The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-22 00:00:00

MR. W. BRENT, JUN., TO MISS ROSAS.

" Buenos Ayres, February 1, 1846.
" My dear Mannelita,—l herewith send a letter for
your father. This letter has been my occupation on
many Sabbaths ; and I have not visited the house of
God on those days. But I feel and know that I have
been employed in the work of our Lord and Master.
May God bless this my work.
" I have kept no copy of it ; I have not time. I ask
of you, dear Manuelita, to make me a copy of it, in your
own hand-writing, if you have time. What a pleasure
it would be to me to preserve this letter to your father
in the hand-writing of Manuelita. But I know how
much you are occupied, and I know full well the aid you
give to your father, while he is so seriously engaged in
affairs of state. If you should not have time, ask your
father to have a copy made for me. May God bless you,
and pour down upon you his choicest blessings, is the
ardent prayer of truly your affectionate friend,
"W. BRENT, jun.
" To Miss Manuela de Rosas y Excurra."
MISS ROSAS TO SIR. W. BRENT, JUN.
" La Encarnacion en Palermo de San Benito,
February 11, 1846.
"My very esteemed Sir,—l have had great pleasure in
delivering to papa the esteemed letter you sent to me for
him. It contains luminous and benificent principles of
truth and virtue ; and a just and gracious God will bless
this your work of charity and of love for the liberty and
happiness of the Americans.
" Papa esteems it as an affectionate and noble. testi-
mony of the interest you take in the welfare of the Ar-
gentine Confederation, and of the fervour with which
you profess the religious and patriotic princples which
elevate and honour the United States, your happy
country. He replies to you to-day also, with peculiar
heartfelt satisfaction.
" As regards myself, I have perused with tenderness.'
and emotion your important letter, which raises the
mind towards our Lord God, the Supreme Author of all
good and of all happiness, and places under the auspices
of his omnipotence the destinies of my country and of
America.
" Agreeably to your wishes, which I regard as a fresh
token of affection and distinction, I forward to you for
the present a copy, authenticated by me, of your beauti-
ful and interesting production, reserving to myself for
more tranquil times, when papa succeeds in obtaining
the repose of private life which he long since so ardently
desires, to send yen a copy in my own hand writing of
your abovementioned letter. The day when I can
ac-
complish it will be a happy one for me.
" Meanwhile I offer to you the expression of my ac.
knowledgment, and of the distinguished consideration
with which I am your very affectionate and obedient
servant,
" MANUELLA ROSAS Y EXCURRA.
" Mr. William Brent, jun., Chargo d'Affaires
of the United States."
The letter from Mr. Brent to General Rosas, alluded
to in the preceding, is too lengthy for insertion in our
columns, nor is it necessary for our object, which is
simply to illustrate the character of one of the principal
actors in the affairs of the River Plate. It is sufficient
to say that the object of the letter is to show the efficacy
of public prayer and fasting in producing national de-
liverances, which doctrine the writer supports by various
quotations from Scripture, and instances drawn from the
experience of the United States; and to recommend the
setting apart of a day for that purpose in Buenos Ayres,
which he does in the following words:—
" I ask, then, Sir, from you, as the head of this nation,
that places so much confidence in your Excellency, that
you will recommend a day to be set apart for humilia-
tion and prayer, to be observed by all who shall be thus
religiously inclined ; in order that they may offer, at
one and the same time, their united vows and adora-
tions to Almighty God, on the solemn 'occasion pro-
duced by the war, in which he has been pleased to
' permit the injustice of two foreign nations to involve
the nations living on La Plata.
"In this, my friend, as on all occasions, let us obey
the command of Him, who says, Psalms, xxxvii. 5,
' Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ;
and he shall bring it to pass.'
. "But let all this procedure be done in charity. By
excess of power the angels fell by excess of know•
ledge man lost his high estate. But of charity there is
no excess. Nor angel nor man ever came into peril by
charity. " Your friend,
" W. BRENT, jun.

" Buenos Ayres, Dec. 14, 1845."
The reply of General Rosas is as follows :
GENERAL ROSAS TO MR. W. BRENT, JUN.
"La Encarnacion en Palermo de
San Benito, Feb. 11, 1846.
"My esteemed Friend,—The letter you have addressed
to me has produced a lively impression in my mind, from
the affectionate terms in which it is conceived, and the
benevolent design it has in view, as well as from the
grateful recollections it awakens, inasmuch as it asso-
ciates-reflection upon the decrees of our being with the
most profound interest for the welfare of my country
and of the American cause.
" Our Lord God who has created the world by his
Divine word and Omnipotence, has given to nations
rights and liberty. His adorable providence graciously
watcheth in order that the injustice of the strong shall
not prevail over the reason of the weak, nor disturb the
harmonious concert which his infinite wisdom has es-
tablished from the beginning of time.
" The origin of all truth, and the source of happiness
for the human race, is to be found in Divine revelation.
The political and physical history of the world is a suc •
cessive and constant corroboration of the truth of the
Sacred Scriptures, which is handed down from age to
age. Political and moral philosophy would be led away
into confusion, without the ineffable light of faith and
the fervour of Christian charity.
"You have sought in this unerring guide appropriate
considerations and salutary precepts in order to arrive at
a result worthy of a people venerating religion and loving
liberty and independence, who struggle with faith and
courage to preserve that great blessing of Providence,
without which they cannot live or prosper among the
nations of the earth.
" I recall with pleasure and satisfaction our delightful
interview on the night of the 17th of June; and, con-
sidering the profound interest with which you regard
American affairs, affected by an unparalleled event in
these republics of La Plata, I conceive all the intensity
with which you meditated upon these subjects, raising
your spirit towards God.
" Fruit of this intellectual concentration—origin of
the truth which is formed in us by the ineffable goodness
of God—are the important reflections you present to
me, and which, with the most profound gratitude, I in
the highest degree esteem.
" Fully concurring in your ideas, in which I find per-
fect harmony with my own and with the sentiments of
my heart, I have the gratification to state to you that
the governments and people of the Argentine Confede-
ration have always addressed, and do not cease to offer
up their humble and Christian supplications and prayers,
' that the Lord our God may vouchsafe, in his infinite
goodness, to continue the visible protection he extends to
them in the just struggle they maintain for their liberty
and independence. Agreeably to a regulation and con-
stant practice, during the period of my administration,
the ministers of the altar in the holy sacrifice and in their
prayers invariably invoke the protection of the Most
High in favour of the republic. In their sermons and
pious exhortations they implore with a glowing love of
country the continuance of the blessings of God towards
a people who combat against the slavery and desolation
with which they are threatened by the foreigner and the
impious and cruel faction of ruthless Unitarians, who
have learned nothing nor forgotten anything in the re-
peated discomfitures with which Divine Providence has
chastised their impiety, their treachery, and their
cruelties. The people in the Christian exercises, in the
novenas, rogations, and processions, which are frequently
practised, with all the splendour of divine worship, im-
plore with faith and hope the protection of the Almighty.
To 'his constancy in praying to and blessing the Lord
. God, I ascribe, and have always ascribed, both the
victories which have crowned the national arms and the
admirable fortitude of the country in resisting the
strongest attacks of the foreigner.
" On different memorable occasions of national glory
the Government has consecrated the trophies to the
author of every triumph, and directed religious demon-
strations to be made in order to solemnise the great
events of the country. In our annals you will find a
series of documents to this purport, with which your
religious and enlightened mind will sympathise.
" And, indeed, sir, in these times of difficuities and
trials, with which the infinitely just God has been
pleased to test our fidelity to the oath of independence
which we have taken before his altars, and on the book
of truth and salvation, much doth it behove the in-
habitants of the republic humbly to offer up to Heaven
the fervent tribute of their thanksgiving, inasmuch as it
has granted to them splendid and ill ustrious victories,
and that faithful perseverance and firmness of will and
action which presents the Confederation inaccessible to
the ferocious treacheries which have been the scourge
of other countries—strong from the expression of the
public voice and the justice of its cause—and possessed
of claims on the sympathies of Ai neaica and of the
friends of freedom in both hemispher es.
" In moments of public consternation in other coun-
tries the' goodness of Divine Provide na3 has been made

...
visible, at the humble a.nd faithful" prayers of the
afflicted ; and I deeply venerate the .e:Eamples you re-
call, and which are so much connectxd with the glori-
ous deeds of the United States. Those signal blessings
of God speak to the understanding, s .nd to the heart,
and will stimulate the lively and it icessant religious
fervour of the country, and of the mini sters of the Lord,
to continue their prayers and supplicat ions in th Hita-
blished form, grateful in the eyes
and not to cease to bless him, and tribute to him
or, f the Mostgh,
humble thanksgiving for the state of ti and iing
of the
supe future
erior to
the difficulties, glorious, full of vigour,
promise.
" In fact, rength and con-
-act, blessings of God and the at
Ist purpose and
centration of wills for a patriotic an&Y.
cils of the con-
duty, the wisdom displayed in the c oum
federate governments, the subordii mum and glory of
of th
the national armies, the fidelity 'and ent..NY
people, and the favourable circumsta aces of a lk. ad which,e
although invaded and beleaguered 'by powerful , enemies,