names, and party-rage are of inestimable service 
 to us. They keep up delusion and mislead the people from principles 
 to names; we can play on the rabble in this manner as easily as a black- 
 smith blows his bellows, or a flute player touches his flute. By this 
 glorious fragility of human nature, our chef d-ceuvre succeeds to a 
 miracle; and we make the boobies believe that a victory over freedom 
 is the triumph of freedom — When they are thus bewildered and con- 
 fused, we leave them to abuse and maul each other like ships or armies 
 thrown into disorder in a night-attack. Party is our life; because we 
 are courted by both sides, and govern both. If the people do recover 
 their senses, they are rendered so timid by defeats, and distrustful by 
 feuds, that they can never cordially coalesce again. — rSubmit, then, I 
 say, to your legal and legitimate masters. You behold undoubted 
 proofs of our superiority in the dexterity with which we baffle the re- 
 formers by secretly hurling a brand amongst themselves. We marvel- 
 lously address them from various quarters with such counterfeit chris- 
 Han-like exhortations as would not dishonor the adroitest ventriloquist: 
 
105 
 
 and the credulous go off under as full persuasion as a famed assent 
 blage of crusaders that it was the voice of God.— The wiser few stand 
 frustrate, perplext,. and bewitched. They can neither denude nor de- 
 decorate us. Though they execrate us for a while, they return like 
 good children and kiss the rod against which they had for a moment 
 rebelled. In this repentant mood, we impress our credo on their melt- 
 ed souls.— We tell them very gravely that perfection is not attainable 
 in this world, but that all accounts will be balanced in the next. And 
 thus, like the kings of Europe (fine independent fellows! that they are,) 
 we postpone reformation till the day of judgment, — greatly to their 
 ease and our conveniency. 
 
 Give over your schemes gentlemen; you pursue a phantom. If the 
 government of judges formerly prepared a disappointed and disgusted 
 people to bow their necks to the yoke of kings, ---preferring one master 
 to a swarm, — never mind it at present. Things must run their course: 
 they who are anointed to reign, must rule you.— Wherefore should not 
 judges "govern those who govern all the rest?" Have they not receiv- 
 ed as broad a patent in law as pontiffs in religion? And whom these 
 bind on earth you are told, will not be unbound in heaven. How are 
 we to hold the balance of power, (to say no more) without equal pre' 
 rogatives with other orders? I dislike the late motion to enquire into 
 our numbers. — A registry of litigation would look as awkwardly as the 
 invoice of Wolsey's plate. — It would show our income, scent the way 
 to our den, and afford a clue to our power. It would oblige us to erect 
 another mound or play off another stratagem. But our friends parried 
 the blow, crippled the census, and saved us some trouble.— You see 
 our supremacy at every turn. Dispute not for sway with the "superior 
 powers."— But, be content to occupy the second place. 
 'Tis next to conqu'ring- wisely to submit, 
 "I forgot, Messrs. Clients, to apprize you of another resource we 
 have in li stress of weather ." — When people are heated with anger at 
 abuses, and threaten to return to first principles, we have an infallible' 
 specific to stop their flight, and cool the tetes exaltes: — in the technical 
 language of the trade, it is called compromise. We mix black and 
 white, green and blue, aristocratical principles and democratic ele- 
 ments, monarchy and jacobinism, in such proportions that nothing of 
 the original appears, and the trick is never perceived till it is too late. 
 By this operation, we seldom fail to confound and sicken our antago- 
 nists; who feeling a sense of nausea, run off and leave the whole com- 
 pound to ourselves, who enjoy our victory over simplicity, and ana- 
 lyze it again at leisure. I won a great. quantity of salt and sugar the 
 other day secundum artem,— the peasant running off with the ugliest 
 face I ever saw; and swearing as he came back, that our legerdemain 
 gained us the whole pudding with the bare cost of casting in an addled 
 °oS* — Another countryman swore that it reminded him of a dirty com- 
 parison he had read in an English poet: 
 
 As when some demirep has thrown 
 His snivel in the dish, 'tis all his own. 
 
 Messieurs peasants,— I acknowledge that this is a disgusting illu> 
 
lustration; but you will confess that it is a strong one. I shall atone 
 for the sin of indelicacy by relating a case of compromise which actu- 
 ally took place at sea, in regard to a profession very like our own; for, 
 if gospel is not always law, law is always gospel. 
 
 During the cruize of captain ****** ? of the Buenos-Ayrean priva- 
 teer r-, which came into this port to refit, the captain inter- 
 cepted a Spanish vessel having on board some Spanish-American priests 
 of the independent party, who were sailing to Spain as prisoners, and 
 very much against their wills. They were released from the jaws of 
 death; and treated with the greatest kindness and hospitality; captain 
 
 •» possessing all the generosity and urbanity of a first-rate 
 
 American commander.— Soon after the recapture of this cargo of padres 
 a seamen fell from one of the yards, and was killed. — The crew being 
 mustered to pay the last testimonials of respect to a brother tar, whose 
 corpse was sewed up in due form in a hammoek, a 12lb. shot at his 
 feet and about to be committed to that deep ("where sleep the bravest 
 of the brave,") the principal priest was requested to officiate as chap- 
 lain,— but he refused,— conscientiously refused — obstinately refused. 
 He would not grant a passport to paradise, I suppose, for one of a dif- 
 ferent creed. — The deceased tar was solemnly launched into his chosen 
 element;— -and I presume steered his way to the "place appointed for 
 all living," as exactly as an archbishop. But his messmates, — how dis- 
 dainfully did they scowl and lour upon the priests! They damned their 
 eyes, but those black and bloody b******, had occasioned the gale, 
 and were the cause of Jacks's death, and proposed throwing them over- 
 board at once; for there would never be luck or a fair wind while there 
 was one of them in the ship — they would be haunted with ghosts and 
 chased by sharks to the end of the cruize.— The captain was likewise 
 piqued, and threatened to put the priest on board the first Spaniard 
 be should overhaul. — It was not difficult for a padre to espy the storm 
 that was brewing; and he meditated how to disperse it before it should 
 burst in wrath upon his devoted head.— His sagacity pointed out the 
 genuine method of pacification. He respectfully craved a conference 
 with the captain; said in the meekest manner, that he found to his great 
 surprize and chagrin, the dissatisfaction he had unconsciously given, — 
 took all the saints to witness, male and female, that it had been mis- 
 conception not wilfulness on his side— he did not well understand the 
 seamen's language, but could easily read their expressive looks. He 
 had only declined, lest his clerical ceremony should give offence, — and 
 for nothing else in the world. "But; if it will appease them and yourself, 
 said he, I declare before God and his ever Blessed Mother, that I will 
 bury you all as fast as you die." — They saw plainly that in offers, vows 
 and promises no mortal man could go farther: they accepted the com- 
 promise, and were pacified like innocent children. The surly tar that 
 had threatened to heave him into the sea, would now have jumped over 
 board to save the "ghostly father." And the advantages were all on the 
 priest's side: he would receive their good offices through life on the bare 
 promise of burying them after death.— So easy is it by a little finesse 
 to still a storm by compromise,— which may mean any thing or nothing, 
 as our right to interpret is always reserved, or implied, or assumed. I 
 ftee some of you shake your heads at a compromise that ends in death — ■ 
 
107 
 
 but to this condition you must come sooner or later. — There is great 
 harmony in it. 
 
 "I know some of you are tristful enough, at the prophecy of a Euro- 
 pean bishop, and the prospect of monarchy before us.* You must bow 
 to fate, complaints against clientage and dependency notwithstanding. 
 It is true that our myriads of banks propagate subserviency, each in its 
 circle; and that the "elect," or lawyers hold the body of inhabitants as 
 clientels. But, it is our inheritance, as I have shown you. — These 
 practices may prepare a throne, as its foundation is laid — And has not 
 Europe her thrones? has not Asia her thrones? and do you not daily 
 enthrone your idols? — do you not part with all your power and confi- 
 dence to your favorites? — Why then do you grumble, if they so tena- 
 ciously hold what you set no price on? — Why would you be singular? 
 — What, if you destroy the elective franchise, and annihilate the re- 
 presentative system? You will still have patrons or lawyers to redress 
 all your grievances. — We thrive best in monarchies. And let me tell 
 you. If liberty must die, a galloping consumption is better than a slow 
 one.—Die what may, let your superiors, the lawyers, live and flourish 
 ferever! So never fear!" 
 
 I hope you will acknowledge, my friend, that this is a candid speech 
 — extremely guileless and authentic. --True it is, theoretically, there 
 are no higher powers than the sovereign people, the legitimate fountain 
 of all authority. Orders of men speak in the supercilious spirit of the 
 corps: and much allowance is to be made for the arrogant tone of per- 
 sons intoxicated with power and grown giddy by an elevation, — from 
 "which they look down on the abject world as their footstool and domain. 
 
 I do not include all the learned corps with the herd of pretenders; 
 neither do I hint that precedent has not its use in elucidating the vague 
 mass of common law as dispersed among reported adjudications: but to 
 apply such rules and dogmas where the Constitution speaks, is worse 
 than sacrilege. Violation is not a pattern ot interpretation for that in- 
 strument. Its obligation is as imperative now, (and will I trust remain 
 as binding forever) as when it was first adopted. One transgression 
 does not warrant another. A line of violators are not a constitutional 
 or "public safeguard." The quibbles of courts are no rule for legisla- 
 tion, but pests to be shunned. — These are tenets which I would under- 
 take to maintain against Cicero himself: and in this position I contend 
 for a "written constitution," gainsay it who will. 
 
 Jest as professional wranglers may about human interests; and joke 
 as we will at the ludicrous pretences or the moustrous logick by which 
 the few contrive to steal away the inheritance ot the many,— it is a 
 "farce" that if unchecked must end in tragedy. For, the succession of 
 events in real life diners greatly from the routine of the playhouse.— 
 It is farcical enough to suppose that we cannot understand our own 
 speech without professional interpreters! — You and I find no difficulty 
 in fathoming each other's meaning though we write without restraint. 
 We know something of our mother tongue, and have no motive to be 
 
 * Alluding to De Pradt's prediction, that when the United States become popu- 
 lous, they will separate; or rather, wdl be formed into a monarchy. A readiness 
 to compromise rights and barter principles, is a bad symptom. 
 
108 
 
 ambiguous. Cannot laws be passed with equal plainness? What neces- 
 sity for continual interpretation? — "Important Decision, — Important 
 
 Law-case" daily catch our eye in staring capitals. Is the miracle so 
 
 conspicuous, and why? — Was it not law before? Was it never promul- 
 gated? or, does it suddenly flow from a discretionary officer, instead 
 
 of springing from the general will? Do my friend— do ponder this 
 
 momentous matter in your mind. I hope we shall live to see our own. 
 deviations rectified, — the independence of 'agents exploded, good consti- 
 tutions established in Spanish America, and the enemies of human hap* 
 piness confounded. 
 
 I say nothing of past diseases, and the shock they have given onr half-shattered 
 constitution. The traces of the funding system, of British influence, and of par- 
 ty-madness, of bank-shoals, and political prostitution or shipwreck, are more visi- 
 sible than the marks of small-pox. The body politic has been likened to an in- 
 valid that cannot survive another- excess. But, surely this is false! 
 
 Since I am correcting erroneous impressions, I may as well repeat a caution on 
 the authorship of the "Outline," already mentioned. D. Andres Bello and Jonte 
 were its authors; receiving articles from South American agents in London; the 
 part relating to Chili is mostly a malevolent fabrication. 
 
 I may as conveniently state at the same time — the substance of a note I have 
 seen concerning the Secretary's absurd notion of the "gloominess of colonial faith 
 and the savage nature f the inhabitants of the plains."— A juster commentary I 
 believe, was never made than that which follows.- 
 
 "Reviewing the character of the inhabitants of La Plata, f can find no author- 
 ity to justify the attribute of barbarousness. — Born beneath a most benignant sky, 
 and surrounded on every side with the finest gifts of nature, they learn content- 
 ment gaiety and complacency from the cradle. A relish for society, love of plea- 
 sure and hospitality are retained through life. — Descending from European Span- 
 iards, they inherited the civilization of their ancestors, and have become gentler, 
 more humane and generous; from the influence of climate, and the state of socie- 
 ty. — The Romish religion as now preached and practised, without fanaticism or 
 much superstition, promotes patience, charity or cheerfulness. It may some- 
 times make a man passive and pusillanimous, but never renders him savage. In 
 great emergencies men act from honor and feeling, and become resolute as the 
 stronger passions overcome the weaker. — The Catholic is one of the merriest 
 creeds in the world; and our voyager must have confessed it, if he had understood 
 the number and character of their religious festivals. "Carnival time" is become 
 a proverb; when the people riggish in their fancy &c. seek a thousand kind of 
 sports, frolicks, divertisement and fun. To be gloomy then is no venial sin; and 
 they "laugh like parrots at a bagpiper." The amusements of the theatre are not 
 wanting; dancing and the charms of sprightly conversation are not forgotten; nor 
 
 the witchery of music, as our voyager observed at the tertulias of Mr. E. . 
 
 There is almost equal gaiety in masking and mimicry, on the Dia de los Inso- 
 cesttes, when the younger folks play all the anticks possible, to the diversion of 
 the old. — Corpus Cristi day is another renewal of hilarity and public glee. — So 
 that without saying a word of the more essential parts of their religion, enough is 
 said to show that "gloominess of faith" is inapplicable to the South-Americans. — 
 Be it used or abused as it may, it is any thing but "gloomy." Their own writers 
 have denounced censure on the tendency of confession, — the padre's bank, which 
 creates dependency in every parishioner, and makes the priest chief counsellor, 
 treasurer and dictator.- but, this is not our concern. If their creed seem strange 
 to us. our religious "hubbubs" would seem frenzy to them. Which has the "beam 
 in his eye," I'll not decide — I will reiterate the cheery nature of their belief and 
 jovial temper. — Corpe diem is their blithe motto; which a witty friend, to whom ab- 
 stinence was preached in an attack of the gout, thus translated.- "A man may as 
 well die as not live.'" 
 
 His apology for tyranny is dissipated; and he ends as he begins, with folly, un- 
 truth, malice or perversion. 
 
105 
 
 and the credulous go off under as full persuasion as a famed assem- 
 blage of crusaders that it was the voice of God.— The wiser few stand 
 frustrate, perplext, and bewitched. They can neither denude nor de- 
 decorate us. Though they execrate us for a while, they return like 
 good children and kiss the rod against which they had for a moment 
 rebelled. In this repentant mood, we impress our credo on their melt- 
 ed souls.— We tell them very gravely that perfection is not attainable 
 in this world, but that all accounts will be balanced in the next. And 
 thus, like the kings of Europe (fine independent fellows! that they are,) 
 we postpone reformation till the day of judgment, — greatly to their 
 ease and our conveniency. 
 
 Give over your schemes gentlemen; you pursue a phantom. If the 
 government of judges formerly prepared a disappointed and disgusted 
 people to bow their necks to the yoke of kings,— preferring one master 
 to a swarm, — never mind it at present. Things must run their course: 
 they who are anointed to reign, must rule you. — Wherefore should not 
 judges "govern those who govern all the rest?" Have they not receiv- 
 ed as broad a patent in law as pontiffs in religion? And whom these 
 bind on earth you are told, will not be unbound in heaven. How are 
 we to hold the balance of power, (to say no more) without equal pre- 
 rogatives with other orders? I dislike the late motion to enquire into 
 our numbers.— A. registry of litigation would look as awkwardly as the 
 invoice of Wolsey's plate. — It would show our income, scent the way 
 to our den, and afford a clue to our power. It would oblige us to erect 
 another mound or play off another stratagem. But our friends parried 
 the blow, crippled the census, and saved us some trouble. — You see 
 our supremacy at every turn. Dispute not for sway with the "superior 
 powers."— But, be content to occupy the second place. 
 'Tis next to conqu'ring wisely to submit. 
 
 "I forgot, Messrs. Clients, to apprize you of another resource we 
 have in fi stress of weather.^ — When people are heated with anger at 
 abuses, and threaten to return to first principles, we have an infallible 
 specific to stop their flight, and cool the tetes exaltes: — in the technical 
 language of the trade, it is called compromise. We mix black and 
 ivhite, green and blue, aristocratical principles and democratic ele- 
 ments, monarchy and jacobinism, in such proportions that nothing of 
 the original appears, and the trick is never perceived till it is too late. 
 By this operation, we seldom fail to confound and sicken our antago- 
 nists; who feeling a sense ot nausea, run off and leave the whole com- 
 pound to ourselves, who enjoy our victory over simplicity, and ana- 
 lyze it again at leisure. I won a great quantity of salt and sugar the 
 other day secundum artem, — the peasant running off with the ugliest 
 face I ever saw; and swearing as he came back, that our legerdemain 
 gained us the whole pudding with the bare cost of casting in an addled 
 egg — Another countryman swore that it reminded him of a dirty com- 
 parison he had read in an English poet: 
 
 As when some demirep has thrown 
 His snivel in the dish, 'tis all his own. 
 
 Messieurs peasants,-—! acknowledge that this is a disgusting illus- 
 
106 
 
 lustration; but you will confess that it is a strong one. I shall atone 
 for the sin of indelicacy by relating a case of compromise which actu- 
 ally took place at sea, in regard to a profession very like our own; for, 
 if gospel is not always law, law is always gospel. 
 
 During the cruize of captain ******, f the Buenos-Ayrean priva- 
 teer , which came into this port to refit, the captain inter- 
 cepted a Spanish vessel having on board some Spanish-American priests 
 of the independent party, who were sailing to Spain as prisoners, and 
 very much against their wills. They were released from the jaws of 
 death; and treated with the greatest kindness and hospitality; captain 
 
 ■ ^ possessing all the generosity and urbanity of a first-rate 
 
 American commander.— Soon after the recapture of this cargo of padres 
 a seamen fell from one of the yards, and was killed.— The crew being 
 mustered to pay the last testimonials ot respect to a brother tar, whose 
 corpse was sewed up in due form in a hammock, a 121b. shot at his 
 feet and about to be committed to that deep ("where sleep the bravest 
 of the brave,") the principal priest was requested to officiate as chap- 
 lain,— but he refused,— conscientiously refused — obstinately refused. 
 He would not grant a passport to paradise, I suppose, for one of a dif- 
 ferent creed.— The deceased tar was solemnly launched into his chosen 
 element; — and I presume steered his way to the ''place appointed for 
 all living,'' as exactly as an archbishop. But his messmates, — how dis- 
 dainfully did they scowl and lour upon the priests! They damned their 
 eyes, but those black and bloody b******, had occasioned the gale, 
 and were the cause of Jacks's death, and proposed throwing them over- 
 board at once; for there would never be luck or a fair wind while there 
 was one of them in the ship— they would be haunted with ghosts and 
 chased by sharks to the end of the cruize.— The captain was likewise 
 piqued, and threatened to put the priest on board the first Spaniard 
 be should overhaul.— It was not difficult for a padre to espy the storm 
 that was brewing; and he meditated how to disperse it before it should 
 burst in wrath upon his devoted head. — His sagacity pointed out the 
 genuine method of pacification. He respectfully craved a conference 
 with the captain; said in the meekest manner, that he found to his great 
 surprize and chagrin, the dissatisfaction he had unconsciously given, — 
 took all the saints to witness, male and female, that it had been mis- 
 conception not wilfulness on his side— he did not well understand the 
 seamen's language, but could easily read their expressive looks. He 
 had only declined, lest his clerical ceremony should give offence, — and 
 for nothing else in the world. "But; if it will appease them and yourself, 
 said he, I declare before God and his ever Blessed Mother, that I will 
 bury you all as fast as you die." — They saw plainly that in offers, vows 
 and promises no mortal man could go farther: they accepted the com- 
 'promise, and were pacified like innocent children. The surly tar that 
 had threatened to heave him into the sea, would now have jumped over 
 board to save the "ghostly father." And the advantages were all on the 
 priest's side: he would receive their good offices through life on the bare 
 promise of burying them after death. — So easy is it by a little finesse 
 to still a storm by compromise,-- which may mean any thing or nothing, 
 as our right to interpret is always reserved, or implied, or assumed. I 
 see some of you shake your heads at a compromise that ends in death — • 
 
107 
 
 hut to this condition- you must come sooner or later. — There is great 
 harmony in it. 
 
 "I know some of you are tristful enough, at the prophecy of a Euro- 
 pean bishop, and the prospect of monarchy before us.* You must bow 
 to fate, complaints against clientage and dependency notwithstanding. 
 It is true that our myriads of banks propagate subserviency, each in its 
 circle; and that the "elect," or lawyers hold the body of inhabitants as 
 clientels. But, it is our inheritance, as I have shown you. — These 
 practices may prepare a throne, as its foundation is laid — And has not 
 Europe her thrones? has not Asia her thrones? and do you not daily 
 enthrone your idots? — do you not part with all your power and confi- 
 dence to your favorites?— Why then do you grumble, if they so tena- 
 ciously hold what you set no price on? — Why would you be singular? 
 — What, if you destroy the elective franchise, and annihilate the re- 
 presentative system? You will still have patrons or lawyers to redress 
 all your grievances. — We thrive best in monarchies. And let me tell 
 you. If liberty must die, a galloping consumption is better than a slow 
 one. — Die what may, let your superiors, the lawyers, live and flourish 
 ferever! So never fear!" 
 
 I hope you will acknowledge^ my friend, that this is a candid speech 
 —extremely guileless and authentic. --True it is, theoretically, there 
 are no higher powers than the sovereign people, the legitimate fountain 
 of all authority. Orders of men speak in the supercilious spirit of the 
 corps: and much allowance is to be made for the arrogant tone of per- 
 sons intoxicated with power and grown giddy by an elevation,— from 
 which they look down on the abject world as their footstool and domain. 
 
 I do not include all the learned corps with the herd of pretenders; 
 neither do I hint that precedent has not its use in elucidating the vague 
 mass of common laiv as dispersed among reported adjudications: but to 
 apply such rules and dogmas where the Constitution speaks, is worse 
 than sacrilege. Violation is not a pattern ot interpretation for that in- 
 strument. Its obligation is as imperative now, (and will I trust remain 
 as binding forever) as when it was first adopted. One transgression 
 does not warrant another. A line of violators are not a constitutional 
 or "public safeguard." The quibbles of courts are no I'ule for legisla- 
 tion, but pests to be shunned. — These are tenets which I would under- 
 take to maintain against Cicero himself: and in this position I contend 
 for a "written constitution," gainsay it who will. 
 
 Jest as professional wranglers may about human interests; and joke 
 as we will at the ludicrous pretences or the moustrous logick by which 
 the few contrive to steal away the inheritance ot the many, — it is a 
 "farce" that if unchecked must end in tragedy. For, the succession of 
 events in real life differs greatly from the routine of the playhouse.— 
 It is farcical enough to suppose that we cannot understand our own 
 speech without professional interpreters! — You and I find no difficulty 
 in fathoming each other's meaning though we write without restraint. 
 We know something of our mother tongue, and have no motive to be 
 
 * Alluding to De Pradt's prediction, that when the United States become popu- 
 lous, they will separate; or rather, will be formed into a monarchy. A readiness 
 to compromise rights and barter principles, is a bad symptom. 
 
108 
 
 ambiguous. Cannot laws be passed with equal plainness? What neces- 
 sity for continual interpretation? — "Important Decision, — Important 
 Law-case" — daily catch our eye in staring capitals. Is the miracfe so 
 conspicuous, and why?— Was it not law before? Was it never promul- 
 gated? or, does it suddenly flow from a discretionary officer, instead 
 
 of springing from the general will? Do my friend — do ponder this 
 
 momentous matter in your mind. I hope we shall live to see our own 
 deviations rectified, — the independence of agents exploded, good consti- 
 tutions established in Spanish America, and the enemies of human hap- 
 piness confounded. 
 
 I say nothing 1 of past diseases, and the shock they have given our half-shattered 
 constitution. The traces of the funding system, of British influence, and of par- 
 ty-madness, of bank-shoals, and political prostitution or shipwreck, are more visi- 
 sible than the marks of small-pox. The body politic has been likened to an in- 
 valid that cannot survive another excess. But, surely this is false! 
 
 Since I am correcting erroneous impressions, I may as well repeat a caution on 
 the authorship of the "Outline," already mentioned. D. Andres Bello and Jonte 
 were its authors; receiving articles from South American agents in London; the 
 part relating to Chili is mostly a malevolent fabrication. 
 
 I may as conveniently state at the same time — the substance of a note I have 
 seen concerning the Secretary's absurd notion of the "gloominess of colonial faith 
 and the savage nature of the inhabitants of the plains." — A juster commentary I 
 believe, was never made than that which follows.- 
 
 **Reviewing the character of the inhabitants of L.^ Plata, I can find no author- 
 ity to justify the attribute of barbarousness. — Born beneath a most benignant sky, 
 and surrounded on every side with the finest gifts of nature, they learn content- 
 ment gaiety and complacency from the cradle. A relish for society, love of'plea- 
 sure and hospitality are retained through life. — Descending from European Span- 
 iards, they inherited the civilization of their ancestors, and have become gentler, 
 more humane and generous; from the influence of climate, and the state of socie- 
 ty. — The Romish religion as now preached and practised, without fanaticism or 
 much superstition, promotes patience, charity or cheerfulness. It may some- 
 times make a man passive and pusillanimous, but never renders him savage. In 
 great emergencies men act from honor and feeling, and become resolute as the 
 stronger passions overcome the weaker. — The Catholic is one of the merriest 
 creeds in the world; and our voyager must have confessed it, if he had understood 
 the number and character of their religious festivals. ''Carnival time" is become 
 a proverb; when the people riggish in their fancy &c. seek a thousand kind of 
 sports, frolicks, divertisement and fun. To be gloomy then is no venial sin; and 
 they ''laugh like parrots at a bagpiper." The amusements of the theatre are not 
 -wanting; dancing and the charms of sprightly conversation are not forgotten; nor 
 
 the witchery of music, as our voyager observed at the tertulias of Mr. E. . 
 
 There is almost equal gaiety in masking and mimicry, on the Dia de ios Iwsro- 
 centes, when the younger folks play all the anticks possible, to the diversion of 
 the old. — Corpus Cristi day is another renewal of hilarity and public glee. — So 
 that without saying a word of the more essential parts of their religion, enough is 
 said to show that "gloominess of faith" is inapplicable to the South-Americans. — 
 Be it used or abused as it may, it is any thing but "gloomy." Their own writers 
 have denounced censure on the tendency of confession, — the padre's bank, which 
 creates dependency in every parishioner, and makes the priest chief counsellor, 
 treasurer and dictator.- but, this is not our concern. If their creed seem strange 
 to us. our religious "hubbubs" would seem frenzy to them. Which has the "beam 
 in his eye," I'll not decide — I will reiterate the cheery nature of their belief and 
 jovial temper. — Covpe diem is their blithe motto; which a witty friend, to whom ab- 
 stinence was preached in an attack of the gout, thus translated.- "A man may as 
 well die as not live" 
 
 His apology for tyranny is dissipated; and he ends as he begins, with folly, un- 
 truth, malice or perversion. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 Commercial and Political importance of South American 
 emancipation, to the United States, — with a few remarks on 
 the geographical and statistical views of our learned "Secretary.," 
 as they occur in chapters 2, 3, and 4, of the " Voyage" vol. II. 
 
 Baltimore, January 2Qth 1820- 
 My dear friend, 
 
 Let us banish (as far as the subject will admit) the bitter recol- 
 lections of intrigue that tinged my former letter: let us forsake the 
 prospect of ambitious collusion, and shun that labyrinth of plots where 
 intricacy is unravelled only by guilty traces of secret slaughter: — let 
 us if possible, forget bloody compacts, and make an excursion into 
 the recreative walks of geography; or, at least let us loiter a while 
 in the more important field of statistics and commerce. In either of 
 these our "voyager" may be supposed unbiassed,— and he might have 
 been free if he could not be faultless. Faction might have been shut 
 out, and jarring passion dissipated in reflecting on the grandeur, the 
 harmony or the bloom of nature — in her favorite abodes. There was 
 nothing human or divine to perplex him — Perhaps Jlrtigas was lec- 
 turing his horsemen on the best mode of conducting the petite guerre^ 
 or paternally chiding them for some past mistake, for he is too great 
 a master of the human heart to deal in reproaches with simple, honest 
 minds: perhaps he was conversing with the cidevant priest Monterosa 
 about the "doctrines of Paine," — on the degeneracy of mankind, who 
 barter freedom for luxury or gold, or commerce, who basely renounce 
 equal rights on a false promise of exemption from just contribution, — 
 and exchange divine meditations for superstitious dogmas — He doubt- 
 less knit his brow in scorn of the herd that suffer either merchants or 
 lawyers to trade in their rights under hollow pretences; who allow 
 kings to tread them in the dust; and resolved for himself rather to live 
 in solitude than live without liberty. — Perhaps his very enemies were 
 reposing from sacrifice, having left the Potters-field to lie fallow for a 
 day;— and Charon no doubt took advantage of the unexpected holliday 
 to caulk his crazy boat. — Perhaps the gods (heathenish ones of course,) 
 were sporting as of old in Ethiopia, or some of them slyly frolicking 
 on Mount Ida, — quite unconcerned about our events— leaving the "sons 
 of men" — to "manage their own affairs in their own way." Some think 
 with old Epicurus and his foolish sect that it was always thus; — as 
 they thought it derogatory to the dignity of deities to turn stewards, 
 lacqueys, sentinels, or majordomos for inflated mortals, whom Saturn 
 or Jupiter had gifted with eyes, ears, hands, feet, noses, nails, feelers, 
 memory, reason and volition. Into this unfathomable, shoreless pleito 
 I shall not thrust my poor sconce or speculations; but refer you to the 
 divines, who boldly cut whatever they cannot disentangle, and have a 
 wider field of conquest than the Macedonian. I meant merely to tell 
 you, that if none of the old Olympian crew sailed with the voyager, he 
 
110 
 
 cannot blame their decrees, however fashionable it may be to ..arraign 
 the stars for human foibles. 
 
 A theme so pleasant (and important too) as geographico-commercial 
 enquiry, ought to have been met with welcome, and conducted with 
 serenity. He has strangely hashed it up with party remarks.— I shall 
 as carefully avoid his example as I can; while I regret the trouble of 
 answering a book of voyages and travels, deficient even in the trite in« 
 formation that might have been collected among ourselves. 
 
 What can such travellers bring home 
 That is not to be learnt at Rome? 
 What politics or strange opinions, 
 That are not in our own dominions? 
 What trade from thence can he advance, 
 That has not been foreseen — perchance?— 
 
 There must be matter in the ramble worthy of investigation by the 
 politician, and the mammonist to boot: and unskilled as I may be in 
 such knowledge, I cannot be silent when persons more unskilful pre- 
 sume to officiate as statists and geographers. It is not travellers' tales 
 that satisfy an inquisitive mind now-a-days. Fabulous stories of the in- 
 fluence of a river on the human voice and disposition, are out of date.* 
 The tracks of commerce,— the population and products; the upshot of 
 civil strife and foreign intrigue, or political issue of the pending strug- 
 gle, engross all our thoughts. For information from thence we have 
 now the nice fastidious palates of epicures, and will not gluttonously 
 gobble up common garbage.— Causes, facts, controulling principles are 
 the fare we covet. 
 
 To you, who are almost as conversant with the works of Herrera and 
 Garcilaso, of Ulloa and Humboldt, as with the constitution of the 
 United States; and nearly as familiar with Spanish American geogra- 
 phy as with the alleys of your own garden; — to you, I have no need of 
 enlarging, and no excuse for being tedious. — Our promenade will not 
 be longsome, and may agreeably (but incidentally) reflect new light on 
 revolutionary measures and pretensions. — Diffident of my own previous 
 stock of knowledge on part of the subject, I have convinced myself from 
 authentic books, and am grateful for access to a manuscript memoir, 
 besides particular annotations, by gentlemen who have had good op- 
 portunities of ascertaining facts. In noting some principal points, I 
 shall constantly and cheerfully defer to your steady judgment. In 
 
 ♦The water of La Plata is said to be very clear, and excellent for the lungs and 
 wind, insomuch that the people who live near it are said to have very clear and me- 
 lodious voices, and to be generally inclined to musick." (See Postlethwayte's Die- 
 tionary, art. Paraguay, &c.) 
 
 This is an innocent anecdote compared with some of our Secretary's, — and we 
 will agree to the poet's terms; "a good traveller is something at the latter end of a 
 dinner; but, one that lies three-thirds, and uses a known truth to pass a thousand 
 nothings with, should be once heard, and thrice beaten." And chief of the num- 
 ber is he in whose inhuman breast the destruction of a republic or of its defend. 
 ers, cannot "change slander to remorse," 
 
Ill 
 
 this humble exercise, I perform little more than the task of abridging, 
 transcribing and translating. 
 
 The second and third chapters of the second volume, are dedicated 
 to the geography, history and statistics of the country. — It was to have 
 been expected that the writer would cite his authorities in this sectioa 
 of his work, especially where he dissents from other writers on a sta- 
 tistical subject — a subject of which precision is the life and soul. — Did 
 he march on snow, I could trace him: had he urged his chorographkal 
 way among the tall herbage of the llanos, I could follow the vegetable 
 wake till the bristling stalks recovered theirerectn ess: buthe has cunning- 
 ly directed his stolen steps among treacherous sands which close be- 
 hind him and leave scarce a vestige of his course. To scent him there 
 is impossible; and I am only reminded ot a parallel in the stories I 
 
 have read of travellers in the deserts of Arabia, of Africa, or Peru 
 
 It resembles Ulloa's dreary journey from Tumbez to Lima, which was 
 principally performed in the night, to avoid the violent reflection of 
 the sun's rays from the sandy surface: and the road was distinguished 
 by the bones of mules which had sunk and perished under their bur- 
 dens rather than by any path, which the breezes constantly effaced by 
 blowing the waves of sand to a level, or raising others on the face of 
 that singular ocean, where monotony itself subsists by uniform changed 
 — However, if an author explores a new route, he cannot quote prior 
 authority for the satisfaction of his readers: he himself becomes the 
 fountain where they must slake their curious thirst. 
 
 He says p. 67, vol. II. that in glancing at the map of La Plata, it 
 appears to be ''naturally divided into six different sections: 1. The part 
 "which lies on the east side of the Paraguay. 2d, That which lies op- 
 ik posite on the west side of the same river. 3. That which stretches 
 "along the base of the Cordilleras," &c. &c. 
 
 As to the first, it is proper, because we have the river a natural 
 boundary on one side, and the Portuguese limits on the other. The 
 second is unnatural and improper because it is indefinite: we cannot 
 distinguish where there is no difference: where all is pampa, or where 
 all is mountain, where every thing is perfectly homogeneous. We can 
 easily discern between the side-walks and carriage-ways in our streets? 
 but we cannot so easily plant or even fancy a line in the middle of the 
 thoroughfare. It would be as rational to say that the horizon which 
 varies at every step is a "natural" boundary because it divides the vi- 
 sible from the invisible. — The prismatic colors of the rainbow are evan- 
 escent, because rain and sunshine do not always exist oppositely and co- 
 temporaneously;but are "naturally divided"in a philosophical sense, for 
 the principles of refrangibility are eternal. Red will not be mistaken for 
 violet; and the "various bow" is a partition while it lasts; but what visi~ 
 blemark does the eye encounter in unvarying ©Jjuds whence the radiant 
 arch is withdrawn, or in plains outstretched like the ocean? In geogra- 
 phy, space is not "naturally divided" but by natural boundaries,— as by 
 mountains, rivers, rocks, deserts, morasses. Some invariable thing 
 constitutes a landmark; a changeable one cannot. The Cordilleras are 
 fixed, and so is the river: to these our tourist must refer his reasoning t 
 which is as extraordinary in trivial as in momentous matters. His move- 
 
112 
 
 able boundary is unintelligible. We do not moor the wharf to the 
 ship, but the ship to the wharf. The eye reposes on the definite line 
 of the Alps, but is distracted in the midst of boundless Pampas. These 
 in themselves form a separate division; because they are terminated by 
 heights or rivers. And Patagonia may be a natural division; because 
 on the North we may suppose it circumscribed by the Rio Negro or Colo- 
 rado; and elsewhere by seas, streights or mountains.—Yet these chapters 
 are the least exceptionable of the whole book, and show some signs of in- 
 dustry, which has been thrown away for want of discrimination. 
 
 In page 114, vol. II. he gives us a statement of the population in the 
 confederate and non-confederate provinces, and at page 148, an enu- 
 meration of the population in that part of Peru, annexed to the vice- 
 royalty of Buenos-Ayres in 1778, and which he designates as the Au- 
 dience of Cliarcus.* At present, neither the inhabitants of the United 
 Provinces, (i. e. subject to Buenos-Ayres) nor those of the provinces 
 in hostilities with Buenos-Ayres, nor of the provinces detached from 
 Peru, and now in possession of the enemy, correspond with the popu- 
 lation assigned by modern writers and travellers to those several por- 
 tions of the ancient viceroyalty of Buenos-Ayres. — -If our tourist 
 follows the data of anterior writers, why does he not adduce them?— 
 
 * The establishment of the viceroyalty of Rio-de-la-Plata, which, as Funes says, 
 opens an epoch in the annals of her provinces, remedied the great inconvenience 
 of depending- on the government of Lima, at a distance of 982 itinerary leagues- 
 It was indispensable in their hostilities with the Portuguese, to have a centre of 
 authority and deliberation adjacent to the scene of action. The bbunds of the 
 new viceroyalty comprehend besides these provinces and that of Cuyo, all the ter- 
 ritory of the audience of Charcas. ( Funes' 's Essay on the Civil History of Para- 
 guay, Buenos-Ayres and Tucuman, torn. III. chap. 12.) 
 
 The extent of the audience of Charcas is given by Ulloa, cap. 13, book Vll. — 
 "Its jurisdiction begins on the north side at the Vilcanota, belonging to the pro- 
 vince of Lampa in the diocese of Cuzco, and reaches southward to Buenos-Ayres; 
 eastward it extends to Brazil, being terminated by the meridian of demarcation; 
 and westwardljr part of its stretches to the South Sea, particularly at Atacama.— • 
 The remainder of it borders on the kingdom of Chili. — It therefore includes, un- 
 der their antient extent, the great provinces of La Paz, Charcas proper, Potosi, 
 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Tucuman, Paraguay and Buenos-Ayres. — By the map be- 
 fore you, as already referred to, you perceive all the new provinces formed within 
 the limits of the old. They are elaborately traced and described in Bland's Re. 
 port; which consult, from page 11 to 31 inclusive. — The government of Buenos- 
 Ayres claims dominion over an area of territory not less than 1,305,000 square 
 miles, with 1,300,000 inhabitants, exclusive of aborigines. See Mr. Tagle's note, 
 marked D. page 108, annexed to Messrs. Rodney and Graham's Report. He di- 
 vides it into 14 provinces; but his table (page 111 — 12) is a sample of the claro- 
 obscuro, completely unintelligible. — The statistical table subjoined to Bland's Re- 
 port on Buenos-Ayres, removes the uncertainty, and gives a pretty correct epitome 
 of the bounds, population and productions of the country, at a single view. 
 
 For statistical purposes certainly, precise interior boundaries and subdivisions 
 are not essential. — The whole space and population suffice. — It is immaterial, 
 whether we have Cuyo set down, or its divisions Mendoza, San Juan and Rioja; 
 whether we have Puno, or Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Mizque; — or whether this 
 territory and population be distributed (as in a memoir before me) among Cocha- 
 bamba, Potosi, Los Moxos and Chiquitos. — Let us but understand what an author 
 means, and we shall never be squeamish about terms. 
 
113 
 
 Or, if he dissents from them, why not tell us his reasons for it? He 
 was only in Buenos-Ayres. — Who informed him that the population of 
 that city was but 60,000? One could not learn the fact by merely re- 
 siding 60 days in the town. Some have asserted, that it does not con- 
 tain above 50,000 souls; others, that it exceeds 70,000. — Our voyager 
 was not in the dissident or non-confederate provinces; nor in those of 
 Teru Alto; from whence then did he deduce the fact of their having but 
 655,000 souls, and that his grand division of the audience of Chaicas 
 has 1,716,000? — He does not deign to inform us; and therefore, since 
 we see him so destitute of support, we may reasonably conclude, that 
 he has taken similar liberties in this part of the work as in others. — 
 Let us investigate it a little farther: — 
 
 1st. He tells us that the population of the provinces united to Bue- 
 nos-Ayres, Or in other words, that of the union, obedient to what is 
 there styled the supreme government, or general government of Rio- 
 de-la Plata, is barely 465,000 souls. 
 
 According to him there is a population of 190,000 not only "'not 
 united," but against the union [in the Buenos-Ayres'' sense of the term] 
 so that we have a moiety of inhabitants opposed to the pretended union 
 who added to the numerous partizans of the system of federalism (there 
 styled disunion) even among the citizens under the government of 
 Buenos-Ayres, really amount to a majority in favor of federalism. He 
 relates that there are such, and we know the fact from the coercion used 
 to unite them blindly to the car of the capital. 
 
 The great bulk of population in the audience of Charcas or Upper 
 Peru, as given by him, is entirely under control of the royalists, and 
 must consequently be reckoned out of the union. He says it rises to 
 1,716,000 souls. There appears mirifical superlation in one place, re- 
 duction in another: something like arbitrary invention pervades the 
 book, notwithstanding the contributions levied on other books. — The 
 latest writer or compiler I had seen, estimates the inhabitants of this 
 great division at 1,740,000. "The Indians alone amount to 1,155,000." 
 Our author did not even follow Pazos, who compiled in haste, though 
 fee intended to write accurately. 
 
 Total population according to our voyager, 2,371,000 
 
 Population of provinces not united, 190,000 
 
 What fee assigns to Charcas, 1,716,000 
 
 1,906,000 
 
 Leaves us only in favor of the Buenos-Ayrean union. 465,000 
 
 Or, a small fraction more than one-fifth of the aggregate population. 
 You can judge, my friend, whether this arithmetic justifies the preten- 
 sions of the present government of Buenos-Ayres, (or the great author 
 himself!) to treat and to brand as banditti the citizens, who think dif- 
 ferently from a combined party of military officers, bishops, clergy and 
 monopolists. At the head' of the adverse party we meet general Ar- 
 
 Q 
 
114 
 
 tigas, who appears to be seconded by Dean Funes, the historian, and 
 the president of the congress of Buenos-Ayres.* 
 
 From these very data any man of impartial judgment would infer 
 the policy — the necessity of a conciliatory tone on the part of a mino- 
 rity towards a majority so respectable. Moderation ought to have ta- 
 ken place of scandalous and violent criminations, both in the reigning 
 party there and their echo here.- — Decency and justice are indispens- 
 ible in a majority: how impolitic then are indecent revilings and gross 
 injustice in the smaller number! Interest prescribes conciliation. Do 
 you survey the richer territory and commercial points of the east? 
 They are in the hands of Paraguayans and Santa-Feans, or Oriental- 
 ists, or in Entre-Rios, Con ientes or Guarani missions. How stands the 
 account of possession with the va&t and diversified tracts to the north- 
 west? Except a narrow stripe in the jurisdiction of Jujuy, the whole 
 superficies of the viceroyalty north of the tropic of Capricorn, is held 
 by the enemy. This terrestrial paradise, more important from its 
 mines and other advantages, than the continent of Europe, is too po- 
 pulous on its western side, to remain a province of Buenos-Ayres 
 were she enabled to conquer it. Warlike as she is, she will be forced 
 into a compromise. — When the rights of property and trade shall be res- 
 pected, the commerce of all the upper country beyond the boatable 
 branches of the Bermejo and Pilcomayo, will be attracted to the ports 
 of the Pacific. Interdicts and bayonets cannot prevent what nature 
 ordains. This is not a time for a solitary city, (if she understood her 
 interests) to occlude mighty rivers, and harrass whole provinces for a 
 monopoly. A map would teach lessons to a statesman, but I know not 
 what will convert a monopolist. If those magnificent streams no lon- 
 ger bear the barque of commerce, it is because the people on their banks 
 will not bear tribute to Buenos-Ayres. 
 
 2dly. The first table at page 114, is erroneous. To the province of 
 Buenos-Ayres it. allots 120,000 souls, and 60,000 to the city. But, 
 the population of the capital is 65,000; that of the province 125,000. 
 Paraguay had been estimated to contain 180,000; and he reduces it with- 
 out why or wherefore to 100,000. That of the Missions, which at the 
 departure of the Jesuits consisted of 80,000 persons, is diminished to 
 40,000 and arbitrarily excluded from the jurisdiction of Artigas, when 
 all the world knows that the missionary towns act in unison with the 
 Banda Oriental, and consequently in obedience to general Artigas, the 
 commander-in-chief. In short, the statistical data which I have obtain- 
 ed relative to those provinces are as follow: and it is to be hoped that 
 our tourist will assign his reasons for rejecting them! 
 
 *"His interests and feelings attaching him to Cordova, his native place, he is 
 inclined towards what is called here, the federative system," p. 10, vol. II. It is wor- 
 thy of note, that Cordova is a member though a reluctant one, of the existing 
 
 union. 
 
IIS 
 
 Provinces of Rio-de-la-Plata, Sfc. 
 
 Buenos-Ayres, . 125,000 J Tucuman, . . . 85,00° 
 
 Paraguay, . . . 180,000 s Salta, .... 125,00° 
 
 £ rBanda Oriental, 50,000 1 ^ . f Potosi, .... 200,00° 
 
 3 .« J Entre-Rios, . . 25,000 \ 5 % \ Charcas (proper) 230,00° 
 
 % .%>} Santa-Fe, . . . 30,000 > < =§ ^ Cochabamba, . 270,00° 
 
 !^ ~ LCorrientes, . . 40,000 f g ^> ■ La Paz, .... 190,000 
 
 Cordova, . . 100,000 ; s «■ LMoxos & Chiquitos, 60,000 
 
 Cuyo, .... 110,000* 
 
 \ Total population, . . 1,820,000 
 
 Number of provinces, omitting minor dis- ~] T ,. ,. 
 • • , i . |. • • ° . _ ! Indicating; an excess 
 
 tncts and subdivisions, 15 ,. ? f --,««« 
 
 c, . • A - -o » '. on his part ot 5a 1,000 
 
 Subject to Buenos-Ayres, 5 > , * ,. , 
 
 J J ' _ f souls over the real 
 
 Not united, 10 j enumeration. 
 
 His second table is also confused and defective. The capital of the 
 province of Charcas, is not Charcas, (which elsewhere, at page 121, he 
 calls La Paz!) but the city of Chuquisaca or La Plata. The settle- 
 ment of the city and province is united to recollections remarkable 
 enough to distinguish places by events:— their conquest by Gonxalo Pi- 
 zarro, who invaded the territory in 1538, and the gallant resistance of- 
 fered by the Carangues, who would have exterminated him but for the 
 seasonable arrival of a reinforcement, sent to his relief by Francisco 
 Pizarro. The new capital was founded in 1539 by D. Pedro Jlnzures, 
 on the scite of the old, and called Plata, "in allusion to the silver mines 
 of the mountain of Porco, in its neighbourhood, and from which the 
 Incas received great quantities of silver; keeping in pay a great num- 
 ber of Indians for working them; but the primitive name of Chuquisaca 
 has prevailed, and is now commonly used." (See Ulloa's Voyage, vol. 
 II. page 143.) It was at the university of this city that Dr. Mariano 
 Moreno, of Buenos-Ayres, completed his education; and his sufferings 
 from a long and painful journey, no doubt stimulated the zeal by which 
 he was signalized for promoting libraries and seminaries of learning 
 in his native town.— Chuquisaca contains 18,000 souls at the lowest 
 calculation, and the voyager gives it only 16,000. Its population has 
 been increased; that of Potosi reduced; the first at the present day ex- 
 ceeding the last.— Potosi never had above 26,000 souls: he carries it to 
 35,000, notwithstanding its decline. On the authority of Morse and 
 Helms, he might have placed it at 70,000, besides a train of 25 or 30,000 
 pongos and mita-men. But, Dr. Moreno, who resided so many years 
 within 20 leagues of it^ was better informed in this particular than a 
 transient visitor like Helms, who knows more about mines than statis- 
 tics.— (See Life of Moreno, page 81.)— I have read many a fable; I 
 have seen the population of Potosi stated to have been 160.000 in 1611, 
 and to have fallen to 30,000; and so it was gravely written, that Spain 
 mustered a population of 30, 40 or 50,000,000 in the time of the Ro- 
 mans! but in modern days it scarcely exceeds 10 millions. — I do not 
 insist too scrupulously on the authority for a statement in itself of bo 
 
116 
 
 moment. — ft is only apparent that our voyager neither follows Canete, 
 nor Wilcocke. nor Alcedo, nor Frezier.— See Pazos' Letters, 139—40. 
 Perhaps then, the "Voyage" has some originality about it! 
 
 After all his endeavors at minuteness, he omits in the intendancy of 
 Potosi, an enumeration of inhabitants in the two important districts of 
 Chichas and Tarija. The former has a superficies of 48,000 square 
 leagues, and 9 curacies, among them that of Santiago de Cotagaita, a 
 place celebrated for the first battle fought between the patriots and the 
 royalists of Peru. This jurisdiction produces annually (according to 
 the Peruvian Mercury) from 400 to 480,000 dollars in silver, and 
 §1 00,000 in gold. — The district or province of Tarija has 4 curacies. 
 Of this delightful region, the Peruvian Mercury of May 15, 1791, says, 
 "It would require the pen of a Fenelon to describe the serenity of its 
 sky and fine temperature of its climate, the beauty and fruitfulness of 
 its plains, the abundance of its springs and rivers," &c. — With all their 
 amenity and advantages, I am unwilling to have the population of 
 these districts annihilated. Are we to add a census of them to his ag- 
 gregate of inhabitants in the Intendancy of Potosi? (He has commemo- 
 rated their territory, p. 148-130.) The number of a people, however, 
 being less important than thei-' quality and composition, I extract a 
 few remarks on the subject from an unpublished Memoire already al- 
 luded to: The author has observed the influence of castes and com- 
 merce on revolutionary movements: — 
 
 "There was a time when all Spanish America, from Cape Horn to 
 California was in a state of insurrection. Peru and Cuba were an ex- 
 ception to the general inarch, though Lima was not without commotion. 
 
 "We discover the causes of its abortion in Mexico from the charac- 
 ter of the revolution itself, and the condition of the country. The 
 lights of education, influence of opinion and power, the resources of 
 mind and force of intelligence, are almost exclusively confined to the 
 capital. But, insurrection, commencing in the provinces, and wholly 
 supported by a people composed in general of Indians and labourers in 
 the mines, would naturally be repugnant or odious to the wealthy and 
 aristocratical classes in Mexico. Warfare in the interior against the 
 original regulars or Spanish reinforcements was badly conducted: the 
 patriots had soldiers in sufficient or excessive numbers; but they needed 
 experience, and wanted arms and ammunition, which could only be 
 had from without. That country being almost destitute of ports along 
 the Atlantic, this deficiency could not be remedied; intercourse with 
 foreign countries being kept up through Vera Cruz, the only well-known, 
 accessible port, — and that hasalways beenin possessionof the royalists." 
 [Several other anchorages, if not harbors, were noted by early naviga- 
 tors and settlers on the eoastj but they seem to have fallen into disuse.] 
 
 '•From the former course of commerce, a powerful influence was 
 acquired by Buenos-Ayres in Chili, which soon spread from mercantile 
 interests ti/ political opinions. Venezuela, (but in a much less degree) 
 enjoyed the like with respect to New-Granada. — Connected by such a 
 chain, the agitation of one must be communicated to the other. But, 
 in Buenos-Ayres this moral action was still more remarkable by the ne- 
 cessary etfect of peculiar circumstances — vicinity and intermixture of 
 
117 
 
 their respective population, — the blending of ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
 (even after the revolution^ with the civil, and with the adjacent dis- 
 trict. The wish to avoid the tempests of the Cape, as far as possible, 
 made Buenos-tdyres an entrepot for the foreign commerce of Chili, by 
 which were imported European manufactures and merchandize, ne- 
 groes from Africa, [mostly destined for Peru] and yerba (matte) tobac- 
 co and cotton from Paraguay, in exchange for her precious metals and 
 copper. — It is evident therefore, that under present circumstances, 
 when those four great territorial divisions are revolutionized, Lima too, 
 which is 2500 leagues removed from Europe, cannot continue her de- 
 pendence on Spain. To the N. she will be cut oft* from the ports of 
 Guayaquil and Panama; — to the S. from those of Chili: or, the revo- 
 lution may reach her from both sides. 
 
 "The lower provinces of Buenos-Ayres are agricultural or pastural. 
 With the exception of Paraguay and its missions, an Indian is as rare- 
 ly to be seen as in Philadelphia. Cultivators of the soil are peculiarly 
 patriotic; and the nature of the population is favorable to indepen- 
 dence. The situation of the country, and quality of its productions 
 did not require an excessive influx of Africans, which renders revolu- 
 tion too doubtful or desperate in other provinces. Hardly a sixth part 
 of the inhabitants are of this class. La Plata is widely remote from the 
 apprehensions occasioned in Lima and Havana by a separate class, 
 very formidable for their number. In her mining districts, she has 
 no demand for negroes, because the [ndians alone exercise the labour 
 of the mines. 
 
 In the maritime provinces we meet with negroes, but no Indians; in 
 the interior, Indians but no negroes. Considering the relative impor- 
 tance of classes by their aptitude for freedom, or by their civilization, 
 we may thus distribute the population of all the provinces of Rio-de- 
 La Plata: 
 
 Three-fourths of the whole — Spanish Americans. 
 One fourth-part — Indians and castes." 
 
 The causes which have so materially reduced the mineral products of 
 Fotosi are circumstantially detailed in Moreno's Memoirs, from p. 64 to 
 81, and might have been preferred to the conjectures in the "Voyage" 
 146 — 7: for, surely we cannot imagine our author uninformed of a 
 book published in 1812! — For his purpose, the scarcity or abundance 
 of metals, as affected by the revolution was out of the question, because 
 a simpler reason was at hand: Fotosi is in the hands of the royalists; 
 and the mines were but a short time in possession of the patriots. Hence 
 the exactions in I hili, and the eagerness to occupy Callao and Lima, 
 by a naval and military force. — If JBuenos-Ayres can conquer and hold 
 those opulent countries as fiefs, her pampa-city (as it may be viewed) 
 may be the queen of the south; if not, her native and principal ex- 
 ports will be hides. Under whatever power the vice-royalty falls, if 
 the government protect industry by justice, the commercial resources 
 of the people will be immense. 
 
 Don. A. Ulloa, and others conceived exaggerated notions of the an- 
 nual product of the argentiferous mountain of Fotosi, which for 93 
 years when first wrought they estimated at 841,255,043 (lib. 7. ch. 13). 
 Although they magnified the amount, little if any serious reliance can 
 
118 
 
 be placed on the tables quoted by Humboldt, as exhibiting the real 
 quantity extracted. (Essay on New-Spain, vol. III.) His data are inac- 
 curate as the anecdotes he tells of Tupac-Amaru. Both are correct- 
 ed by D. Vicente Pazos, who has given us a very honest and liberal 
 book, if it be rather lacking in statistical details. He shows us, p. 144 
 why the quantity of metals has never been calculated, and the impos- 
 sibility of forming a true estimate of it. — We cannot in enquiries af- 
 ter truth counterbalance one excess by another, — for, it is apt to lie 
 between extremes. A mineralogist and metallurgist has said that six 
 times the usual quantity (or §31,000,000) might be digged annually 
 from the bowels of this mountain; yet I confess I cannot easily credit 
 the practicability of it. 
 
 Before Dr. Moreno returned to Buenos-Ayres he visited this famous 
 mountain, and gives a melancholy picture of the oppressions practised 
 on the miserable mitayos, or native conscripts, above 12,000 of whom 
 were annually subject to this unexampled hardship.* Notwithstand- 
 ing the silver spoils continually scooped from this grand depository, 
 nature is constantly reproducing them — as experience has demonstra- 
 ted. It is the opinion of practical metallists, that by more judicious 
 methods of excavation and refining, the returns of Potosi are capable 
 
 * The law prescribing the regulations of the mita was disregarded in most in- 
 stances. Properly, the Indians were only bound to work a stated number of* al- 
 ternate months, from 18 to 50 years of age — in Peru it amounted to one-sev- 
 enth of their time, they being divided into 7 classes. The mitayos were to receive 
 wages adequate to their subsistence; but they were doomed in practice to the 
 greatest wretchedness, and suffered both for want of food and clothing. The pur- 
 chased negro was well treated in comparison with the forced conscript. Half of 
 them died and all were enfeebled by unwholesome labor in ill -aired subterraneous 
 pits.- all were unsheltered by government, without incentive, without amor patrice 
 without country (in fact) or religion. Moreno tells us that religion was called 
 in to vitiate the unfortunate beings whom policy had degraded. The clergy ac- 
 commodated their doctrine to the creed of the country — and men were abandoned 
 to barbarousness, forgetting their ancient creeds and dissembling the present. — 
 Curates, sub-delegates, caciques, all constrained them to perform menial offices 
 of every sort, without wages- above 100,000 of the natives are destined to this 
 private domestic service around Potosi. Dr. Moreno never forgot the impression 
 of thi« scene.- it inflamed his philanthropic bosom with a desire to emancipate the 
 Indians from all oppression. The virtuous bishop of La Paz, touched with com- 
 passion at the spectacle of their wrongs and misfortunes used to assert, that he 
 ■would cheerfully pass the remainder of his life in dismal Moorish dungeons to avoid 
 the sad affliction of beholding the Indians in servitude -without pay, forever subject -with' 
 out relief to the caprice of men ivho destroyed their liberty and usurped their property. 
 (p. 64 to 71. "Vida Sec. de Moreno.) 
 
 The editors of the Edinburg Review make a just remark on this compulsory 
 service.- "A forced conscription for national defence, though liable to great abuse, 
 is on every principle a justifiable measure; but a forced conscription for the pur- 
 pose of digging riches from the bowels of the earth for the profit of another, is 
 the extremity of cruelty and injustice." 
 
 It has been surmised by some, that the first revolutionists in Buenos Ayres and 
 Chili attempted too much in favour of humanity. If they were mistaken in their 
 means, we must deplore it, and forgive an error on the side of right. — What are 
 we to hope from the present powers, who leave the mass of episcopal property 
 and clerical privilege untouched, and couple old abuses to new aristocracies? 
 
119 
 
 of being increased to six times their amount, in the most prosperous 
 period. Nearly forty years ago the mines were laid under water, and 
 the richest veins abandoned. Don Miguel Rubin de Celis, a scientific 
 officer in the marine, was dispatched to Potosi by the viceroy, Vertiz; 
 he made a survey of the mountain and formed a plan for draining oft' 
 the water by a subterraneous aqueduct or conduit from the base of the 
 cerro to the bottom of the pits. — His project was not completed. 
 
 Another accident which retarded and sometimes stopped mining op- 
 erations, was the dependence on Spain for supplies of quicksilver from 
 Almaden. In time of war this source was cut off; yet the government 
 discouraged the opening of quicksilver mines situated within the ter- 
 ritory of the viceroyalty. One of these exists at Coabilqui, in the 
 province of Omasuyos and jurisdiction of La Paz; the second in the 
 mountain of San Miguel belonging to the town of Nuestra Senora de 
 Fe, in the missions of Paraguay. — This cerro is not laid down on the 
 map — but it is situated as I am informed, to the south east of the river 
 Parana, and south of the Iguacu, in the margin of the mountains of 
 the Guarani missions, near the frontiers of Brazil. 
 
 The first of these was formerly worked very successfully, until pro- 
 hibited by the superior government of Lima, who would not suffer it 
 to come in competition with the quicksilver of Guanca Belica, (or 
 Huancavelica) whose principal shafts and galleries have been since in- 
 tentionally destroyed; the works now scarcely yielding 4 to 6000 quin- 
 tals of mercury per annum, which previously afforded 10,500. That 
 ©f San Miguel has never been opened, notwithstanding the commands 
 of the court, to make an estimate of the expenses &c. A sample of 
 the quicksilver had been sent to Spain in a crystal flask: it was com- 
 pared withtheiquicksilver of Almaden, and reckoned of abetter qual- 
 ity. — Instead of erecting works on the spot, the colonial government 
 thought of transporting the product of the mine to Potosi by opening 
 a communication through the province of Los Chiquitos and forming a 
 colony on the opposite bank of the Paraguay, which was to serve as a 
 port to the vessels who should carry it, &c. By intrigue and private 
 interests the treasure has remained intact. 
 
 These statements are drawn from the official reports of the viceroys, 
 who were bound to communicate to the Spanish cabinet, every impor- 
 tant incident during their term of office. (Vida y Memorias de Mo- 
 reno, 73 to 81.) 
 
 This information but proves that provincial jealousy or private cupi- 
 dity, has fortunately tended to preserve metallic treasures in the bow- 
 els of the mines more securely than money in a strong box: that great 
 and unwasted resources will remain at the disposal of the independent 
 governments: that the unreduced representative and real standard 
 of value will soon come in aid of commerce, multiply exchanges, (or 
 quicken circulation,) and extricate nations from the curse of a spuri- 
 ous currency. Genuine mercantile means will be provided from South- 
 America to foment agricultural iudustry, and stimulate arts and 
 sciences. Consequently, the financial powers of our government &c. 
 will be proportionately advanced. — In throwing out of circulation, or 
 rather, in removing the obstruction of an unnecessary and injurious 
 
l&O 
 
 pile of paper-eoinage, we may restore equal rights and specie payments 
 together. 
 
 I know, my friend, that the stockholders in our unconstitutional 
 banks (for all are unconstitutional) are very liberally disposed towards 
 the unprivileged community! "Gentlemen, only give us boundless con- 
 fidence, and we will issue a boundless currency: but if you return us 
 our own drugs, — why, — -to swallow all the phvsick which the patients 
 reject, would really sicken your paper-doctors. — Trust us! trust us! 
 gentlemen; — have faith in our paper-medium, and reverence our vested 
 rights." — This is the customary language of a highly-favored class, for- 
 tified in immunities and incorporations, Leave us unmolested, say 
 they, and we'll supply you with hoards of money. 
 
 Inferior tradesmen likewise, I say, speak in their appropriate language: 
 (for, if there are superiors, we must have inferiors.) — Listen how the 
 sheep-seller in the romance sounds the virtues of his flock: — "They 
 are meat for none but kings and princes; their flesh is so delicate, so 
 savoury and so dainty, that one would swear it melted in the mouth.— 
 I bring them out of a country where the very sows in their styes (God 
 be with us!) are fed with orange flowers, at the time of parturition. — 
 These sheep are lineally descended from the very family of the ram 
 that wafted Phryxus and Helle over the sea, since called the Helles- 
 pont. — Now, I think on't, over all the fields where they urinate, corn 
 
 grows as fast as if tli3 Lord had • been there; they need neither 
 
 be tilled nor manured. Besides, man, your chemists extract the best 
 saltpetre in the world out ot their urine. Nay with their very dung 
 (with reverence be it spoken) the doctors in our country make pills 
 that cure seventy-eight kinds of diseases, the least of which is the evil 
 of Saint Eutropius of Haintes, from which good Lord deliver us! — 
 Do but mind the wonders of nature that are found in those animals 
 even in a member which one would think were of no use. Take me 
 but these horns and bray them a little with an "iron pestle, or with an 
 andiron, which you please, 'tis all one to me;, then bury them where- 
 ever you will, provided it be where the sun may shine, and water them 
 frequently, in a few months I'll engage you'll have the best asparagus 
 in the world not even excepting that of Ravenna." 
 
 Whether Doctor Rabelais's pills are better than those of the bank- 
 doctors, you can decide. If one fertilize the soil, the other enrich the 
 emitters; but both may be alike empirical. The fleecy flock may vaunt 
 a higher uedigree, but not (as I think) a higher rank than the multitude 
 who suffer themselves to be fleeced of rights and riches ad libitum. 
 
 Every citizen of the community is entitled to equal protection, and 
 consequently, under a free government exclusive grants of every des- 
 cription are inadmissible. — If we have wandered from the path of con- 
 stitutional orthodoxy, let us countermarch and regain it. Freedom of 
 commerce and industry cannot subsist with privilege — the fruitful cause 
 of all the political misery under which nations groan. — I admire free 
 commerce, and dread to see it either enslaving or enslaved. I like to 
 see the genuine merchant flourish, but I detest every species of mono- 
 polists: A republic cannot foment any of them without jeopardy. — I 
 am pleased with forensic oratory; but I would not have the barrister de- 
 
121 
 
 graded into a barrator: I would not hold out a. premium to chicane by 
 the ambiguity of law. It is in short, a great crisis in our body 
 politic, as in the destiny of South-America, and I pray most fervent- 
 ly, that our fellow citizens may seize the moment of fate with a giant's 
 grasp. 
 
 I ought to crave your pardon for the digression — if I were not con- 
 vinced of your principles. But, having grazed the subject of curren- 
 cy and confusion,] would refer you to one instance of folly analogous 
 to our own — succeeded by a simple and sanative experiment, which is 
 perfectly in our power. 
 
 A Spanish monarch, unacquainted with the principles of money, 
 once adopted the odd expedient of introducing copper-coin into South 
 America, to circulate at an arbitrary value far beyond its intrinsical 
 worth. — Prejudice taking sides with justice, rendered roval edicts abor- 
 tive, and banished that fecund source of mischief.— Owing to the resist- 
 ance of the natives, who in less than a year disdainfully buried in the 
 rivers and lakes more than a million of dollars in that metal, the pro- 
 ject was abandoned.— Economists have branded the attempt as grossly 
 impolitic and prejudicial in a country like Peru, whose principal pro- 
 ducts consist of gold and sUver.--To debase them .by a competition 
 with another token would be to abate the ardor of those who are en- 
 gaged in extracting them from the mines; and would revive the just 
 grounds on which the erroneous policy of Spain was condemned when 
 she prohibited tissues of gold and silver. (See ^'Present State of Pe- 
 ru," 4to page 115, for a dissertation written in 1791.) Tutored by this 
 essay, the Spanish government prudently substituted quartillos, or 
 fourths of reals, a smaller denomination of silver coin. Subdivision 
 of metal is always preferable to aft adulteration of them, or to a super- 
 abundance of paper. 
 
 Were a full report of the property sacrificed, or of persons ruined 
 by dipping in bank-credit for the last seven years, to be made out and 
 published, —we would stand amazed at the revolutions in fortunes and 
 happiness effected by paper-money. Such a monument of misery 
 would not fail to stir up compassion. We do not contemplate ship- 
 wreck with composure. Though the credit system, which occasioned 
 so much dilapidation cannot be instantly levelled in the dust, it is to 
 be hoped, we may gradually discourage it until all its evils disappear 
 with the restoration of a metallic basis. That foundation and the struc- 
 ture I hope to see rising on it, cannot be found in the course we have 
 lately steered. 
 
 If I remark so freely on the disorders of society, and the mercantile 
 embarrassments to which I have referred, it is because I sympathize in 
 the misfortunes of the worthy, and poignantly feel the impolicy which 
 would heighten the malady instead of eradicating it.— It were unkind 
 to harrow up our aberrations retrospectively without a motive. — We 
 have looked in a wrong direction for relief. We must repair our shat- 
 tered fortunes by South-American trade; and we ought not, cannot stand 
 indifferent to the political destiny of the finest portions of the globe.— - 
 Where our means of wealth are deposited, there let us treasure up 
 some share of our affectien. We ought to be the natural guardians of 
 R 
 
1S2 
 
 liberty, every where,— but peculiarly so with respect to the people of 
 our own continent-— More substantial reasons of policy than political 
 and commercial welfare cannot exist. Nor can there be ottered to the 
 consideration of states a stronger motive to action, unless it be that 
 of national existence itself. — I do not pretend to handle this great sub- 
 ject in an unstudied letter as it deserves to be treated: I shall present 
 an outline of its prominences,— such as strike on the sight like the peaks 
 of Orizaba or Chimborazo. The most superficial observer must see 
 our means of prosperity reflected (as in a mirror) from those of South 
 America. Our commissioners- Reports, especially those of Bland 
 and Poinsett, with the Documents attached, ought not only to be read. 
 but remembered, and reduced to practice. These form an excellent 
 groundwork for the statesman, and may exempt me from repeating 
 them particularly — to a gleaner and thinker like you. 
 
 Considering that space of country which forms the provinces of Bue- 
 nos- Ay res, Santa-Fe, Corrientes, Band a Oriental and Paraguay, we 
 survey an immense territory fertilized by the majestic rivers, Negro, 
 Colorado, La Plata, Uruguay, Paraguay and Parana; the two first con- 
 siderably to the south, the three last to the north of Buenos-Ayres. 
 
 Buenos- Ayres (proper) from its spacious plains, produces hides, tal- 
 low, horns, furs, flour, corn, wool, salt-beef, horses and mules. She 
 can collect an indefinite quantity of salt chrystallized on the ponds of 
 the S. W. Vessels used to put into the Rio Negro (of the S.) to be sup- 
 plied with it: but the colony there has suffered great decay since the 
 revolution. — I believe it is broken up. 
 
 The Oriental Band a produces timber, charcoal, wool, besides articles 
 similar to those in the preceding paragraph; and her soil is capable of 
 yielding every vegetable growth except that which is strictly tropical. 
 To the northward of her, and at a very short distance from the Uru- 
 guay, in the territory of her present ally, is situated the copper and 
 quicksilver mine already mentioned. 
 
 Paraguay yields tobacco, yerba, (matte) cotton, brandy, sugar, mo- 
 lasses and timber, &c. 
 
 Corrientes is analagous in soil, and may also furnish good coffee. 
 
 Look at the situation of these territories, in respect to the Atlantic, 
 and the interior, and judge of their commerce, whenever indepen- 
 dence, freedom and security, shall develope the industry and awaken 
 the entet prize of the people. 
 
 It is almost immaterial in a commercial view, to remark, (at present) 
 that to the southward of Buenos-Ayres proper, 20,000 square leagues 
 of territory in a very agreeable part of the temperate zone, and water- 
 ed by the navigable rivers Negro and Colorado, are yet without inhabi- 
 tants. ' 
 
 i 
 
123 
 
 COMMERCE OF BUENOS-AYRES SINCE THE REVOLUTION IN 1810. 
 
 Mfmports. Exports. 
 
 From Englaijr—7Q vessels, C To do.— Hides, horns hair, 
 
 with merchandise of ev- -^ skins, copper, precious me- 
 
 eiy species, valued at $4,500,000 (_ tals and specie,* 5,600,000 
 
 Chili. Copper, mats, c Matte, domestic fabrics 
 
 horses, gold and silver, 1,344,000 I and European goods, 2,150,000 
 
 Brazil. — Sugar, coffee, c „. , „ , .. „ .• \.„ , ' '' 
 
 rice, &c. 2,590,000 ? Hldes > flour > tallow, &c. 1,434,000 
 
 U. States. — Arms, gun-""| fi 
 
 powder, naval stores, ' „„. ftn C Hides, skins, jerked beef, J Qnn nnn 
 India goods, plank and f 2 > j00 > 000 £ ta ll ow and copper, \ 890 ' 000 
 
 household furniture &c J J 
 
 $10,734,000 $10,074,000 
 
 * 780,000 hides were ordinarily exported before the revolution; 1,200,000 since 
 the establishment of free trade (so called/) 
 
 Public Property and revenue of Buenos-.lyres before the revolution, $4,825,000 
 Property of the Jesuits sequestrated by the crown, 1,800,000 
 ' of deceased Orphans, 750,000 
 
 2,550,000 
 Proceeds of this property at 6 per cent. 153,000 
 
 $4,978,000f 
 
 | Of $5,243,315, amount of exports in one year, the principal item is specie, 
 amounting to 4,000,000, — derived from the interior, and from Chili. 
 
 Public Funds and Revenue, after the revolution, 5,525j000 
 
 By confiscation as above, 1,800,000 
 
 By do. belonging to "old Spaniards," 1,300,000 
 
 Reprisals on Spanish trade by privateers, 4,500,000 
 
 $7,860,000 
 Revenue at 6 per cent. 471,000 
 
 Amount, 5,996,000 
 
 Comparative prices before the free trade. Since the free trade. 
 
 Calico, fine, imported, from 2 to $3 per yd. From 25 to 50 cents per yard 
 Do. common, 1 25 to 2 do. 18 to 25 cents do. 
 
 Hides, exported, 1 00 to 1 25 2 30 to $3 
 
 So that the article of consumption was received with a charge of 
 700 per cent, and their produce was sold at a loss of 150 to 800 per 
 cent. A South-American was obliged to pay as much for a single yard 
 of calico before the revolution as he now pays for eight, and hardly 
 procured for two hides, what is now bartered for one. 
 
 You are in no danger of estimating the profitableness of a trade from 
 the money-prices solely; as there are conjunctures when a nation ought 
 not to depend on foreigners for any essential supplies. — The effect of 
 this free trade was an incalculable incentive to a people unaccustomed to 
 it. The same reduction of foreign goods, and enhancement of domes- 
 tic, which created a sensation so agreeable at Buenos-Ayres, were 
 
, 124 
 
 equally sought by other provinces. She however, did not think it 
 equally good for them. 
 
 The mountainous region (as contradistinguished from the plains) 
 whose ridges are rich with precious ore, and its elevated valleys are 
 the seats of exhaustless fertility, commence at the Montanas de los 
 Yuares, to the east of Santiago del Estero, about lat. 28 south. This 
 jurisdiction is nearly skirted on the west by the mountains around Ca- 
 tamarca, as on the north by those in the jurisdiction of San Miguel. — 
 The country designated as the internal provinces or Upper Peru, might 
 (from mere altitude and configuration) be said to^xtend from the bounds 
 just mentioned on the south to the limits of Carabaya on the north about 
 lat. 13. In these lofty tracts are the foci of earthquakes and volcanoes 
 unknown in the Pampas. But, according to geographical lines, and 
 established territorial bounds, that part of Upper Peru included in the 
 viceroyalty of La Plata, begins at Jujui (even to the north of Salta,) 
 and stretches to the demarcation of Peru Proper. This highly diver- 
 sified space, so abundant in vegetable and mineral wealth,— is the resi- 
 dence of Peruvian Indians, whose ancestors were formerly subject to 
 the Incas, and civilized by their mild theocratical policy. The abori- 
 gines still cherish the tenacious remembrance of their ancient condition 
 notwithstanding the lapse of time, and the moral concussion of con- 
 quest. This territory is divided into seven principal provinces, — La 
 Paz, Cochabamba, Charcas (prnper.) Potosi, and Santa Cruzde la Si- 
 erra, besides Moxos and Chiquitos; which are again subdivided into 
 twenty -five for as some maintain twenty-one) districts. 
 
 Those provinces afford gold, silver, quicksilver, iron, lead and tin. 
 There are numerous minerals, some quarries of alabaster, and (in La 
 Paz,) an emerald mine. Providence too has supplied the remoter parts 
 with salt-springs, as in Cica-Cica &c. 
 
 Many of the higher vallies yield barley, maize and wheat; and vine 
 and olives come to perfection, with the finer fruits of Europe.— Oca- 
 papa (or indigenous potatoe,) quinoa, a species of rice, the co*co (or 
 betel,) indigo, cacao, tabacco, cotton, banana, sugar-cane, vanilla, gin- 
 ger, agi, (or guinea pepper) are in proper scites cultivated with suc- 
 cess, for food or barter. Balsamic gums, medicinal plants, and pre- 
 cious timber are scattered over the mountains with profusion. — The 
 best species of Cinchona, i. e. red bark,* is found in La Paz, the cin- 
 namon is frequent; and the camphor-tree is said to exist there also. In 
 some situations the nopal invites the docile, ingenious natives to rear 
 the cochineal insect. 
 
 Among the animals are the Llama (or little native camel,) guanaco, 
 alpaca and vicuna, — the three latter valuable for the fineness of their 
 wool, well known in commerce. Sheep are in plenty; and with the 
 skins of the fox and chinchilla, augment the articles of traffic. 
 
 "There are in this sub-province (Pacages) 70 mines of silver which 
 are worked; there is also a mine of emeralds." Pazos, 173. If a sin- 
 gle district of La Paz contains so much metallic wealth, we may safely 
 
 ■I 
 
 ^Cascarilla roxa. 
 
125 
 
 imagine that the quantity throughout Upper Peru is prodigious- — though 
 it is impossible for us to form an estimate of it. This author conjec- 
 tures that about 818,000,000 are annually extracted in Peru proper and 
 in these internal or upper provinces of Buenos- Ayres. When we are 
 favored with the researches ot M. Hsenke, and other learned tourists in 
 that region, it is probable that much new and curious data will display 
 some "secrets worth knowing." At present it is impossible to assert 
 whether the unwrought quicksilver mines of the internal provinces are 
 comparable in richness to the famous mercury-mine of Guanca Velica 
 (Huancavelica) in old Peru. In 219 years, the estimated value of mercu- 
 ry extracted from it (viz. 1,040,452 quintals) amounted to 867,629,396 
 and 2 reals. The product would probably have been much greater, 
 had the mine been wrought by private individuals instead of being con- 
 ducted by a governor on royal account: for Philip II. either bought it 
 or dispossessed the proprietor, D. Amador Cabrera, in September, 
 1570.— Neither have I the temerity to say, in the present state of in- 
 formation, (much as has been published on the subject.) that the metals 
 in the seven intendancies of Buenos-Ayres, equal those of old Peru. 
 In the eight intendancies of Lima, Tarma, Truxillo, Huamanga, Cuz- 
 co, Arequipa, Guantajaya and Huancavelica, there were numbered in 
 1791, — 69 serviceable gold mines, and 784 of silver; 4 of quicksilver. 
 4 of copper and 12 of lead: at the same time that 29 of gold and 588 of 
 silver had, by various accidents and casualties been rendered unser- 
 viceable. (See Present State of Peru 4to.) 
 
 Certain it is, that Peru produced annually in coined metals at the 
 beginning of the present century, §6,682,000 at least. But, Mr. Tor- 
 res estimates her yearly extraction above eight millions: and this pos- 
 sibly a moderate appraisement. 
 
 If the internal provinces rival old Peru (so to name it for distinc- 
 tion's sake) in the precious metals, it cannot be a very eccentric guess 
 which fixes their total joint product at gl 8,000,000. 
 
 There has been much speculation on the future routes of commerce 
 of the upper provinces; but nature has formed the channels in which 
 it will float, unless violence obstruct them. From the south of San 
 Miguel as far north as the valley of Tarija, products will be carried 
 down the Vermejo, Salado and Dulce rivers, and seek a market in Cor- 
 rientes, Santa-Fe, or Buenos-Ayres. — The commercial outlet of the 
 country from Tarija to Chayanta, and most probably as far as Cocha- 
 bamba, is the Pilcomayo and its branches: for althoughthe little river 
 Cochabamba runs through the west district of that province, and winds 
 around Santa Cruz de la Sierra into the Guapahi and Mamore, yet it 
 is far more probable that the inhabitants will carry their commodities 
 to the nearest branch of the Pilcomayo, and thus transport them to the 
 Paraguay, than think of sending them into Brazil. They will not take 
 that course in our day — if they ever do. Cochabamba may possibly 
 find a vent for lighter articles towards the Pacific; the heavier ones 
 she will not convey over the two great chains of the Cordilleras, that 
 can only be scaled by Llamas and mules. The discovery ot a more 
 practicable path in these formidable barriers would be worth a mine 
 to the people. — A home market for their cattle, grain, roots, wine, 
 
126 
 
 poultry and fruits, is furnished by the mines, where great quantities 
 are consumed. This internal consumption is an important stimulus 
 to agriculture; formerly the amalgamation-works &c. took off many 
 ot the cloths manufactured in the country. The Indians in Cocha- 
 bamba and Cuzco are ingenious in spinning and weaving cotton and 
 wool. — Paria, Carangas, Oruro, Berenguela, Chucuyto, Arcolla, Lam- 
 pa, Asangaro, and Omazuegos or Omasuyo, lying chiefly between the 
 western and central Cordilleras, their inhabitants must climb the litto- 
 ral ridges, and descend to the ports in Arica, Moquehua and Arequipa 
 in Lower Peru. Nature has facilitated their internal intercourse from 
 north to south by the Paria and Desaguadero, the outlets ot the mag- 
 nificent lake Titicaca. — La Paz proper and Cica-cica will naturally en- 
 deavor to communicate with the ports of the Pacific from Arica to Pis- 
 co. Their foreign goods will be received through the same ports. The 
 inhabitants < ; with their precious metals, will purchase directly of fo- 
 " reign merchants every thing they want, without waiting for a yard of 
 " cloth to reach them by travelling hundreds of miles across the pam- 
 " pas of Buenos-Ayres!!" 
 
 It is said indeed that England carried on an active commerce with 
 these provinces (during the last war with Spain,) through the ports of 
 Cobija, Iquique, Arica, Ilo, Quilca &c. but it is not equally feasible 
 "that Cuzco and Cochabamba cau alone supply all Peru with wheat:" 
 They produce it abundantly, I doubt not: and Guarochiri has abun- 
 dance of coal in its bowels; but it cannot bear the expense of carriage 
 to Lima. — Mauy possible things are not done.— We for instance, could 
 manufacture goods sufficient for domestic use, but we do not. Chili 
 has supplied the western coast to the north of her, with wheat for a 
 hundred and twenty-five years past, especially Lima and other towns 
 in Low (or Maritime) Peru, the capabilities of Cuzco notwithstanding. 
 What fine roads will effect when made, I eannot tell.— Cochabamba, 
 having on her north the high mountains in which the Beni has its 
 source, is very unlikely to empty her granaries in Lima.* In fact, the 
 royalists have had quiet possession of those provinces, of oue always, 
 of the other for many years; and yet, flour has been carried from Bal- 
 timore to Guayaquil, both around Cape Horn and by Cruces and Pa- 
 nama, and there sold too at a handsome piofit. This cannot continue, 
 if Chili be ever relieved from her grievous oppressions, and permitted 
 o cultivate her soil and resources uuder a free government.-— Indeed 
 we do not desire its continuance. We lose much by the ruin of Chili. 
 The circumstance just related corroborates the opinion of judge Bland, 
 and unanswerably overthrows the conclusions of Mr. Pazos, who seems 
 to assume the samenesss of production and transportation: but, until 
 ''faith" can literally "remove mountains," level precipices, and make 
 a carriage-way among declivities where the fleet guanaco and vicuna 
 are afraid to bound, it is useless to discuss the question of fertility or 
 infertility.— Trees may "weep amber," and forests of cinnamon per- 
 fume the air; the fruits of the cacao, vanilla and guayava may ripen and 
 
 *See Judge Bland's Report on Chili, p. 115— 6^-and Pazos' Letters, p. 228—9 
 
 £ 
 
127 
 
 fall; — balms and resins may distil from native groves of the tropical 
 mountains; — be their abundance and excellence what they may, it is 
 communities of wild birds and monkeys, not of merchants, that will 
 feast or fatten on those bounties of nature — until avenues are opened 
 for the sweet-scented spoils to reach a market. The reason I am sure, 
 I need not farther expound: Monkeys and birds go to the fruits — the 
 fruits do not come to them. Mountains now-a-days would not budge 
 for Mahomet himself. 
 
 Peru Proper, we are told, is the feeblest, and with the exception 
 of its mineral wealth, the least important of all the provinces.-- Voyage, 
 vol. I. page 22. Again: "Peru contains about a million of inhabitants, 
 more than one half composed of the spiritless Indian peasantry; of the 
 other half the greater part is made up of negroes and mulattoes. — 
 Scarcely a fifth are whites, and the number of monks and nuns is great- 
 er than in any other catholic country in the world, and may account 
 for the slow progress of population and the dissoluteness of morals.— 
 The staple manufactory of Peru is priests; and of them a sufficient 
 number is made to supply all South-America." ibid. 
 
 Perhaps our author reckoned by Quipos, whose knots and colors per- 
 plexed his arithmetic! for there is a little, and exceedingly little truth in 
 his assertions about Peru, but less decency in the manner of telling it. 
 Its superficies is noc equal to Ihe quondam viceroyalty of Buenos-Ayres; 
 yet it is incomparably superior in importance to Buenos-Ayres proper 
 and all her actual union. It contains more learned men than any section 
 south of the isthmus, hardly excepting Santa Fe de Bogota; and is, geo- 
 logically considered, the most extraordinary tract on our globe. Her 
 mountains and vales eminently exemplify the sublimest facts of the 
 Plutonian theory, and in a manner reconcile the principles contested 
 by the advocates of the Neptunian and Volcanic systems; which may 
 now be considered as severally unfounded, but jointly true.* Ages ot 
 
 * Regarding the important and laborious experiments of Sir James Hall, above 
 500 in number, (See Transactions of H. Society of Edinburg, vol. 5-6) as veri- 
 fying 1 the principal positions of the Hutlonian theory, the veriest tyro of science 
 would be warmed to enthusiasm towards a country that bears witness in her Cor- 
 dilleras, and their granite and metalliferous veins, in her whole colossal system 
 of chrystallization, &c. &c. to the grandest truths of geology. Mr. Hall has de- 
 monstrated the formation of rocks by igneous fusion under great mechanical ve- 
 straint. He has even given a table of the compressive force that with proper 
 heats effect the purpose. With a pressure of 52 atmospheres he formed lime- 
 stone; marble, with that of 86; and calcareous spar, when complete fusion 
 was caused under that of 173. By the joint agency of heat and compression 
 the sand would be changed to sandstone; shells to limestone; animal and vegeta- 
 ble substances to coal. Other bodies, according to their degree of fusibility, &c. 
 ferruginous, alkaline, or earthy, would be injected in a state of fluidity, into every 
 crevice by an upward pressure; or would congeal in the internal rents, in form of 
 basalt, porphyry, greenstone, and other substances known by the general name of 
 whinstone- — A pretty intense heat would give to sand the requisite tenacity and 
 toughness for primary schistus; and in one still higher, the sand would be entirely 
 melted, and be convertible by sldw cooling into granite, sienite &c. 
 
 By the continued action of heat (continues Mr. Hall) on a great quantity of fluid 
 matter, and in whicli, notwithstanding the great pressure some substances would 
 be volatilized,, a powerful heaving of the superincumbent mass must have taken 
 
128 
 
 ages (perhaps) before this earth was fitted for vegetable and animal 
 life, the internal force that heaved the mountains, the internal fire that 
 fused their contents, and the superincumbent waters &c. whose pres- 
 sure compelled the imprisoned elements into new forms and combina- 
 tions in the great laboratory of nature, when carbon was prepared to 
 be chrystallized into the diamond, and lime and carbon were combined 
 into limestone and marble &c. Sec. &c. — all these arcana, 1 say, whose 
 very contemplation transports the mind so far beyond the bigotted in- 
 ventions of after times, or the dirty, avaricious, party contentions of 
 the day. — have left their living mineralogical proofs profusely scatter- 
 ed over Peru. — Yes, my friend, if the sectary look below the surface of 
 the globe, or judiciously upon it. he will learn his ignorance and grow 
 modest: and if our loquacious "Secretary" had thought for an in- 
 stant of what he was scribbling, he would have expunged it forever. 
 
 place, which by repeated efforts succeeding- each other from below, would at last 
 elevate their strata into their present situation. Hence the extraordinary incli- 
 nation of layers once horizontal, and mountains 20,000 feet above the ocean, once 
 immersed in its bed. 
 
 Professor Playfair in his "Illustrations" and in his Biographical Account of 
 Dr. Hutton, has given a more enlarged view of that great man's ideas. The 
 spoils or wreck of an older world appeared every where visible in the present; 
 and innumerable evidences convinced him that the strata which now compose our 
 continents are all formed out of strata more ancient than themselves. 
 
 Pursuing substances through all their ! changes, — emersion from the ocean — 
 elevation above the earth's surface, — decomposition in the atmosphere by me- 
 chanical or chemical means; their transportation by divers to the sea, and deposi- 
 tion there, he formed the grandest conceptions of creation: "On comparing the 
 first and the last of the propositions just mentioned (says Playfair,) it'is impos- 
 sible not to perceive that they are two steps of the same progression, and that mi- 
 neral substances are alternately dissolved and renewed. These vicissitudes may 
 have been often repeated; and there are not wanting remains among mineral bo- 
 dies that lead us back to continents from which the present are the third in suc- 
 cession." We see neither the beginning nor conclusion. "In the continuation of 
 the different species of animals and vegetables that inhabit the earth, we discern 
 neither a beginning nor an end; and in the planetary motions, where geometry 
 has carried the eye so tar both into the future and the past, we discover no mark 
 either of the commencement or termination of the present order. It is unrea- 
 sonable indeed to suppose that such marks should any where exist. The Author 
 of Nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, 
 carry in themselves the elements of their own destruction.- he has not permitted in 
 his -works any symptom of infancy or old age, or any sign by which we may estimate 
 either their future or their past duration." 
 
 Most of the facts stated by M. Breislak are corroborative of the Huttonian theory; 
 and as Peru exhibits even more striking illustrations of the doctrine than Italy and 
 Sicily, it would have been a more excusable digression, if our tourist had passed 
 from its mineral wealth to its geological structure, than to have hopped every 
 moment from geography and commerce to political factions. 
 
 Our tourist, who has very imperfect notions of Peruvian strength and conse- 
 quence, may learn the true causes of her weakness in point of castes of popula- 
 tion, from studying in Solorzano, the operations of the Spanish laws, and reading 
 the history of mal-administration. — All defects,are comprized in — departure from 
 equality and justice. What only suffered neglect elsewhere, suffered outrage in 
 the Spanish colonies. — Peru has sufficient numerical population to form a respec- 
 table state, were they cemented by common rights^ instead of being diverse in 
 origin and mutually estranged by institution. 
 
12& 
 
 Though he alludes to Sobreviela's travels and labors, he seems uncon- 
 scious of the geographical extent of Peru! He has given us a map of 
 it, but leaves it without limit to the north and north-east. The receiv- 
 ed one he might have ventured to put down with more credit and safe- 
 ty than he has risked a hundred of his sayings. — This viceroyalty, 
 stretches along the coast of the Pacific, from Tumbez about 3 degrees 
 25 minutes, to the river Loa or Loxa, between Arica and the desert of 
 Atacama, about 21 degrees 25 min. south latitude,* and embiaces an 
 area, as you will perceive, of no less than 555,900 square miles. If 
 the best and latest maps have any accuracy in them, this measurement 
 holds good. I know not why Humboldt has said, or been made to say, 
 that Peru has only a surface of 30,000 square leagues of 25 to a degree, 
 — not near one half its superficial contents. I have often had occasion 
 to remark that this illustrious man is always precise and profound when 
 he observes, calculates, and reflects fur himself, — and almost uni- 
 formly mistaken when he adopts the data of others. — Hence his errors 
 on the produce of the mines, (especially of Potosi,) on population, and 
 perhaps relative to the particular effect of South American indepen- 
 dence on the price of labor, &c. &c. — But, this great man's learned la- 
 bors can bear the subtraction of a few miscalculations, and still be 
 immortal; when, a single touch dissolves the frail fabric of the dull 
 compiler, or the vicious inventor. 
 
 The region between the western Cordillera and the ocean is styled 
 Low Peru (or the vallies;) the residue, High Peru. The diversity is as 
 striking as thatof two different worlds — between the sandy vallies where 
 it never rains, and summits wrapt in perpetual snow. But every one 
 knows its geographical character, — the arid tracts and rugged mountains 
 that stretch almost from one extremity to the other, with fruitful vales in- 
 tervening. "Throughout, the breaks and val'ies which enjoy the bene- 
 fit of irrigation, present to the view an extensive range of delightful 
 plains, replete with cities and towns, with a highly salubrious climate." 
 Chili and Peru are respectively and emphatically called the "country 
 of old men." 
 
 Low Peru is agreeably cooled by the southern breezes, which (as it 
 is remarked) passing over the frozen climes to the south waft along 
 some of the frigorific particles from those gelid regions. Floating mists 
 present a curtain to exclude the ardour of the sun for six months in the 
 year. These mists tend to fertilize arid spots that would otherwise 
 be barren; the humid fogs called garuas being a substitute for rain. 
 
 The author of the "Present State of Peru" gives us other reasons for 
 the slow progress of population and agriculture, besides the number of 
 priests, which is doubtless a nuisance exeiy where. — "The rural opera- 
 tions of sowing and planting, as well as domestic employments, have 
 constantly fallen to the lot of the negroes." Such was the seductive 
 influence of pride and prejudice that it was reckoned disreputable or 
 
 ♦Formerly its southern boundary on the coast, was, or was represented to be, at 
 Merro Moreno, still farther southward; but the intermediate space between Loxa 
 and the Morro, including the port of Cobija, is hew assigned to Buenos Ayres, 
 
 s 
 
130 
 
 infamous for white men to till the soil.* Under this false standard of 
 worth they loathed employment of which a Roman general would have 
 been proud. Indolence begets indolence: "Bad, uneven roads togeth- 
 er with the delays and expense of carriage almost entirely obstruct the 
 internal circulation of this kingdom, and are so many obstacles in the 
 way of agriculture." To discover a remedy where it was so much 
 wanted, the Academical society (some of whose members wrote the ad- 
 mired essays in the Mercurio Peruano) proposed a gold medal &c. in 
 1791, to the author of the best dissertation on improving the roads of 
 Peru, and similar ones of silver to the essay of secondary merit. None 
 was offered except one from Chachapoyas, in the mountains, so indiffer- 
 ently written, that its author obtained neither medal, ring, nor chain of 
 silver or gold. 
 
 Peru has her principal riches buried in the earth, alum, copperas, 
 ochre, chrystals; basaltes, sulphur, cope, (a black naptha,) copper, lead, 
 iron, some tin, and platina, "and lastly and pre-eminently gold, and 
 silver." 
 
 Her vegetable products are also important, and may be incalculably 
 augmented in her east and south-east provinces. — Both species of cin- 
 chona*, (cascarilla rooca and arrollada,--rei\ and quill bark) are gather- 
 ed in the mountainous parts of Huanuco, Tarma and Jauja. Vines thrive 
 very well, and the tangled forests of olive-trees are the wonder of the 
 traveller. No other fruit-tree with so little culture yields so immense 
 a profit. "Non ulla est oleis cultura," holds almost literally true in 
 Peru, as in ancient Italy. — The olive plantations (Ulloa tells us) ap- 
 pear like thick forests; in height and magnitude exceeding those of 
 Spain. The trees are never pruned; by which means their branches 
 become so interwoven, that the light cannot penetrate through their 
 foliage. 
 
 She commonly exported sugar, honey, vicuna wool, cotton-cloth, salt, 
 rice, in her trade with the adjacent provinces, which was very consi- 
 derable. For example, Lima used to send cotton, tanned hides, shoes, 
 hats, baizes (chiefly made at Cuzco,) and sugars to Guayaquil and Pa- 
 nama; importing cacao, coffee and wax via Paita. 
 
 Arequipa and Cuzco once carried on a gainfultrade with the provinces 
 of Buenos-Ayres, Potosi, Chuquisaca «5fc. to the value of $2,034,980 
 piastres or dollars. Arequipa sent brandies, wines of Locumba, maize, 
 flour, cotton, oil, pimento and sugars: Cuzco furnishing cotton-cloths. 
 
 * For upwards of thirty years after the treaty of Utrecht, (in 1713) England sup- 
 plied Peru with negroes. It has been urged that this privilege together with the 
 capture of Jamaica, about the middle of the previous century, and the depreda- 
 tions of the buccaneers, severely injured the commerce of Peru. After 1748 the 
 register-ships via Cape Horn succeeded to the trade of the galleons by Porto-Bel- 
 lo and Panama &c; 
 
 fit is not material to repeat that 'Jesuits' bark was discovered by the Spanish 
 colonists in 1638. While count de Cinchon was viceroy of Lima, his lady was re- 
 lieved from a terrible fever by some barks sent from Loxa. In 1639 he carried 
 some of it with him to Eui'ope, where Linnaeus named it Cinchona Officinalis. — 
 Some had been likewise transmitted to the cardinals at Rome; where it passed 
 for a while by the title of Cardinals' powder. 
 
131 
 
 baizes and other woollen fabrics, (woven by the Indians and Cholos,) 
 sugar and grain. — They received in return, specie, cattle, tasajo, wool, 
 tallow, cacao, copper, tin, mules, sheep, black cattle, hides, wax and 
 soap. This trade was greatly in favor of Peru, although thirty or for- 
 ty thousand mules were purchased every year. The channel of sup- 
 ply has been since deranged, by the great importations into the La Pla- 
 ta of foreign goods which have crushed the manufactures of Cocha- 
 bamba, and shaken those of Cuzco. It must suffer other changes. I 
 make a note of it to remind us of the commercial staples of Peru. Of 
 late, this trade had become more lucrative even in the midst of revolu- 
 tion. — Pazos observes, that iC the interior commerce between Upper and 
 Lower Peru has been calculated at $6,693,513 annnally." 
 
 Ever since 1693, Peru depended on Chili for wheat and corn, and 
 received tallow, copper, hides &c. &c. from thence. The corn-trade 
 originated with an earthquake which desolated the valleys of Lima and 
 overwhelmed Callao, and the balance has continued in favor of Chili 
 ever since. The intermediate ports of Iquique, Arica, Ilo and Aranta 
 imported wheat from Chili. Lima imported timber as well from Guay- 
 aquil as from the island of Chilue, which notwithstanding its proximity 
 to Chili, was politically annexed to the government of Peru. — She ex- 
 ported wines, brandies and oil to Realejo and Sonsonate in Guatemala, 
 and imported thence, indigo, pitch, pimento, cedar planks and brazil- 
 wood! _ 
 
 It was only with Chili and Panama that the balance was against her. 
 Her exports to other provinces in 1789, laying aside the metals and 
 internal trade, amounted to 82,679,942 — and her imports $1,954,750 
 leaving a balance in her favor, of &725.192. 
 
 1 entertain no doubt, therefore, that were we to regard the metals 
 coined in Peru, as part of her capital rather than that of Spanish pro- 
 prietors (to whom much of the coinage belongs) we must estimate her 
 resources for trade at ten millions of dollars, at the very lowest calcu- 
 lation. M. Torres has calculated the commercial ability of Spanish- 
 America on the true principle— her amount of exports, — whether he is 
 accurate in the facts or not. What strengthens my opinion is a dis- 
 sertation I have seen on the abuse of free commerce, after 1783, when 
 in one fiscal year from September 1785 till September 1786, sixteen 
 vessels are stated to have anchored in Callao with cargoes valued at 
 24,000,000 dollars. At the same time the averaged annual consump- 
 tion was but 4,000,000. fTo this sort of excess we are no strangers!] 
 The inundation producea great embarrassment; and the glut was com- 
 pleted by similar importations for several consecutive years. The 
 fact is, that her internal trade was disturbed by the unusual influx.— 
 While her metals and other exports were not less than eight millions, 
 we see that her habits required but four millions of foreign merchan- 
 dize from Europe. I leave out of view the importations from the Phi- 
 lippine islands. As her exports however will be the guage of her im- 
 ports, (when all her mines &c. become Peruvian capital) we may ima- 
 gine the worth of her commerce. Her numerous commodious harbors 
 north and south of Lima, from Paita to Iquique inclusive, will one 
 day be crowded with the flags of all nations. 
 
1%% 
 
 In 1791, the population of Peru was estimated at 1,400,000. At the 
 present day, it cannot fall short of 1,800,000 souls; of whom about 
 900,000 are Indians and Cholos (Indian castes por salto atras;) there 
 are about 500.000 negroes and mulattoes: leaving about 400,000 whites 
 and persons claiming the honor of a white skin!— I do not confide in 
 the pretended census of 1575, giving 1,500,000 souls to Peru proper, 
 nor in the lame and later sketch of Humboldt. I follow the latest ma- 
 nuscript account I had seen, though I believe that Peru contains two 
 millions. The proportions or classes are not well ascertained; but, any- 
 one can frame a table of these on the data in Poinsett's Report, from 
 page 21 to 30. Though the statement be antiquated, and the number 
 too low, the relative parts may be received. 
 
 The higher and favored caste in Peru, are remarkable for their spright- 
 liness and affability "A good taste, urbanity and a social disposition are 
 the hereditary qualities of every Peruvian." — Polite literature was as- 
 siduously cultivated in the universities and colleges of Lima and Cuz- 
 co; and, with respect to one class, "knowledge is general throughout 
 Peru, as well on account of the natural quickness and penetration of 
 its native inhabitants, a* through their fondness for study." Some phy- 
 sical science has been disseminated latterly from those seats of learn- 
 ing that were formerly devoted to law, divinity and the classicks. Ul- 
 loa speaks with admiration of the men, and with rapture of the ladies 
 of Lima, — extolling without bounds the manly frankness, courage and 
 scrupulous honor of the one, and the wit, graces and attractions of the 
 other. — The Limanese, says the writer, are too proud to brook haugh- 
 tiness, but repay mildness with affability. — "They are charmed with 
 gentleness of manners, and a few instances of kindness make a lasting 
 impression on their minds. They are remarkably brave, and of such 
 unblemished honor, as never to dissemble an affront received, or give 
 one to others." I do not insist on classing with this description of men 
 who seem to range to the very top of the scale of human sensibility, ho- 
 nor and chivalry,— such amusing rampallions as commodore Porter* 
 saw at Tumbez, &c. — (every country has its quotient of such gentry:) 
 nor do I contend that the Peruvians may not have lately been changed 
 for the worse, as previously for the better. Feuds, party, long posses- 
 sion of power, or a mercantile spirit, often metamorphose a class, if 
 not a people, almost imperceptibly. — The polished, gallant and literary 
 character of modern Peruvians (judging of all by the Limanese,) is most 
 strongly contrasted with the rough brutality of their turbulent ances- 
 tors. If history did not show some analogies, you would doubt whe- 
 ther the present generation there are descended from such forefathers 
 as the mutinous, murderous, sordid, barbarous and bigotted conquer- 
 ors, t "It was not to be expected" (to quote an interesting manuscript 
 
 *See Porter's Journal, page 203 to 206 inclusive. 
 
 flf the moderns still retain a tincture of their honor and intelligence, as observ- 
 ed by Ulloa and Humboldt, I should regret to see them conquered and despoiled 
 by the cut-throats of Buenos-Ayres- I had rather see them liberating themselves; 
 but their swarms of negroes and castes may render them powerless and fix their 
 fate. Slaves may indirectly enslave their masters. 
 
133 
 
 before me) '"that they who robbed the Incas of their empire, should rea- 
 dily agree about the distribution of the spoil, or be speedily cured of 
 those habits of avarice and licentiousness which they had contracted in 
 persecuting, torturing and pillaging the Indians. Their tumults and 
 insurrections from the time of Almagro and Francisco Pizarro, down 
 to the extinction of Gonzalo Pizarro's rebellion by Gasca, confirmed 
 their military spirit. — The masters of Peru were neither philosophers, 
 like the founder of Pennsylvania, nor cultivators content to seek a slow 
 and tranquil fortune by the exercise of their industry. They were 
 mere soldiers, and soldiers inured to the campaigns of Charles V. in 
 Italy. The maxim promulgated by the commissioner of this prince, for 
 appeasing Pizarro's rebellion, discloses at once the sentiments of the ca- 
 binet and the disposition of the subjects— Que&e, la tierra por el Empe- 
 rador, mi senor, y gobiemela el Diablo. — "Let my master, the Em- 
 peror possess the territory, and the devil may govern it," were his me- 
 morable expressions. 
 
 "Lima ruled nearly the whole southern continent from Panama to 
 Paraguay and Magellan; and what constitutes to day the opulent states 
 of Santa Fe, the provinces of Rio de la Plata and Chili, formed then 
 only so many subdivisions or departments of that superior government. 
 This monopoly of authority was naturally followed by the concentra- 
 tion of riches from all the channels usually opened by influence and 
 power in the commercial as in the political world. Lima became the 
 residence of the opulent, and the fashionable resort of the great; the 
 centre to which all were attracted to enjoy the riches accumulated in 
 in other parts of the viceroyalty. From these circumstances arose the 
 nobility and aristocracy, that even remain when the fortunes that gave 
 them existence have vanished; — and this is a principal, perhaps chief 
 cause, that disinclines her to the revolution after her neighbours have 
 embraced it.* 
 
 "When Lima had lost these exclusive advantages, she still retain- 
 ed the enormous capital which she had acquired by them, and directed 
 it to other objects that should maintain her luxurious splendour. The 
 metals extracted from her mines, her rare and elegant wools; that es- 
 pecially of the vicuna, with divers productions ot the field and forest, 
 are not only sufficient to secure her a considerable, but. an enviable com- 
 merce.— In 1791 her exportations to Cadiz without reckoning other ports 
 of the Peninsula, were §4,780,837: 2 £ reals, in silver and produce (See 
 Mercurio Peruano;) and the average annual exports for Cadiz are cal- 
 culated at §5,000,000. — The nature of her interior and external com- 
 merce is well understood: but, the revolution has almost annihilated 
 the last, and lessened the first perhaps one half, by interrupting her 
 relations with Santa Fe, Chili, and Buenos-Ayres. 
 
 "The present condition of Peru is obviously transitory— at least it 
 has no aspect that betokens permanence. It is no longer (in reality) the 
 
 *There is probably a stronger reason, — dread of the blacks, on account of the 
 numerical inferiority of the whites. The influence of the hig-her clergy would be 
 secured, as lately in Buenos-Ayres and Chih, by tak ng- them into partnership 
 with military usurpers, the newly-made upstart nobles, and the old<?r titulados. 
 
134 
 
 war oi" Spain against her revolted colonies. Lima as hi, ally of Spain is 
 at war with the rest. Her ally can give little assistance. With the de- 
 struction of her feeble squadron she will probably fall. --Should her neigh- 
 bors fail to coerce her, she must soon revolutionize herself. San Mar- 
 tin and Belgrano, in set proclamations to the people of Peru, have plain- 
 ly assured them that they would not force liberty upon them! This 
 promise would be grateful to the hearts of the upper classes; yet these 
 may prefer holding the reins in their own hands, especially when they 
 behold the devastation of Chili by her military friends from Buenos- 
 Ayres.*' 
 
 Chili so much admired for fecundity of soil and benignity of cli- 
 mate, — described so frequently from the time of the conquest, — more 
 recently by Molina and Robertson^ — and still later by Poinsett and 
 Bland, — this delightful country, I say, excites no new ideas; nothing 
 novel can be written upon it, excepting her probable destiny, — her po- 
 litical importance among the nations of the new world, and her com- 
 mercial relations with all. — Its position and productions render it ines- 
 timable in our trade with the western coast, in our whale fishery, and 
 in our commerce with China and the islands of the Indian ocean. Fruits, 
 plants and grain of almost every species flourish luxuriantly in her in- 
 exhaustible soil. "Nor has nature, says Robertson, exhausted her boun- 
 ty on the surface of the earth; she has stored its bowels with riches. 
 Valuable mines of gold, of silver, of copper, and of lead, have been 
 discovered in various parts of it.*' — And the amiable dispositions of tiie 
 inhabitants are described by all as worthy of the earthly paradise in 
 which they reside. 
 
 Some reckon the longitudinal extent of Chili from 24 to 37 degrees, 
 others to 45 degrees of south latitude, and it varies in breadth between 
 the Andes and the ocean from 40 to 230 miles. Including the territo- 
 ry south of the Bio-bio and the island of Chiloe, it contains an area of 
 about 178,100 square miles. t It is a territory far more considerable for 
 its numberless advantages of soil, climate, mines, and commerce, than 
 for its superficial contents. In this space lie the district of Baldhia, 
 &c. to the south, and 13 provinces north of the Bio-bio— Copiapo, Co- 
 quimbo, Quillota, Aconcagua, Melipilla, Santiago, Rancagua,. Calcha- 
 gua, Maule, Itata, Chilian, Puchacav, Huiiquilemu. Its population in 
 1814, was 1.200,000. 
 
 The principal ports of Chili are, Copiapo, Guasco, Coquimbo, Ton- 
 goy, Papudo, Herradura, Quintero, Valparaiso, San Antonio, Topocal- 
 ma, Navidad, Astillero, Talcahuana, San Vincente and Baldivia. — All 
 these are not ports of entry. — (See Bland's Report on Chili, page 86 to 
 88, inc. alid Document No. I. communicated by the secretary of state 
 for the Chilian government.) 
 
 I sfea*fi now conclude this simple communication with a summary ex- 
 position of the value of South-American trade to us — premising, that 
 we must take into the estimate that commerce with Europe in our na- 
 
 •j-Tvo other maps measure, — the one 185,000, — the other, 194,600 square miles. 
 I prefer the lowest calculation. Writers who give it 378,000 square miles surely 
 forget its mean breadth! 
 
135 
 
 uve produce, as tobacco, &c. by which we procure cargoes suitable either 
 for Buenos-Ayres, or the western (Pacific) coast. This is valuable. 
 We must also calculate the continuity of the voyage, beginning in our 
 ports, and follow our freight to Europe, (i. e. France, Holland, or Ger- 
 many,) from thence around Cape Horn, — up perhaps to Columbia ri- 
 ver, after trading at Conception, x\rica, Guayaquil, &c. &c. and from 
 the Pacific with a freight of seal-skins, sandal-wood, &c. for Canton. 
 I pass over the commerce we may drive in the various islands of the 
 Indian ocean. I am studious not to magnify our interest in Spanish- 
 America; and I shall rather present you with the result of three years 
 diligent observation, than with details of facts — save where the subject 
 exacts particularity. 
 
 Mr. Pazos says, in page 241, "The precious metals can be obtained 
 in Peru, for several commodities which, I am informed, can be export- 
 ed cheaper from the United States than from any other nation, such as 
 coarse cottons, ships, leather, furniture, hats, castings, nails, carriages, 
 and some other articles." — Yes, he might have added, many other arti- 
 cles. — He justly observes, that if we become manufacturers, as we must 
 to a reasonable degree, we may find a lucrative vent for our goods in 
 Peru, &c. 
 
 (List of Exportable Commodities for South-America. J 
 
 We can profitably export to various parts of Spanish-x\merica:~ Flour 
 and biscuit, lard, soap, onions, oil, rice, drugs, beer, cider, porter and 
 peach brandy; butter, cheese,shad, codfish, herringand mackerel; potand 
 pearl-ashes; Windsor chairs, sophas aud other household furniture; — 
 staves, plank and lumbei; carts, wagons, gigs; manufactures of copper 
 and brass; rafters, joists, masts, spars, pullies, and frames for ships; cut 
 and common glass decanters; powder and shot; hats, nails, hinges, 
 screws, saws, axes, spades, cannon shot, bar-iron, hoops and castings; 
 pistols and muskets; saddlery, boots, shoes, and dressed skins; tar, pitch, 
 beef, pork; letter and writing paper; candles, coverlets, escrutoires, 
 towels, table-cloths, wrought tin, morocco and common leather; cordo- 
 van, &c. — And I am confident, that any Yankee trader could make the 
 list a third longer. 
 
 Were Britain in our situation, (and let us suppose her in \i) she 
 would not suffer her people to be thrust out of a market that will en- 
 large from year to year: nor would she cripple the proper industry of 
 the middle and northern states. If she were as fond of liberty, as of 
 wealth and empire, she would say: — "The manufacturer shall be pro- 
 tected as well as the farmer. Can a whole nation flourish, or even siib- 
 sist, by raising raw materials for a foreign nation? no; it is absurd: and 
 therefore, we will -plant the manufacturer by the side of the husba7id- 
 man. One part of a nation ought not to be as a colony to another part. 
 No, that were unjust, and would teach this section to domineer, — that 
 to truckle. Besides, two markets are better than one, and three are 
 preferable to two. Our prosperity, our strength, our existence shall not 
 rest on contingencies. Our revenue shall not be trusted to winds, 
 waves, foreign whims and casualties: Internal commerce, domestic cir- 
 
130 
 
 culation, and internal taxation, shall relieve us from uncertainty. — 
 In the body politic as in the natural, the heart and its pulsations must 
 be within it — the vital fluid must be first propelled from the centre to 
 the extremities, not from the outside to the inside. It were a rare mon- 
 ster truly, whose heart, arteries ami circulation were out of the body — 
 aye, at some distance from it.— Ml sorts of industry must be cherished." 
 
 It will be recollected, that a taste prevailed in most of the provinces 
 for German, French and India goods; but the two former classes are 
 partially superseded by English fabricks — the policy of England always 
 supporting her commerce, and her commerce promoting her policy. 
 
 To the Atlantic provinces, it is safe in our circuitous traffick, to ship 
 Catalonia wine and sherry, (the former in pipes) and other wines in 
 bottles, — as well as almonds, figs, raisins, olives, and anchovies. 
 
 From the most impartial examination of all the estimates, or facts 
 which /could gather from books, or manuscript statements, I am deci- 
 dedly of opinion, that the South-American seas and market (with the 
 branches, as heretofore hinted, in Europe, the Indian ocean, ^c.) will 
 yield us an annual return to the following amount, or upwards: — 
 
 Whale-fishety of the Pacific, . . . gS,000,000 
 
 North-west trade and branches, . . . 3,000,000 
 
 Chilian trade (with European and E. Indian,) 2,500,000 
 
 Buenos-Ayres,* 3.000.000 
 
 Venezuela and New-Granada, . . . 5,000,000 
 
 16,500,000 
 
 Supposing Peru were added to the catalogue of independent states, 
 it would open a market worth a million and a half, — giving us a com- 
 merce of 18 millions, southwardly of the Isthmus of Panama. Its ex- 
 istence will depend on the achievement of independence; its extension 
 on the principles of the new political institutions which are to succeed 
 the old. 
 
 Our whale fishery (with its adjuncts) is rather underrated, the more 
 certainly to avoid exaggeration. In 1818, New-Bedford and Nantuc- 
 ket had 72 vessels of all classes employed in it: their aggregate ton- 
 nage was 17,158 tons, and navigated by 1,330 men. Seybert observes, 
 that in 1806 this fishery was at its maximum, and amounted to 
 3,116,000 dollars. But it is yet to be tried under new relations, whe- 
 ther the profits of 1806 will be viewed as the maximum. — Our patron- 
 age of the fisheries was prudent: they "constitute the best nursery for 
 that hardy race of citizen seamen, who feel the love of country, and 
 are therefore willing and able to maintain its rights, and they are also the 
 sources to which commerce must look for its defenders." (Statistical 
 Annals, 338-40.) 
 
 * In this valuation, Buenos-Aj'res is regarded as an emporium or entrepot, from 
 whence merchandise may be transported in settled times to the internal provin- 
 ces. — As a consumer, she herself is rather inconsiderable, but her market will be 
 worth seeking nevertheless. 
 
137 
 
 I do not pretend however, that fishermen or farmers or merchants 
 should have exclusive encouragement: that would be unjust as impoli- 
 tic. AH on land cannot be cultivators nor shopkeepers; and we shall find 
 it the wisest policy to foster domestic manufactures and internal com- 
 merce. — It is these that insure independence, comfort and stability to a 
 people. It is these that will enable us to banish the destructive and 
 fraudulent system of loans, funds and banks, and to rely on the cheap- 
 est taxation — I mean a small direct tax. Afford the people the means 
 of paying plain and palpable contributions; and when they understand 
 their true interests, they will ask to be taxed openly and not covertly. 
 They will dismiss the great brokers, who for one loan exact a mort- 
 gage of revenue (and rights in some measure) for twenty years, and 
 who under color of saving a nation from taxes, burden it with grievous 
 taxation. Internal taxes are internal strength — indirect contributions 
 the sign of inherent weakness.— 'By domestic manufactures we may 
 likewise increase our commerce with South America. Governments 
 owe protection to every part. — For this policy you have the word of 
 Dv. Franklin, and the experience of the world. 
 
 "Industry in all shapes, in all instances, and by all means, should 
 "be encouraged and protected: indolence by every possible method 
 "rooted out. 
 
 "All that live must be subsisted. Subsistence costs something. He 
 "that is industrious produces by his industry, something that is an 
 "equivalent, and pays for his subsistence. He is therefore no charge, 
 "or burden to society. The indolent are an expense." 
 
 "It was an excellent saying of a certain Chinese emperor, — "I will, 
 "if possible, have no idleness in my dominions; for if there be one man 
 '•idle, some other man must suffer cold and hunger." — We take this em- 
 peror 's meaning to be ''that the labor due to the public, by each in- 
 "dividual, not being performed by the indolent, must naturally fall to 
 "the share of others, who must thereby suffer. 
 
 "Whatever can contribute towards procuring from the land, and by 
 industry (i. e. manufactures) a produce wherewith other nations may 
 be supplied, ought highly to be encouraged." {Franklin on Commerce, 
 #c.voi. IV. p. 159-60.) 
 
 I think, sir, that our fellow-citizens of the southern states cannot 
 object to this doctrine any reasonable argument. — Let them employ 
 their slaves in raising tobacco, cotton, rice— whatever they please:— but 
 let them not insist on sending every man, woman and child, old or 
 young, robust or decrepid, elsewhere, to labor in the field. It is often- 
 times augmenting the lump without augmenting the value: "Why should 
 they labor for that which is not bread?" There may be a market for cot- 
 ton (however precarious,) and none for wheat. It is enough in all con- 
 science, (if not too much) that the population, who possess neither 
 rights nor volition for themselves, are made to confer a preponde- 
 rance of political or representative power; but it would "out-Herod 
 Herod" if their labor and employment should be a rule for those of 
 the northern, middle and western states — regardless of soils, climates, 
 habits, interests, rights. — / appeal to reason, my friend; reproach and 
 dissension are my abhorrence in fair topics of discussion. 
 T 
 
138 
 
 The New England-men are'specially interested in the market, the 
 whale-fishery, the carrying-trade, the varied supplies, and Consequent- 
 ly in the independence and liberty of South-America- Why do they 
 not shake off their lethargy and their prejudice, and vindicate their 
 own interests with those of South-America? 
 
 Of Mexico, (including Guatamela, Yucatau, and New-Mexico) I cal- 
 culate not commercially or specifically at preseut, — though capable of 
 becoming an empire in herself. With a population of 8,200,000 souls, 
 or upwards, so advantageously situated for intercourse with other na- 
 tions, she will soon force herself on their notice. "The vast kingdom 
 of New-Spain, under a careful cultivation, would alone produce all 
 that commerce collects together from the rest of the globe, sugar, co- 
 chineal, cacao, cotton, coffee, wheat, hemp, flax, silk, oils and wiae. It 
 would furnish every metal, without even the exception of mercury. 
 Superb timber and an abundance of iron and copper would favour the 
 progress of Mexican navigation; but the state of the ports" &c. on 
 the Atlantic oppose obstacles. These will be lessened under an inde- 
 pendent government; or rather, — ports now disused through a fearful 
 policy will then be the resort of merchant vessels. — To understand 
 the importance of the internal provinces we must read the perspicuous 
 memoire of Arispe, (read in the Cortes); his name will forever reflect 
 credit on his country. 
 
 Mexico however has no advantage in point of fertility or commer- 
 cial situations, over Venezuela, New-Grenada, or Chili: she falls short 
 of them in various respects, as ports, fertility of soil, and regularity 
 of climate.— Dreary barrens do not occur in them to any similar de- 
 gree as in Mixico, from the spread of "muriate of soda and lime, 
 nitrate of potash, and other saline substances over the surface of the 
 soil." A few such "efflorescences," only are met in the northeast of 
 Chili; but amply compensated by the exhaustless fecundity of her 
 plains. Nor is Chili so liable to have her grain and maize destroyed 
 by unseasonable frosts, and is for other reasons of incalculable advan- 
 tage to the commerce of our country.* See Humboldt's Essay on 
 New-Spain, book I. chap. iii. and book II. chap. v. 
 
 I have likewise excepted Cuba from my estimate, because by an ex- 
 ception to Spanish policy its ports are become regular marts for 
 140,000 barrels and upwards of our flour, and pork 6cc. &c; and the 
 worth of that vent is familiar to all our merchants. By an official 
 statement dated atHavanna, the 31st of December 1819, it appears that 
 of 1229 vessels which had "entered the port of Havanna, from the 1st of 
 January preceding 616 (more than half of the whole) were American." 
 We owe this intercourse to the insurgents of the continent. Spain 
 could not seal up that queen of islands, in the present state of the con- 
 tinental provinces: the inhabitants would not be put under lock and 
 
 *Chili is invaluable to us as a protection to our Vf halers, and an everlasting store- 
 house of fruits, refreshments, and provisions. An American officer, there, who 
 retired from the naval service, not long since purchased a vessel, and obtained an 
 exciusive nghi to fish for whales in the bay of Coquimbo, has been so fortunate 
 that, according to recent accounts, he has acquired a fortune in a single season. 
 
139 
 
 key. Aided by necessity (an auxiliary very apt to become principal! 
 Ihey have thrown open the "insular Bastille," and never will they close 
 it permanently again.— It gratifies the liberal heart to contemplate the 
 rapid progress of letters and science in Cuba. I have just seen the first 
 volume of a work on physical science published very recently at Hava- 
 na, by Don Felix Varela, a professor in the college of San Carlos. — 
 This "Philosophical Miscellany" is accompanied by a pamphlet con- 
 taining a prospectus of the course of lectures and experiments.— You 
 will hail the "glad sign"— -of priests deserting mummery for philosophy. 
 ---I hope, that the dawn of this glorious light is the harbinger of inde- 
 pendence, both to Mexico and Cuba.— Improvement is unusually great 
 in this island: it is probable that the population (hordes of slaves in- 
 cluded! amounts to 600,000 souls. — The entire statistical returns have 
 not reached me; I have only the census for the city,* from which you 
 may infer much. 
 
 Never was there a moment more pregnant with fate than the present; 
 — never an occasion so full of interest commercial and political. "The 
 commerce of Spanish America, (says Torres) is very interesting to all 
 nations, on account of two essential considerations. First,— Because 
 that country consumes [or will consume] yearly the value of one hun- 
 dred millions of dollars in articles of foreign manufacturing industry. 
 Secondly,— Because it is there and only there, that all nations can obtain 
 with facility those precious metals, which have become so necessary 
 to trade throughout the world, and particulary with Asia; to sustain the 
 credit of that paper-money which is now so generally adopted; and to 
 pay the balance of commerce when unfavourable." On these accounts^ 
 we admit, that "the United States, more than other nations, have a 
 powerful interest in an extensive participation of it."— We shall be 
 faithless to ourselves, if we do not obtain our full proportion of it. 
 
 * Abstract of the statistical account of the population of the city of Havana in 
 the island of Cuba, in the year 1817, formed and published by orders of that go. 
 vernment on the first of Aovember, 1819. 
 
 Total amount of the white population, .... 37,885 
 
 Do. of free people of color, 21,372 
 
 Do. of slaves, : . 24,341 
 
 Ecclesiastics and nuns, 477 
 
 84,075 
 Extraordinary population. 
 
 Regular troops and militia, • . . . 10,567 
 
 Negroes imported from Africa, (to one port) . : . , - 24,476 
 
 119,118 
 Transient population. 
 Crews and merchants in 1040 vessels arrived that year, . . - . 29,971 
 
 Permanent and transient population. . • . 149,089 
 
 A general statement of the whole population of the island of Cuba was to ac- 
 company this, and must be published in a short time. 
 
140 
 
 If Great Britain were not jealous of our growing capacity to rival 
 lier in the commerce of Spanish-America, why would she resort to ev- 
 ery expedient to deprive us of it? to plant thorns in the way of our 
 mutual approach to strict friendship and commercial relations? — Why 
 would she put her whole diplomatic magazine of artifice in requisition, 
 in order to alienate the South-Americans from us if she did not espy 
 palpable resources among us for a southern trade? — Why would she 
 wage a rancorous "war in disguise" against us in Venezuela, in Buenos- 
 Ayres, in Chili, as in every quarter of the globe, if some prenotion of 
 our intercourse with South-America had not entered her brain? — She 
 calculates, that a comparison on our part between a lucrative trade 
 with South America and a losing one with Europe and India, will wean 
 us from the latter. In a word, the enmity of Great Britain proves that 
 she foresees our real interests better than we ourselves do. This is the 
 simple truth; and, I know, you would spurn affected delicacy and po- 
 litical prudery as the weakest and worst of all policy. — Plain-dealing 
 is a jewel, a republican virtue worthy of our government, lovely in it- 
 self — but how adorable, when contrasted with the guady attire and 
 waving plumes, the artificial complexion and studied graces, the fetid 
 breath, the rotten carcass, and meretricious arts of polished dissimula- 
 tion! Surely we cannot be ashamed to adopt, to avow and pursue in- 
 flexibly, an American policy. I want no war with "principalities and 
 powers," but a moral, politic and intellectual one. The prudential 
 warfare (if I may so style it) we cannot avoid, without assimilating 
 our principles to those of monarchical governments. — An American 
 policy, congenial with the republican *sentiments of the Declaration 
 of Independence, must be our chart and compass. Without steering 
 a steady course, we shall neither inspire friends with confidence nor 
 enemies with respect. — Let our ground be that of principle: — then we 
 can be liberal towards all who heartily entertain our principles: but, if 
 we draw the line of distinction on personal grounds, we exclude prin- 
 ciple for avarice, ignoble jealousy, or inhospitality. At all events, let 
 our policy be purely American — and such I believe it will be. — "Why" 
 asked a gentleman the other day — "Why should we be content to sail 
 in the wake of England, like those petty scavenger-birds, that follow a 
 ship (poor parasites!) to pick up crumbs and grease?" I know this 
 Avas never intended; and I am confident we shall begin to ply to wind- 
 ward, — leaving our secondary, leeward station forever. 1 allow for 
 past difficulties that needed "wary walking." 
 
 "The trade of nations (says the author of the manuscript memoire 
 already cited) cannot be truly estimated without considering the ele- 
 ments which compose them. Old countries, overstocked with inhabi- 
 tants, are very differently situated from a youthful state. In one, po- 
 pulation, arts and commerce are seen stationary; in the other they are 
 advancing to their zenith. This has many of her resources unspent 
 and untouched; that has measured the full limits of hers. Population 
 depends on the means of subsistence; commerce is circumscribed by 
 bounds of consumption and ability for payment. To speak more in 
 the mercantile idiom: Exportation will finally regulate importation, as 
 no nation can continue to consume more than she produces.— In some 
 
141 
 
 European states, population and commerce can advance no farther. 
 Such is not the case of South-America. Doubling her population eve- 
 rv quarter of a century, (or 25 years,) she will double her capital and 
 mass of trade, until her products diminish, — which cannot happen 
 for ages." 
 
 Passing over a series of reasoning, on the classes of inhabitants &c. 
 /'very able indeed, but more abstruse than useful,)— I resume his obser- 
 vations nearer the point in hand: — 
 
 "The aggregate population of Spanish-America has been calculated at 
 fifteen millions of souls by the majority of authors. On this assump- 
 tion, a proportionate representation was claimed in the late Spanish 
 cortes for that great section of the Spanish monarchy. Later writers 
 extend the calculation to nineteen millions — It must in candour be ac- 
 knowledged that great uncertainty accompanies this kind of estimates 
 — though they are less arbitrary than those which have been formed 
 respecting the population of Asia, of Africa, or the whole habitable 
 globe.— Fix the actual amount as we may, the South-Americans pos- 
 sess the ability of augmenting their commerce to an extent almost in- 
 conceivable. Were the past trade of South -America a rule for the 
 future, I must maintain that it remains unascertained. Neither the 
 total extraction of metals nor the importation of foreign merchandize, 
 could be precisely known — the latter by reason of the contraband trade; 
 the former from a temptation to elude the fifths, &c. and from the incal- 
 culable nature of customary perquisites in which miners were indulg- 
 ed. But, perhaps a sufficient approximation has been made to accura- 
 cy in the estimate of population and exportation. From a comparison 
 of every computation in my possession, I deduce the following 
 
 Table of Population for Spanish America. 
 
 Sauls. 
 Mexico, including Guatemala and Yucatan, . . . . 8,200,000 
 
 Cuba, 600,000 
 
 Porto- Rico and the Spanish part of Hispaniola, . . . 185,000 
 
 Venezuela, 1,000,000 
 
 New Granada, 2,500,000 
 
 Peru,* 1,800,000 
 
 Chili, 1,200,000 
 
 Buenos-Ayres (including all the old viceroyalty.) . 1,820,000 
 
 Total 17,305,000 
 
 "When she is tranquillized, the exportations of Spanish-America, 
 will speedily rise to the estimate of Mr. Torres, or §99,840,000 pet- 
 annum. — If that accurate calculator has undervalued the products of 
 Peru by near a couple of millions, he has (I think) magnified the ex- 
 portations of Buenos-Ayres and Chili. At this day, owing to the un- 
 settled state of affairs; the consumption of foreign luxuries and commo- 
 
 * I have seen her population estimated at 2,000,000. and one writer states it 
 at 3,000,000. 
 
142 
 
 dities of all sorts, cannot exceed 86,525,000 dollars, or 5 dollars pet- 
 head. Col. Poinsett asserts that the value of exports from Spain to 
 the colonies in 1778, was 500 millions of reales de vellon, or 25,000,000, 
 and that pf importations, 804 § millions, or 40,225,000 dollars. This 
 was forty -two years ago. In the interim, the population and resources 
 of America have been more than doubled; civilization has advanced, 
 and the people have imbibed a greater relish for foreign commodities. 
 The rate of consumption might therefore be calculated at 6 dollars per 
 head, if the country were undisturbed. Under all circumstances, I 
 believe my estimate is correct." 
 
 To prove the ability to be developed, I need do no more than refer you 
 to Poinsett and Bland's Reports, — the former from page 14 to 20 inclu- 
 sive. Mr. P. says, that, "In the hands of freemen, sensible of its ad- 
 vantages, and under an enlightened government, Chili, from the num- 
 ber and variety of productions which yield the raw material of every 
 sort of manufacture, has within herself the means of greatness; and 
 from the number of its harbors, and great extent of coast, might carry 
 on an extensive and lucrative commerce with the intermediate ports, 
 with the viceroyalty of Lima, the Philippine islands, the East-Indies, 
 and China." The former part of these observations is applicable to 
 every section of Spanish America; the latter to Peru, New-Grenada and 
 Mexico, because of their respective products, and possessing ports on 
 the Pacific. 
 
 All agree in the general importance of this commerce. — It is pecu- 
 liarly important to us, from the losing game we have played for several 
 years past. In the Statistical Annals, page 276, et seq. we have an 
 exhibit, that ought not to be forgotten: Dr. S. calculates the annual 
 average for a period of 7 years, from 1795 till 1801 inclusive. Bad as 
 the result then was, it is become decidedly worse from the change 
 effected in the attitude of nations, exclusion from some points, and in- 
 creasing disproportion with others. 
 
 BALANCE OF TRADE, 
 
 "With Prussia, Germany, Sfc. in our favor, the former, $ 75,360, the 
 latter, §7,468,231. 
 
 Italy, a balance for us, of §779,594, per annum. 
 
 China and East-Indies, against us always, 2,083,088 a year. 
 
 Spain and Spanish West-Indies, against us, above 2,000,000. 
 
 Portugal and Madeira, against us, more than 500,000. 
 
 French West-Indies, against us, 6,223,303 per annum. 
 
 British-American colonies, in our favor, 205,189; 'with Ireland* 
 in our favor; but with Great Britain and Ireland, Sfc> nearly 
 16,000,000 against us! 
 
 France, in our favor, 1,183,586, per annum. 
 
 Denmark and her dominions, in our favor, 69,199. 
 
 United Netherlands, ever in our favor, 3,047,217. 
 
 Dutch East-Indies, against us, 1,844,175. 
 
 Gibraltar, in our favor, 99,782. 
 
 Cape of Good Hope, in our favor, 58.830 — but England has ac- 
 quired that colony. 
 
143 
 
 Russia, nearly 1,500,000, always against us. 
 
 British East-Indies, always against us, 2,517,494, per anuum. 
 
 Manilla and the Philippines, against us, 114,003 a year. 
 
 Spanish-American colonies, against us, 196,306. 
 
 North- West coast and South Seas, in our favor, 183,372. 
 
 With all the world collectively, against us most prodigiously. 
 
 From this glance, without running into a hundred branches, you per- 
 ceive how laboriously we have been employed from pole to pole, scrap- 
 ing up treasure, only to fling into the ungrateful lap of Great Britain, 
 "our natural enemy." 
 
 Although we are now at a nominal peace with England, it is not in- 
 vidious to recur to her oppressions and robberies upon her best custom- 
 ers. 
 
 "It was stated in the British House of Peers, that six hundred Ame- 
 rican vessels were seized or detained in British ports, between the 6th 
 of November, 1 793, and 28th March, 1794!" 
 
 From 1803, till 11th of November, 1807, she unjustly captured 528 
 of our vessels. 
 
 Subsequent to the orders in council, (by which she set aside the ma- 
 ritime laws of nations,) and antecedent to our declaration of war,— 
 389 vessels more, making a total of 917. 
 
 This was not the most insulting wrong. She first debauched the hab- 
 its of our merchants and traders, by compelling them to conduct neutral 
 trade according to British regulation! — From 1802 till 1811 inclu- 
 sive, Great Britain issued 53,277 licenses for re-exporting neutral 
 products. — All which you noted as events occurred; and have no doubt 
 since perused in Seybert-s Annals. — I pass over impressment, because 
 I hope that it is past. 
 
 When the American sage wrote his satirical attack on British as- 
 sumptions, under the "similitude" of "A Prussian Edict, assuming 
 claims over Britain," he drew a masterly picture other nretensions. — = 
 But the most laughable usurpation (if usurpation is ever laughable,) 
 has become history — the ironical model, written before the American 
 revolution, has been surpassed since 1792,— "And that the said duty 
 may more effectually be collected, we do hereby ordain, that all ships 
 or vessels bound from Great Britain to any other part of the world, or 
 from any other part of the world to Great Britain, shall in their res- 
 pective voyages touch at our port of Kaningsberg, there to be unladen, 
 searched and charged with the said duties."* 
 
 * For our comforts or luxuries in dress, she has been equally kind and consi- 
 derate.- — 
 
 "But. lest the said islanders (or Americans) should suffer inconveniency by the 
 want of hats, we are further graciously pleased to permit them to send their beav- 
 er furs to Prussia, [as our wool, &c. to England,] and we also permit hats made 
 thereof to be exported from Prussia to Britain; the people thus favored to pay all 
 costs and charges of manufacturing, interest, commission to our merchants, in- 
 surance and freight going and returning, as in the case of iron." 
 
 A curious man will not forget to compare our colonial with our independent 
 commerce, and the pecuniar effect of the voluntary state of our trade with that 
 <)f its forced condition. 
 
144 
 
 It is for you, my venerable friend, and statesmen like you, to re- 
 member outrages like these. You will not confound commerce as a 
 mean of our comfort, wealth, strength and civilization, with the end of 
 society, viz: the liberty and felicity of the people. 
 
 You will add to the appalling aggregate of loss and insult, above stat- 
 ed, expense of diplomatical conrexions with the courts of Europe, their 
 contaminating influence on republican usages; our continual attempts 
 to cope with their extravagance, and ape their modes. — I think I see 
 you swelling with patriotic disgust, — indignantly throwing down the 
 paper, and starting with angry emotion, from your elbow-chair. You 
 pace the room with hurried step: — you revolve the question again and 
 again. — You exclaim at length, ''Shall we forever cringe to Europe, 
 when we can bethe^r.sf in America? — How long shall we suffer our- 
 selves to be infected by monarchical intercourse, instead of keeping 
 our unhallowed principles in their pristine brightness, and setting a re- 
 deeming example to the states of the south?"* 
 
 When the nation ask the same questions, we may account our des- 
 tinv secure,---but not before. 
 
 Whatever digression I make, whatever comparison I draw, I return 
 to the subject confirmed in my opinion. The independence of Span- 
 ish-America will be followed by consequences the most auspicious to 
 our political and commercial fortunes,— provided we do our duty and 
 improve occasions: I resume my translation of the Memoire: — 
 
 "The enemies of the United States have insinuated with malignant 
 pleasure, that the prosperity of our country did not rest on permanent 
 bases. Our commercial grandeur they ascribed to the calamity of 
 other nations; they said that foreign dearth gave value to the products 
 of our fields; that the arts and industry of emigrant foreigners furnish- 
 ed our shops;— and in short, that foreign errors and violence populated 
 our habitations, and raised our cities. The representation is evidently 
 unjust; but perhaps, unfounded as it is, it has no bearing on the rela- 
 tions to be established between us and South-America. 
 
 "The United States possess a great stock in ships, and have num- 
 bers of seamen, by which they could accommodate the new nations to 
 the South, on better terms than any other people. South-America has 
 not these facilities, nor can she possibly acquire them for many years 
 to come. Our mariners too possess a spirit of activity, intelligence 
 and enterprize that will enhance their services in that carrying trade. 
 The immense forests of North-America, converted into schooners, 
 
 * I am far, far from including- the people of Europe with their tyrannical courts. 
 — "What path of science have they not illustrated? What region of philosophy 
 and literature have they left unexplored or unadorned? What avenue towards 
 Fame have they not thronged? — What field of glory have they not trodden? — I 
 look with unutterable delight and surprise at the manly freedom of the press in 
 various parts of France, of England and Ireland; and sometimes wonder at the 
 tameness, servilit3 r , or barrenness of so many of onr own. It looks like anomaly. — 
 May the despots of Europe be confounded in their attempt to reduce such a people 
 to the condition of brute bessts! 
 
145 
 
 brigs and ships, by our mechanics, will not be an insignificant acquisi- 
 tion for the south, nor a bad speculation for ourselves. Every expedi- 
 tion dispatched for those ports by the American merchant, will be turn- 
 ed into a trading-voyage (viage de circulo) to the East-Indies with the 
 precious metals, abounding in all the dominions southward. The di- 
 rect incentive of these metals (drawn heretofore circuitously from 
 Spuin) on the arts and productive industry of these states, will produce 
 effects as novel as beneficial; and the whale-fishery, liable until now 
 to so many difficulties, will be rendered easier, safer, and in all proba- 
 bility more lucrative to the Americans. 
 
 "The United States will see the necessity of guarding their rear on 
 the North-West coast, and the occupation of Columbia river, &c. seems 
 to have been directed to this prudent purpose. If Buenos-Ayres and 
 Chili maintain their independence, the American government may have 
 a couple of friendly nations (and be it remembered, American nations) 
 to serve as links of connexion with its possessions in the West. — Eu- 
 rope, we know, has begun to cast a longing eye even oa those desert 
 coasts; and a Russian squadron is rumored to be on their voyage to 
 hoist their flag in California. An English squadron is probably steer- 
 ing for those seas; and notwithstanding the numerous speculations 
 made on the cession of Cuba, it appears more probable that the princi- 
 pal of the debt due to the British will be paid by the transfer of Manil- 
 la and the Philippines,— and the interest (los reditos) by the seizure 
 of some other points on the shores of La Plata, or on the Pacific— 
 Mark my words. 
 
 "It is an impossibility to suggest any thing new on this matter to the 
 consideration of a politician: but I cannot helpremarking, that something 
 more than a rigorous stoicism is to be expected from the government 
 of the United States in this momentous concern,— the greatest ever 
 presented to the notice of nations since the discovery of America. — 
 I affirm, that it is not enough to await events; we must direct them. — 
 I mean, we tuust succour the friends of freedom. If the independence 
 of the South prove abortive, Spanish America will become again what 
 she was before,— a country hermetically sealed and secluded as if she 
 had no existence; lost only to the United States, but not barred against 
 European nations." 
 
 As for Manilla, it is an inferior object in the eye of England: she 
 took it once in an expedition from Madras, and can reduce it when she 
 pleases. She harbors grander schemes, I think. 
 
 The eloquent writer "On the Colonies" has well pourtrayed the bold 
 and persevering system pursued by Great-Britain for controlling the 
 commerce and politics of all nations. The stations she has chosen on 
 every sea render her mistress of all colonies, and lay all other nations 
 under an interdict as to naval power, page 129.— Thus she enjoys near- 
 ly all the commerce of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.— "By means of 
 all the parts of this whole, thus perfectly linked together, she is pre- 
 ent at all points of the universe: she draws wealth of every kind from 
 the very fountain-heads, and can supply Europe with every thing which 
 she fancies or needs." He elsewhere takes a closer 
 U 
 
146 
 
 View of the gigantic; designs and unalterable policy of En- 
 gland. 
 
 "In Gibraltar, England carries the keys of the Mediterranean: in 
 Malta she occupies the centre of it; in Corfu, she has one eye on the 
 Adriatic, and the other on Greece; — at the Cape of Good-Hope, and 
 the Isle of France, she commands the road to India; in Malabar, in 
 Ceylon and the Coromandel coast, she, in a manner, clasps opulent In- 
 dia in her arms, from the Indus to the source of the Ganges; at St. 
 Helena she is placed between the seas of Africa and America; by means 
 of New-Holland she will become in time mistress of the South-Sea; 
 at Trinidad [or Demerara] she has one foot on the Spanish continent; 
 at St. Lucia, she nullifies and curbs Martinique; by means of Antigua 
 [Jamaica] and Barbados, she watches the Havana and Porto Rico; in 
 fine, by the occupation of Canada and Newfoundland she closes that 
 immense chain of posts which she has drawn round the globe to subject 
 it to her dominion and her commerce, two things which she never 
 separates, and for which she has formed arsenals and warehouses every 
 where — the double basis of her power." 
 
 These are advantages "which give England a double line ol mari- 
 time posts, behind which she can equally defend herself, and pounce 
 upon her enemy who is not able to return her attacks. The traces of 
 this plan are too plainly marked in the care which England has taken 
 to place herself right opposite all the fortified points which belong to 
 other poweis, so that none can mistake her views. In this manner has 
 she established herself at St. Lucia, at the Isle of France, and at Ceyr 
 Ion, for the purpose of frustrating every thing which might be opposed 
 to her." (p. 301-302.) 
 
 What an anxious yearning the British entertain, — how covetously 
 they hanker after the exclusive possession and trade of Buenos-Ayres 
 and Peru, is demonstrated by their policy since 1740. By occupying 
 Buenos-Ayres and fortifying Santa-Fe, they intended to dictate laws 
 to the South, and monopolize its treasures. The English oligarchs and 
 mercantile body united by inseparable bonds, never relinquish a great 
 design; and the various methods and stratagems by which they prose- 
 cute it, declare their invariable purposes. 
 
 To obtain dominion over the La Plata, the Paraguay and their shores, 
 is a favorite project of the English cabinet: — "If we could ever be 
 able to settle our trade effectually this way," said Posthlethwayt, "we 
 should utterly ruin the manufacture at Quito in a few years." 
 
 "This is an article of great importance to England. If we were once 
 nested here securely, (which if we can ever be persuaded to undertake 
 heartily, I do not in the least doubt may be easily effected in time of 
 war, and our possessions securely maintained,) we should be able in 
 despite of both French and Spaniards, to enjoy a more lucrative trade 
 than ever with South -America. For, Buenos-Ayres and the country 
 depending on it, afford several commodities that Peru cannot be with- 
 out," &c. &c. 
 
 He continues his explanation of the commerce of that country, its 
 horses and mules, its mines, the value of the far-famed "herb of Para- 
 guay," then brought in "packs" to Santa-Fe, whence it was transport- 
 ed to Chili and Peru. To engross this branch of trade, appeared a sine 
 qua non: — 
 
147 
 
 "If ever we become possessed of Buenos-Ayres, we must likewise 
 fortify Santa-Fe, (which at present contains not many houses, without 
 any great fortification) and take Assumption and settle it with a colony 
 of our own." — This, he presumed, would be an easy undertaking, as it 
 had only 1000 families, and "was settled by a people that had by their 
 laziness and ill-management outrun their fortunes in Peru." 
 
 Negroes could be supplied more economically by England than any 
 other people, or even the South-Sea Company; as she manufactured se- 
 venty of the eighty commodities employed in the Guinea trade. 
 
 "It is very obvious therefore, to every common eye, that if we can 
 ever settle ourselves at Buenos-Ayres, the Spaniards will be under an 
 absolute necessity to open a trade with us; nay, it is in our power to 
 impose what terms we please upon them: but if we had no other way 
 to obtain it, than the affording our goods as cheap again as they can fur- 
 nish themselves with the other way, even that with a little patience, 
 would infallibly produce it. But,*without trusting to that, we should 
 have them in a manner at our mercy, by having the herb of Paraguay 
 in our hands." 
 
 Again, "If my countrymen have this at heart, as one would think there 
 should be little reason to doubt of, let them turn their thoughts upon 
 Buenos-Ayres or Chili; but, the first is to be preferred for many rea- 
 sons" — as from Buenos-Ayres and Paraguay they could more effectual- 
 ly controul Peru. 
 
 Postlethwayt's colonial plan of settlements, reminds us of the punc- 
 tual orders given more lately to generals Crawford, Berresford, and 
 Whitelock, not to make any change (in the event of conquering Chili 
 and Buenos-Ayres) except the necessary substitution of the title and 
 power of the king of England for those of the king of Spain. 
 
 "In the peopling Buenos-Ayres, if ever it should become the British 
 possession, I advise my country to follow the Turkish policy, and make 
 the people hold their land by the same tenure as t^eir Timariote; only 
 it should descend to their heirs, upon keeping o* observing the original 
 contract: which is, to be ready to come completely armed to the ap- 
 pointed rendezvous, and serve wherever, and as long as the govern- 
 ment requires." 
 
 English principles of dependency, as banks, patronage &c. would be 
 quite as potent as the semi-feudality of the Turks. 
 
 "When this acquisition is once made, you need never fear procuring 
 inhabitants, for there will be more occasion for the bridle than the spur." 
 
 "That this place might have been as easily taken at the commence- 
 ment of the last war [in 1740] as Porto-Bello, is little to be doubted." 
 
 In his "Remarks" on the same subject, after the treaty of 1763, Pos- 
 tlethwayt kindles new hopes that a new war may grow out of the al- 
 ledged maltreatment of British logwood-cutters. 
 
 "Should this prove the case, and we should be obliged to come to a 
 fresh rupture with Spain, the fulness of time seems then to be come to 
 compel us to put an end to the Spanish power in America: And as we 
 are now very happily situated, by virtue of the last treaty to deprive 
 them of their Mexican treasures, why not also of their Peruvian?— 
 And Buenos-Avres, clown the river La Plata, being the receptacle of a 
 
148 
 
 part of the treasures from Peru, why should this be unthought of longer? 
 "Why should not at length a partition of the richest parts of Spanish- 
 America take effect?" &c. [See articles Paraguay and La Plata, \u 
 Postlethwayt.] 
 
 Postlethwayt alludes to the acquisition of Florida by Great Britain, 
 by the definitive treaty of February 1763, a territory which (fortunately 
 for us,) she lost during our revolutionary war. From thence and from 
 Jamaica, the invasion of Mexico and the re-occupation of Cuba, appear- 
 ed no arduous enterprize. — Florida was ceded in return for Havana, — 
 and the great district around it captured so gallantly by the earl of 
 Albermarle and admiral Pococke. Their means were formidable,* but 
 the works they stormed seemed almost impregnable. The object of 
 that atchievment is not yet forgotten, — to acquire the "key of the gulph 
 of Mexico, and the centre of the Spanish trade and navigation in the 
 New World." — If England relinquish her designs for a moment on 
 one point, it will be to direct them to another of more importance; — 
 At present, she would scarcely risk a war for Cuba, — I suspect. 
 
 Her renewed attempts on the territories of La Plata in 1806 and 
 1807 need hardly be repeated, if they did not display another illustra- 
 tion of her inflexible policy — in executing the ambitious projects which 
 she had cherished for at least sixty-seven years. — "The generals on the 
 Atlantic and Pacific were instructed to establish a line of military 
 posts across the continent;" and those positions would promote their 
 ulterior operations against Peru &c. as circumstances should dictate. 
 (See Poinsett's Report, p. 54j and Bland's Report on Buenos Ayres, 
 p. 44.) 
 
 One campaign of clico, finesse and influence, has latterly been 
 more successful for Britain in La Plata than could an army of 20,000 
 men have been. She has so embroiled parties through the means of Bra- 
 zilian and her own. manoeuvres, that she may be said to have annulled 
 the revolution, Portugal is played off against Spain, and both are 
 moved, or paralyzed by her veteran management. No nation likes 
 her; yet she sways all the potentates of the earth. This dreads her 
 power; that receives her bribe; a third courts her alliance; a fourth 
 hopes to effectuate a diplomatic diversion by her name. She manages 
 all according xo the interests of her nobles and monopolists. 
 
 She may possibly have abandoned the hope of acquiring Cuba, but 
 would doubtless demand it for the purpose of extorting from Ferdinand 
 the cession of some other portion of his crumbling empire. She may 
 rest satisfied with Jamaica, since she could not fix her lever at New 
 
 * This expedition "consisted of 19 ships of the line, 18 frigates and sloops, 
 and about 150 transports with 10,000 soldiers on board; who were to be joined 
 by 4000 men from North- Am erica. — The Morro on the east of the harbour, was 
 stormed, after a breach had been effected by springing a mine, when the Spanish 
 troops very generally behaved with timidity; but governor Velasco "gloriously 
 fell in defending the ensign of Spain, which no entreaties could induce him to 
 stake." The marquis Gonsalez, second in command, also met an honorable death 
 in his efforts to rally the fugitives. — Britain was victorious in every clime in that 
 war — acquired Canada &c. Rodney took Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Marti- 
 nique; and Cornish and Draper captured Manilla, the capital of the Philippine 
 Islands. 
 
149 
 
 Orleans, — (thanks, eternal thanks to the incomparable Jackson:) 
 but, suppose whatever we choose, we cannot imagine that she will de- 
 sist from crossing the line of our policy and frustrating our designs. 
 She will ever ingeniously retard what she cannot ultimately prevent; 
 and while she suspends the decision of the Spanish cabinet about the 
 barren peninsula of Florida, she throws us (or endeavors to throw us) 
 to the rearward in our relatious with South-America, — relations ten 
 times more estimable to us than those with all the world beside. 
 
 It is not from the inglorious desire of carping at the character of 
 Great Britain, that I recapitulate her cupidity, or point with a finger of 
 warning at the immeasurable magnitude of her ambition. I admire her 
 perseverance and her enterprise while I detest her envious motives, 
 her implacable spirit, her insatiable thirst of gold. — She is the Atlas 
 of oppression, and the centre of crusades: her Cyclopian island is the 
 workshop of war. — There its bolts are ceaselessly forged, and thence 
 
 are they hurled. Her malignant activity is surprising We want a 
 
 little infusion of her inflexibility, — a little more of her decison and fore- 
 cast to render us the admiration, the boast and pride of the continent. 
 We should not adopt ephemeral expedients, but cast a deliberative look 
 at the past and the future; and legislate on a system framed to last for- 
 ever.— Younger nations fix their eyes upon us as their natural bul- 
 wark; and God forbid that we should deceive their hopes! — .Our ad- 
 vantage and glory are situate together.— «De Pradt is of opinion, that 
 if Napoleon had employed his resources in emancipating South-Ame- 
 rica, instead of risking them in wars with England and Russia, he would 
 have delivered Europe and France from those chains which the mari- 
 time superiority of England imposes on them. — But, it is fortunate 
 that he had no other agency in it than setting it in motion by his ag- 
 gressions on Spain. Haters of freedom cannot be friends to mankind. 
 It would be doing nothing to wrest colonies from Spain, without reliev- 
 ing them from thraldom. Napoleon despised the multitude too sincere- 
 ly to think them worthy of liberty; at any rate, he affected this senti- 
 ment after his own apostacy. Too much power ever transforms the 
 possessor: but, the very sight of civil honors turned his head, and made 
 him a usurper. — The eloquent Levite himself cannot relinquish the 
 idea of royalty and Catholicism. He would monarchise the new go- 
 vernments, with the experience of Europe and the world in his ken. 
 He would hand over the people from one tyranny to another — and yet, 
 he believes himself a philanthropist — perhaps he is one, but sees and 
 feels the impossibility of extricating Europeans from their triple 
 chains, and infers that trans-Atlantic communities cannot be different- 
 ly moulded! He generously writes, "to show mankind that they have 
 no true interest but that of their species — that the source of most abun- 
 dant prosperity for one nation is the prosperity which it diffuses 
 through another;" and yet he would subject them to the curse of mo- 
 narchy [and hierarchy] with Samuel's warning before him.* — An order 
 
 * "Duty and personal feeling have induced us to point out the dangers which 
 arise to royalty and the Catholic religion from the prolonged struggle between 
 
150 
 
 qf men accustomed to dogmatize, and to subjugate the human mind, 
 cannot give up their claims to dominion! — We must make allowance 
 for the influence of priestly education; and seeing how difficult it is to 
 emancipate the judgment from early shackles, you will thank the ex- 
 bishop for having written even so well. 
 
 As we enter into the feelings of our South-American brothers, from 
 the generous desire of beholding a termination of Spanish despotism, 
 so we are anxious, to see them rest from their revolutionary labors un- 
 der a rational system of self-government. We ought to shudder at 
 the idea of seeing monarchies springing up around us in every direc- 
 tion. Let the Atlantic be a political boundary as well as a natural 
 one; monarchies (if it must be so,) on that side; — republics on this. 
 There would then be sufficient homogeneity there and here to maintain 
 social concord. Then would there be enough of congeniality to bind 
 together the respective parts by a moral "attraction of cohesion." At 
 the same time the moral and political repulsion between Europe and 
 America would be muturdly preservative of our several principles, 
 and preventive of hostilities. We should act on a thorough conviction 
 of each others maxims, and pursue the customary intercourse of na- 
 tions without familiarity. Aware of the impossibility of friendship, we 
 would venture to approach no nearer than respect. Civility would sa- 
 tisfy both parties: too distant for collision, — too dissimilar for disputes. 
 For, moral space divides nations more effectually than seas and Alps; 
 or degrees of latitude and longitude. Religious and political bicker- 
 ings in all ages and countries attest this remarkable fact. The fiercest 
 animosities have been kindled among professors of similar tenets, or 
 adherents of the same party, with a shade of special difference hardly 
 discernible, and unworthy of a rational mind. Sects, on the contrary, 
 who differ from each other toto ccelo, stand too far asunder for union 
 or disputation. As they despair of converting or ruling one another, 
 they avoid controversy; they mutually view and treat each other as 
 fellow-men, not as political sectaries who hold any principles or creed 
 in common. Opposites here may be said to agree, and extremes to 
 unite; while proximity engenders a border-war. Nor Friendship nor 
 sympathy nor hatred regulate national intercourse. Commercial con- 
 veniency and benefit are sufficient. — Diplomatic profession itself does 
 not trade in specific compliments adapted to soothe national prejudice 
 or flatter governmental vice — it certainly does not make one or other 
 the basis of commercial connection. We do not assure Alexander the 
 Deliverer, that we would import his Sable (or Siberian) iron, because 
 we know that his most sacred and imperial majesty never uses it for 
 fetters or branding irons, in his free and indulgent government, and 
 may therefore spare some of that merchandize to us; neither do we 
 
 Spain and America." Again: "In the number of [South] American constitutions 
 which Ave have seen, we have not met with one which included a single word 
 referring 1 to royalty; on the contrary all are struck with a deep dye of republi- 
 canism, and lean more to the institutions of the United States than to those of 
 Europe. The danger is so much the greater, as no country equals [or has equal- 
 led] in prosperity that of the United States." (Preface p. 10.) 
 
151 
 
 receive his hemp from Riga, &e. on the complimental presumption, that 
 there are no culprits in "all the Russias" who fear its stricture — We 
 do not prostrate ourselves before the grand Sultan, make a speech on 
 his divinity, or that of the Koran, and abjure the crusades, (foolish and 
 wicked as they were,) in order to obtain opium from Smyrna, to help 
 us to forget them, — or permission to trade with his enviable slaves. Our 
 traders care not "a fig for the Sultan and Sophi." We do not, as I 
 believe, even make a palinody to king George III. "of glorious and im- 
 mortal memory," Defender of the Faith &c. telling him how sorry we 
 are for the unholy rebellion of 1775-6,— that we are sensible of our 
 stubbornness towards the "Lord's anointed," and in filial contrition 
 crave the privilege of importing his glassware, to drink brimmers to 
 his Britannic majesty's health and long life, and to pledge ourselves 
 in sacramental fealty "to him and his heirs forever." He may flatter 
 himself, that our reliance on his spinners and weavers for calico and 
 woollens to cover our nakedness, is a symptom of our returning alle- 
 giance, but he is mistaken. It is rather owing to our general igno- 
 rance of the superior- advantages of internal circulation that we 
 have such blind avidity for external commerce: for, it is a common 
 proverb, that— there's no friendship in trade. If there be any such 
 sentiment, I own that I never saw an item of it either in an in- 
 voice or price-current. His Britannic Majesty may still have some 
 friends, and he had more amongst us. A few were attached to him 
 in the East and in our great towns, from a partiality for monarchy, or 
 from party-blindness,--but the majority must have been Swiss friends, 
 ready to serve any power for gain: 
 
 Menea la cola el can, 
 No por ti, sino por el pan. 
 
 i. e. Cerberus wags not his tail for thee, but for the sop. 
 
 Our foreign trade then has little dependence on friendship, and has 
 not a shadow of political reason in it, apart from our unfortunate plan 
 of imposts — on which our revenue depends. — With our Southern bro- 
 thers our relations might be very different: Political motives, strong as 
 those of self-preservation, dictate firm amity between us. — Friendship 
 might here have some influence on trade, if trade has none on friend- 
 ship.— Should we gradually withdraw our diplomacy from Europe it 
 would not imply enmity, any more than a man's living pretty closely 
 en his own farm would denote a grudge to his neighbour. Except in 
 courtesy, independent men and nations care not for each other's opini- 
 ons With those of the south even this general truth has its excep- 
 tions. — There let us lay an anchor.— By receding from European po- 
 licy and opinions, we retire from broils, not from commerce. America 
 is the home we should exclusively study to fortify, to honor, preserve 
 and embellish. 
 
 But, if one or two European cabinets conceive hopes of proselytism 
 on this continent, the aspect of this sunny sky is instantly overcast, 
 and storms and darknesss deform the bright face of day. Royal ma- 
 chinators would commence an open or secret crusade against the "rights 
 of man," spread their creeds by purse and sword, and baptize their 
 converts in the bleed ef martyred republicans. Where there is the 
 
152 
 
 faintest hope of triumph, they will purchase it at any price. 1 leave you, 
 my friend, to prosecute this delicate subject through all its windings 
 and probabilities. I have put hypothesis for fact. Much of the sup- 
 posed evil has occurred. The same machinations that undermine the 
 rising edifice of her civil liberty, would secure the resources of South- 
 America for the support of foreign despotic governments in member- 
 ship with the "Holy Alliance." — I should like to see this ontinent 
 stand alone, but heaven forbid that we should stand alone on the con- 
 tinent! 
 
 If-we survey our government as the exemplar for South-America, 
 in any respect national or federal; if we reflect that the eyes of the 
 world are upon us; how should it inflame our ardour, to play the dig- 
 nified part of leader, pattern and protector! How cautiously yet firm- 
 ly, should we move, where every step we take may be imitated!. — 
 The hopes and solicitudes of the oppressed of all nations converge to 
 ward? us. Reformers argue the practicability of civil liberty from our 
 experiment.— If they should behold us frittering away free institu- 
 tions by a compromise between freedom and servitude, — how would 
 their hearts sink within them! They would turn hopeless away, and 
 deem it useless to erect altars to freedom, which the interested, the 
 unreflecting and the venal were equally eager to demolish. — Let us 
 endeavor to hide such pernicious patterns as we cannot remove at the 
 moment, and hold forth for imitation the natural, incontrovertible 
 principles of the Declaration of Independence. Republics have no 
 pledge of duration, and no title to respect, but in the maintenance of 
 equal rights. — Desirous as I am of beholding sister republics in South- 
 America, I am more infinitely desiious of preserving our own in health, 
 beauty, purity and energy to an unparalleled longevity. — We have the 
 power of maiming the cause of freedom more incurably than the Hely 
 Alliance. Such would be the frightful influence of anti-republican in- 
 novations here, on reformation in other countries. * * * 
 ************ 
 
 The enemies of liberty always draw their most specious arguments 
 from the treacherous abuses of its professed friends and exclusive guar- 
 dians. — Let us strain unnatural concessions no farther. ***** 
 In hope of seeing the angry clouds dispersed that appear above our ho- 
 rizon, let us take another glance at the benign results of South-Am- 
 erican independence. To us it will be productive of many advantages. 
 
 Free governments may be instituted there, which if not in alliance, 
 will be in amity with us. As neither will be inspired with the fell spi- 
 rit of conquest, we shall have nothing to apprehend, but much to hope 
 from each other. We shall mutually discard all intrigue from rela- 
 tions founded injustice and sympathy. 
 
 Maritime law has fluctuated in Europe with the will of the dominant 
 potentates;— and we have suffered under every innovation, especially 
 since England became mistress of the ocean. May not the restoration 
 of rights on the land (in this hemisphere) prove the glad harbinger of 
 their re-establishment at sea? 
 
 Whatever aberrations may happen in the infancy of states, or during 
 the arduous stages of revolution,— tree governments in the south will 
 
IBS 
 
 not transcend the essential provisions of the law of nations. On the 
 contrary, they will see security for their own rights in respecting those 
 of others. They will co-operate in the glorious work of enfranchising 
 the seas, now tributary (in a great measure,) to the stronger. There- 
 fore, 
 
 They will not presume to impress our seamen. 
 They will not audaciously try to starve a great nation or a feeble 
 one, nor embargo our freighted ships in their ports, as one of the 
 means. 
 They will not compel our merchant vessels to pay tribute to them, 
 nor undertake to license a fair and lawful commerce, (unlawfully 
 and previously interdicted,) in order to raise a revenue by the sale 
 of admiralty permissions and indulgences. 
 They will not poison our politics through mercantile and diplomatic 
 channels; — will not inflame disaffection in the first place, and next 
 dispatch a secret emissary to accomplish a secession from the Uni- 
 on, and a confederacy of New-England with Canada and Nova- 
 Scotia. 
 We are in danger of none of these vexations from our friends in the 
 South. Nay, rather, 
 They will stimulate us to improvement by countenance and fellow- 
 ship, and snatch us from the perils of a too flattering contrast, by 
 furnishing a juster standard of comparison than exists between us 
 and the tyrannized nations of Europe. — Nations are prone to im- 
 bibe arrogance from real or fancied superiority, if the "flattering 
 unction" be thickly plastered on their self-love. Thus some an- 
 cient states rated as barbarians, people as good as themselves.— 
 States, like individuals, cannot exalt their dignity by looking haugh- 
 tily downward, but by pressing emulously upward. — Let us gio- 
 
 RY IN OUR PRINCIPLES, BUT LET US BE INTENT ON THEIR PRE- 
 SERVATION. 
 
 They will rival us in the arts and sciences; they will nobly cultivate 
 the flowery field of literature, and spur us to an intellectual race 
 in which we must outstrip our former speed. 
 The governments of the South will probably aid us in future wars, 
 and their population and territory lay open a rich commerce to our 
 enterprize. If I have not expatiated more particularly on this part 
 of the subject, it is because men of reading like yourself, and prac- 
 tical merchants can follow the minutiae of it without a second hint. 
 The counterpart of it leads us to a slight review of domestic inter- 
 ests, at the risk of some repetition. 
 If tautology were excusable in enfotcing attention to considerations 
 of primary importance, 1 would here repeat some monitory circum- 
 stances that seem peculiarly to enhance the worth of this trade. — It is 
 time to trace, if not to settle, the boundaries between our domestic in- 
 dustry and foreign commerce, — to divide our cares between them, 
 and give just encouragement to each. It is high time to ingraft more 
 durable principles of economy on our code, and to prevent a revival of 
 the awful distresses from which, I fear, we are scarcely yet beginning 
 to recover. Society has been shaken to its foundations, and shudders 
 
154 
 
 at the idea of similar ruin. They have witnessed the delirium of bank- 
 ing, and The seductive lures of speculation: credit stretched to its ut- 
 most, and snapped to pieces by an insupportable weight; the country 
 precipitating itself on the towns to realize its -'South-sea dreams," and 
 reap a golden harvest. They had watched the progress of fascination 
 to bankruptcy, and saw the seaports giving back its disappointed po- 
 pulation to the country, with nothing left but sad experience, to com- 
 pensate their losses. — The community is yet unsettled after the recent 
 shucks like the ocean after a tempest. They call for securities against 
 a renewal of the scenes of pillage, and are feverishly anxious till they 
 obtain them. They sigh for some immoveable mound against the in- 
 undation of paper-money, which has snatched off so much solid pro- 
 perty without equivalent: "as ocean sweeps the laboured mole away." 
 They want to see the demon chained that bore off their wealth, as a fal- 
 con its prey: they pine under privilege, and demand its reduction to 
 the level of right.* In the commerce of South-America, and in our 
 domestic industry, manufacturing and agricultural, (a steady and equi- 
 table legislation always presupposed,) I see a prospective and certain 
 antidote to the malignant ills that have scourged us. — It has been rela- 
 ted of the ancient Brachmans and Magi of the east, that they could 
 foretell tempests, earthquakes, droughts, and other natural calamities, 
 long before their occurrence, — so profound was their discernment of 
 physical prognostics and causes. A like foresight in the active con- 
 cerns of life is "devoutly to be wished" for; but cannot be attained 
 without a clear comprehension of the principles of social prosperity. 
 Late derangement and present suffering rebuke our vanity and repel 
 our pretensions to superior sagacity— but they may teach prudence. — 
 So, let us tread round the circle as we may, we arrive again at the 
 original point. 
 
 In accommodating new arrangements to the actual and approaching 
 relations of the world, I say, we must give due weight to the tiaffick 
 of the South. It is specially different from our European trade, which 
 
 * What stronger proofs of depredation under the credit-system can we have, 
 than the numerous acts passed in many of the states, to stay executions for the 
 recovery of debt? It has been decided by several judges (who assume the power 
 of eontroullmg every thing right or wrong, now-a-days,) that these laws were 
 unconstitutional, and null, as impairing the obligation of contract. And so they 
 undoubtedly appear to be. But, observe how their doctrine holds! Property 
 is protected by all our constitutions as a sacred right, — not to be invaded or vio- 
 lated.— Proprietors reposed in security. — By and by, comes a rage for banks; a 
 Whirlwind of speculation sweeps over the land, and leaves many a rich man house- 
 less. His property went in exchange for a paper-sign; and the signs, after cheap- 
 ening money, changing prices, and dissipating property to an unprecedented 
 degree, are diminished as suddenly and destructively. — None but brokers and 
 bankers could commind the magic sign of value. In the sacrifice that ensued, the 
 legislatures endeavoured to alleviate calamity by staying execution, and allowing 
 time for settlement, &c. "No," say the judges, with their consistent logick, — 
 "you shall not interpose in favour of misery; -we condemn the ehect, but approve the 
 causb. You may produce mischief, but cannot heal it.- great and fundamental 
 compacts may be violated; but secondary contracts are of paramount, inviolable 
 obligation." 
 
155 
 
 shears us annually like sheep of our native wealths it is the reverse 
 of the China and East Indian commerce, which swallows our specie 
 for superfluities and unwholesome luxuries.— It will employ a great 
 portion of our shipping and seamen in a productive tratfick,— which 
 brings us a clear gain, and that to a considerable amount, encrea^ing 
 from year to year.— It will be carried on with the people of junior 
 states, inclined to expect fraternal counsel, example and assistance 
 from an elder branch of the continental family. They would gladly 
 reciprocate our kindness.— Let us foment these feelings and advantages. 
 Let us withdraw politically and eternally from Europe, and cherish ev- 
 ery germ of republicanism, and every source of commerce at our door. 
 
 Were the question now to be determined, whether we should plunge 
 so deeply in foreign to the prostration of internal trade, I would raise 
 my voice and entreat you to lilt yours, against an excessive patronage 
 of the former. It has introduced monarchical ideas and extravagant 
 habits among us, has banished simplicity of living, and substituted at 
 once the extreme of luxury. Devotion to wealth and splendour has 
 greatly superseded the civic, homespun, unostentatious virtues of mo- 
 deration, frugality, and probity. — But, we have passed the Rubicon. 
 
 — Neither the Spartan nor the Chinese systems will suit us. 
 
 We cannot (if it were wise) adopt iron money, black broth, and hard 
 exercise, nor lay aside navigation and commerce. Let us now direct 
 as carefully as possible what we cannot undo; and raise the drooping 
 heads of our domestic manufacturers, and cheer the genius of internal 
 trade. He must indeed be an unskilful statesman who thinks that a 
 nation of 10,000,000 of souls, doubling their numbers every 25 or 30 
 years, can flourish (or even exist) by agriculture alone. A farm is 
 only a manufactory; and one manufactory which can treble the value 
 of materials prepared in another, cannot be depressed without depress- 
 ing national strength. — All the people cannot subsist as the owners of 
 a southern plantation; they must be protected in their respective call- 
 ings. It is not expedient to sacrifice one class of inhabitants to anoth- 
 er. Such a wretched policy could only proceed from narrow views and 
 local feelings. — It is contemptible, originate where it may. — Why tie 
 up the hands of industry in the middle stages? If our cotton and to- 
 bacco alone can find a profitable foreign market, (and that is preca- 
 rious) we must create a home market — we must cherish domestic ma- 
 nufactures. Without internal circulation we possess no strength, no 
 financial basis to support us in an emergency. We have too many 
 shopkeepers; — we lack manufacturers; and never can exhibit any thing 
 but feebleness without them. 
 
 We will be as serviceable to the South-Americans as they to us, if 
 we seize the occasion. Let us procrastinate our duty no longer: let us 
 not verify the Italian proverb, once applied by Dr. Franklin (with 
 far less reason) to another people.* "When it is too late they are 
 
 *"The English feel but do not see:" i. e. are not insensible of inconveniences 
 when present, but do not foresee and prevent them. (See Plain Truth, page 222 
 vol. IV. of Franklin's Works.) 
 
156 
 
 sensible of their imprudence: after great fires they provide buckets 
 and engines: after a pestilence, they think of keeping dean the streets 
 and common sewers; and when a town has been sacked by their ene- 
 mies, they provide for its defence." 
 
 Services deferred beyond the trying moment would possibly be sus- 
 pected of selfish motives. Kind offices cannot be tendered with a good 
 grace out ot season. If we wait until the crisis is over, we may as 
 well wait forever. — Waving the justifiable motives of our policy, which 
 are unseen by them, and therefore unacknowledged, and making the 
 case an individual one, fin their view of it J it will be too intelligible 
 to be mistaken. A person of good repute falls into poverty, and in his 
 straits applies for loans: but is universally repulsed, sometimes insult- 
 ed. He suddenly inherits a great legacy; and the beams of fortune 
 recall his swarm of insect-friends who live only in sunshine. The very 
 brokers are now obsequious, and all are cordial: in passing through the 
 streets he receives continual salutes; — his house is thronged: greeting 
 and congratulation circulate as briskly as burgundy. Offers come now 
 unbidden. The usurer would lend to him, as a special favor, only at 10 
 per cent. Sycophants and all sorts of "knee-crooking knaves" won- 
 der how they had lately fallen into such egregious blunders: Their 
 host really appeared in a new light. What malice could have misre- 
 presented him? What infatuation had bewildered them? The worthy 
 man, as steady in prosperity as he had been in adversity, perceives 
 the baseness of the parasites, and despises their overtures. — His boun- 
 ties fall among them, as crumbs among spaniels: he scorns them while 
 they guzzle his wine and devour his viands,— though he strives to con- 
 ceal his contempt out of reverence for the household gods, or the rites 
 of hospitality. It is not trespassing the limits of probability— to con- 
 ceive such equanimity and feeling in a government as in a private in- 
 dividual. All must revere 
 
 "A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards 
 
 Has ta'en with equal thanks- And bless'd are those, 
 
 Whose blood and judgment are so well comingled, 
 
 That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger 
 
 To sound what stop she please." 
 
 Let one supposed instance serve for fifty. Actions must be well-tim- 
 ed. Nobody is grateful to the dying miser for bequeathing his treasure; 
 •—he is ridiculed even by his heirs, who know that he would not have 
 left a doit behind, could he have carried it with him. 
 
 Remember sir, that J do not liken this conduct to our policy; — lam 
 exhibiting the invidious light in which foreign agents and merchants 
 take care to set it. They give it the most miserly aspect that imagina- 
 tion can form — Consequently our acts, however intended, are seen 
 abroad with a jaundiced eye, except where a few of our faithful agents 
 and citizens have represented them fairly. To wrench this foil from 
 our enemy's hand, it is indispensably necessary to act so unequivo- 
 cally as to set distortion at defiance. Such I believe will be our con- 
 duct. I do not propose incautious proceedings' — nor recommend any- 
 thing out of the bounds of neutral and amicable intercourse. Let our 
 citizens sell or carry every article of commerce to every part of Spa' 1 - 
 
157 
 
 "ish America. Let us leave that commerce "unembarrassed by too much 
 regulation." 
 
 Shortly after the celebrated Thomas Paine had suggested a "Con- 
 tinental Conference," and sketched beforehand that bold outline of 
 procedure for the quondam colonies, which eventuated in the ''Decla- 
 ration of Independence,'' he renewed his exhortations to the states. — 
 "The continental belt (said he) is too loosely buckled: and if something 
 be not done in time, it will be too late to do anything. We may, (to 
 parody some of his words) we may fall into a state in which neither 
 reconciliation nor reciprocation will be practicable." 
 
 This is the evil 1 am so anxious to prevent. The beneficent acts of 
 a liberal policy cannot be safely withheld much longer. I assert this 
 with a deliberative view of the delicacy of our situation. I have en- 
 deavoured to survey our foreign relations with care; and that survey 
 corroborates my opinion of the necessity of friendship with South-Am- 
 erica. — Looking over all America, I behold the "continental belt too 
 loosely buckled." The happy opportunity of tightening our union may 
 now be offered for the last time! — To tender services a few months 
 hence, may be as superfluous as presenting a mantle to Spring after 
 she has put on her verdant livery, and glows in all the freshness of re- 
 novated nature. 
 
 A prospect of glory is opening in Spanish-America. Things look 
 auspiciously in Venezuela and New-Granada. Civil liberty will suc- 
 ceed, if patriots here and there and elsewhere, manfully discharge their 
 duty. I hope, they will. It not, the failure will not be with you.-- - 
 In this confidence, I remain, sir, &c. 
 
 Unchangeably 
 A Friend of Truth and Sound Policy. 
 
 To the Hon.- 
 
 Washington. 
 
 1 
 
 January %5th 1820. 
 My respected friend, 
 
 An esteemed acquaintance, and your old revolutionary com- 
 rade major S****, having honoured me with a visit on his way to 
 Washington, I avail myself of his politeness to trausmit with this "tu- 
 tical" note, my letter of the 20th, and sundrv documents explanatory 
 of events, intrigues and parties in Buenos-Ayres and Chili. — I natural- 
 ly repeat my respects to you in renewing my homage to true princi- 
 ples; for, I discover that by "association and location of ideas," I have 
 been practising mnemonics half my life without knowing it; — not quite 
 so methodically as I hope to do in future, by dint of the discipline in 
 which Mr. Manners is initiating the Philadelphians. By the way, these 
 mnemonics may serve as remembrancers of the doctrines of 1776, — 
 since buried so deeply under new-fangled rubbish. We have need of 
 their resurrection. They will serve to measure novel assertions and 
 ingenious sophistry by the immutable standard of first principles — 
 They may remind statesmen of the past, obliging them to think on the 
 
158 
 
 world that was, when they are legislating on the most critical matters 
 for posterity: They will teach from the archives of history that what- 
 ever sacrifices we must make, should be for civil liberty, not for ser- 
 vitude; and admonish us not to stretch a temporary concession to end- 
 less duration, but to eradicate bad principles like weeds, before they 
 have struck deep root. — They will demonstrate from the experience of 
 ages, that "orders of men" uniformly strive to engross power and ex- 
 tend their sway, at the expense of the people: Ecclesiastics never 
 voluntarily relinquish power: nobles do not part with it: party-leaders 
 never give it up; — and lawyers never surrender it. Like kings they 
 all labor to accumulate more authority, and to increase their preroga- 
 tive to the utmost. What the people once give up, they never can 
 recover but by violence. — Mnemonicks therefore, would advise the 
 multitude to keep the reins in their own hand, else state-jockeys will 
 drive the state-coach to perdition. — The same causes that butchered 
 political freedom in other countries, would destroy it in our own. 
 
 Until I have leisure for framing a historical digest of revolutiona- 
 ry occurrences, political and military, in Buenos-Ayres and Chili, 
 these papers will convince you of thedisingenuousness of the "Voyage" 
 on which I have animadverted. Enough has been cited to show, that 
 its author is inaccurate; that he is partial; that he is presumptuous; 
 that he is malevolent; and (worse than all!) that lie was so ungenerous 
 as to assail the persecuted, and so cruel as to attack the defenceless. — 
 I was indignant at such a tirade against the republican party in 
 the South, and repelled it with force. You will perceive, however, 
 that I was lenient, compared with what I might have urged against 
 
 his garbling the candid letter of ■ , and inveighing against 
 
 under such ci cumstances. Read the whole, and — wonder! 
 
 Col. D • 's very lucid narrative of Buenos-Ayrean revolutions, 
 
 of the project of monarchy, of Belgrano's royalist proclamation of 1817, 
 on taking command of the army of Upper Peru,— the independent com- 
 ments of the Cronica Argentina and the consequent banishment of its 
 editor and correspondent; the subversion of the trial by jury,— the jus- 
 tification set up by Dr. Saenz for the monarchical scheme,* the extracts 
 from the Censor, will convince the most incredulous, of the black ma- 
 chinations of certain chiefs.— I forward by the same conveyance, the 
 publications made by the exiles in Baltimore, in 1817 and 1818, with 
 the anonymous and official attempts to answer them in Buenos-Ayres. 
 — I send you (in number 4,) twelve original private letters, written at 
 sundry times and places by the gallant Carrera to myself; you will 
 perceive frequent reference to conversations in New-York, during an 
 intimacy of ten months, when he used to anticipate the liberation of 
 his beloved country, with indescribable enthusiasm; would so unre- 
 servedly state his plans of melioration by destroying ecclesiastical pri- 
 vilege, by patronizing education, by protecting a tree press and the 
 
 *"fie not frightened, my dear friend, (said Dr. S. to the enraged editor of the 
 Argentine Chronicle,) at the idea of the Incas. We must prepare the means of 
 forming a durable government, and this is a step towards accustoming the peo- 
 ple to a monarchical one. 
 
159 
 
 elective franchise, by encouraging all the useful arts. — He used to 
 say. that a dozen skilful mechanics, who would instruct the Chilians, 
 were better than an army, and ten times more serviceable than all the 
 priests, lawyers and escribanos in the country. When he unbosomed 
 himself to his familiar friends, he would expatiate on these subjects 
 with an ardour and an eloquence that enchanted the company. — A gen- 
 tleman, who was frequently one of the party on those occasions, — af- 
 ter trying to di>believe the rumour (circulated in November last) of 
 this illustrious man's assassination, and being disgusted with the cal- 
 umnies against him, wrote to me in these terms, on the 16th of Nov- 
 ember. 
 
 "I have an uncommon and heartfelt interest in his safety and suc- 
 cess. I have so often listened to his enthusiastic accents when dwel- 
 ling on the hopes of his country, — so often witnessed his entire devo- 
 tedness to her cause, — so often been impressed with the belief that he 
 was an instrument in the hands of fate, possessed of every quality of 
 head and heart, to secure the invaluable blessings for which she strug- 
 gles! I need not tell you how impatiently I wait for the Expose pro- 
 mised in your last, nor how eagerly I shall "devour up a discourse," 
 which shall exculpate our glorious friend from the slanders of his ene- 
 mies, the common enemies of the human race." 
 
 Lest you should be as impatient as my New-York correspondent, I 
 send for your perusal, two newspapers containing an exposition of 
 events connected with general Carrera's Memoire to the congress of 
 Buenos-Ayres, reported to be from the pen of the worthy and intelli- 
 gent colonel Poinsett, of South-Carolina. This paper was written to 
 explain events in Chili, &c. and to pourtray the republican character 
 and conduct of general Carrera and his associates; and lo! the "voy- 
 ager" mangles one sentence of it, and cites a line or the fragment of 
 a line to prove the contrary! This mutilation is exactly analogous to 
 that (so often instanced) of quoting the Bible to shew that ''there is no 
 God," — by omitting — "The fool sayeth in his heart," &c. I wish I 
 could palliate such injustice by ascribing it to error — but, that is im- 
 possible.— I send you also general Carrera's manifesto, written after 
 the murder of his illustrious brothers at Mendoza. The eloquence, 
 pathos and perspicuity of both compositions will captivate your soul: 
 the Documentary proofs subjoined to both will command your implicit 
 assent to every word he utters. It will afflict you to reflect on the sa- 
 crifice of such unshaken patriots, by monarchical firebrands in the 
 mask of independents. 
 
 In the proposals of theLastre and O'Higgin's party to the Spaniards 
 at the infamous surrender promoted by the English commodore Hillyar 
 (See Poinsett's "keview") they ascribe all the blame of the rebellion 
 to the Carreras, and that at the earliest epoch, "they had indicated 
 treacherous designs of independence." — Lastre and O'Higgins basely 
 capitulated and submitted to the Spaniards, excepted the Carreras, who 
 were to be sent prisoners to Lima: and when they escaped from prison, 
 O'Higgins marched against them to enforce the treaty. But the viceroy 
 having gained his ends by British management, now refused to ratify 
 the articles, and the Chilians united when it was too late. Col. P. re- 
 
160 
 
 marking their devotedness to the cause, observes, "they said with Ar- 
 tigas, we will be the allies but not the vassals of 3uenos-Ayres." Hav- 
 ing described their valour, patriotism, and character which he perfect- 
 ly understood from long and personal acquaintance, col. Poinsett pa- 
 thetically relates their murde» (by order of San Martin) "on the very 
 dav that an order ai rived from Buenos-Ayres to have them conveyed 
 to the capital. Despotism had found a ready engine in the governor of 
 Mendoza; Luzuriaga hastened to imbrue his hands in the blood of the 
 bravest champions of the liberty of Soiith-Jlmerica." 
 
 "The names of these victims of faction will live in the annals of his- 
 tory, and their memory will be dear to all who cherish liberty." 
 
 Of Luis de Carrera, the same who volunteered on board the Essex, 
 as related in Porter's Journal, Col. P. states: — "He was one of na- 
 ture's fairest works; elegant in his peison, graceful ai;d courtly in his 
 manners: brave, generous and humane. At the [former] battle of Mai- 
 pu, where the Chilians contended against each other, he took one of 
 O'Higgins's officers behind him on horseback, to save him from the sol- 
 diery, and exerted himself to stop the carnage." 
 
 I had the following anecdote from captain R , formerly of this 
 
 city, who so signally distinguished himself at the battle cf Yerbas- 
 Buenas: 
 
 "Some time after the patriot army of Chili had retreated across the 
 Andes, its officers gave a ball to those of the Buenos-Ayrean army who 
 were stationed at Mendoza. At that ball, a letter was accidentally 
 dropped from the pocket of a gentleman in the views of the royalists, 
 and written (if course) to a brother royalist, wherein he tells him in 
 substance: — Things are going badly for the royal gause, and 
 
 UNLESS THE CaRRERAS CAN BE DESTROYED, MATTERS WILL GET 
 WORSE. THEY ARE THE LIFE AND SOUL OF THE REPUBLICAN PAR- 
 TY. This letter was picked up by a young lady, and handed to one of 
 the officers from Mendoza and sent to Buenos-Ayres. The testimony 
 of a royalist, thus incidentally procured, must convince the most scepti- 
 cal of the sound principles of the late, the martyred Carreras." 
 
 Had Carrera been president of Chili instead of Last re, the Essex 
 and our countrymen would have received the protection due to them. 
 Gen. C. used to repeat, that the capture of the Essex led to the ruin of 
 Chili; for that little frigate had given sufficient employment to the Brit- 
 ish commander, and prevented him from using the baleful influence 
 which afterwards produced a fatal surrender! It caused the removal 
 of the patriot army from the frontier, and it became in great part dis- 
 persed. Lastre,* more effectually to make his peace with the royal- 
 ists, was signing an order for Carrera's execution, believing him still iu 
 the prison of Chilian— "when Carrera (who had escaped) presented him- 
 self before him in the habit of a monk. On discovering him to be arm- 
 ed, Lastre fell upon his knees, and begged his life. Carrera put the 
 order in his pocket, and only threw its author into prison — hastened to 
 rally the scattered troops, and marched with a handful of men against 
 
 * Tins traitor had assumed the office and title of "Supreme Dh*ector. ; 
 
161 
 
 the enemy; but it was too late. The effect of Hillyar's and Lastre's 
 capitulation was then irretrievable. — All this you have heard commo- 
 dore Porter relate. This discerning officer thus speaks of general 
 Jose Miguel de Carrera: 
 
 "North -Americans may always count on a true friend in him. On 
 "us rested his best hopes for securing the liberties of his country: and 
 "if any advantages are to result to the United States from a connec- 
 "tion with the South, to his aid I am confident, we shall be chiefly in- 
 debted for them. He is a patriot of the first class. I cannot better 
 "make known his character than by saying, — he is the Washington of 
 "the South." 
 
 This is extracted from a very long letter written by the commodore 
 in August 1817, most of which was then published in a New-York 
 paper, — without giving it as his. All this evidence was known to the 
 "Voyager," who disregarded all! Now, you have an index to the 
 provoking cause of my disgust. 
 
 Had San Martin been out of the country, and Buenos-Ayrean arts 
 suspended, a reconciliation would have been easily effected by a zea- 
 lous and honest mediator between Carrera and O'Higgins; as both 
 were generous, though most unequally endowed with talent. But, the 
 mask has been thrown aside; the dagger has drank the best of patriot 
 blood; and the perpetrators secure in uncontroulable superiority, are 
 ready to brave public opinion, to laugh at odium, and to exclaim with 
 an instigator in the tragedy: "What need we tear who knows it, wheu 
 none can call our power to account?" 
 
 You will be able to glean useful information on the revolutions of 
 the South, from Moreno's Memoirs, p. 127 to 196,— (the whole volume 
 is interesting;) from Mier y Guerra's History of the Revolution in Mex- 
 ico, although the opening chapters are tinctured with the spirit of con- 
 troversial animosity. Porter's Journal and Private Letters, Johnson's 
 Letters on Chili, Niles's Register, the Commissioners' Reports and the 
 Periodical Work, El Espanol, published in London, you have already 
 read.* I believe however, and I say it without boast or bias,— that tire 
 manuscript documents I have been so fortunate as to obtain, will enable 
 me to cast much additional light on the subject,— at last unburdened 
 of political polemics. 
 
 You will better understand the packet of South-American newspa- 
 pers, from this key to the nature of their management: 
 
 Of "El Mogado National," or National Advocate of Buenos-Ayres, 
 Mr. Agrelo, a late exile, is editor on the part of government. By this 
 service he most probably saved his life; as he had been kept a prisoner 
 on board of a vessel in the harbour of Buenos-Ayres for many months 
 after his return from the United States. 
 
 M. Henriquez, translator of Bissett's Sketch of Democracy, and go- 
 vernment-printer, is editor of El Censor,— The Censor of Buenos- 
 
 * The documents concerning Venezuela, Walton's Work, Dr. Burke's writings, 
 and the "Outline," as relates to New-Granada and Venezuela, contain many grains 
 of fact from which you must separate the chaff. 
 
 Y 
 
163 
 
 Ay res. It was for reprehending the monarchical tenets of the Censor 
 in the Cronica, &c. that Moreno and Pazos were banished. The "voy- 
 ager" insinuates that the Censor was in jest, and that "the Chronicle 
 took up the affair seriously:" that the Cabildo put an end to the dis- 
 pute; that the Censor passed into other hands, "and the paper has since 
 advanced nothing but republican principles "—This assertion is untrue; 
 and that insinuation fallacious: for, the editor of the Chronicle might 
 well take up the affair seriously, when the Director (Puerrevdon) 
 thought so "seriously" of his political oppugnation, as to send him out 
 of the country without a hearing. This was a serious joke truly. 
 
 All these papers and others are supported at the expense of govern- 
 n.ent: an account of one is a history of the whole. The "Cronica Ar- 
 gentina" was an independent exception. 
 
 El Buende, The Sylph (or Fairy) published in Santiago, the capital 
 of Chili: Its editor is Mr. Monteagudo, a man of abilities, but unprin- 
 cipled; successively jacobin, republican and royalist. It was he who 
 carried the murderous order express from San Martin, in Chili, to the 
 governor of Mendoza, for the butchery of the Carreras. 
 
 El SuU The Sun, by a clerk in one of the public offices. 
 
 El Jl*-gos de Chili,— The Chilian Argus, was conducted by Mr. Ri- 
 vas, secretary to Mi. Irrisari, minister in London, and at that time a 
 clerk in the department of state. Mr. Rivas is a native of Caraccas. 
 
 Titles and editors have since undergone changes, the gazettes mov- 
 ing on in their prescribed track, — satellites of the respective adminis- 
 trations, without regard to first principles of government or consider- 
 ations of public good. Now we behold them the keen allies of inde- 
 pendence; soon after, the mere klickers and worshippers of official 
 power, excusers of abuses, and base instruments of corruption.— Every 
 thing degenerates in proportion to its distance from popular controul. 
 When popular fatuity rises to such a pitch as to discourage perfect 
 freedom of enquiry on all subjects, then do the people inflict a blow 
 of suicide on their own rights* and public debauchery advances with- 
 out restraint. 
 
 1 have frankly submitted to your consideration, my opinions on the 
 expediency of an affectionate mediation, — on privateering, — on the 
 leading principles which should direct our domestic policy and foreign 
 intercourse. They are the result of serious and impartial reflection 
 on my part; 1 am confident that you will not condemn them without 
 examination. 
 
 Major S h will inform you minutely of our dialogues and circum- 
 
 ambulations. Aristotle himself was not a greater peripatetic, if he was 
 a more rigid logician than our friend. We canvassed all the topics that 
 aie hammered, or expected to come on the anvil, this session; the slave- 
 question, foreign relations; home-manufactures, (not omitting the ma- 
 nufacture of litigation, the most flourishing of all,) and the capability 
 of the South-Americans for freedom. I venture to predict that the 
 major will never be prosecuted under the Athenian law against neu- 
 trality in public parties, tumults and sedition! I love his fervor; so 
 decided, without dogmatism! and as tolerant of others' opinions as in- 
 dependent in making up his own, I am thankful for your former in- 
 
163 
 
 troduction to so staunch a republican — a genuine disciple of the old- 
 school. 
 
 In the Missouri slave-dispute, I need not tell you, that he glows on 
 the North side of it, like a comet in its perihelion. — Those on the South 
 side of the debate are even more violent, I see, but with less reason 
 than this old soldier of Washington. — If I do not concur in all his pro- 
 jects, I participate in his alarm. — Never before was my heart weighed 
 down with such a load of depression. 
 
 I reminded the major of the republican spirit and character of the 
 Southerns, — my old masters in politics; and he retorted: "A whig 
 parliament, sir, established the funding system, and gave William III. 
 the means of corrupting parliaments: a whig parliament passed the Sep- 
 tennial Act in 1716, and put a period to civil liberty in England. — 
 We are jealous of open enemies; but Heaven only can guard us against 
 friends. I admire the southern people, and would save them from 
 themselves. 
 
 ''When the "three-fifths" provision was inserted in the consitution, 
 I thought that we stepped off with the wrong foot foremost. But, the 
 proposal to extend it ought to have been postponed until the domestic 
 evils that harrass us should be removed, — and until we should settle 
 our South-American policy. What evil spirit conjured up this topic 
 of effervescence at this time, and threw down a thousand apples of 
 discord? A question of such compass required years of previous dis- 
 cussion." 
 
 We endeavoured to calculate the enormous contributions levied 
 throughout the Uuion, in form of lawyers-tees and costs of suit for 
 seven successive years; but the aggregate sum was so immense as to 
 exceed belief— and he has taken a memorandum for revision. "Law- 
 yers." said he, "are neither better nor worse than other men; every 
 profession has its peculiar vice; but discovering, that the generality of 
 mankind are only adult children, they tacitly assume their entire guar- 
 dianship, and hold them in endless minority. — They are particularly 
 accused of insolency, — but rather unjustly, as hautenr is the natural 
 fruit of boundless influence. A patrician order will always feel as a 
 superior class. With a simple code, we should be enabled to do with- 
 out lawyers; for the fundamental principles of law, viz. the force of 
 moral obligation, and the nature of contracts, the distinctions be- 
 tween right and wrong, are so obvious to all, so clear and plain, that 
 every man may be his own lawyer.-- -Silly people are led to believe, 
 that the intricacy and ambiguity, studiously kept up, are inseparable 
 from the nature of law, which in truth, is simply a rule prescribed by 
 the general will for the guidance of the whole body of the society.— If 
 we understand our own words,--five, ten, or twenty millions of per- 
 sons can likewise comprehend theirs. Must I employ another man to 
 fathom my intents and translate my English into law-english, or iaw- 
 gibberish? It is preposterous to suppose so for a moment! The order 
 is supported by hereditary arts on one side, and popular imbecility ok 
 the other. A man who is once taught to believe that he cannot judge 
 in matters of plain law, soon ceases to think for himself in matters of 
 government. He sinks into a passive being, and accepts opinions rea- 
 
164 
 
 dy-made. 3 ' Here he recapitulated the history of ancient and modern 
 siaies, — affirming that their decline was uniformly precipitated by the 
 lawyers. "An excellent rule of court was adopted by the Areopagus 
 in its days of purity, of strictly confining the pleaders to a bare re- 
 presentation of the facts belonging to the case, without ornament or de- 
 clamation. Hence the judgment of the hearers remained tranquil, 
 and the cause was not drowned in a flood of rhetorical declamation. 
 When this usage was relaxed— -orators spoke for vanity or fees; and the 
 commonwealth fell when Philip, (after the unfortunate admission of 
 Macedon into the Achsean league) bribed the orators of Athens.— 
 Rome exemplifies the same sad lesson, and every modern state abounds 
 with cases in point. 
 
 "England is a tortured example of the truths I assert. — Never can 
 I forget the affecting picture drawn by my aged grandfather of his 
 venerable sire, who used to relate with streaming eyes, the seduction 
 of Cromwell and the treachery of the Presbyterians; his by the advice 
 of the great lawyers, who advised him to grasp the crown, (and he 
 went as near it as he could,) though he refused titles; — theirs by dis- 
 appointment and love of domination. '•Tivo stars so malignant in oppo- 
 sition, were fatal in conjunction;'' down tell the commonwealth, betray- 
 ed like Troy; and I (he would say) became a wanderer, like old An- 
 chises. Gashed with the wounds of fifteen battles on the side of par- 
 liament, I suffered deeper smart from the defection of my countrymen, 
 and the failure of freedom. — It was the logick of the English barrist- 
 ers which first sapped and finally annulled the obligation of the repre- 
 sentative to his constituents,— generally held sacred (with a few ex- 
 ceptions, j from the foundation of the Saxon heptarchy till the passing 
 of the Septennial Jet. — Then it was openly disavowed in order to ex- 
 cuse parliamentary usurpation of the most flagrant kind, by which a 
 triennial body prolonged its power to seven years!!! 
 
 Being established for a limited time, and for a specific purpose, (says 
 my favourite Lansdowne) they turned or tried to turn a temporary 
 trust, like Decemvirs into a perpetual [at least a septennial] tyranny. 
 —I must qu^te something farther, and verbatim on this vital point.— 
 On it "hang the law and the prophets," politically. 
 
 "He who commits a trust, parts only with the administration; it is 
 not possible to convert a trust into an absolute right) or into a discre- 
 tionary and independent power. 
 
 " The English parliament, intoxicated with success, avowed a doc- 
 " trine destructive of the first principles of free governments: it was 
 " declared, the people when assembled (and they never were assem- 
 tl bled, i. e. at that crisis) were every thing: when they had made their 
 "election, they were nothing; and parliament became omnipotent.— 
 r Though the supreme power in every community, formed to be free, 
 " must be indivisible and inalienate; though it be impossible it should 
 " submit its sovereignty to an emperor, a king or a senate, without 
 " violating the act by which it exists as a community, without annihi- 
 lating itself — and out of nothing, nothing can arise — yet parliament 
 " maintained that its power and prerogatives were paramount, discre- 
 " tionary, and incontroulablc, not only over the persons from whom it 
 
" pretended a delegation, but over those provinces and colonies which 
 w were not included in the farce of representation." (See Lessons to 
 a Prince, page 83-83.) 
 
 "This done, it was easy to show, that a part (and a small part too, J 
 is greater than the whole. Our little mimics chatter the same jargon 
 in America; and prove as inconclusively as British jackdaws, that a 
 delegate represents a nation, and not his electors; forgetting, that it 
 is only as their agent and organ he has a voice in the legislature of 
 the state or the nation. They try to evade responsibility by a sub- 
 terfuge: — 'Thus heresy in England is transfused as an orthodox dogma 
 on America; and, should it ever happen to expire there, it would pro- 
 bably be revived here, by a juridical metempsychosis. This mental 
 debauchery is the more dangerous to our democratical politics, as the 
 love of sophistical conquest becomes as infectious, as that of warlike 
 atchievements. The sophister elated by establishing one paradox on 
 the ruins of a true proposition, pants for new renown, and boldly ad- 
 vances at last to enthrone political blasphemy on the summits of ever- 
 lasting truth. The more difficult the enterprize, the greater the glo- 
 ry.— This is a trait of human nature:— the lawyers are not so blame- 
 able as those who tempt them with political power. Whatever men 
 gather from books with painful study, they value highly, though it be 
 worthless or injurious in itself. Light there, you know is refracted 
 once more, and the student beholds objects entirely inverted. — The 
 worst of it undoubtedly is, that the encroachments on liberty are un- 
 observed, when military power (from which we are in no danger,) is 
 •very scrupulously watched. Wilkinson and Jackson, both of whom 
 deserve monuments, have been baited under the hue and cry of con- 
 gressional halloos, while the eyes of the nation were diverted from the 
 tremendous doctrines and assumptions of the judges. I attribute this 
 inconsistency entirely to the esprit de corps among the gentlemen of 
 the bar in congres. Men rarely or never anticipate mischief from those 
 of their own profession.— I do not question the integrity of any of them; 
 but I deprecate their prejudices. 
 
 "You have asked my opinion of South-American susceptibility of li- 
 berty, and I will answer you, with all my heart. Love of freedom is 
 so natural to man that he could never be enslaved, were it not for his 
 indolence, his weakness, or his fears. — Montesquieu, (says the author 
 last cited,) as a philosophical historian is extremely valuable: as a po- 
 litician, he is useless or he is pernicious. The opinion that climate 
 should jn-oduce and modify government, is fanciful, perhaps puerile; 
 but the idea that any natural and necessary cause should generate a 
 slave, is unphilosophic, untrue, and detestable." 
 
 "The glorious resistance of the Swiss to arbitrary power did not ori- 
 ginate in finespun theories, but in unsufferable insolence, and grievous 
 acts of oppression. They were illiterate and superstitious; yet they 
 established their liberties and laid the foundation of prosperity and in- 
 tellectual improvement. The nobles had looked with jealousy on the 
 increasing comfort and civilization of the people. Gesler the Austrian 
 governor of Uri, ordered a peasant's (Stauffacher's) house to be burned, 
 because it appeared to him too neat. Landenberg, of Unterwalden, 
 
166 
 
 seized a farmer's oxen, and tauntingly told him to draw the plow him- 
 self. The outrageous doings in Altorf, and the wrongs of Tell &c* 
 filled the cup; the leaders plotted with good faith in favour of emanci- 
 pation in November 1307, and the revolution began. They resolutely 
 drove out the tyrants, and founded their fteedom. Like outrages were 
 followed by like consequences in other cantons, till eight were num- 
 bered in the confederacy in 1341. Nay lor, the historian, remarks, vol. 
 I. 259, That it is not so very difficult to keep mankind ignorant and 
 depressed; but, to unteach them what they have once learned, is be- 
 yond the reach of despotic power. The simple manners of the Helve- 
 tians long excluded the arts of chicane and maintained their republic 
 in envied felicity. It was if possible, a greater eyesore to the Austri- 
 ans than the liberty of Greece to the Persians. — The prosperity of re- 
 publican Helvetia was a constant and augmenting source of mortifica- 
 tion to the emperor Leopold. While that dangerous confederacy flour- 
 ished, it was in vain for fortune to smile. Every enjoyment was em- 
 bittered by the cruel prospect of triumphant freedom." (Naylor, page 
 791, vol. II.) 
 
 "The South-Americans are probably in a state somewhat resembling 
 that of the Romans, after expelling the Tarquins — some germs of nobi- 
 lity remained to oppress them, ---which unfortunately they never abo- 
 lished, — not even when they created tribunes of the people. I confess^ 
 there is much to be done in Spanish-America; but I maintain that any 
 people may be qualified for the reception of freedom in the space of a 
 single generation. The majority of South-Americans may be trained 
 for it in ten or fifteen years. — I agree with Rousseau, that every legi- 
 timate government is republican,— i. e. the creature of the general will. 
 —Otherwise the general will becomes subjected to a part. The most 
 essential truths in politics are easily learnt. It is believed, that the 
 Anglo-Saxon government, as modified by Alfred in the ninth century, 
 —was the freest institution ever reared in England— nor is this pay- 
 ing that lawgiver a great compliment. Magna Charta, with all its 
 recognitions dwindled into a solemn jest, before royal prerogative and 
 parliamentary omnipotence; and the boasted revolution of 1688 was 
 only "a compact between the prince and princess of Orange, and the 
 heads of certain families, attended by the mayor of London and other 
 persons in the exercise of authority." 
 
 "A thousand pretty common-places may be strung together on pre- 
 serving free government; for that is the main point;— but the whole se- 
 cret lies in a nutshell. Let stewards not grow to their seats, and they 
 will not grow arrogant. In other words, Beware of giving agents the 
 means of transforming themselves into principals. Division and re- 
 sponsibility are the only curbs against abuses of executive trust. Let 
 the South-Americans look to it in laying the foundation'. 
 
 "Men's dispositions being more mercenary now than formerly, an 
 administration may purchase a majority with the people's money: there- 
 fore additional securities are wanted. — Executive patronage soon out- 
 weighs amor patriae, and must either be divided or the term of service 
 abridged. An interval of six or eight years ought to be interposed be- 
 tween elections of a chief magistrate, to prevent collusion, bargain and 
 
16? 
 
 sale in executive succession. Wherever the executive branch is invest- 
 ed with vast powers, it speedily absorbs all influence. Representa- 
 tives',, printers, officers of every kind rush headlong into the vortex. 
 Appointments therefore ought to be divided among the people, the re- 
 presentatives and the executive. Military and naval officers should be 
 selected by the latter; judges ought to be chosen by the representatives,, 
 and the major part of civil appointments be made by the houses in joint 
 ballot. — If these precautions be neglected, the spirit of monarchy in- 
 fallibly and speedily infects the body politic. No matter by what name 
 if goes, if it generate servility, civil liberty will soon be extinct. — In- 
 stead of election controulling the executive power, the executive will 
 controul election; he will take the citadel, and turn its guns against 
 freedom of opinion. It is better that the legislature, annually chosen, 
 should elect a president for two years, and re-elect him once, than that 
 the people at large should choose him. A ferment ensues, — party -uni~ 
 on is preached up as a canon, and all respect to the merit of a candi- 
 date is forgotten. Nomination becomes every thing, and election a 
 passive formality. — Every government will suffer untimely dissolution, 
 if its constitution do not give complete efficiency to the fundamental 
 principles of rotation, limitation, and division of power*— i. e. to all the 
 means of responsibility. 
 
 "When the lluscios, the Zeas, the Cadizes, the republican dele- 
 gates of Margarita, and their worthy colleagues, begin to lay the foun- 
 dations of a permanent constitution, it is hoped they will leave no room 
 for hereditary bodies or hereditary fraud. It is hoped that they will 
 judiciously perform Bolivar's injunctions respecting the administration 
 of justice, hitherto an execrable mystery in the greater part of the 
 globe.— -Their example would be copied by all the South. — If they 
 would avoid shipwreck. — Let them riot mingle discordancies; let their 
 constitution be black or white, or green or red, — in some way uniform. 
 Pure representation is the Palladium of liberty — and of concord." 
 
 In this earnest, discursive manner would the fluent major converse 
 on the great principles that still animate him with an ardour almost 
 youthful. Would to God that all our councils were filled with candour, 
 virtue, sagacity and energy like his! The treasures of India and Peru 
 could not make him swerve from the dictates of conscience; the honors 
 and riches of a world could not purchase his vote. He is a statesmen 
 for the times, — but times and manners are not fitted for him. Parties 
 and cabals, and sectional bargains are his abomination. — 
 
 He will more fully explain my motives for addressing these unorna- 
 mented letters to you. 
 
 You will do me a kindness by transmitting a copy to the veteran 
 general Artigas. It will convince him, that at least one unhired pen 
 in the United States has been drawn in vindication of South-American 
 patriots. I could wish that Mr. Monterosa, his stcretary, should re- 
 ceive another. I am strongly prepossessed in favor of a man so gene- 
 rously ambitious as to exchange the perquisites of a. padre, a father of 
 mummery, for the glory of being "father of his country." 
 
 As for poor Carrera— -liberal, gallant, accomplished, generous mar?? 
 I am confident he is no more — else would I forward half a dozen c«- 
 
168 
 
 pies to him. On the 8th of Dec. last, young Mr. of New-York ? 
 
 having requested a letter to gen. Carre ra, I wrote one to oblige him, 
 but reluctantly, as the general was reported to have been assassinated. 
 I extract the following to show you, that duty and honor urged me to 
 this exposition. — If any thing useful to our common country, is min- 
 gled with it; I am pleased. Here is the extract: 
 
 "The assassination of your brothers and the general proscription of 
 your friends have almost reduced us to despair on your account. — It 
 has even been reported that you had been assassinated; a very natural 
 catastrophe in such a tragedy. Usurpers are callous; all means are 
 welcome to them. — For these reasons your friends are filled with anx- 
 iety; and under this cloud of apprehension and uncertainty I pen this 
 faint remembrancer of my esteem and affection. — If you live, I shall see 
 or hear from you: If you have joined the murdered Rodriguez, in the 
 shades below, — even there I could wish some good angel, some attend- 
 ant and friendly spirit to convey an assurance of my unaltered and unal- 
 terable regard. Your conversations with me in New York, our numer- 
 ous conferences on your republican projects for enlightening the peo- 
 ple, &c. Sec. are indelibly stamped on my memory. 
 
 "You have nevertheless been traduced even here by a miserable pen; 
 but disregard the calumny, as I shall flay the calumniator, and neutral- 
 ize all his venom. The creature has endeavoured to vilify your name 
 and brand it with infamy: but his arrows shall recoil upon himself from 
 the impenetrable shield of truth: Like the scorpion he shall be com- 
 pelled to wound himself. The cause of justice and virtue is not confin- 
 ed to a corner; it is dear to generous hearts in every country. — All 
 good men sympathize with you. They lament your afflictions, as well 
 for your own merit, as on account of your subjected country. — Nor 
 is their friendship limited by the grave itself,— unless all-destroying 
 Time sets a bourne to spiritual as to animal existence."* 
 
 I added much mote, until anguished feeling obliged me to put up my 
 pen. My promise is in a train of fulfilment. 1st. I entered a caveat 
 against a bad book, of which I gave some specimens — a kind of ven- 
 geance more humane, I think, than the old heroical way of killing one's 
 antagonist first, and then dragging his corpse at a horse's tail all round 
 a city. — 2d. In the enclosed, I have touched questions important to 
 the best of causes, — very sincerely, but too trippingly I fear. — 3d. Far- 
 ther enquiry into capability, a nice point, involving the philosophy of 
 history and of the human mind, I refer back to the major and yourself. 
 —4th. Should providence allot me a little leisure, the remaining pledge 
 shall be redeemed. 
 
 We are in a great crisis: Every faithful citizen ought to contribute 
 his quota to the public good; ought to rouse the people from apathy, and 
 summon all to perform their duty.— I have lent my humble mite, — and 
 gladly lost sight of trivial objects (when possible,) to promote greater. 
 None but a bad citizen or a stupid one can be regardless of his coun- 
 try's welfare, and indifferent to its danger. Adieu. 
 
 £ * See note A. at the end. 
 
169 
 
 (A.) 
 Supplementary Note on the Proscription and Murder of the Carreras- 
 
 Historical composition requiring much time for deliberation, compa 
 rison and revision, would advance too slowly for the impatient reader. 
 I therefore annex this very concise sketch. — -It is taken chiefly from 
 the journal of a most intelligent American traveller. 
 
 Soon after the defeat of O'Higgins at Rancagua, general Jose M. 
 Carrera applied to general San Martin at Mendoza, for a supply of 
 arms with which to equip the Chilians against the royalists. This offi- 
 cer replied that he would furnish the arms required, provided he (San 
 Martin) should be permitted to appoint officers for the men to be so le- 
 vied and armed. Carrera saw his drift, and refused:— Affairs had now 
 reached a crisis: the patriotic army of Chili under Carrera was over- 
 powered after an obstinate resistance; and the remnant retreated across 
 the Andes to Mendoza.-~The republican leaders experienced the in- 
 sults of San Martin, and the men were subject to his seduction. Gen- 
 eral Jose Miguel came to the United States, and Luis and John Joseph 
 went to Buenos- Ay re6. 
 
 The exertions of gen. Carrera to negociate a loan and make contracts 
 in the United States, are known to every one. His urbanity, frank- 
 ness, diligence and republican zeal, gained him the esteem of all who 
 knew him. — Having made fruitless endeavours to promote his objects 
 in New-York, I wrote letters by him to my friends in this city: one 
 of whom generously lent him a sum of money, and used his influence 
 to facilitate a contract with others. — 0'Higgins,the enemy of Carrera s 
 
 since spoke of Mr. , and repeatedly and emphatically declared:— 
 
 "I love and respect that man, for his fervor in the liberation and wel- 
 fare of Chili." Carrera sailed for his destination; but, intrigues fo- 
 mented on the voyage, forced the squadron into Buenos-Ayres, against 
 his will, and exposed him to the machinations of his enemies. He was 
 seized and put in close cc nfinement on board a man of war; and his in- 
 timate friends were incarcerated likewise. A pretence of high treason 
 was set up against the citizen of another government, and jurisdiction 
 was usurped by that of Buenos-Ayres. — "When at length, says he, 
 "my wife was permitted to see me, I wrote to the director Puerrey- 
 don to enquire for the cause of this persecution, and urging him to 
 have me brought before the tribunal. He did not answer me; but I was 
 transferred to the barracks of Terrada, and my confinement continued 
 there. This change was intended to afford San Martin, who had 
 arrived from Chili, a conference with me, which was reduced in sub- 
 stance to solicit my friendship, and make me subservient to his absurd 
 plans. I would not agree to any thing; and I believe my situation be- 
 came worse on this account."* Passports were finally granted to all 
 
 ♦It was in this interview that an embassy to this country, and a salary of 
 §510,000 were offered to the general. They were repelled with firmness and dig- 
 nity; ths general protesting against the assumptions of his adversaries. 
 Z 
 
170 
 
 the brothers for the United States; the Beneventes being set at liberty 
 with orders to leave the country; so that involuntary exile was pres- 
 cribed, when voluntary banishment was rejected. 
 
 The general was again committed to a floating prison; but was ac- 
 quitted of the sham charge of treason by the very judges of Puerrey- 
 don. He then feared that the director would sacrifice him to appease 
 his resentment, or to hide his shame; and by the aid of some friends, 
 made his escape — General Lecor gave him an asylum; but the intima- 
 cy between the governments of Buenos-Ayres and Brazil, left him in 
 the jaws of danger, — continually menaced with assassination. 
 
 When seized in Buenos-Ayres, he lost all his papers; the soldiers 
 carrying them off as he was conveyed to prison. Private harpies there 
 took advantage of his embarrassments to rob him of his property. — 
 His letter of the 21st of May 1817, relates these occurrences at length, 
 the baseness of Lavaysse, &c. &e. Another of the 17th of September, 
 gives a melancholy picture of his dependent situation: 
 
 "By this [the Clifton's entering Buenos-Ayres against his will,] I lost 
 the expedition, my share of glory, my liberty, my country, my proper- 
 ty; and driven to-day to the necessity of living under the protection 
 of a government which looks on me with suspicion;* not knowing when 
 T may be able to better my fortune, nor how to extricate my family 
 from misery, and from the clutches of their tyrants. Such is the fruit 
 of my travels, toils, humiliations, dangers, &c. &c. — If I had remained 
 quiet at Buenos-Ayres, instead of seeking assistance, (he means in 
 the United States) my condition would not now be so forlorn; on the 
 contrary, I should not have given time for the intrigues of my rivals, 
 and I should at this time be in my own country as I was in 1812. — 
 Useless reflections! they only serve to render sensibility more acute." 
 
 Meanwhile his brothers, John Joseph and Lewis, were on their way 
 to Mendoza, intending to return to their country whenever they could 
 do so with safety. They were there thrown into prison, on futile and 
 ridiculous pretexts.— Whether the intercession of our commissioners 
 for them with the Buenos-Ayrean government would have had much 
 influence, I dare not, and cannot affirm. The impatience of the cojn- 
 mander-in-chief would not suffer him to listen to the voice of justice, 
 policy or mercy. Before any orders reached Mendoza from Buenos- 
 Ayres, he had butchered them. San Martin's army was panic-struck 
 on the 5th. of April 1818, at Cancharayada, near Talca, and so totally 
 
 ■ ft *Our hopeful "voyager," p. 232, vol. I. makes the Buenos.Ayrean agent ask.- *'If 
 he (Carrera) be the real patriot, why does he live under the protection of this gov- 
 ernment?" i. e. the Portuguese. The voyager ought then to have asked, why the 
 government of Buenos-Ayres were in league with that of Brazil? — The first ques- 
 tion is answered already: Carrera sought to avoid assassination. From p. 232 
 till p. 238 is a tissue of the most unfeeling invective against this distinguished vic- 
 tim — The cause of Chilian independence and public right he affects (p. 236) to 
 call "personal affairs, private quarrels and bickerings." This is worthy of the 
 writer who treats public hostilities as "a private and local war between Artigas 
 and the Portuguese!" Page 267-8 are more rancorous if possible. — In like man- 
 ner, from p. 47 to 58, vol. II. all is written to villjfy the fallen Carrera. Can such, 
 a writer possess any human feelings? 
 
171 
 
 dispersed that every thing for a time was given up as lost.* Under the 
 operation of malice, terror and disappointment, h • dispatched Mon- 
 teagudo with an order (as stated above) to Luzuriaga, the governor of 
 Mendoza, for the immediate execution of the Carreras. The messenger 
 arrived at the scene on the morning of the 8th, and the order was exe- 
 cuted in the Plaza on the evening of the same day. A Mr. Wilkinson, 
 an Englishman, happened to be a spectator of the tragedy, which he said 
 was one of the most affecting and unexpected scenes he had ever wit- 
 nessed. He described it very feelingly to an American gentleman two 
 or three days after. 
 
 Buth the prisoners were noble looking men, of fine person and com- 
 manding mein. Dragged out as they were, unprepared and squalid 
 with the filth of their dungeons, they had a most manly and dauntless 
 appearance. — What would have deformed others, begrimed as they 
 were, made them look more majestic. — They were hurried to the 
 spot, and a confessor or "sin-absolver" (as Shakespeare says) brought 
 to insult the heroes with his "tenders" of ghostly comfort. Juan Jose 
 Carrera told him to stand aside, — with an observation implying, that 
 this was no time for mummery; and asked for a moment's pause to look 
 round on his friends, if he had any. Luis, the younger brother, yield- 
 ed to priestly solicitations, and conformed to the usages of his church. 
 Both the martyrs solemnly and repeatedly protested that they were in- 
 nocent, — that they were about to be basely and causelessly murdered. 
 Leave was granted them to embrace, and bid a final earthly adieu to 
 each other.— This sight, said Wilkinson, would have moved a heart of 
 stone; it was inexpressibly affecting. When pinioned to the seat of 
 execution (banquillo) they begged that they should not be blindfolded, 
 but be permitted to give the word of command to the guard; that they 
 might die like innocent men, and like soldiers. Their request 
 was refused. A handkerchief was thrown over their faces; — the guard 
 fired, and they ceased to exist. — They were brave, patriotic and po- 
 pular, and therefore unpardonable in the eyes of a man inimical to 
 freedom, and who hoped to enslave the Chilians by depriving them of 
 their greatest leaders. 
 
 As to the silly story of their conspiring with the royalist prisoners 
 to murder the governors of Mendoza, of San Juan and San Luis, it is 
 enough to recollect, that of all Chilenos (Chilians) they were peculi- 
 arly hostile to the royalists, by whom they were implacably hated; that 
 they were but two men, two unarmed men, in the dungeons of Mendo- 
 za, and in fetters, (under the care of Luzuriaga, a Buenos-Jiyrean 
 jailor,) at the distance of 180 miles due north of San Juan, and 246 
 miles due east from San Luis, where there was a strong garrison com- 
 manded by a governor of Buenos-Ayres. Besides, there is a dreary 
 waste of sixty miles in breadth between that place and Mendoza. 
 
 In the Duende of July 6, 1818, edited by the base Monteagudo, ap- 
 pear the most hardened and ferocious remarks on this unrelenting mur- 
 der. He states that a number of proclamations had arrived by last 
 mail from Buenos-Ayres, directed by Don J. M. Carrera to the inhab- 
 
 *In the confusion of retreat, the Chilian soldiers had cried out: "Send us the 
 Carreras, and we'll drive the Spaniards into the sea!" 
 
172 
 
 itants of Chili. — <"It commences in the tone of a funeral oration, thus: 
 — "Where are our brothers, our compatriots, John Joseph and Lewis 
 (i de Carrera? The Duentle answer-* him: Thy brethren John Joseph 
 "and Lewis de Carrera are where thou shouldest be, under ground;" 
 (baxo de tierra.") 
 
 This Monteagudo had fled from the rout at Cancharayada, and is» 
 (like some other malignants) a great coward. Happening subse- 
 quently, when some of his former notions revived perhaps, to utter an. 
 expression in favor of convening a congress in Chili, he was banish- 
 ed that very day (as a dangerous and treasonable talker) across the 
 mountains to Punta San Luis. His prostitution could not save him. 
 
 General Jose Miguel de Carrera, according to news already pub- 
 lished, had been inveigled into the t^ils of his enemy. His life has 
 doubtless been forfeited by his patriotism. Every republican heart 
 will be a grateful monument of his worth.* 
 
 P. S. This is the age of revolutions. Sudden tidings of unlooked 
 for events almost overwhelm our powers of reflection. Absorbed in 
 wonder, we can hardly call off the mind to description or enquiry. 
 Buonaparte saw his victorious prospects blasted in a moment; all was 
 changed in a single night. More agreeable is our surprize. The he- 
 ro, statesman, scholar and patriot, whom many among us had lament- 
 ed as dead, appears to have eluded his enemies, and is now combat- 
 ting them in the field. Jose M. De Carrera, if we may believe in- 
 telligence received from Buenos-Ayres since the above was printed off, 
 has united himself with the patriot army of Artigas. In enterprize, 
 skill and prowess he is a host. A decisive engagement was daily ex- 
 pected between the republican forces and the bands of Buenos-Ayres. 
 If just revenge could be glutted on the field, we may anticipate the car- 
 nage. If victory leans to the side of justice, the issue cannot be 
 doubtful. — If this general survives, Buenos-Ayres will be revolutioniz- 
 ed, and Chili yet taste freedom.! It is vain to re-echo "measures not 
 men." We must have virtuous patriots to establish pure principles. 
 We must have republican men to maintain republican measures. Good- 
 ness must be protected by greatness. Feeble minds are apt to buoy 
 themselves by corruption; to grasp at the meanest stratagems and court 
 the foibles of human nature. Great men aim more directly at the object, 
 appeal to reason and confide in virtue; trusting to an energetic prosecu- 
 tion of honorable means for success. Carrera is a man of this cast; frank, 
 firm, andfull of resources, he will not dishonor his namebyany thingthat 
 
 * Nothing could move the indurated bosom of the "voyager," who reprehends 
 the general, p. 49-50, vol. II. (in note) for exposing the tyrannical conduct of 
 Puerreydon and San Martin he. in a memoir which, he makes him to say, general 
 l,ecor had given him the means, he probably had said permission,— to publish.- 
 but, that he ought to have scorned such publication! 
 
 f Our «<voyager" has laughed at the oppressions of Chili, p. 23o, vol.1. "The 
 6tory of Buenos-Ayres having made a conquest of Chili, and intending to 
 hold it under a kind of subjection nearly as bad as that of Spain, is not worth a 
 refutation." Yet, I have seen letters from Chili, written by Americans, which 
 substantiate the "story" as undeniably as could any official testimony whatever. 
 
178 
 
 aavors of mediocrity. Though he must be gentle with prejudice, he will 
 never compromise with meanness. — May his good fortune be commensu- 
 rate with his talents and patriotism! Jlrtigas, Carrtra, and their brave 
 associates, are the lifeguards of liberty. — One decided victory would 
 put an end to civil war and to usurpation in Buenos- Ay res, and lead 
 to the speedy emancipation of Chili. — Lord Cochrane's repulse before 
 Lima, which I would mourn under other circumstances, may accelerate 
 the expulsion of San Martin's myrmidons. I am glad of his failure, 
 because the faction in whose service he was, are anti -republican, and 
 because (if rumor does not belie him) he has sullied his fame by petty 
 and unlawful pillage. The gloom begins to vanish. I anticipate the ri- 
 sing glories of Chili, Buenos-Ayres and Banda-Oriental &c. &c. under 
 the auspices of Jlrtigas and Carrera. I think I see usurpers deposed, 
 tranquillity restored, ond freedom revived — I indulge in the pleasura- 
 ble fancy, and "celebrate (in your jocund phrase) a jubilee of the 
 heart." 
 
 END OF PART I. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE "VOYAGE? #c. 
 
 The "voyager" being deeply stung by the first number of the "Stric- 
 tures," attempted to bolster himself by the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, 
 which he quotes in an angry effusion in a Washington newspaper. 
 
 The sage of Monticello, (says he) in a letter to Mr. Rodney, (part 
 of whicn he was so good as to communicate to me a few days ago) thus 
 expresses himself: "I return you my thanks for the work of Mr. Brack- 
 enridge. So many contradictory accounts have been published of late 
 with respect to the state of things in South-America, that I have deter- 
 mined to read nothing on the subject, that is not sanctioned by a re- 
 sponsible name! — In reading Mr. Brackenridge's book I perceive a mist 
 dispersing from before my eyes! I agree with him perfectly, that a peo- 
 ple must be educated and prepared for freedom." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson is right in his belief of the necessity of popular educa- 
 tion and discipline; but he does not say, that usurpers should be the 
 preceptors. Mr. Jefferson judged charitably; not imagining that the 
 "Secretary" could write such sheer romance on a subject of importance 
 and notoriety, where he was liable to detection at every slip. He was 
 misled!— In verity, therefore, Mr. Jefferson's opinion turns against him; 
 for, since the "responsible name," [risum teneatis!] avouches fiction 
 instead of fact, the conclusion founded on a fallacy, falls with it. — On 
 this point I gave my notion in my reply, as published in the Baltimore 
 Patriot. I extract the following: — 
 
 "As to the sanction of the illustrious, the admirable Jefferson, I free- 
 ly declare my disapprobation of besieging great men, for the purpose 
 of trepanning them into ex parte decisions and hasty opinions. — Jews 
 and Gentiles throng his halls, jostling and capsizing one another to 
 touch the hem of his garment, or obtain, as a relic., the scrawl of his 
 pen. — Could kings see and feel the glory of such homage, they would 
 
174 
 
 almost be tempted to resign crovvns and break chains, rise to the rank 
 of men, and leave the stage amidst their plaudits. Wnile the great 
 Jefferson draws towards the frontiers of another world, it i» unfair, it 
 is ungenerous and cruel, to distract his attention in favour of unde- 
 serving objects." 
 
 Not to insist too strenuously on the propriety of my own dictum, I 
 submit the whole matter to the arbitration of Don Manuel Moreno. — 
 Upright, judicious and learned, — a native of Buenos Jlyres, we must 
 acknowledge his superior fitness to decide intelligently and impartial- 
 ly on question? concerning his own country. I copy his candid and 
 dignified answer. 
 
 From the Baltimore Patriot. 
 
 TO H. M. BRACKENRIBGE, ESQ. 
 
 Sir, — It was with no small degree of surprise, that I saw my name 
 mentioned by you in the Washington City Gazette, as an assistant to 
 the author of Strictures, or analysis of your Voyage to South-America. 
 
 During my distinguished exilement, as you have pleased to call it, 
 and which some months since ceased to be involuntary, I have uni- 
 formly declined public controversy in this country, as well as any thing 
 connected with political characters. I am only a mere spectator, with- 
 out any pretensions whatever; and I may add, a constant student. I 
 have twice refused overtures from the late administration of Buenos- 
 Jlyres to become its political writer and apologist. The first applica- 
 tion was made to me on the 6th of October 1817, by Mr. Jlguirre, the 
 very representative of Fuerreydon, in this country, whose original let- 
 ter with my answer, together with more recent proof of this truth, may 
 be shown to you if required. 
 
 "Jin extract," you say, ei of a private letter from me to him (Dr. Mo- 
 reno) has atso been furnished.— By whom?" Before you should have 
 come to the conclusion you diaw, you ought to have redeemed the ques- 
 tion if by whom," from any rational uncertainty. There are different 
 ways, by which such an extract (or rather a mere reference) may have 
 come to the knowledge of a third person. The matter is no longer a 
 secret. Your inferences, then, are not facts sufficient to justify the 
 accusation against me. I hope to find you (jsuch is your promise,) "still 
 willing to do me justiceS' 
 
 Therefore, you sir, have no right to drag my name into public glare, 
 nor to disturb my avocations; much less to make me the subject of sus- 
 picions; when the author of the said Strictures is known to you; and 
 were it not so, you might have applied to the printer for informations 
 who, I suppose, was authorized to produce it. 
 
 However, 1 beg to be distinctly understood, that there is no indivi- 
 dual squabble in this case. No candid and liberal man takes offence 
 when he meets with mistakes and contradiction. Nor must friendship 
 sutler by a difference of views and opinions; for as a great philosopher 
 and poet says, it is fair to dissent without quarrelling; incolumem sem- 
 per licuit amicitia. 
 
 Conceiving that there is no necessity or pretence for animosity, I 
 
175 
 
 Jiete tender my services to you, as a token of respect for your person, 
 as well as for your production. It is a literary subject; a question 
 about the political merit of Mr. Brack enridge's Book. That book, I 
 am sorry to perceive, is full of errors, respecting my country, its con- 
 cerns, and its various historical, political and statistical departments. 
 Being conversant with these topics from infancy, and convinced of the 
 impossibility of giving a true picture of a country from a transient visit, 
 or antiquated books, I cannot but regret that the auth<-rof the Voyage 
 to South-America in 1817 and 1818, did not consult with some person 
 of experience, and have it corrected before publication. Distinctly I 
 declare, I shall not swerve from my resolution to avoid public disputa- 
 tion. I am nevertheless disposed to enter into a private discussion with 
 Mr. B. to assist him in detecting and expunging his errors. The sub- 
 ject has bean for me the study of many years, such as was required by 
 my former station. My views have been enlarged by a long and easy 
 residence in England, and now in these United States for three years. 
 I am grieved, also at the doctrines of the book, which lean against the 
 rights of the people. As a citizen of Buenos- Ayr es, as an advocate 
 of liberty, and a friend to the United States, I am willing to sacrifice 
 some useful time in enabling Mr. Brackenribge to render his work 
 more worthy of patronage, by an excision of its faults; and this, I 
 hope, will be received as the best proof of the most distinguished con- 
 sideration, with which 1 have the honour to repeat myself, sir, to be, 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 3V1. MORENO. 
 At Mr. Solomon's, No. 7, N. > 
 Calvert street, Baltimore. $ 
 
 CORRECTIONS. 
 
 j£j*Errata. — The reader will please to excuse our omitting to correct several 
 verbal and literal "mistakes of the press," which he will easily observe; as in page 
 32, Letter I. "half a year" should be "half theye&r.'" — He will encounter elsewhere 
 "gentlema^ instead of of "gentlemen," — &c. &c. 
 
 In the estimate of black and coloured population, in note, p. 32, he will read 
 1,377,810 instead of 1,377,310; which, as he will recollect, is the aggregate num- 
 ber of 1,191,364 slaves, and the item of 186,446, being "free persons, [of colour 
 &c] except Indians not taxed,"— as stated in the census of 1810. De Pradt's com-: 
 putation seems rather conjectural; but the enumeration of the present year will 
 give us precise returns. 
 
 Dele note to p. 127-128 — (if he please!) because it involves nothing very per- 
 tinent in statistical or political investigation, and is only tolerable, by reason of 
 the sublime meditation it produces, and which is almost inseparable from the aw- 
 ful grandeur such geological scenes present. 
 
 Dele also the remark p, 153, on "poisoning our politics;" as it appears rather 
 late. "From our inurement to a kind of Mithridatic practice, we may fearlessly 
 defy the infection of the Holy Alliance itself '."—("This is the very expression of 
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