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would be a great saving in planting, I send the following fact for insertion in the Monthly Magazine, if you think proper.

I cut off six tops of potatoes, six or eight inches long, and planted them in a border of light earth, where potatoes had never been planted, so late in the year as June 16th, last; they were not moulded up. The produce was dug up October 20; the quantity was equal, and the size even larger than any in the garden. They should be watered when planted, and a dripping time should be chosen.

Abingdon,

Feb. 4, 1813.

J. C.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

S

SIR,

OME time since applications were made through your very useful Ma. gazine, for remedies to cure the toothach. This appears to be a complaint for which no specific remedy has been found, except extracting the tooth, which is an operation few like to submit to if they can avoid it. In my family I have for years tried the following application, viz. a plaister of Burgundy pitch, spread upon leather, or thick cloth, and applied to the cheek just over the part where the pain is. There are few instances in which it

MEMOIRS AND REMAINS

SOME ACCOUNT of the LIFE of DON MARIANO MORENO, SECRETARY of the JUNTA of BUENOS AYRES; including a SKETCH of the REVOLUTION of the SPANISII PROVINCES in SOUTH

AMERICA.

THE

(Continued from page 37.) THE city of La Plata, with its subject territory, is a miserable district; not a single tree relieves the eye in surveying its high and naked mountains; and the simplest necessaries of life cannot be procured except from a distance of ten or twenty leagues, where the soil is more favoured by nature. It is not easy to discover what induced the conquerors to form a settlement in so wretched a situation: the error of erecting villages on sterile spots, without any other object than that of mining, when they might have found advantageous situations along the shores on the Pacific, or toward the frontiers of Brazil, cannot be imputed in this instance, since the place has no mines.

It may be a consequence of that imprudent system which was followed in founding Potosi, which is equally ill si

will not give relief. It should be put on in the evening, and may be taken off in the morning when the patient gets up; it should be spread about the size of the top of a large tea-cup. If it is suffered to lie upon the cheek for only ten or twelve hours, although it will abate and even remove the pain, it will seldom leave any mark upon the cheek. There are indeed some few constitutions in which it will produce a slight degree of inflammation; but surely any person would pre. fer this trifling inconvenience to the toothach. In some cases it might be proper to put the plaister on every evening for two or three evenings together, and take it off in the morning. This remedy is cheap, safe, and as effectual as most.

I beg leave also to add, that I have found the following the best remedy for the cure of a sting by a wasp or bee. Take an onion and cut it through the middle, then put a quantity of salt upon it, and lay it upon the place, and let it remain on for some time, viz. for an hour or more. I have been frequently stung both by bees and wasps, and have tried almost every remedy that has been prescribed for the cure of them, but never found any of equal efficacy with the above. J.R.

OF EMINENT PERSONS.

tuated; and as that settlement is quite as incompetent to sustain its inhabitants, we may infer that the object of the Spanish government was to distribute into two cities the individuals who had to work the mines, and those who were destined to appropriate their produce. Custom and precedent have had great influence on the Spanish settlements in the new world; hence we find that in Mexico the conquerors followed the example of the Aborigines, preferring the central mountains and the regions of the mines to the more fertile tracts, and to those districts which border on the ocean.

The canon lived as a public man; and the affairs of his diocese, as well as his own business, kept him all day from home. As he had cultivated letters from his youth, the talents of Mariano gained his admiration and won his friendship. The apartments of his library, fitted up with great elegance and taste, and stored with the best European authors on poli tics, morals, religion, history, &c. in spite of the inquisitorial despotism exercised at Buenos Ayres, were opened to the eager curiosity

1813.]

late Secretary to the Junta of Buenos Ayres.

323

curiosity of the young theologian. Per- he only waited to be admitted to the pub.

haps it was here that his genius took a particular direction, for the literature most congenial to the taste of the Peruvians is that of France; and Mariano, thoroughly versed in that language, enlarged and cultivated his mind by the study of Montesquieu, D'Aguésseau, Raynal, and other celebrated writers of that nation.

In a short time he was fully prepared for the public acts which were required to qualify him for the degree of doctor in theology, which degree he received through the good offices of the viceroy, at a saving of more than six hundred crowns, which that ceremony generally costs. He then entered himself of the academy established for students in jurisprudence. It is unnecessary to spe. cify the course of studies pursued in this academy previous to obtaining the degree of bachelor; the student, after having completed it, is required to practise in the public courts before he can be admitted to a private examination by the judges of the Audiencia, in whose jurisdiction he has to exercise his profession: this examination is the sole requisite which the law exacts, as qualification for an advocate.

In Spanish America the advocates are the most respectable class in society. They are the best informed and the most liberal; and it may added to their credit, that as a body they have remained in. corruptible in the very front of despotism, as exercised by the prevaricating judges who preside in the Audiencias.

On learning that Mariano had entered on the study of law, his parents were considerably alarmed, but his friends and patrons soon reconciled them to the change, He investigated with ardour and perseverance all the branches connected with the science of legislation, and extended his inquiries into every department of knowledge which is requisite to form a statesman. For these pursuits he was favourably situated; the house in which he resided, on account of the office of its master, was the great circle of society, and the centre of all public affairs belong ing to the settlements in Peru; hence he acquired a singular dexterity in the management of public business, and an accurate knowledge of the human character. Ile entered on the practice of the law under a respectable advocate in the city, who had been his tutor in the academy; and, having graduated in the profession,

lic exercise of it. At the end of two years, which he passed in this situation, he espoused a young lady of La Plata, daughter of a widow, who had educated her with the greatest care, and had boarded her in a nunnery until her thirteenth year: she was not more than fourteen at her marriage with Mariano.

As soon as he began to practise as an advocate he was entrusted with a considerable number of processes, which he conducted with great success, and highly to his own credit. After a very honour able career he was at length the victim of his ardent zeal for justice; his defence of an oppressed man, in the very teeth of the judges, excited their malice and drew down their vengeance upon him. So arbitrary is the judicial power in South America, that the same magistrate or tribunal, against whose decision an individual found cause of appeal, had the power of chastising him for any supposed contempt of court, without even the form of a process; and the very decree by which the party in question felt himself injured was sufficient ground ground for a severe reprimand on his infringement of that un. limited decorum required by the bench. This despotism was prevalent in all the Audiencias of South America, and tended to stifle the spirit and talents of the advocates, reducing them to the necessity of pursuing the mere routine of the forum. Dr. Moreno resolved to leave the country and return home, whence he had been absent five years, and where he looked for a more favourable field for the exercise of his talents.

Before he left Peru he determined to visit the source of its riches and its misfortunes. He traversed the short space of twenty leagues, which separates Potosi from the city of La Plata, and examined all which is contained in that celebrated possession of the Spanish crown. The evils which the possession of silver inflict on the morals and happiness of mankind, are all concentrated in the places whence this precious metal is extracted; and the first steps taken to seek it in the bowels of the earth are stained with crimes and enormities. It is a melancholy sight to a philosopher to see ar riving in this town of Potosi, parties of three or four thousand Indians, who have been torn from their homes, to work in the mines, where more than half of these wretched conscripts perish, and the survivors linger out their days in a state of debility,

19

1

1

debility, produced by the working of the
metals and the want of respiration in
these mephitic caverns.

Dr. Moreno preserved through the
whole of his life a vivid impression of the
lamentable scene which he had witnessed;
and the knowledge of what was actually
passing in Potosi, joined to the general
information he acquired during his resi-
dence in Peru, made him frequently sym-
pathize in the compassionate sentiments
of a prelate of La Paz, who, touched by
oppression and wrongs inflicted on the
Indians, used to say in conversation,
that he would willingly pass the rest of his
days in the dark cabins of the Moors, if
he might be delivered from the keen afflic-
tion of seeing the Indians serving without
pay, and subjected unconditionally, for
life, to the caprice of the oppressors of
their freedom, and the usurpers of their
property.

In the middle of September 1805, Dr. Moreno arrived at Buenos Ayres, accompanied by his spouse and a son about eight months old, He immediately requested to be incorporated in the body of advocates of that city, and succeeded after the requisite examinations. A cause which be gained in favour of the canons against the bishop of Buenos Ayres, a haughty and tyrannical prelate, was the harbinger of his subsequent advancement. He was soon nominated to the office of reporter or registrar to the tribunal of the Audiencia, in which he displayed great integrity and a disposition perfectly adapted to business.

He filled this situation at the time of the celebrated conquest of Buenos Ayres by Major-gen. Beresford, on the 27th of June, 1806. This event was equally unexpected and deplored by the inhabitants of the town, and is less glorious to the British arms than disgraceful to a numerous and active population. During the forty-seven days that the British held the place, Dr. Moreno, being at leisure, on account of the suspension of his office, wrote some memorials on this remarkable event, which are very interesting, and deserve to be laid before the public. They comprehend a view of the commercial and political state of the Spanish provinces anterior to the descent of the British, and thoroughly expose the measures pursued by the court of Madrid for the maintenance of their dominion in South America.

"The territory of Rio de la Plata," says Dr. Moreno, "is the most interesting point in all South America, both by

its locality and its commercial relations: the loss of it must be as fatal to the nation as it is to the government itself. It is the main port of the kingdom of Peru, and the city of Buenos Ayres is the centre of intercourse between those vast provinces. The merchant in Europe depends entirely on his factors in that capital for the transmission of his merchandize; it is thither also that the merchant of the interior provinces necessarily consigns his returns; and thus Buenos Ayres involves the interests and the hopes of all persons concerned in the commerce of those great regions. More than three hundred merchant vessels arrive annually in her harbours; effects to the va lue of eighteen millions, which Peru con. sumes yearly, pass for the most part through this channel; the principal amount of the herb of Paraguay is stored in her warehouses before it is sent into the provinces; the slave-trade for all South America belongs to her exclusively; a million of hides are annually exported from the subject district; and, in short, Buenos Ayres is the only settlement in South America which may with propriety be called commercial. From these pow. erful considerations it is obvious that the preservation of the city is an object quite as important to the government as to the trading interest. All Peru becomes useless to Spain the moment that Buenos Ayres is subjected to a foreign dominion. Under such circumstances contraband goods will be inevitably poured into that kingdom, to the detriment of those regularly sent from the mother country; the Peruvians will be reduced to the cruel alternative of submitting to a ruinous stagnation, or of remitting their monies to Buenos Ayres for the purchase of mules; all the produce of America will be sent to Europe through this city, at less cost than through any other channel; the specie itself will not be excepted from this general condition: these results are very notorious to every trader, and they have been verified by actual experience during the time that the colony of Sacramento remained in the possession of the Portu guese.

The court of Madrid knew the ime portance of these settlements, and endeavoured to place them in a state of defence against any invasion. They filled the capital with tribunals and offices, which imparted a kind of self-importance to the inhabitants, and exalted their patriotic

*Dr. Moreno writes apparently in 1806. feelings.

1813.] late Secretary to the Junta of Buenos Ayres.

feelings. A viceroy was appointed with superior authority over all the provinces; drove off the Portuguese from the borders; provided arms and military stores sufficient to defend the place vigorously for seven years; and directed the governors to order whatever supplies they deemed necessary to defend their respective governments.

An armament brought by Don Pedro Cevallos, augmented by subsequent shipments, formed in Buenos Ayres the best magazine for warlike stores in all South America. The only sort of defence on which Buenos Ayres could not rely was her troops. This was a fault not at all imputable to the Spanish court; three re. giments were waiting to embark at Corunna for this capital; and this reinforcement would have rendered the place impregnable. Veteran troops, with intelligent officers, would have known the use of their arms, availed themselves of the advantages of the ground, and defended this best possession of the crown; but ignorance and intrigue decided otherwise.

At the period in question the Marquis of Sobremonte was sub-inspectorgeneral of the troops of the vice-royalty. He informed his Catholic majesty that it was useless to incur the expense of embarking those regiments at a time when a single cannon-shot would unite thirty thousand trained men in Buenos Ayres: this representation gained him the credit - of being a soldier, and caused a suspension of the embarkation. This was the great error of Sobremonte, and the source of all the misfortunes that befel Buenos Ayres,

L

The death of Del Pino, and the accidental circumstance of Sobremonte's be ing appointed in the provisional dispatch, vested in him the offices of viceroy and captain general of the provinces of La Plata; he was subsequently confirmed and installed; and from thenceforward he exerted his authority to realise as great a proportion as possible of the thirty thousand men he had promised. His proceedings were ruinous; he sent to Montevideo all the veteran regiments, and on the first intelligence of an English invasion sent thither a troop of dragoons, the last of that regiment which remained in the city. So that on the moment of attack the only regular troops for the defence of the city were forty grenadiers, who had been accidentally left behind.

In this situation the only hope of defence rested on the native population,

325

Buenos Ayres has always been considered

a warlike town. Few colonies have sustained so many hostile attacks, or have defended themselves so bravely; and perhaps no other Spanish colony has maintained troops from its own funds for the defence of the frontiers. The repeated defeats of the Guerandis, the repulse of the English pirate Thomas Cavendish, and the rout of the Dutch in 1628, are so many honourable proofs of the fidelity and loyalty of this settlement. The subsequent attacks it has sustained have augmented its triumphs. The squadron sent by Louis XIV. under general Osmat; the invasion of the French in 1698; that of the Danes in the following year; the establishment of the French in 1717 near Cape St. Mary, afforded new opportunities for the heroic efforts of the people; not satisfied with merely defend ing themselves, they aspired to the glory of conquest, and their repeated captures of the colony of Sacramento crowned their achievements, while it rendered them formidable to their neighbours the Portuguese.

If Buenos Ayres, as an infant colony, made such great exertions, what might not be expected from her at a period when her population amounted to sixty thousand souls! On the invasion of the English, sixteen thousand men presented themselves for the service; there were arms and accoutrements to equip a still greater number, but there were no competent generals.

It is notorious that the invasion of Buenos Ayres was not an unforeseen stroke, which might take the government by surprise. On the 11th of November, 1805, an English squadron entered Bahia; its ultimate destination was unknown. This news rather alarmed the viceroy of Buenos Ayres; a few precautionary measures were taken in consequence, but they tended merely to fortify Montevideo, it being supposed that this was the only point on the river Plata liable to inva sion. At length it was ascertained that the hostile squadron had sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, and, in fact, had taken that settlement: then the troops which had been got together were withdrawn, and the viceroy returned from Montevideo supremely satisfied.

Though it was not believed that the taking of the Cape would expose Buenos Ayres to an attack, it was apprehended that the port would be blockaded by privateers, and its commerce interrupted; the government could not overtook the

risks they incurred by the proximity of an hostile force. No precautions, however, were taken, no batteries were formed, nor were the commanding points of the coasts furnished with cannon, the amount of which was never known in Buenos Ayres until the English drew them from the magazines; in short, no preparation was made to contest a landing.

In this state of inaction Buenos Ayres remained until May 1806, when the government received advices from various parts that a hostile squadron of many sail was off the river; its flag was unknown. There. was no doubt of its being hostile. It was, however, believed to be in search of a French squadron which had sailed from Rochefort with reinforcements for the Cape, and which finding the place taken might be supposed to have put in at Montevideo to refresh. The English, it was thought, could not be hardy enough to attempt a landing with the small force they could spare from the Cape. The marquis was joking every day in his coterie, about the hostile squadron, supposing it to consist of smugglers or South-sea whalers; but on the 24th of June, at matins, a dispatch arrived from the commandant at Ensenada, stating that the English had attempted a landing there, and that he had resisted it with the fire of his batteries. Although the marquis had received this notice, he went to the play with as much serenity as if it had been a time of profound peace. At eight in the evening an officer entered his box, and delivered him a dispatch from Quilmes, announcing that the English were landing there; on this, he retired to his palace, where, without giving any orders, or coming to any determination, he gave himself up to the confusion, remorse and amazement, in which the consequences of his supineness involved him.

The English certainly chose the worst point on the whole coast for a landing; their vessels, without harbour to shelter in, depended for safety on their cables alone, and this in an open channel, exposed to the hurricanes and tempests so frequent in that season. The troops could make no movement which was not to be discovered and watched from the city. Our ignorant generals could oppose no obstacle to their landing; but they entered into a marsh which they could not cross, except in disorder, and exposed to imminent perils. If by toil and exertion they overcame these diffi.

culties, they had to enter on a low and open plain, where they might be destroyed by artillery, from the heights. If they surmounted these obstacles, and gained the high ground, they had to march three leagues over a level and naked country, exposed to the numerous and active cavalry of their opponents. Having de. livered themselves from these dangers, they would arrive at Barracas, and there find a position capable of containing a most numerous and well-appointed army.

An officer, who had till then been much too high in the estimation of the public, undertook to fight and beat the enemy at a short distance from the point where they landed. He had at his disposal six hundred men, with three fieldpieces; and after firing one round, he precipitately retreated, involving in his flight seven hundred men, who were coming up to his support; and he never made another stand. No further thoughts were entertained of resisting the enemy, and it is publicly known, that from the time that Arce communicated the result of the affair at Quilmes, the viceroy gave up the action for lost, and renouneed every hope. The second point of opposition was on the bridge of Galvez, over the stream commonly called Rio de Barracas, little more than a league from the centre of the city; defended by about four hundred infantry and six pieces of cannon. This plan of defence had the sane result as the former. Two thou sand five hundred citizens, who had been placed in the hollows, near the city, were ordered to retire into it, without having seen the enemy, and without having prepared themselves for his reception. An English messenger was received, who summoned the place to capitulate. The officers of the Piana Mayor, (the viceroy having fled into the interior,) in conjunction with the Real Acuerdo, and the Cabildo, formed a council to deliberate on the proposal, and a capitulation was determined on.

The place had a thousand means of defence; five hundred volunteers might have stopped the advance of the enemy, who having now passed to this bank, occupied a position in which they abso. lutely could not act: but it happened, that the officers of the Plana Mayor were military men, of the same stamp with the marquis. Their utter ignorance was such, that when they came to the resolution of forming a capitulation, not one among them could draw it up,

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