act the force of circumstances, or, in more religious and juster language, to defy the will of God, will find his efforts ineffectual and ge nerally injurious to himself. The epochs of a critical and important character that present themselves, from time to time, in the progress of political affairs, appear more especially to invite the governments interested in them to reconsider the principles upon which they are acting, in order either to assure themselves that they are in the right, or to shift their course if they find themselves in error. One of these great epochs is just now occurring in the history of the Span. ish American colonies. After declaring their independence of the mother country, surmounting the obstacles that first presented themselves, consolidating, to a good degree, their political institutions, and maintaining their national existence for seventeen years, without any organized concert among themselves, they are, at this moment, meeting, for the first time, by their plenipotentiaries, in a general congress, for the purpose of regulating their mutual interests, and entering into an alliance, offensive and de. fensive, against their common enemies. This change in their posi. tion is evidently one of vast conse. quence. It calls imperiously upon the Spanish government to consider well the system upon which it is now proceeding, and to examine anew the whole subject of its relations with these states. It has also been thought, by the government of the United States, that the occurrence of this remarkable event furnishes an occasion upon which neutral and friendly powers might, with propriety, renew their good offices in attempts to bring about a reconciliation between the parties to the war. They have been induced by this motive to communi. cate their opinions and their wishes to his Majesty's ministers, in a more formal manner, at this time, than they have hitherto employed, and to invite the leading powers of Eu. rope to concur with them, as far as they might think it expedient, in the same great and benevolent pur. pose. France and Portugal have lately led the way in a course of proceeding similar to that which is now recommended to his Catholic Majesty. It only remains for the King to give one signal proof of magnanimity and wisdom, in order to complete the pacification of the whole American continent. The President is well assured that the suggestions now presented by his order will be received as evidences of the friendly disposition of the government of the United States; and he ventures to hope that they will be listened to with attention, and will not be without effect. It has been thought a proper mark of respect to the government of his Catholic Majesty, to accompany the communication of the opinion entertained upon this subject by that of the United States, with a statement of the reasons upon which they have been founded, that they might not appear to have been taken up capriciously and hastily, or to have been affected, in any degree, by a natural sympathy with the fortunes of the colonies. They have been adopted, in general, upon a deliberate view of all the information that could be procured; and a full recapitulation of the particulars from which they have been deduced, would embrace a mass of details much too large to be brought within the compass of an official note. There might also be a dif. ference, as respects some of these details, between the information that has been conveyed to the government of the United States and to that of his Catholic Majesty. There are, however, certain great and leading facts in the history and present state of the war, notorious to the world at large, and of course, familiarly known to his Majesty's government, which are considered by that of the United States as sufficient of themselves to demonstrate the impossibility of recover. ing the colonies. In the following remarks I shall confine myself as much as possible to these points, and shall endeavour to avoid any allusions to doubtful matters, either of fact or of right. It is now about seventeen years since the occurrence of the first movements in the colonies. They were not occasioned by a rebellious or discontented spirit, but were the effect of the invasion of the mother country, and of the usurpation of his Majesty's throne by a foreigner. They were equally legitimate with the movements which were made at the same time in Spain, for the purpose of shaking off the French yoke, and were, indeed, precisely similar to them in character. Five or six years elapsed before this great object was obtained, and before the King returned from his captivity in a foreign country. During this time, the peninsula was the theatre of constant war; occupied and wasted by contending ar mies, foreign and domestic; distracted by political divisions; and, upon the whole, in a state approaching very nearly to entire anarchy. It is not singular that the colonies, having been compelled For a time to govern themselves, should have so continued to do, un' til the King's return, without regard to the authority which the successive ephemeral governments at home might pretend to exercise over them. The King's return introduced another order of events; but the colonies were now, and had been, for several years past, in possession of the privileges of self. government, and a new state of things had, in consequence, grown up among them. They had formed new relations with each other, and with foreign powers. Their whole political situation was completely altered. Were they bound, under these circumstances, to return at once to their ancient allegiance, or had the new position into which they had been thrown by events beyond their control, brought with it new rights and new duties incompatible with their former relations to the Spanish crown? On this, which is the great question of right between the parties, the go. vernment of the United States have never ventured to express an opi. nion. It is only on points of fact and expediency that they have felt themselves at liberty to offer their counsels. Whatever may be thought of the merits of the case, a war, under all the circumstances, was, in a man. ner, unavoidable. It was accordingly undertaken by his Majesty's government, and carried on with all the vigour and perseverance which the situation of the kingdom would admit. Soon after the king's return, a powerful expedition was fitted out for America, under the command of one of the first generals of the age, and directed against a very well chosen point in the territory of the colonies. Had it been possible to subjugate them with the means at the disposal of Spain, this expedition must have been attended with complete success. But the effort of general Morillo and his army to subdue the Americans, produced no other effect than that of teaching them the military arts which they wanted, and of forming among them, in the school of expe. rience, a great commander, whose name alone is now a tower of strength to his countrymen. Ge. neral Morillo, after seeing almost the whole of his army perish by his side; after performing miracles of courage, skill, and perseverance; after meriting all praise, excepting that of humanity, finally returned to Spain. The few troops that remained of his army were soon compelled to shut themselves up in a fortress, and not long after to surrender. The attemps made at home to fit out another considerable expedition, terminated in a revolution. The troops which had been stationed in Peru and Chili, after carrying on the war for several years, with various success, were finally reduced to capitulate, by the decisive victory of Ayacucho, which exhibited a second great commander,in a young man of only eight and twenty years of age. For some time before that event, there had been no royal forces in Buenos Ayres, and none in Mexico, excepting the garrison of a single fortress. This battle terminated the active military operations of Spain upon the American continent; and the war has been, in fact, for nearly two years past, at at end. Will it be said that it is the intention of the Spanish government to renew it, and that other expeditions may be more successful than the former ones? Is it possible to suppose, for a moment, that Spain, in her present situation-her own territory partly occupied by foreign troops-enfeebled and convulsed by the effects of seventeen years of al. most uninterrupted revolution, invasion, and war-without funds, and without credit-can fit out armies equal to the conquest of six or eight powerful nations a thousand leagues off? Were it even possible, as it evidently is not, that another expe dition should be despatched imme. diately, as strong and as well appointed as that of general Morillo, would such a one be more likely to succeed now, than his did, in fact, several years ago? Would it be less difficult to contend with ac. complished and veteran commanders, at the head of disciplined armies, than it was with the fresh recruits and unexperienced offi. cers, out of which these armies and their generals have been formed? Or would the organized and ac knowledged governments that now exist, offer a less formidable resist. ance than was made by the same communities when almost in a state of anarchy? These are evidently suppositions of things not merely improbable, or, in the common course of nature, impossible, but chimerical. They involve impos. sibility upon impossibility. It is impossible that n'w expeditions should be equipped--if they could be equipped, it is impossible that they should succeed. Since, then, the war is at an end, and cannot be renewed, it would seem that a peace, concluded on the best terms possible under such circumstances, would immediately follow. It is understood, however, that his majesty's government, without intending to make any further attempts to subjugate the colonies by actual force, nevertheless entertain the expectation that they may, perhaps, be brought back to their allegiance by the effect of internal dissentions; and that it is principally upon that account, that they consider it impolitic to treat with them as sovereign powers. This expectation is no better founded, according to the views of the government of the United States, than would be that of conquering them by actual war. It is believed that there is no greater probability of the occurrence of intestine troubles in these states, than in other established and organized bodies politic; and that, should they occur, they could not, by any possibility, be turned in future to the profit of Spain. terminate in one of two ways, either by bringing back the colonies to their allegiance, or by subsiding and disappearing under the influ. ence of the new independent governments. The latter part of the alternative has in fact been realized. The difficulties to which I have alluded, and which accompanied so naturally the first attempts of the colonies to establish their national existence, are now at an end, and the fate of those persons who were engaged in them has not been such as to hold out much encouragement to future imitators. The disturbers of the established order have met, in almost every remarkable instance, with signal defeat and exemplary punishment. Iturbide, in Mexico, general Piar, in ColumEvery community which changes bia, the Carreras, in Chili, were its form of government violently publicly executed as common trai. and suddenly, is visited almost of tors. Saint Martin, who deserted necessity by a period of anarchy his post at the head of the governand civil war. This was an evil ment of Peru, at a critical period, which the Spanish colonies, in se- lost his influence, sunk into insigparating from the mother country, nificance, and is said to be now li had reason to expect that they ving unknown at Brussels. Pueyrshould be obliged to encounter; and redon, who appears to have been from which the have, in fact, suf- gained by the agents of his majesty, fered, in a greater or less degree. while occupying the post of su Serious divisions occurred in most, preme director of the republic of if not all, of them, soon after the the United Provinces of La Plata, declaration of their independence, could not carry with him a single and for a time threatened their ex- man, was obliged to quit his post istence as sovereign powers. In and his country, and has since, it Mexico, an adventurer usurped the is understood, died somewhere, in government by military force, and obscurity, of a broken heart. Such assumed the title of emperor. have been the fortunes of the prinColombia, the state of affairs was cipal authors of internal dissentions long unsettled, and there seems to in America; and they are evidenthave been, at one moment, consi- ly not of a kind to encourage new derable danger of insurbordination attempts. In fact, since the disap. among the blacks. In Peru and pearance of these first troubles, the Chili, the leading public characters reign of good order and of consoliwere frequently at variance; and dated political institutions seems to Buenos Ayres was, for awhile, the have taken place every where, and theatre of actual civil war. is apparently established. Five of the six principal states that have In It was necessary that these troubles should been formed out of his majesty's colonial dominions, not including Paraguay, of which the internal condition is but little known to foreigners, present as tranquil an appear. ance as any part of Europe or the world. Peru is, in some degree, unsettled, but the tranquillity of that country is secured by the battle of Ayacucho; and the final arrangement of its political institutions will not probably be long delayed. Having thus organized their respective governments at home, these states are already beginning to extend their views abroad, and are, at this moment, assembled by their ministers in a congress at Panama, for the purpose of forming among themselves some concerted schemes of action. This great event may be considered as indicating distinct. ly the consolidation of their several political institutions, and the disappearance of all pre-existing inter. nal dissentions. The troubles which naturally accompanied the first establishment of these new states having thus sub. sided, they cannot, in the natural course of events, be expected to return. They were incident to a particular period in the history of the colonies; and this period having passed away, the dangers incident to it have naturally passed away with it. The various epochs in the progress of communities, like the different ages in the life of man, are subject to particular disorders; but, in both cases, those that belong to one period can never be encountered at another. Troubles may doubtless occur in the nations that have been formed out of the Spanish colonies, as in all others; but they will not be hereafter of the same kind with those which were occasioned by the separation from the mother country, and the attempt to establish an independent nation. al existence. Let it be supposed, however, for argument's sake, that internal dissentions should again arise, equally serious with those which have already arisen and subsided; let it be supposed that a second Iturbide shall appear in Mexico, another general Piar in Colombia; that Buenos Ayres or Chili shall again be the theatre of civil war; that a new Pueyrredon should be gained by his majesty's agents; or, finally, in order to exhaust every supposition, however improbable, let it be imagined that Bolivar and Sucre shall belie their noble characters, disappoint the hopes of the world, and turn out Bonapartes and Cromwells, instead of Washingtons; of what advantage would the occurrence of these or similar events be to the royalist cause? Or what additional probability would they furnish of a return of the colonies to their allegiance? If his majesty's government found it impossible to turn to any account the troubles that actually broke out at a time when the state of the colo. nies was yet unsettled, and they had a large military force in the country, would they be able to do it now, when they have not a sol. dier not under close siege from California to Cape Horn, and when the new governments have acquired consistency and vigour? If Iturbide, when he overthrew the Mexican government, while the royalist party was still imposing, and the prospect of success in the establish. ment of independence uncertain, did not think of proclaiming the king, would another Iturbide do it now? If the insurbordination of Piar, under the eyes of general Morillo, could not be made the means of reducing Venezuela, would another black insurgent be likely to prove |