Colombia And Peru.
The Times, 1824-10-22T00:00:00

Letters frorn Bogota to the 29th of July were received yesterday. In reference to the accoant whlich has been so much disputed of the 'defection of the Royalist Generl Olaneta, in Peru, they state that this bvent took place in consequence of hiis having found hiXtself, soon after his quarrel with La Serna,placed in a situation in which he could neither advance without encountering the corps sent by La Serna against him, nor retreat without being attacked by the Bucnos Ayrean General, Arenales, who rvas stationed at Salta, witth a coa- siderable force: in this diemmna it was that he adopted the resolu- tionl of going over to Arenales, and forming a junction. Thist mca- sure appearel to the writer of the letter we have seen from Bogota, so extraorstinary and so inconsistent with the known character of Oilaneta, that strong doubts are expressed of his sincerity in baving resorted to it. Tue date assigned for his defection is the middle ot' the month of March; but as the accousts by waY of Buenos Avres, f'rom the same quarter, comedown toamuchlaterperiod,withoutmen- tioning it. the fact itselfofthe defection isthus placed in thegreateesde- greeofdoubt. Coommunications aresaid,however,tohave been received by the Executive at Bogota from Bolivar, in which the dissensions of the Royalist Generals arc spokenof as certain, and as having so Tna- terially chaniged the prospects of affairs in Peru, that the President considered it probable the contest might terniniate without a batle- so desperate did he consider the situation of the Royalists. Ota the whole, however, it must be confessed that the obscurity iP. which the state of things in Peru was involved, is not much cleared up by the present arrivals. Letters received yesterday from Arequipa, a port in the Pacific, dated the 13th of MUay, represent the condition of the Royalist army to be extremely effective ; that Cantarac hlad a force under his comnmanid of 18,500 men; that his vanguard had advanced as far as Patevilca, a town 40 leagues to the northward of Peru; antl that he meditated an attaclc on the head-quarters of Bol-var in Truxillo. A similar account is said to have been received by way of Cadiz by the brig Tilier, which sailed from Quilca on the 2d of June, and arrived at Cadiz on the 28th of September. By this ves- sel came passenger Brigadier Baldemoro Espantero, who was des- patched with the news of the arrival of the Asia at Quilca, and who brought intelligence of the nature above stated. It is of course impossible to reconcile these accounts, or to determiine to which of them the greater credit ought to be attached. It may be obsered, that the intelligence of the movements of the Independents has generailly been characterized in a remarkable de- gree by an adherence to veracity ; while attenipts have continu- ally been made to prop ap the Royalist cause by exaggeration and falsehood. Nothing can be more favourable tlan ithe view presented in the letters from Bogota of the internal administration of Colombia, Some conmiercial privilegds have been conferred on Englishmen re- sident in ttie country, which it will be the true interest of the repub- lic to extend to every class of foreigners. A plan had been formeed fbr the creation of a sinking fund ; and a portion of the produce of tobacco, which is a monopoly, as under Old Spain, in the hands of the Government, had been set apart for a shipmeRt to England, in order to defray the interest of the loan contracted here. The great design fornaed by the illustrious President, for the assembling of a Congress of the Arimtican States at Panama, was in progress, and is expected to be carriedl into effect early in the year. We liave also received a file of Colombiaen papers to the 25th of July, from which we select the following extracts:_ [From the Caceta de Colortmbia of the 25th of July.] PERU. WVe have intelligence from the Liberating Army up to Mlay 17. General Bolivar was in good healtti, and his energy anid genius were unchanged. The army hias moved froni the deparunent of Truxillo towards Lima, with the certainty anti confidence of beating the enemy if lie resolved to risk a battle. The defection of Olaneta is tot doubted, since att intercepted corresponderce of the enemy has discovered it to the I'atriots; and in a proclamation of' the Viceroy Lacerna, dated Cusco, tlte lIth of March, the said Olaneta is treated as insubordinate, and as a conimon disturber. The fact is, that Pezuela anti Ramires, encmiies of Lacerna, as a seditious character, have prevailed in Spain that the King should tame Olaneta Viceroy of Peru. When the news of this nomination arrived in Peru, disputes existed betwveen the favourite and Lacerna; and as well on ttis account as because Olaneta was looked upon as the last of the chiefs of the Royalist arny, the other Generals resolveil to oppose the possession of the n,ew Viceroy, and to represent liilm to the Court as imnbecile, and as a disturber. OVaneta, oni his part, took measures to support hisnewappointment; but finding hirmiself surrounded by all the bodies of his eneaty's army, against whom it was iot easy for him to contend with success, he inounounced himself in favour of inde- pendence. and moved towargs the provinces of Jujuyand Salta. Valdez, the Spaniard, caused him to be pursued by the division of Carratala, wvhich vwas conmpletely routed ; this chief remnained a pri- soner. Valdcz withu his aniy passed fromii the other sile of the Dc- saguadero to combat Olaneta, and in the ntean time Canterac re- mained abandoned in Linia, and L,acerna -in Upper Peru, with a part of the forces of siriall consideration. Tite Gazetlcs of Truxillo speak of all these events, which are, without doubt, most important fbr the happy fate of the Peruvian Republic. The geniuls of dvil war which reiwtted in Peri among the Pizarros and Alniagros has taken under his protection Lacerna, Canterac, Valdez, Olaneta, and the other Peninsular tyrants. By the above news, andby the language wvhich thie Liberator eim- ploys in his letLers to the Vice-President, we believe that Lima has by this tine been occupied by our troopts, and that tliey have ex- tended their operations to Jauga, and perhaps farther, according to thie state of the enemy, and the reinforcements whiclh the Liberator lias received. He assures us, that if 4,000 experieraced soldiers fromt Golombia join him, there will raot remain a Spaniard in South 4?xe- rica, (Fromt tite Constilatiouol or Bogota, July 22.) By the public papers which ve have received from Truxillo,up tO the 13th of May, and from whicltweltave extracted in our colu masof this day what was most interesthlt, will be seen the confirmation of 'vhat we animounced in No. 7 of our paper, relative to the treason ot Olanet2, recently elected Viceroy of Peru. Wi'e obseree,notwithstand- ing, that it was erroneous to state thlat Olaneta had come over to the Colombian army or to General Bolivar, as we were firstled to believe front tthecommunications received,and from t epublic reportsAccord- ing to positive intelligence which had reacited Truxillo, General Ola. neta was in Potosi, and the Royalist (ereneral Valdez, who belonged to ithe party of Lacerna, or of those who refused to recognize Olancta as Viceroy, was on thie 22(d of Mllarch at Oruro, on his marchl to Potosi attainst O1aneta. There appears to be to doubt that the latter comiipletely defeated the advaiteel gulard of' Valdez, conitnlarded bv Carratala. After this victory, the newspapers say, -le camiie over to us with all his division." No one who lias seen the map of Peru canm conceive for an instant that wlien thie writer savs " he came over to us," he meant that Olaneta fromn Potosi, or its vicinity, came over with his diviuion to our Colonibian army at Truxillo, which is at a distance of more that 500 leagues of bal road from that point. Havine tio doubt of the fact, because it is published by the Spaniards themitselves, and comes through so manv clian- nels, what we understand is, that he went over to the independent army of Buenos Ayres, whom a Colombian in Peru could with jus- tice and propriety call our party, as they were fighting for thc same eause This assertion receives cotroboration, almost amount. ing to certaint r, by what we learn from Chile, that the distinguisthed patriot General Arenales 1uad been appointed Governor of the pro- vince of Salta, and that he was to move with his troops upon that of Potosi, where titere is no doubt Olaneta then was. If, therefore, whicil seenms undoubteJ, hc has come nver to us, the writer means to say, that finding huimselfbetwee:t the Independents ot Buentos Ayres commanded by Arenales, and the refractory Royalists under the command of Valdez, t.nd preferring justice to treachery in the alLer- native of being tltfeated by the first who should attack hitii, al- though he had routed Carratala, be decided for the Independemso, and thius escaped beinsg silot by his own countrymen. The event, of the authenticity ol' which it is hardly permitted to doubt, is in any other way unintelligible to us. That the Spaniards should have published it, independent of' its being unquestionable, is very natural : the treason ot Olaneta placed the adverse Royalist partv' itt quiet possessien of the Viceroyalty, it that part which is sti.l subject to Spaiin; and rnothing was more lihely than that Lacerna atd liis party should pablish that the man to whonm they hiad refused the obedience due to hirm had turned a traitor; but in the whirl- wind of their passions they forgot the injurv they did to them. selves, by weakening tite cause of ttbeir King andtl their own, in public opinion. COLOMBIA AND PERU7.