Star.
London, England, 1820-01-27 00:00:00

SPANISH AMIRICA.

*EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM TRINIDAD, NOV.p.
"The Royalists held out some hopes that General
LA 'fORRE, whose head-quarters were at Cucuta,
would be able to advance into New Granada and
heat General BOLIVAR; but the following account,
'Copied from the Curacoa Papers of 2d October, shewt
that he-ha, been beaten from thence, and compelled to
retreat from it :
, CUILICOA, OCTOBER 2.
1 6 Accounts from Maracaibo state, that the town
of C,actita, about three days journey from the former
iflate, has been occupied 'by the Independents under
Boni VA It, who is said to be or. his return from Santa
l Fe, having left a strong force behind him to garrison
I that place. A great number of people had arrived
Lit Maracaibo with their property, with which they
I led on the :approach of the Independents at Cucuta.'
" Here we have no accounts direct from BOLI VA rt
later than 23th Aug. at which time he had marched
a:: army for Popa an, another fin Sant:t Martha, and
I a third was returning to the Apure, by the road of
1 Cucuta, to join PALL Bonivaa has sent down to
Angostura 25C, 000 dollars for the purpose of pur-
chasing arms. We have this moment heard that San
Fernando de Apure had been taken by Gen. PAEZ;
thilwe have been expecting for some time. It opens
the whole commerce of the interior to us, and its ad-
vantages, in a military point of view, are incalculable.
I am in correspondence with most of the British
Officers in the Patriot service, and the accounts they
give rf the promising appea ance of affairs are truly
cheering. Colonels BLOSSET and STOPFORD assure
me they will be in Caraccas in less than three months.
Davtatzta's troops are landing at Esmeralda, near
Cumana, and if they attack that place it must fall."
..'SoY EMBER 12.—" The second September Mail is
arrived, but I have not a letter. But I have to add,
that a vessel is just arrived from Angostura, and the
Master reports the capture of San Fernando. This
was a natural consequence of Commodore DIAS'S
victory. We have accounts from Curacoa, of the 2d
October, that Cucuta has been occupied by General
Souncurre, who commands a division of the Inde-
pendent Army. Fodo cac de Maduro. The Spanish
emigrants from Cucuta had arrived at Maracaibo,
which is near Curacoa.
"The Br itish Legion is in high health and spirits atl
Maturin. I have seen most satisfactory letters from
Colonel BLOSSET who commands it, and also from
Colonel STOPFORD, who is on military business atl
Angostura; it will march soon. I expect DEvEitEux'sl
troops are there too by this time. Colonel WOOD- !
BERRI/ writes, that ' lots of recruits and lots Of cattle' I
have arrived there."
" PORT OF SPAIN, NOVEMBER 5.
" Who could have conceived that the Independent
army, reduced to act on the defensive on the Apure
and the Arauca, would have been able, without ex-
posing their cause to ruin in Venezuela, to attempt
the conquest of New Granada? Probably there
were as few on this side of the water, as on that, who
did not consider it, with the force it was undertaken,
as of greater risk than any calculation could warrant.
But the great and inflexible mind of Gen. BOLIVAR
saw all the advantages to be derived, and was not to
• be moved firms his purpose by the dangers or diffi-
culties it presented; and to carry it into effect, he
c'ho'se that season of the year when he knew that the
incessant rains would detain the Spaniards in their
winter quarters, from any attempts of probable suc-
cess on the Independent territory of Venezuela ;
while, if he surmounted the dreadful obstacles, which
such a season presented, until he crossed the Cordil-
lera, that he would find the weather fine in New
Granada. To make this clear, it is necessary to
explain, that in Venezuela you have six months fine
weather, and six months rain in succession ; in New
Granada you have two wet seasons and two dry, of
three months each. The great object, independent
of liberating one of the finest and richest countries
in South America, was to deprive the enemy, by a
grand coup de main, of their resources of men and
money, on the spot, as it were, for subjugating Vene-
zuela; for Moattaaa's policy had always been to
recruit in New Granada for Venezuela, and vice versa.
So long as the natives were unarmed and unprotect-
ed,. forced loans and conscriptions were carried on
under the Reign of Terror ; but the moment General
BOLIVAR appeared, like a gu'ardian and avenging
angel, the people gathered to his standard as fast as
they could. Ce sent les p?emiers pas qui content.
Three hard-fought battles, which have added a king-
dons to his former military fame and reputation, put
him in possession of Santa Fe, and in communication
with the whole of the coantry. The battles of Boyaca
and Maipo, so similar in their circumstances and
consequences, will, I trust, be celebrated to the latest
posterity by a free and grateful people.
" How much mote important is the taking of Santa
Fe than that of Caraccas ! Had the Spaniards been
driven first out of the latter, how easy would they
have run down to Carthagena, and coacentrated
their forces ; but to come from Carthagena to Ca-
raccas with troops by sea, " hic labor, hoc opus ea,"
as.you are well aware. But General Motavita has
saved them the trouble of such calculations at pre-
sent, having enlisted almost all the Royalist army
(his prisoners) in New Granada, consisting chiefly of
Venezuelians ; and securing the Spaniards, with the
exception of the very few who escaped, and to whom
he will not give an hour's rest.
" In Venezuela, things wear an . equally pleasant
prospect ; 300,000 dollars in gold have been for-
warded from Santa Fe to Angostura, of which
100,000 had already arrived, to purchase muskets,
&c. 1 have an official dispatch of Commodore Dias
before me, dated at Aparito, Ist October, giving an
account of his having captured the whole Spanish'
flotilla of ten gun-boats, on the 30th September,
armed with one hen and five brass guns, and four
swivels, together with 600 cartridges for the can-
nun, 5000 musket-cartridges, one drum, four cases
of nails, and all the correspondence of the enemy in
that quarter. The Spanish Commandant and 80 men
were killed, and those that got on shore, including
200 soldiers, were pursued by Colonel PENA, of Ge-
neral Pas:z's army ; and DIAS writes, he does not
think one can escape. General PAEZ commands the
western army on the Apure, and Dias, who is a
Post Captain, the flotilla.
" General A RI NO commands in chief the eastern
army. In this all the British are to be employed.
General BERM upez, second in command, is gone to

" iilontm.odispatched General LA Tonns withithe
Regiment of Navarre to take the command in gew
Granada, by way of Merida. He arrived at Cucuta
on the 4th of August ; but on the 10th, General
BoLivAft was in possession of Barreyro, his army,
and Santa Fe.

" DIAS, who has risen entirely by his valour and
merit as an excellent sailor, is a Nlargaritanean, and
may, even in relation to his countrymen, be styled
' braze parmi ks braces: The glorious and memo-
rable action he fought at Pegallos, at the entrance of
the Orinoco, where he defeated three times his num-
ber, of Spanish gun-boats, and thereby very much
facilitated the taking of the place, established his
naval reputation. By this last victory he has blasted,
in a moment, all MoaiLco's schemes on the Apure
and Guayana, which he has been planning for the
last twelve months. The gun-boats in question were
constructed with great expense and trouble, at a
place called El Baul, on the river called La Portu-
guese, which falls into the Apure. Having taken
the flotilla, it is expected he will next destroy the
arsenal at the Baul. The prizes are of a large size,
well finished, and well adapted for the double put-
pose of fighting or conveying troops. The 200 sol-
diers were destined to increase the garrison of San
Fernando, which can only receive provisions by
water ; and will, probably, soon fall now, as it did
before, when their flotilla was destroyed by this very
Dtas. How much does Venezuela owe to the valour
and patriotism of those brave Islanders! One of
them, writing to a friend two years ago, jocosely
says—' The Spaniards have destroyed all the sheep
in the island, and ARISNIENDI all the Spaniards; so
if you require a supply of either, you must apply
elsewhere.' Gostrz afterwards gave a good account
of the Vandals, who, under MORILLO, spared neither
sex nor age. They are both natives of that island,
become so celebrated by the glorious and successful
efforts of their countrymen, under their guidance
and command. Aloatt.to's own dispatches are a
monument to their fame! But he suppressed the
account of the women and children butchered by his
troops, and the poor little Guaycaree Indian, whose
hands were cut off, bound up, and in this state sent
into the city, as a pledge of the fate of the inhabit-
ants. if they resisted. How miserably was this but-
cher disappointed!"

SPAIN.

bring elle troops over from Mararitta to Maturie.z- 1,5001* while other .parties raise it, to #,OOO. . Both'
They ate to land.at the port of Esmeralda, near Cu- these statements are incorrect; the truth lies between
'riaco,'which General MARINO has occupied'to protect them: and the most probable estimate may be fixed
%he disembarkation. ftaz and MARINO will form .at between .5,000 and 6,000, without, however, has ing
junction to open the campaign, by marching on at their head any officers with whose names the pub-
Caraccas, and will probably be reinforced by 2000 lic is familiar. The posts of commissioned officers
men from New Granada, under General SOuBLETTE, were supplied by serjeants who joined in the revolt,
by way of Cucuta and Merida. This division is the greatest part of the officers who previously corn-
gone also to look after LA TORRE, who would try to msaded the mutineers having abandoned them when
get to Carthagena. they renounced their allegiance. The contagion ap-
" For other particulars I refer you to the inclosed pears to have extended to Seville, where there was a
Gazette. Read the Decree of the Government of slight popular commotion, which was soon suppress-
Angostura, in regard to the foreign troops. What ed. Meanwhile, scarcely had the news.of the-revolt,
can be mere honourable? And this at a moment and a report of the proceeding of- the revolters; been
when the means are coming in. When men embark received, than the Authorities of that city formed
in a great cause, unless they embark as mere mercy- themselves into a junta, and conferred provisionally
narics, they should not be so ready to abandon the on General Freyre, who then resided in Seville as
enterprize on the first blush of disappointment. The commander of the Royal Carabineers, :die command
uniformity in the reports of Colonel Roezarsoe, of itt chief of the at my of Andalusia.
the British Legion, who died on a visit to his bro- " The King, before knowing of this measure, exe-
ther here, and those of Lieutenant-Colonel WOOD- cuted in his name by that Junta, had dispatchekfto
BERRY, both British Officers, who had seen a great that General the.appointment of Captain-General of
deal of the worjd, and active service on the Penin- Andalusia. The first thing which he did wa' to
sula, as well as that of many others, attest the kind assemble the corps which were nearest at hand, toge-
disposition of the natives towards them, and the de- ther with the whole body of the Cavalry (no regiment
sire of identifying them with themselves in every ad- of which had mutinied), and to surround and circum-
vantage to be derived from their mutual efforts..— scribe as much as possible the Rebels. As the latter
What more can be expected ? I always regret, when are inlet iiat in numbers, and as Cadiz as well as
I -see an honourable man sacrifice to a moment's le- Seville has escaped from their grasp, there is every
vity a great undertaking, at the very moment it appearance that the General will be able to disperse,
holds out a prospect of rewarding' his labours; and, them, or even compel them to submission. In the
much more so if he be an Englishman, because, meantime the communication •betweee Cadiz and
after the events of the late war, perseverance appears this capital is re-established.
to be a characteristic 'trait of great importance in our " From every thing that can, be collected; this
national character. A few seceders will, however, revolt appears to have proceeded almost entirely
no more influence the emigration to South America, trom the repugnance which' the soldiers feel to em-
than it has to the United States, while so many re- bark for America. This repugnance was taken ad-
spectable men remain and adhere. vantage of by some ill-disposed individuals (and of
" A great many non-commissioned Officers and de- such there are many), who have for some time
serving privates from the British Legion, and Cole- directed their views to the subversion of the existing
nel URSLER'S, have been prsanoted to the rank of Government. It is at any rate certain, that if such
Officers in the Litter, recruited already to 800 strong attacks are repeated, die edifice must at last be
(from a detachment of LAO, with natives, who arc overthrown."
anxious to serve in it, although all the Officers are
foreign.
"-•-•
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THE EVENING STAR.