The Sun.
London, England, 1822-04-25 00:00:00

rOjtTIIE, SUN.

Mn. EDITOR—In your insertion of the articies
from the different Opposition Papers, I conclude
that you mean to give credit to your readers for
their due appreciation of all the nonsensical calum-
nies and misrepresentations they contain ; of
which I think the article in your paper of last
Saturday, from the Morning Chronicle, exhibits
one not the least remarkable. After some not in-
judicious observations on the " speculations" in
the " Letter from Frankfort," published in the
" Allgenzeine Zeitung," the Morning Chronicle
goes on to speak of " Lords LIVERPOOL and
IIARROWBY, and Mr. VANSITTART," as being
" Christians of the very first water, even leading
Members of those Bible Societies which are now
communicating the blessings of the Gospel to the
remotest parts of the earth ;" and says, " yet we
know that so far from wishing well to aoy war
against the Turks, these Evangelical Ministers
have not only been labouring hard to promote
the extermination of the Christian Greeks, but
also to encourage a belief in this country, that
(as the Turks are so much more merciful and
humane than the Greeks, and as living under the
same government, the difference must mainly be
ascribable to religion) Mahometanism is much
more likely to exalt the character than Christi-
anity." To this, the faithful Chronicle adds
some equally candid and just reflections on the
character of the LORD CHANCELLOR, as being
indifferent to all religion, except what happens
to be 44 the established religion of the place."
So that, according to this writer, because
our Ministers do not chuse to fly in the
face of all existing treaties, all the custom-
ary regards which Governments in a time of
peace pay to each other, we are to believe that
they in their hearts wish the cause of Mahom-
etanism to prevail over Christianity, as prefer-
ring the former on all accounts to the latter at
the same time that they are zealous promoters of
the objects of" the Bible Society." Surely such
inconsistency is' too self-evident to require being
remarked upon, and such venom must contain its
own antidote. We cannot wonder that the pub-
lisher of it should make no allowance for political
considerations, the attention to which must neces-
sarily produce some variance between the public
conduct and the private wishes of the most
upright and best meaning men, and must oblige
them to leave to the direction of an over-ruling
Providence what human prudence and human
obligation will not allow their active interference
in. In the hope that these reflections, which
appear to me to be the result of judgment and
common sense, will have their weight with the
rest of your Readers, as well as the majority of
our countrymen, I remain, Sir,
Your humble Servant,
April 22, 1822. CANDIDUS.

ment possessing_ands exercising the_pnxerotmaking war, the
United States, in common with all nations, have the right of
concerting the terms of mutual peace and intercourse.
Who is the rightful Sovereign of a country is not an inquiry
permitted to foreign nations, to whom it is competent only to
treat with " the powers that be."
There is no difference in opinion, on this point, among the
writers on public law • ,and no diversity, with respe ct to it,: if
the practice of civilized nations. It is not necessary here to
cite authority for a doctrine familiar to all who have paid the
slightest attention to the subject ; nor to go back, for its prac-
tical illustration, to the civil wars between the houses of York
and Lancaster. Long since the chiefs of those conflicting houses
alternately triumphed and ruled, and were alternately obeyed
at home and recognised abroad, according as they successively
exercised the power, without demonstrating the right--monar-
chies have become commonwealths or republics, and powerful
usurpers have been recognised by foreign nations, in preference
to legitimate and powerless pretenders. Modern history is re-
plete with instances in point. Have we not, indeed, within the
brief period of our own remembrance, beheld Governments vary
their forms, and change their rulers, according to the prevailing
power or passion of the moment, and doing so in virtue of the
principle now in question, without materially and lastingly af-
fecting their relations with other Governments ? Have we not
seen the Emperors and Kings of yesterday receive on the
Thrones of exiled Sovereigns, who claimed the right to reign
there, the friendly embassies of other Powers, with whom those
exiled Sovereigns had sought an asylum—and have we not seen
to-day those Emperors and Kings, thus courted and recognised
yesterday, reft of their sceptres, and, from a mere change of
circumstances, not of right, treated as usurpers by their-succes-
sors, who, in their turn, have been acknowledged and caressed
by the same foreign Powers ?
The peace of the world, and the independence of every mem-
ber of the great political family, require that each should be the
exclusive judge of its own internal proceedings, and that the
fact alone should be regarded by foreign nations. Even when
civil war breaks the bonds of society and of Government, or, at
least, suspends their force and effect, it gives birth in the na-
tion to two independent parties, who regard each other as ene-
mies, and acknowledge no common judge." It is of necessity,
therefore, that these two parties should be considered by foreign
states as two distinct and independent nations. To consider
or treat them otherwise, would be to interfere in their domestic
concerns, to deny them the right to manage their own affairs in
their own way, and to violate the, essential attributes of their
respective sovereignty. For a nation to be entitled, in respect
to foreign states, to the enjoyment of these attributes, " and to
figure directly in the great political society, is sufficient that
it is really sovereign and independent : that is, that it governs
itself by its own authority and laws." The people of Spanish
America do, notoriously, so govern themselves, and the right
of the United States to recognise the Governments which they
have instituted, is incontestible. A doubt of the expediency of
such a recognition can be suggested only by the apprehension
that it may injuriously affect our
.peaceful and friendly relations
with the nations of the other hemisphere.
tan such an apprehension be well founded ?
Have not all those nations practically sanctioned, within the
last thirty years, the very principle on which we now propose to
act ; or have they ever complained of one another, or of us, for
acting on that principle ?
No nation of Europe, excepting Spain herself, has hitherto
opposed force to the Independence of Spanish America. Some
of those nations have not only constantly maintained commer-
cial and friendly intercourse with them, in every stage of the
revolution, but indirectly and efficiently, though not avowedly,
aided them in the prosecution of their great object. To these
the acknowledgment, by the United States, of the attainment of
that object, must be satisfactory.
To the other nations of Europe, who have regarded the
events occurring in Spanish America, not only without inter-
ference, but with apparent indifference, such an acknowledg-
ment ought not to be offensive.
The nations who have thus respectively favoured, or never
opposed, the Spanish American people, during their active
struggle for Independence, cannot, it is believed, regard with
dissatisfaction the formal recognition of that Independence by
a nation, which, while that struggle lasted, has religiously ob-
served, towards both the conflicting parties, all the duties of
neutrality. Your Committee are, therefore, of opinion, that
we have a right on this occasion confidently to expect, from
what these nations have done or forborne to do, during the

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various fortunes of the civil war which has terminated, that - -- -• • • -- • -

AMERICA.

will frankly approve the course of policy which the United
States may now think proper to adopt in relation to the success-
-am.—
REPORT ON THE RECOGNITION OF THE LATE fill party in that war. It surely cannot be reasonably appre-
hended, that nations who have thus been- the tranquil specta-
tors, the apparent well-wishers, if not the efficient supporters,
( From the National Intelligencer.) of this party, and who have not made the faintest attempt to
arrest its progress, or to preventits success, should be displeased
HOU,SE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 19. with a third power, for merely recognising the Governments
The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which was referred the which, owing to that success, have thus been virtually permit-
ted, or impliedly approved, in acquiring the undisputed and
Message of the President, concerning the recognition of the late exclusive controul of the countries in which they_ are establish-
Spanish Provinces in America, and the documents therewith ed. It is, therefore, on the consistency, as well as on the jus-
communicated, have examined the same with the most pro-
tics, of these nations of Europe, that we may confidently rely,
that the simple recognition, on the part of the United States,
found attention, unanimously report : of the necessary effect of what has already been done, will not
That the Provinces of Buenos Ayres, after having, from the
be considered as a just cause of complaint against them ; while
the interested and immediate agents, who have been directly
year 11110, proceeded in their revolutionary movements without and actively engaged in producing that effect, have neither been
any obstacle from the Government of Spain, formally declared opposed nor censured.
their independence of that Government in 1816. After various Your Committee therefore instead, of serious) apprehendin
that the recognition, by the United States, of they Independenceg
intestine commotions, and external collisions, those provinces of Spanish America, will be unacceptable to these nations, are
now enjoy domestic tranquillity, and good understanding with not without hope that they may practically approve it, by seve-
rally adopting a similar measure. It is not indeed unreason-
all their neighbours ; and actually exercise, without opposition able to suppose, that those Governments have, like this, waited
from within, or the fear of annoyance from without, all the at- only for the evidence of facts which might not only suffice to
justify them, under the laws and usages of nations, but to sa-
tributes of sovereignty. tisfy Spain herself, that nothing has been prematurely done,
The provinces of Venezuela and New Granada, after having or which could justly offend her feelings, or be considered as
separately declared their independence, sustained, for a period inconsistent with her rights. As their motives for not having
of more than ten years, desolating war against the armies of hitherto recognised the Independence of Spanish America may
Spain, and having severally attained, by their triumph over thus be supposed to have been analogous to our own, it is per-
those armies, the objects for which they contended, united mitted to presume that the facts and reasons which have pre-
themselves, on the 19th of December, 1819, in one nation, un- vailed on us no longer to hesitate, will, confirmed as they are
der the title of " the Republic of Columbia." by our example, have a like influence on them.
The Republic of Columbia has now a well organized Govern- No nation can entertain a more sincere deference for the feel-
meat, instituted by the free will of its citizens, and exercises all ings of Spain, or take a more lively interest in her welfare,
the functions of sovereignty, fearless alike of internal and fo- than the United States. It is to this deference, too evident to
reign enemies. The small remnant of the numerous armies be doubted or misunderstood, that ought to be ascribed the
commissioned to preserve the supremacy of the present state is hesitation of this Government, until now, to yield to the claims
now blockaded in two fortresses, where it is innoxious, and of Spanish America, although these claims were in perfect ac-
where, deprived as it is of hope of succour, it must soon sur- cordance with their own principles, feelings, and interests.—
render at discretion; when this event shall have occurred, Having thus forborne to act, even at the hazard of having those
there will not remain a vestige of foreign power in all that im- principles and feelings misunderstood on this side of the Atlan-
mense republic, containing between three and four millions of tic, we have, as your Committee believe, given at once satisfac-
inhabitants. tory proof of our disinterestedness and moderation ; and of our
The province of Chili, since it declared its independence, in scrupulous respect to the principle which leaves the political
the year 1818, has been in the constant and unmolested enjoy- institutions of every foreign State to be directed by its own
ment of the sovereignty which it then assumed. view of its own rights and interests.
The province of Peru, situated like Chili, beyond the Andes, Your Committee have been particularly anxious to shosv, in
and bordering on the Pacific Ocean, was, for a long time, de- a manner satisfactory to Spain herself, that the measure which
terred from making any effectual effort for independence, by this Government now proposes to adopt has been considered
the presence of an imposing military force, which Spain had with the most respectful attention, both in relation to her rights
kept up in that country. It was not, therefore, until the 19th and to her feelings.
of June, of the last year, that its capital, the city of Lima, ca- It is not on the laws and usages of nations, or on the practice
pitulated to an army, chiefly composed of troops from Buenos of Spain herself on like occasions, that your Committee have
Ayres and Chili, under the command of General San Martin. relied for our justification towards her.
The greatest part of the Royal troops, which escaped on that The fact that, for the last three years, she has not sent a
occasion, retreated to the mountains, but soon left them to re- single company of troops against her Trans-Atlantic Colonies,
turn to the coast, there to join the Royal garrison in the for- has not been used as evidence of their actual Independence, or
tress of Callao. The surrender of that fortress soon after to of her wart of power to oppose it. This fact, explained'as it is
the Americans may be regarded as the termination of the war by the public acts of 'Spain herself, is regarded by your Corn-
in that quarter. mittee as evidence only of her policy.
When the people of Peru found themselves by this event free The last troops collected at cadiz, in 1819, which were des-
to express their will, they most unequivocally expressed it in tined to suppress the revolutionary movements in Spanish
favour of independence, and with an unanimity and enthusiasm America, not only rejected that service, but joined in the revo-
which have no where been excelled. lution, which has since proved successful in Spain itself. The
The revolution in Mexico has been somewhat different in its declaration of the leaders in that revolution was, that " Spanish
character and progress from the revolutions in the other Spa- America had a right to be free, and that pain should be
nish American provinces, and its result, in respect to the orga- free." Although the Constitution, which was re-established
nization of its internal government, has also been precisely by that revolution,_ guaranteed the integrity of the Spanish
the same. Independence, however, has been as emphatically dominions, yet the principles on which the Constitution
declared, and as practically established, since the 4th of Au- was founded seem to discountenance the employment of
guSt last, by the Mexican Empire," as ever it has been by force for the accomplishment of that object, in contempt
the Republics of the South ; and her geographical situation, of the equal rights and declared will of the American
her population, and her resources, eminently qualify her to portion of the Spanish people. ' The conduct of the Govern-
maintain the independence which she has thus 'declared, and ment, organized under that Constitution, has uniformly been,
now actually enjoys. in this respect, in conformity to those principles. Since its ex-
Such are the facts which have occupied the attention of your istence there has not been even a proposal by that Government,
Committee, and which, in their opinion, irresistibly prove that to employ force for the subjugation of the American provinces,
the nations of Mexico, Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Peru, and but merely recommendations of conciliatory measures for their
Chili, in Spanish America, are, in fact, independent. pacification.
It now remains for your Committee to examine the right and The answer of the Cortes, on the 10th of July, 1820, to
the expediency, on the part of the United States, of recogniz- the address of the King, furnishes conclusive proof of this
ing the independence which those nations have thus effectually policy.
achieved. " The intimate union," says this answer, "of the Cortes,
In this examination, it cannot be necessary to inquire into with your Nlajesty ; the re-establishment of the Constitution ;
the right of the people of Spanish America, "to dissolve the the faithful performance of promises, depriving malevolence of
political bonds which have connected them with another, and all pretext, will facilitate the pacification of the ultra marine
to assume, among the Powers of the earth, that separate and provinces, which are in a state of agitation and dissension.—
equal station to which the laws of nature, and of nature's Gon, The Cortes, on its part, will omit no opportunity to propose
entitle them." The right to change the political institutions of and adopt measures necessary for the observance of the Consti-
the State has, indeed, been exercised equally by Spain, and by tution and restoration of tranquillity in those countries, to the
her colonies ; and for us to deny tq the people of Spanish Ame- end that the Spain of both worlds may thus form a single and
rica the right to independence, on the principles which alone happy family."
sanction it here, would be virtually to renounce our own. Although the ultra marine provinces are not here encouraged
The political right of this nation to acknowledge their inde- to expect absolute Independence, yet they are no longer treated
pendence, without offending others, does not depend on its as vassal colonies, or threatened with subjugation, but are ac-
justice, but on its actual establishmett. To justify such a re- tually recognized as brothers in the great constitutional and free
cognition, by us, it is necessary only to shew, as is already suf- family of Spain.
ficiently shewn, that the people of Spanish America are, within. A Report made to the Cortes, on the 24th of June, 1821, by
their respective limits, exclusively sovereign ; and thus, in a Committee appointee by that body, not only manifestly cor-
fact, independent. With them, as with every other. Govern- roborates the policy above stated, but sufficiently intimates

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