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rized to expect was, that, when they were equally patriotic, equally enemies of the French, equally ready to join in the common cause,and when their wishes were the best, that England would never commit herself, so far, as to abandon them to the fury of their enemies, and to deliver them up to the devastating scourge of a cruel war, waged between irritated brethren. Yet, can it be believed, that when the newly constituted authorities of Caracas, appealed to the justice and generosity of the British government, in a most eloquent and pathetic letter (hereafter quoted) to the king, and only complaining of the illegality of the new governments of Spain, that not an answer was deigned to their communication, nor an efficient measure adopted, to stop the evils, which daily increased.

It was about the period of our dispute with Spain, respecting Nootka Sound, that Mr. Pitt first commenced his projects, for revolutionizing the Spanish possessions in America, and opening their lost resources to more general enterprise. It would be foreign to my present purpose, here, to endeavour to trace the various engines set to work, in the first place, to obtain information, and afterwards to construct plans, which might eventually lead to the political emancipation of that quarter of the globe, and insure its regeneration. Many of them, have, already, studiously, been laid before the British public, either in Reviews, in detached Tracts, or in the Annual Registers. Most of them, would warrant the assumption, already, made, that the means projected and employed, were neither adequate or congenial; and abundance of positive testimony, might be adduced, to prove, that the beneficent intentions of our ministers,were, in some cases, egregiously imposed upon. It would, at the same time, be irrelevant here, to discuss the merits of that part of Mr. Pitt's pro

ject, which related to the expediency of interesting the United States of North America, by a proportionable cooperation, in the emancipation of their sister continent; or, to dwell on a renewal of the same projected scheme, during the administration of Lord Sidmouth. They may be seen, at some length, in the Edinburgh Review, for January, 1809; and many interesting particulars, may, also, be collected, from the instructions given to Generals Crawford and Whitelocke; and in the trials of the latter, of Lord Melville, and Sir Home Popham. The fact is, that at the period to which I allude, in Europe, vast and bril, liant plans existed, on paper, for the emancipation and political regeneration of Spanish America, when, at the same time, its natives were neither predisposed, or even acquainted with what was meditating so far off, for the amélioration of their lot. Eventually, these long projected plans, ended in injudicious attempts to subject them, by the force of arms; and to impose upon them, a fresh allegiance, against which, they had the strongest prejudices. Roused by the spirit of freedom, and galled by the experience of the past, the American provinces might have been induced to throw off the Spánish yoke; but instead of leaving these results to the energies of mind, and to the gradual, and more effective means of convincing its natives of their degradation and abject state, and animating them, by the prospect of a brighter era which awaited their own exertions, we not only attempted by the bayonet, to rend asunder, all the ties which united them to the soil, from whence they derived their origin; but we held out to them, what, as

* General Crawford, with 5000 men, was bound against Chili, where it is reported he had before been incognito to take plans.

they conceived to be, was a greater degradation than the one, we sought to remove.

So much was the British government engaged in its plans for the Spanish main, that expeditions were sent to Buenos Ayres; but their failure having been, already, attributed to, partly, the right causes, viz. to the plans of conquest, and to the attempt, of, merely, giving the chains of the people, another form; it will not be necessary, here, to enter into any further particulars. Even up to the breaking out of the present Spanish patriotic cause, a fresh expedition was ready to put to sea, commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, and to be accompanied by General Miranda and others; the troops and commander of which, afterwards sailed to the Peninsula, from their rendezvous at Cork. These circumstances were not unknown to the Spanish Americans, and such demonstrations, added to the solemn declarations they had continued to receive, from the year 1797, amounted to an undoubted certainty, that interest and liberality, would urge the cabinet of St. James, when in its power, to interfere, at least, for an amelioration of their lot; and that, when they had offered to become parties in the war against the French, they would not be left, deserted, and abandoned to their fate; more especially at a time, when they only asked for reform, and for the restoration of those rights, of which they had been unjustly dispossessed. When they appealed to England, as their umpire, little did they dream, that she would behold, with cold apathy, those very struggles, she, herself, had so lately excited and encouraged. Little did they suppose it possible, when they were only aiming at redress, and she had just before pledged to support, even, their independence, that England would not befriend them; and this, at a moment, when, had she only lifted

up her hand in time, nearly all bloodshed might have been spared, and the Spanish cause made doubly strong; whereas now, the Spanish monarchy is dismembered, civil wars have been enkindled, universal devastation has ensued, to such a lamentable degree, that, on a correct calculation, more lives have been, already, sacrificed in the Spanish American provinces, than in European Spain.

§ I have been more explicit in this short sketch of the former intentions, views, and professions of the British government towards the natives of Spanish America, because I have noticed the odium and rancour, our dereliction, and subsequent silence have caused; and, because, had it not been for these repeated assurances and demonstrations; as well as the positive conviction, that an attempt at reform, would coincide with the good wishes of England, and even with those of the whole liberal world, the provinces of Spanish America, would not have sought it; but, would have, still, hugged their chains, had they thought it consistent with justice, and the common feelings of men.

Urged by the love of common justice, if I have thus far, traced the hardships of the political situation of Spanish America, if I have pointed out the defects of the colonial system of Spain, and explained the arbitrary conduct of her governmental agents; it has not been for the purposes of reproach; but, rather, with a view to convey a just conception of the abject and degraded circumstances, under which,the Spanish Americans laboured, at the period, when the ruler of France, resolved on a change of dynasty in the Peninsula; and when the results of that debased venality and deep intrigue, by which he had, long, been preparing for the completion of his base design, became manifest to the astonished world. The unweildly power

of France, had, already, extended her limits, far beyond those known to her ancient kings; and a rapid succession of victories, aided by artifice and intrigue, had made the politics of the surrounding monarchs, subservient to the views of a chief, who had, dexterously, raised himself, on the ruins of republican anarchy and prescriptive right. To ordinary minds, one would have thought, that such acquisitions as these, would have been sufficient to satisfy the keenest cravings of ambition; but, in the bosom of such a man, as Buonaparte, in like manner, as in that of the hero of ancient history, he is most proud to imitate; this ever restless passion, like space, has no limits; and to conquer one world, was only to sigh for another.

To usurp the contiguous throne of Spain and the Indies, and place their sceptre in the hands of one of his own family, was a project he had long revolved in his aspir ing breast; and consonant to his plans of universal monarchy, and general dominion, in 1808, he, openly, resolved to make the Peninsula, a domain of France. He was, already, in military possession of the principal frontier towns; and the persons of the Royal Family, had been, long, surrounded by his creatures. The degraded situation of Spain, was, also, propitious to so vile and hazardous a plot; and the general debility, which had spread throughout, was peculiarly favourable to the means employed for its execution. Charles IV. a weak and inactive prince, had then reigned about twenty years; but, from the time of his marriage with the princess of Parma, he had been so much under the control of his wife, whose scandalous intrigues had become an object of scorn to the meanest of her subjects, that scarcely an act of virtue or justice, had characterized his pusillanimous reign.

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