ful protection of persons and property which Miranda maintained, removed every shadow of prejudice which the industry of the Spanish agents had been able to raise respecting the purity of his intentions; and had not the British commanders, who seconded his views, been induced to withdraw their support, and to urge the dereliction of the enterprize, by the false intelligence which reached the West Indies of the conclusion of peace by Lord Lauderdale,—at any rate, had our government lent a very small assistance, not a doubt can be entertained that the province of Caraccas would have then declared its independence.

The part which our country had in this expedition, it is still of some importance to explain. The prospect of the vast advanta ges to Great Britain, from the independence of that part of South America, which was the object of Miranda's immediate views, induced the British Admiral on the station, Sir Alexander Cochrane, to enter into a formal stipulation for certain means of opera

tion

* That this was the opinion of the best informed among the Spaniards themselves, appears from the following extract of an intercepted letter from Don Dionisio Franco, director of the King's Revenues at Caraccas, to the governor of Cumana. Un des hommes, ' says Depons (Voyage à la Terre Ferme, t. ii. p. 293) un des hommes de l'Espagne qui connoît le mieux les interets de sa nation. '

Caraccas, 16th of August, 1806. Miranda, despicable indeed, if left to his private resources alone, will, it appears to me, give us more to do than what we thought, if supported, as he appears to be, by the English; although the assistance they have until now given him be reduced to the not disapproving only of his enterprise.

He effected his landing at Coro without any resistance, because the garrison of that interesting point,. was reduced to 200 fusileers of the militia alone; and although they might have armed more than 1000 men,they had no arms for the purpose; and in the same case, we find, are now all the inhabitants of these provinces.

With this information, the Captain-General of the province has marched with all the armed force he could collect; but it will be a month before he can reach Coro; in which place, it is probable he will find him already entrenched, and in a situation to make good his retreat. That, in my opinion, will be the least of the evils which may happen to us; because, if the English give him any assistance, let it be ever so little, and offer him support, his situation is the most advantageous of all those he could have chosen in all these coasts, as the peninsula of Paraguana may afford them a situation to establish another Gibraltar, as long as they are masters of the sea; and it may happen that this spark of fire, that appears nothing, may finish by devouring the whole Continent, &c.

(Signed) DIONISIO FRANÇO. *

tion he was to afford to the undertaking, and certain advantages which were to be yielded to his country in return. The governors, both of Trinidad and Barbadoes, allowed the General to recruit in these islands, and even from the militia. * But after a little time, the Admiral wrote to him, that by recent instructions received from England, he was directed to limit the assistance General Miranda was to receive from him, to protection from the naval force of the enemy,-to prevent succours being landed,and to secure his reembarkation, in the event of his being obliged to leave the shore.' It is probable, that the negotiations at Paris, in which the ministers were then engaged, and their hopes of peace, were the sole motives of the reserve which they embraced on this occasion. That they had by no means determined against the great plan of emancipation, as some of their enemies have been busy to insinuate, we are happy to be able to prove, by the succeeding passage of the same letter. I am further directed,' says the Admiral, to send, by a fast sailing vessel, full details of the situation in which the continent of South America now stands, in order that his Majesty's ministers may finally decide as to the measures they may take. In consequence of the above,

he

* The memorandum of Governor Hislop for the commanding officers of the corps of militia in Trinidad, is so expressive of his honourable views on the occasion, that it is worthy of being read.

It being desirable that a corps of light cavalry, and of infantry, and of artillery, should be formed, to be put under the command of the Count de Rouvray, as Colonel of the former, and of Colonel Kingston of the infantry, and Captain Harvey of the artillery, who have volunteered their services with General Miranda ;-the Governor will sanction, for this purpose, the offers of volunteers from each corps of militia, not however exceeding, in number, twenty out of each hundred. Commanding officers of corps, and other officers, are expected, not in any manner to discourage the voluntary offers of such of their men as may be desirous of going upon the proposed service; from the result of which, the most important benefits may be expected to result to the British Empire, and in a peculiar degree to this colony; the prosperity of which, cannot fail to be raised to the highest pitch by the success of the enterprise; which, under the skilful guidance of an experienced Captain, such as General Miranda has proved himself to be, cannot be doubted; at the same time that the reflection of the possibility of their bitterest enemies getting possession beforehand of the Spanish neighbouring dominions, would not only be a most serious stab to the interests and welfare of Great Britain, but would place this island in a state of imminent danger; and, at all events, blast the hopes of its future prosperity. These are considerations worthy of every reflecting mind. '

he adds, a schooner attends Captain Dundas of the Elephant, to Coro, which schooner will receive on board your despatches, and immediately proceed to England.' He concludes by saying, 'I think it proper to give you this early information, lest you should be led to expect a military force to arrive for your support,-a circumstance I am ignorant of being in the contemplation of his Majesty's government; but, should any arrive, you may depend on its being forwarded to you without loss of time.' In another letter, ten days later, he says, I wish I could send you five or six regiments; and if the negotiations for peace blow off, I do not despair of a force arriving from England, to place you in perfect security.'

The extraordinary events which immediately followed the rupture of the negotiations at Paris, and the removal from his Majesty's councils which soon succeeded of the ministers by whom that negotiation was conducted, afforded them no opportunity of recommencing any operations for the emancipation of South America; and the facility with which they allowed themselves to be drawn into the support of the schemes of conquest, so injudiciously under taken by Sir Home Popham, deranged all their views with regard to that great object of policy. Of the memorable expedition to Buenos Ayres, the history is too well known to require any reca pitulation in this place. Its effects, with regard to the great and salutary plan of liberation, have been twofold. It has certainly shaken, and that violently, the confidence of the American people in the British government. They had been told, from the highest authority, that the views of that government were solely to aid them in procuring their independence; yet the first army they behold, comes both for conquest and for plunder. How

*

ever,

* A proclamation, transmitted by Lord Melville, then secretary of state, and circulated on the coasts of Spanish America by the governor of Trinidad, in 1797, calling upon the inhabitants to resist the oppressive authority of the Spanish government, assures them, that measures have been taken to support them by means of the British naval force, and to supply them with arms and ammunition, merely to enable them to maintain their commercial independence; without any desire, on the part of the King of England, to acquire any right of sovereignty over them, or to interfere with their civil, political, or religious rights; unless they themselves should in any degree solicit his protection.' Let us consider the effect which this proposal was calculated to make upon the minds of the people of South America, when contrasted with the conduct directed to be pursued in the instructions to the sailants of Buenos Ayres, In the Instructions to

General

ever, it has had this fortunate effect, that it has given us, nationally, a much juster idea than we formerly possessed, of the value of the South American population. It has turned the public curiosity more forcibly toward that quarter of the world; and it has afforded us some precious evidence of the desire which pervades South America to shake off the yoke of a foreign government, and assume the guidance of its own affairs.

The men who had succeeded to power, when General Miranda returned to England, were prepared to embark in the scheme with real energy. After various delays, a force was at last assembled ; and it has been oftener than once publicly stated, we believe with perfect accuracy, that the expedition which was prepared at Cork last summer, and which was to be commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, was intended to cooperate with Miranda in the long projected measure of emancipating South America; and, had not the extraordinary revolution which broke out in Spain, given to those forces a different destination, it is probable that, by this time, that important measure would at length have been accomplished.

We are now once more at peace with the Spanish nation; and, of course, all idea of using force to detach her colonies is out of the question. We are not only at peace,-but we are in alliance with her. A generous sympathy with a people contending for their independence, has had at least as much share in producing that alliance, as our common hostility to their oppressor. We are bound, therefore, by every consideration of national honour, to abstain, while this struggle lasts, from any step which might admit of being construed into an injury or offence to our allies. If the Spaniards, therefore, should succeed in repelling their invaders, and should remain in peace and alliance with us, we must renounce, of course, all notion of emanciVOL. XIII. NO. 26. pating

U

General Whitelocke (see the documents published in the Appendix to Whitelocke's Trial, p. 8.) is the following passage. • With the force above stated, you will proceed to execute the service entrusted to you, by the reduction of the province of Buenos Ayres under the authority of his Majesty.' In the next page, he is directed not to introduce into the government any other change than that which must necessarily arise from the substitution of his Majesty's authority for that of the King of Spain.' In the Instructions likewise to General Crauford respecting Chili, he is commanded to make no other changes than that of placing the country under his Majesty's protection and government;' and told, that the form of the former government is to be preserved, subject only to the changes which the substitution of his Majesty's authority for that of the King of Spain may render inevitable.

pating her colonies without her consent. Incalculably beneficial as such an event would be for us, and even for Spain herself, and impossible as it might be for any efforts of hers long to prevent its occurrence, still we conceive, that the relations of peace and amity in which we should stand with that power, would prevent us from interfering to promote it, and tie up our hands from attempting to separate from her those dependencies, upon which she still set a value, although she might really derive no benefit from their possession, and might be guilty of the greatest oppression with regard to them. If it were possible, therefore, for us to entertain those pleasing views on the probable issue of the present contest in Spain, to which some of our more sanguine countrymen seem still to adhere, we should only have to say, that we should trust with some confidence, that the same spirit and intelligence which had been triumphant in Europe, would be just and generous in America; and that the amended government and enlightened councils of regenerated Spain, would relax the severity of its controul over its remote dependencies, and yield, spontaneously, to its Transatlantic children, that emancipation for which they have hitherto relied, rather on the weakness, than the beneficence, of their mother country.

These, however, alas! are speculations in which it appears to us that no sober man can now allow himself to indulge. The fate of Spain, we think, is decided; and that fine and misguided country has probably yielded, by this time, to the fate which has fallen on the greater part of continental Europe. Her European dominions have yielded already to the unrelaxing grasp of the insatiable conqueror; and his ambition and cupidity have no doubt already scented their quarry in her American possessions, At this moment, we have no doubt, his restless intriguers are at work to poison the pure fountains of patriotism and concord in these distant regions; and forces are preparing to trample down those sparks of independence which the slightest stirring would now spread into an unquenchable blaze. A moment is yet left us, to resolve on what may soon be impracticable.

The question, therefore, we humbly conceive, is not, now, whether Spain-a friendly, a neutral, or even a hostile power -shall retain her colonies, to their oppression, and our great dis advantage? but whether these colonies shall pass, with all their vast capabilities, into the possession of France;-whether these immense and productive regions, the soil of so many hopes for the human race, shall be turned to the beneficent purposes for which they are fitted by nature, or whether they shall be seized by the arch enemy of the liberty and peace of mankind, and employed as an aliment of lawless power and universal oppression.