Page images
PDF
EPUB

siding with the principals in the quarrel, produced dissentions, and gave rise to the eventual creation of a Junta, on 2nd. July, 1810."

“The offensive measures of the governor of Carthagena, and the odious divisions he attempted to sow between the Europeans and Americans, ended in a provisional Junta, on the 18th. August, 1810."

"In Chili, the people were so much roused and irritated by the arbitrary acts and extraordinary violations of governor Carrasco, (afterwards tried at home for his conduct) that he found himself under the necessity of resigning his command; and a Junta was, consequently, created on the 18th. Sept, 1810." A singular circumstance is, that this was the only Junta, the government of Spain ever acknowledged.

"In Mexico, the arrest of Viceroy Iturrigaray; on the 15th. Sept.1808, executed by a faction of Europeans, excited a strong rivality between the latter and the Americans; which spread gradually throughout the kingdom. The death of several Americans, and the arrest of others, transfused still greater irritation amongst the latter; which, added to the impolitic measure of Viceroy Venegas, carrying out rewards, and distinctions for the authors and accomplices of the European faction, produced a revolt in the town of Dolores, on the 14th. Sept. 1810, which soon extended to the whole country.'

Such are the prominent features and first causes, of all the insurrections, or rather local changes of government, which have taken place in the various sections of Spanish America. Such, do they result, from the respective official accounts I have carefully examined, and

* Vide Deputacion Americana, 1° de Agosto, 1811.

such are they represented to be, in the respectable document, from which I have made the above extracts. In this shape, were, they laid before the Cortes, and of course exhibited to the censure of the nation at large. In weighingwell, all the collective testimony on this subject, it will result, that, in addition to the conviction of the hopeless situation of Spain, which even the governmental chiefs, themselves confessed; "local insults and ill-treatment, more immediately tended to rouse and irritate the minds of the people," and it is deserving of remark, "that the whole of these insults and outrages, commenced on the part of the Europeans towards the Americans, and in no instance whatever, were the former ill-treated by the latter."* The Americans, who used any disaffected language, or complaint against the Spaniards, however insulted and irritated they might have been, were arrested and thrown into dungeons; and in no place, were the latter molested, though they frequently insulted the Creoles, even in the public squares. The principal and first causes of these misunderstandings, have consequently, rather originated in the impolicy of the European chiefs, and individuals, according to the contents of the document already quoted; and they have now grown into open war, by the want of timely remedies, and by a wish rather to domineer, than to conciliate. The pride and arrogance of the Spaniard, was increased, and the passive disposition to the American, was, at length, roused. To escape insult, and to watch over the security of his country, was the object of the latter; and the former had in view, to inforce the subjection, to which he had been so long accustomed.

* 1bid.

§ The commotions in Spanish America, have not, therefore, originated in a want of loyalty; for no greater a proof of its existence could be given, than the sentiments all the inhabitants evinced, when they were informed of the occurrences at Bayonne, and when Murat's first dispatches, were received amongst them. By the European chiefs, private and mysterious meetings were then held, to know in what manner, the allegiance of the American people, could be safely transferred; at the very moment, that the latter were enthusiastically proclaiming Ferdinand VII. swearing adhesion, obedience, and fidelity to him, aud calling on the magistrates, to join them in this spontaneous and solemn act. But the constituted authorities, (who had been assured of the good intentions of the French Emperor to keep them in office, this having been expressly notified by Minister Champigny, in a circular letter addressed to all the chiefs) being confounded and surprised at the sudden and animated resolution of the peopel, designedly kept aloof, in order not to implicate their reputation with the French, and declared the necessity of waiting further accounts of the state of Peninsula.

During this interval of uncertainty, there were chiefs of the rank of Viceroys, who dared openly to make proposals in favour of the Gallic line; and Liniers, in a proclamation addressed to the people of Buenos Ayres, after coldly relating the events by which Ferdinand VII. had ceded his crown to Napoleon, and he afterwards to Joseph; and instead of commenting on an occurrence of that nature, with all the indignity, the circumstances would inspire, concludes, by saying, that the Emperor of the French, returned his thanks to the people of Buenos

Ayres, for the glorious defence they had made against the English. The solemn act of allegiance, sworn to, in Caracas, on the 15th July, 1808, in the name of Ferdinand VII. amounts to an authentic proof of the timidity, and uncertainty, which prevailed in the councils of the European mandataries, and constituted authorities; for, it expressly says, "that the Captain-General, and some of the ministers of the audiencia, had authorised it, in consequence of the clamours, and repeated messages of the people and cabildo; by which clause, they prepared a loophole for themselves; and, in the line of conduct they afterwards followed, nothing but ambiguity and half measures, are to be discovered. They all feared to offend him, whom they considered as now constituted their new master, and who had promised the continuation of their commands, the object they had most at heart. Even the governor of the Philipine islands, persisted in following the orders he had received from Murat.

Treacherous, in the extreme, was the general conduct of the Spanish constituted authorities abroad, with only one exception; for, no sooner had the kings of Spain ceded their crown to Buonaparte, than emissaries were sent over to every section of Spanish America, with orders, signed by Ferdinand, by the council of the Indies, and by Azanza, for a general transfer of allegiance; and all confirmed the old chiefs, as a means to secure their interest, and the consent of the people. The Americans, alone, opposed their views; they, alone, publicly burnt the proclamations sent out by Buonaparte, and expelled his agents. The European chiefs, on the contrary, protected them, and, the governor of Caracas, when Captain Beaver, of his Britannic Majesty's ship, Acasta, demand

ed the French brig, which brought out the agents and papers, returned for answer, that he had given orders to the forts of La Guira, to fire on his ship, if he attempted to capture the Imperial flag.

Thus, in these critical and trying moments, did the Americans stand firm and decided in their conduct; and the chiefs, such as Iturrigaray, viceroy of Mexico, who declared for Ferdinand, and were induced to consult the safety of the country, in a legal and consistent manner, were, by the European party, deposed, imprisoned, and persecuted; for, they were all of opinion, that the Spanish American provinces, were, to abide by the fate of the mother country. This, even, entered into the views of the Spanish government, at home, as may be seen, by the proclamation of the Regency, of the 6th September 1810, addressed to the Americans, in which are found, the following pointed words: "It does not suffice, for you to be Spaniards, unless you also belong to Spain; and this, whatever be the event of fortune.* It is, then, to the steady and firm conduct and loyalty of the Americans; that we now owe the liberation of their country from the fangs of the French; that its resources are not, now, turned against us, and that we have them, at least, partially, open to our trade and enterprise. And, can the British nation, alone, be insensible to this triumph of probity, loyalty, and good sense?

Had it so happened, that the conquest of Spain had been effected, at the period of the dissolution of the Central Junta, and when Soult commenced the siege of

* No basta que seais Espanoles, sino sois de Espana; y lo sois, en qualesquiera casos de la fortuna.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »