American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1822-03-29
REPORT ON THE RECOGNITION OF THE
LATE SPANISH PROVINCES IN AMERICA.
HOUSE 81 Rchrestntatipes, Ma

were referred the message OF the president con
corning the recognition OF the late Spanish provin
ces of America, and the documents Herewith COM
municated, having examined the same with the most
profound attention unanimously report:
That the provinces Of Buenos Ayres, after having
from the year 1910. proceeded in their revolution
airy move ments, without any obstacle from the gov
eminent OF Spain, formally declared their indepen-
dence of that government in 1916. After various
intestine commotons and external collisions those
provinces now enjoy domestic tranquility and good
understanding with all their neighbors; and actually
exercise without opposition from within or fear Of
annoyance from without, all the attributes Of
reignty.
The provinces of Venezuela and New Grenada,
after having separately declared their independence,
sustained for period of more than ten years, de-
solating war against the armies of Spain, and have
severay attained, by their triumph over those ar
mics, the object for which they commended, united
themselves on the 10Th December 8I9 in one ma
iion under the title Of " the Republic of Colom-
ba"
The republic Of Colombia has now well organ.
lied government, instituted by the free will Of its
citizens, and exercises all the unctionsof sovereign
ty, fearless alike, OF internal and foreign enemies -
The small remnant of the numerous armies com
mlssioned TO preserve the supremacy OF the parent
state is bockaded in two ortresses, where il is
lnnoxous and where. deprived as it is of hope and
succor, 1t must soon surrender at discretion when
this event shall have occurred, there will not re
main vestige Of foreign power in all that immense
republic, containing between three and four millions
o inhabitants.
The province OF Chill, since it declared ii. indie
pehdence in the year 1915 has been in the constant
and unmolested enjoyment OF the sovereignty which
it then assumed
The province of Peru, situated, like Chill, beyond
the Andes and bordering on the Pacific ocean, was
for long time deferred from making any effectual
effort for independence, by the presence of an i'm
posing military force, which Spain had kept up in
that coun.ry. II was not therefore until the 10Th
of June oil the last year, that its capital the city of
Lima, capitulated TO an army chiefly composed of
troops from Buenos Ayres and Chill, under the
command Of general San Martin. The greatest
part oil the royal troops Which escaped on that oc-
casion, retreated to the mountains but soon left
them to return 10 the coast there Join the royal
garrison in the fortress Of Caao. The surrender
of that fortress, AFTER to the Americans, may
be regarded as the termination Of the war in that
quarter.
When the people Of Peru found themselves by
this event, free TO express tl.er will they most un-
equivocally expressed in favor of independence and
with an unanimy and enthusiasm which have no
where be n excelled.
The revolution in Mexico has been somewhat
different in its character and progress from The re
volulionsin the other Spanish American Provinces
aud its result, in respect to the organization Of its
internal government has also not been precisely the
same Independence however has been as empha
tically declared and practically established since
the Oath Of August last, by the " Mexican Empire"
as ever it has been by the republics of the south
and her geographical situation, her population and
her resources, emnently qualify her TO maintain
the independence which she has thus declared and
now actually enjoys.
Such are the facts which have occupied the at
tenton OF your committee and which in their opin.
ion irresistibly prove that the nations of Mexico
Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Peru and Chill in Spanish
America, in fact independent.
1t now remains for your committee to examine
the right and expediency on the part of the United
States, OF recognizing the independence which those
nations have thus efectually achieved.
In this examination it cannot be necessary to en-
quire into the right of the people of Spanish Anne
RIGA to dissolve the political bands which have con-
nected them with another; and to assume among
the powers of the earth that separate and equal sta
ton 10 wh.. the laws of nature and of natures Tod
entitle them" The right to change the political
institutions of the state has indeed been exercised
equally by Spain and by her colonies and for US 10
deny to the people of Spanish America the right of
independence on the principles which alone sanction
ii here would be virtually to renounce our own.
The political right of this nation TO acknowledge
their independence without offending others, does
not depend on its justice, but on its actual establish
ment. To justify such recognition by us, it is
only necessary to show, already sufficiently
known, that the people of Spanish America are
within their respective limits exclusively sovereign.
and thus IN iact independent With them as with
|every nation possessing and exercising the power
OF making war, the United States. in common with
all nations, have the right of concerning terms Of
mutual peace and intercourse.
Who is The rightft sovereign of country, is not
an enquiry permitted to foreign nations, to whom it
IS competent only, to treat with "the powers that
lbe"