Star.
London, England, 1829-07-18 00:00:00

COLOMBIAN PAPERS.

No. I.

Reply to the President and Members of the Council
of Government to the French Commissioner M. de
%LESSON.

" Sin,

" The mission which has been confided to you attests
the deep interest which France and its august Sovereign
take in the cause of Colombia. The splendid spectacle
which France now presents, and the views entertained by
its monarch, who after embracing all that can contribute
to the well-being of the Kingdom he governs with so
much wisdom, has extended them far beyond the Atlantic,
are proofs that the most Christian King has comprehended
his age—the age of philanthropy and reason.
46 Philosophy and justice will not tolerate, that a people
who has secured its independence by the heroic sacrifices
and glorious triumphs of twenty years, obtained exclu-
sively by their own efforts, shall be longer excluded by
enlightened men from the community of civilized nations.
" If Colombia has not been hitherto able to consolidate
her institutions, it is the effect of those accidents inevi-
table in all great political revolutions. In all their efforts
the people of Colombia have proved their fondness for
good order, their love of freedom, and the most lively
anxiety for the establishment of a government in which
the laws may predominate, in which justice may reign,
and in which its own inherent force may become the
guarantee of prosperity and reputation.
" In its late conflicts the sound judgment of Colombia
entrusted its fate to the LIBERATOR President ; and con-
fided to him without restriction its destinies. Its funda-
mental organization, the cessation of internal dissensions,
the glorious termination of a fratricide war, and the con-
vocation of the constituent congress, have justified their
election.
" In the first day of the ensuing year the National Repre-
sentatives will be assembled. This body will not be in-
attentive to the lessons of our own experience, nor the
salutary councils of public reason. The wishes of France
and of her august Sovereign will be accomplished.
" In the meantime, Sir, it is for Colombia a gratifying
event that France, who, fifty years ago, made such gene-
rous efforts to assist the emancipation of the first free na-
tion created in the new world, should have directed her
views upon our country. The pacific independence of
the Continent of Columbus is necessary for the prospe-
rity of the new world, and the complete civilization of
the old. There is but one act of perfect justice want-
ing, in order that the name of Charles X. may pass to the
remotest posterity with the glory due to philosophical and
just Princes.

" It is most honourable for me that the accidental ab-
sence of the Liberator President, should have afforded
1 • me the occasion to express these sentiments, and to as-
sure you, that the feelings of the Council over which I
have the honour to preside, are similar to those, Sir, your-
self expressed."

No. 11.
Extract from the dispatch of General SUC RE to the
Secretary of State, relative to the results of the battle of
Tarqui :
" HERD-QUARTERS, Quito, March 1 1 th, 1829.

" The Peruvian army being completely routed, I sent
an Officer of the Staff to offer terms of capitulation,
which might save its remains from total destruction ;
for the honour and just resentment of Colombia once
satisfied, it was neither the desire of the Government nor
the troops to shed any more Peruvian blood, or combat
without glory. General LA MAR replied, by demanding
the concessions he wished to obtain, and requesting that
Commissioners might be named to conduct the negocia-
tion. Upon which General HERES and Col. O'LEARY
were appointed on our side.
" Hostilities were now suspended, the enemy having
lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, above two thousand
five hundred men, including sixty superior Officers, a
quantity of arms, standards, and baggage. The field of
battle presented a scene of the utmost horror: fifteen
hundred dead bodies which lay in the field had expiated
the offences towards Colombia and the Liberator, as well as
the crimes of the 2d of August, 1810, at Quito. Ad-
hering to the orders of Government, not to abuse our
victory, I reduced my instructions to the terms which had
been proposed to General LA MAR, on the 3d of February
at Ona, when he applied to know on what conditions
Colombia would consent to make peace. I thought it
indecorous for the Republic, and its Chief, to humiliate'
Peru after a defeat, by harder conditions than when her
army amounted to double our numbers ; and I wished to
show that our sense of justice was the same after, as
before the battle.

" After much discussion, the Peruvian Commissioners
observed that their General declared in the replies of
Saraguro, that the basis proposed at Ona were those
which a victorious army would impose on a vanquished
people, and that he could not agree to them. It being
late in the day when this reply was communicated to me,
I immediately sent beck my ultimatum, stating that un-
less the terms offered at Ona were accepted before day-
light next morning, no further negociation should take
place, without adding to the proposals of Ona two more
clauses, demanding of the Peruvian army the surrender
of its remaining arms and standards, as also payment of
all the expenses of the war.
" At five o'clock on the morning of the 28th, a Co-
lonel of the Peruvian army appeared in our camp, and
solicited on the part of his General a total suspension of
hostilities, with a request that as I knew all the officers,
I would consent to name any two who were most likely
to inspire confidence. I replied that all were alike eli-
gible to me, but that I had indicated my wish of naming
General GAMARRA, at Paquichapa. At ten o'clock,
General FLORES and Colonel O'LEARY proceeded to a
house between the two camps, as the Commissioners on

our side. Here they were met by Generals GAMARRA
and Oaaloos°, in behalf of the Peruvian army. After,
a lengthened discussion of all the points, and their'