Star.
London, England, 1820-09-13 00:00:00

PATRIOT CAUSE IN SPANISH AMERICA•

The following article is from the Correo di Oro-
noco *of the 17th of June, and is understood to, be the
Official Declaration of the sentiments of the Patriot
Government at Angostura, on the political changes
in Spain, and of the offer: to which they were' ex-
pected to give rise from Morillo, the Spanish Gene-
ral, of a negociation for a cessation of hostilities.
-.-,Later accounts have been received, which would
intimate that an agreement had been entered into at
Angostura for a cessation of hostilities ; but as ulti-
mate accommodation is still uncertain, and the Pa-
triots have a strong case to allege, they are entitled
to be heard
" There is a rumoutin town of the arrival at Bar-
badoes of some Spanish Officers on their route to Ca-
raccas, with_propositions for an amnesty to the Pre-
sident of Colombia, until the Cortes shall assemble,
and determine the question of war or peace with
South America. This rumour, which may be so
agreeable to those who are adverse to the further ex-
penditure of human blood, wants confirmation.
" In all the document's which we have seen issued
by the Provisional Junta of Spain, we have disco-
vered nothing about South America, except the re-
establishment of the old department for the adminis-
tration of affairs of the dominions beyond the sea.—
It may be that by this channel those proposals. of
amnesty rumoured are to be tendered to the people
of South America, who have thrown off the yoke of
Spain. If the Provisional Junta at Madrid should be
actuated by the same generous feelings as the Chiefs
who have liberated the Peninsula[ nothing could be'
more proper than to put a stop to that effusion of
blood, which had been the delight of Ferdinand and
his satellites, in Venezuela.
" Morino, who was the prime instrument of mas-
sacre and desolation, has been continued in that sta-
tion in which he had wrought so much massacre and
cruelty, although he was well apprized of the ge-
nerous sentiments and moderation of those Chiefs,
made known everywhere by the pnblication of their
magnanimous views. Morino, who cannot exist but
amidst the slaughter of mankind, and the ruins he
has made, has compelled the people of the Republic
of Colombia to continue hostilities by sea and land.
Weitad been before acquainted that the instructions
given by Morillo to the little naval squadron which'
departed from Cumana, in April, were to kill, burn,
and destroy everything which fell in their way, with-
out reservation or distinction ; and these orders were
signed by this atrocious monster alien he was fully
apprized of the full and effective progress of the in-
surrection in favour of the Constitution, in Spain ; of
the oath taken by Ferdinand to maintain and obey
that Constitution ; of thevestabli4iment of the Provi-
sional Junta ; of the liberation of those Patriots and
Sages of Spain who had been consigned to dungeons,
and fortresses, and the Inquisition, on account of
their political opinions; of the abolition of the tribu-
nal of the Inquisiticn ; and the le-establishment of the
fieedom of the Press. _ _

------- -- -- _ _ ____
" It wereto be wished that hostilities had ceased at
the moment that the ProclaMation of (luiroga and
Acevedo was received at Caraccas. But Morillo
pursuing his sanguinary system, the necessity was
imposed on us of defending ourselves, and put suing
to justice a remorseless and peifidious enemy.
64 It is not possible to ascertain at present what may
be the nature of the proposals for an amnesty re-
ceived by way of Barbadoes at La Gu)ra, if any
such have been there received ; neither can it be pos-
sibly determined whether such proposals will be re-
jected ; nor whether they will be accepted, in case
of their being such as may be receivable. What pre-
cautions would not be necessary to prevent any acci-
dents that might be dependent on the character and
conduct of agents removed at a great distance from
their principals ! Supposing that the Provisional
Junta was more worthy of trust than Firdinand, and
that Morillo himself was not less entitled to confi-
dence in his honour, or humanity, or faith, than the
Junta, still great evils might arise out of circum-
stances not always to be foreseen, but against 'which
it would be the extreme of folly not to be prepared :
these considerations must be imperative on all those
to whom overtures may be made, when it is consi-
dered that the superior authority of the adverse party,
who make the overture, is at two thousand leagues
distance; this is an inconvenience inseparable from
the laws and constitutions which are to operate at so
great a distance.
" Amend and improve the Constitution of 1812 as
much as its general character will admit, these coun-
tries, so far removed from the seat of its operation,
can never alike participate in those ameliorations;
one of them never can, like Spain, derive advantage
from a faithful observance even of its fundamental
principles. This Constituticfn was communicated to
South America in the year of its publication, and to
Peru, Mexico, and Venezuela; but it was made a
mere machine for oppression in the hands of Callejas,
Monteverde, and Abascal. Not a single evil exer-
cised by these satraps of despotism was remedied un-
der its establishment ; and the people of Peru, Mexico,
and Venezuela, remained as much oppressed as they
had been at any prior period, under the pretended
shade of this potent Constitution ; thus compelling
those who were not to be deceived, or determined
not to be any longer oppressed, to seek a remedy in
a more vigorous effort for emancipation.
" The first Regency. of Spain invited the South
Americans to send Deputies to the Certes, and in the
convocation pointed out the evils under which those
countriesliad so long laboured, and'which had until
that time subjected them. By the Regency, South
America was theoretically released from the chains
of colonial subjection, and it was confessed that the'.
distance of these countries from the seat of Govern-
ment rendered them always liable to such wrongs.
These were the avowed sentiments of the Regency
of that period:
" However excellent a Constitution may be, it
cannot overcome the evils inseparable from distance;
and if the root of these evils exists, the evils them-
selves must grow out of it. The Regency had then
id, which they might say with truth, that the
South Americans were treated with-indifference where
they were not injured by avarice, or bowed down by
ignorance in power ; but they continued to be op.
pressed-as.before during that Regency, without any
sort of mitigation, or amelioration. The original
source of the evil remains then, so long as the dis-
tagce which separates them from the centre of Go-
vernment -continues; and no arum of a political