us from it. Had we been governed by the ambition of either of those nations, we should have sent ten thousand men into Mexico, and supplied the patriots of that unhappy country with arms, and thus at once have plucked the brightest gem from the Spanish crown-we should have completed the revolution in Granada and Venezuela, and set free Peru and Chili, as well as La Plata. All this we had in our power to effect; and I question much, whether twenty years hence, we shall not repent of having been too scrupulous, too desirous of maintaining a character for justice and selfdenial, among nations who disregard both. Far from complaining, Spain ought to be thankful to us.

It seems, however, that Europe is now watching us. What have we to fear from Europe, or Europe from us, to occasion this watching? Neither can harbour the folly of an invasion, and in a maritime war we can do her more harm than she can do us. Europe will not take our bread, our cotton, our tobacco! We in turn can refuse to take her cloths, silks, and wine; and who would be the gainer? It is said, that our republic furnishes a dangerous example of successful rebellion, which must be put down. If this indeed be the case, and Europe is about to send over a fleet of two thousand sail, and three hundred thousand men, to put down America, let us prepare for this mighty invasion-let us drive out Spain from the continent, and form a chain of confederacies with the patriots! Such notions are too visionary to be gravely advanced. There was a time, when even the sagacious Talleyrand was of opinion that any kind of war would shake us to pieces, not from any violence from without, but from explosions amongst ourselves. That time is gone by. The eyes of the European governments are opened. They know well that their political institutions are founded on a state of things very different from what exists in America; that the example of America may give rise to gradua! ameliorations, but not to convulsions. They know that they will find it much more to their advantage to trade with us peaceably, than to attempt the visionary project of invading us. There will still, however, in spite of the clearest reasoning, remain some beclouded minds, to cherish a morbid and gloomy pleasure in contemplating spectres without shape or form, wrapt up in mists and fogs. It is in vain to attempt to divest them of these fears which prevent them from marching in the path which our interests point out.Must we cower at the name of Europe, as if she were capable of stretching some magic wand over us? The last war ought to have taught us to know ourselves a little better. We are not a petty state alongside of Europe, but a mighty empire, placed at such a distance, as to require twice the force that would be necessary to invade England herself. We are not on an island easily overrun,

we inhabit a vast continent-we are not part froth and part dregs, but ten millions of the most effective and intelligent people, taken as a body, in the world! devotedly fond of our country and political institutions, united and enthusiastic in their defence. There is, moreover, far less diversity in the manners, habits, and language of our people, than is usually supposed abroad; we meet, Occasionally, individuals of all nations, but there is a wonderful similarity in the natives of this extensive country. In England, or France, one meets a different description of people in every canton or county; but in travelling over all America, we shall find in the general population little more than inconsiderable shades of difference, arising from local circumstances. We are unexhausted in our resources, while Europe is bending under the weight of burthens, and the internal situations of France, England, and Spain, are the most deplorable. They might with some reason fear us, if we were a lawless banditti like the first Romans; but happily for the world, we are not; and while our republican institutions remain pure and incorrupt, Europe will have nothing to fear from us, not even when our population shall amount to fifty millions, as it certainly will in the natural course of things, in half a century. We rose from the late war with England like a giant refreshed; our strength has increased at least ten-fold. What then have we to fear when our course is marked out by justice? Let us do what we believe in conscience to be right, and leave the consequences to Heaven.

It is as much the interest of England to aid the patriots as it is ours. We ought not, therefore, to allow narrow jealousies to prevent us from concurring with them in the work of liberation. Notwithstanding all the intrigues of the English, we shall occupy the first place in the esteem and confidence of the patriots, and we ought not to desire more than an equal chance of trading with them. If the English have rendered them essential service, it is but just that they should be rewarded; it surely cannot be the wish of any generous American that the English should be excluded. All that we ought to ask of the patriots is, to be placed on an equal footing. But on this important occasion, I should like to see, for the honor of my countrymen, something like disinterested generosity, a noble and elevated zeal for the happiness of the human race, and for the glory of America-and not a dwarfish selfishness. There is no doubt but that the patriots are chiefly indebted to the English for the means with which they have been successful in throwing off the Spanish yoke. It is, indeed, paying but a poor compliment to the patriots, to suppose that they are led by the English merchants among them. The jealousy with

respect to the English in this country is natural, it can be easily traced; it is time, however, that it should be laid aside, for we may now, AT LAST, indulge a friendly feeling towards England with safety. It is, in fact, mingling a topic of politics of the United States with a question of infinite importance to the world, that ought to be considered in the most liberal manner; before we can properly comprehend with the eye a field so vast, we must rise above the little mists and fogs that obscure the objects which lie below. The common-place topics of newspaper politics should be cast aside.

It is equally wrong in us, to pretend to take sides in the political disputes which must occur in La Plata, as well as in other republics. I should think it a much more unfavorable symptom, if there were no such disputes. We, however, can be no judges in the case, who is in the right or who is in the wrong, from the want of opportunity of obtaining a perfect knowledge of the facts. But I am asked, "Have we not facts that are incapable of explanation, and which prove the government of La Plata to be a mere military despotism? Do we not know of the deportation of the patriots of Buenos Ayres, and the treatment of Carrera ? Are not these facts which no one can defend? Has not the conduct of Puerrydon been that of a tyrant ?" Alas! we have learned nothing from experience-have we so soon forgotten the nature of the accusation brought against our own government both at home and abroad? If Puerrydon has been called a tyrant, Mr. Madison has been called a Caligula; if Puerrydon is said to be the tool of the Portuguese, our republican administrations have been charged with acting in subserviency to Napoleon. Whence does this proceed but from ill will, and a partial view of facts? Let us try if we cannot imagine an explanation of the conduct of the supreme director.-Suppose a few warm, zealous, enthusiastic men, should sincerely and honestly believe, that the director was about to sell their country, and listening more to passion than prudence, should form a plot to depose him by force-that the director, informed of this, instead of bringing them to trial, should think it most adviseable in the present state of things, to have them arrested and sent out of the country. Here is nothing improbable. I am far from insinuating that any thing of this kind has happened, I am only arguing to prove that we do not know what has happened. Without making any reflections on the unfortunate individuals who have excited our sympathy in this country, (and with several of whom I have had the pleasure of an acquaintance, and cheerfully bear testimony to their truly generous and patriotic sentiments,) it is possible that these men may have

mistaken a desire on the part of Puerrydon to avoid war with the Portuguese, for a determination to betray their country.' I regret much the injury which the nascent government of La Plata has sustained in our country in consequence of this affair. Yet we have heard of nothing like insurrections or civil war in La Plata; on the contrary, the last arrivals bring us accounts of the most admirable demonstrations of public feeling, in which all seem to unite. The affair even of Carrera may be explained. This patriot arrived at Buenos Ayres, with the means of organising a private expedition for the emancipation of his country, at the very moment when the forces of La Plata were about to accomplish the same object, and when it was highly necessary that all parties in Chili should act in concert. At such a moment, it might have been deemed impolitic to permit an individual of such influence as Carrera, whose views were unknown, and probably basely misrepresented, to interfere, perhaps endanger the success of an undertaking so important. At all events, it is not for us to decide in the hasty manner that many of us have done. Have we had no party broils among ourselves, that we should thus haughtily condemn? There is still a charge against Puerrydon of being at the head of a military despotism, or republic, as some have called it. I put it to the good sense of any one-in such a state of things, who is likely to be the military despot, the one who is at the head of the civil government, or the man who has the command of the army, who has dazzled the people by brilliant success, who is received in the different cities through which he passes, with triumphs and every demonstration of public admiration? This man is St. Martin, the Liberator of Chili! When to his good fortune and talents he adds the character of a virtuous man, is it reasonable to suppose that he will not be looked to as the first man of the republic? What has been related to me of this chief, leads me almost to believe that South America, too, has her Washington. When St. Martin restored Chili to liberty and independence, he was tendered the supreme directorship by the Cabildo, but this he magnanimously declined, declaring that his business was completed, that he was about to leave them to

A singular mistake has been made in our newspapers, and shows how careful we ought to be in these cases. In the note or rescript of the supreme director, assigning the cause of the deportation, these men are said to possess ideas exaltadas. What! exclaim the editors, banishmen for possessing exalted ideas, lofty and noble sentiments! But the fact is, the words mean in Spanish, and also in the French, directly the reverse; they mean violent, seditious, unruly, dangerous, hot-headed, &c. It is but just to notice this; at the same time, I should be very far from wounding the feelings of strangers, who deserve our hospitality, by insinuating that they merited these epithets.

form a government for themselves! To avoid the public honors which were preparing for him at St. Jago, he stole out, unobserved, on his return to Buenos Ayres, but was overtaken by a deputation, requesting him, at least to accept the sum of twenty thousand dollars, for the purpose of bearing his expenses; this he positively refused. On his approach to Buenos Ayres, every preparation was made by the inhabitants to receive him in the most distinguished manner; twenty thousand people waited on the road at which he was to enter! The Chilians, in one of the first acts of their government, voted a sum of money to repay the republic of La Plata the expense of the expedition, and then, by consent of the latter, took the army into their own service; St. Martin returned to assume the command, and the manner in which he was received by the grateful inhabitants of St. Jago has been detailed in our newspapers-it was not unlike the reception given to our own Washington in Philadelphia. It is only in popu lar governments that a real triumph can ever take place; it is only here that this genuine and highest of all earthly rewards can await the virtuous and the brave. The independent republic of La Plata and Chili, through St. Martin, have in all probability, by this time, given liberty and independence to their brethren of Peru.

Although the sentiments in favor of the patriots, through the United States, is almost universal, and seems to become each day more earnest, yet there are a few who pretend to advocate a cold indifference, and even speak of the patriots in the same terms that our enemies, during our revolutionary war, used to speak of us. The patriots are called rebels, insurgents, and we are gravely advised to hold them in contempt. I would ask how long is it since we have got up a little in the world, that we should thus look down upon our poor relations? Can we bestow epithets upon these men without, at the same time, casting the severest reproach upon ourselves? No, they are now, as we once were, nobly contending against oppressors or invaders, in a cause sanctified by justice-in a cause more just than ours; for where we had one reason to complain, they had ten thousand. This cold-blooded

I

I have refrained from entering into the question of the right of the colonies to declare themselves independent of Spain. Never was there a cause more easily supported. On the side of Spain there is nothing but lawless force. On an attentive examination of the English writers against our right to declare ourselves independent of the British governnient, I find these things distinctly admitted by them as incontrovertible: that the relative condition of the colony to the colonizing state, is not the same as that of a mere province, it partakes more of that of allies, and having distinct interests from the mother-country, may lawfully throw off its au thority, which a province, under no circumstances, can. "As the colonies were not conveyed to distant countries, in order to be made slaves, or to be