Star.
London, England, 1824-09-25 00:00:00

PERU.

•

Senor Don Jose de la RiVA Agnew was, in the be-
ginning of March, 1823, declared President of the Re•
public of Penn, and " all the Generals-in-Chief of the
armies of the State, and Military Chiefs of the Provinces;
the Bishops, the Tribunals, the -Ecclesiastical Bodies,
the Monicipalities, all Chiefs, Governors, and other
authorities, both civil, military, and ecclesiastical,"
were commanded to take the oath of allegiance and
obedience to his power. In a few months afterwards
we find him a prisoner in Guayaquil, and he is now an
exile in England. San Martin, %silo was declared Pro-
tector and President of the same Republic a little before
him, is now likewise an exile in this country. The latter
has published no defence of his administration, nor his.
tory of his fall; but from the former the public has
lately received a book of nearly 300 pages, entitled;
" a statement regarding his political conduct when in
the Presidency of Peru; of which we propose to give a
short account.

Peru is now the most distracted country in the whole
of the immense continent formerly called Spanish Ame-
rica. The empire of the Incas is now disputed by
parties as numerous and as fierce as in the time of the
Almagros and Pizarros. In different districts. of the
kingdom we find duce hostile armies arrayed against
each other—the authority of the absolute King of
Spain being supported by Olaneta—the cause of the
constitutional mother country by La Serna and his
friends—and that of republican independence by Santa
Cruz and the auxiliary force of Colombia. We cannot
go back to shew the origin, or to trace the history, of
these different parties, the materials for which exist
more in Peru than in any of the foimer colonies subject
to Spain. The weakness and ill success of the indepen-
dent party need not at all surprise us, if we can lend
any credit to our exiled President. It is well known
that the Spanish yoke in this portion of America was
neither thrown off by a desire of liberty, nor a feeling of
intolerable oppression in the Peruvians. The events
which weakened the action of the Peninsular Govern.
ment over its trans-Atlantic possessions produced some
effect, but comparatively a small one on the population
of the middle and northern Andes. It was necessary to
have a liberating army of Chilians, Buenos Ayreans,
and Colombians, to give a preponderance to the inde-,
pendent cause, and to effect a political change, which
the energies and knowledge of the people themselves
could not have accomplished. Even with all this ex-
ternal aid from three zealous and. youthful Republics,
the force of prejudice or of interest was so strong, and
the sentiment of freedom and Constitutional C;oseln-
ment so feeble in Peru, that not above a third part of
the Viceroyalty has ever been entirely free from Spanish
influence. Towards -the beginning of 1823, esen this •
independent fraction was in extreme danger. The
united army of Peruvians and auxiliaries bad_sastained
a defeat in Torata; at Lima all was confusion and
alarm ;.the whole of the troops of independent Peru
and its allies, to guard the capital and to protect the
liberated provinces, did not amount to more than five.
or six thouiand men. The Spaniards, on the ()tilt
hand, had collected between nine and ten thousand men

in the valley of Jauja, and had concerted a movement
upon Lima. In this capital the Independent Congress
was then sitting; but it had neither an at my for its de-
fence, money to pay troops, nor any concerted plan of
defensive operations. Much of this disaster and clanger
was ascribed to the divided councils of Congress, and
to the want of an energetic Executive in a tingle per-
son. The army, therefore, addressed the Congress on
the subject; and the latter, in compliance with the wish
of the troops, divested itself of the supreme executive
power which it had exercised along with its legislative
functions, and conferred the latter on our author, s‘ho,
of course, like other Chiefs raised is a similar manner, _
expressed his surprise at such an unexpected honour,
and his alarm at undertaking so responsible a charge.—
Placed thus at the head of the Republic, the new Presi-
dent, according to his own account, sheaved great ac-
tivity in preparing the means of defence. He sent to
demand the succours which by treaty Colombia was_
bound to contribute in case of danger; he prepared an
expedition against the Spanish force; he provisioned.
the fortresses which ►tele likely to be attacked or in•.
vested in the progress of the war ; and he endeavoured to
bring about that conciliationand harmony among the