The letters and papers br...
The Times, 1824-08-05T00:00:00

The letters and papers brought yesterday by the Jamaica packet were ainxiously examined, for evidence tendin.g to confirm or contradict the account of BOLIVAR'S ViCtOrY over CANTAR,%c-an event on which perhaps depend the liberties of South America, and the tranquiUity of Elurope. The latest intelligence from Peru, by way of Jamaica, isI contahied in a letter from Panama, dated the 2SLh of May, but which does not bring up the news to so late a date as is done by the Guayaq4il letter, quoted in out paper of the 29th elt., the authenticity of *hichl has becen so generally disputed. It therefoxe of course contains no mention of any battle having taken place between BOLIVAR and CAS-. TARAC. The positions of the troops, however, as therein given, agree with those dlescribed in the Guayaquil letter; and, considering the minuteness of the detail in that ac- count of the action, it is scarcely possible, if a fabrication, that some geographical error should not have been com- mitted. The letter fromi Panama, which will be foundl under the head of Jamaica papers, unfortunately gives no date at wvhich the latest accounts thus received left the bead-quarters of the Liberator, but it could not eVidently be far advanced in April. BOLIV'L is then described as waiting the aTirival of his reinforeements, without which he could not venture to takc the field against the Royalists, nor were they expected to arrive before the middie of May. Reinforcemnents of tioops in South America, it is well known, meet with so many impediments on the march, that they seldom arrive even at the time expected; but in this case, it is evident that they must have anticipated by at least a fortnight the expected period of arrival, to have ena- bled the Liberator, as he is represented to have done, to take the field, and commence active operations in the be- ginning of May. Some private letters, however, have been received at Jamaica from Panama, which are at variance with that inserted in the Kingston Chironicle of the loth of June, Nvith regard to the effective force BOLIVAR had with him at the period of the latest intelligence frem his head- quarters. Theserepresent him to bave had a force, in Colom- bians, Peruvians, and Chilians, little short of 16,000 men, of whom a considerable portion consisted of cavalry, in very tolerable order. He might, therefore, without the arrival of reinforeements, have found himself in a condition to mano-uvre against Elie Spanish Getieral in the manner in which he is described to have done.; The Guayaquil letter, indee d, mentions the arrival of reinforcements, both from, Panama and Guayaquil, previous to the eomnencrem;ul -ot military opexations. The chief ground of doubt now re- maining is,:hat the occurrence of so importait an event on the '6th of May as the decisive victory of BOLIV4n. over ?ANTAaAC, wotuld naturally hav flown with so much cele- rity to- all the ports of Peru, that intelligence of itWght to have found, fromn some one of theim, its way to. Panaitia by trhe latter end of the mnonth; The contrary is, however, very possible, allowing for the occasional difficulty and uncertain- ty of communidatio1i in'that part of the world. All that can be said; therefore, with certainty is, that if The news from Jamaica does not confirm the account of the victory in Peru, it does not, on the other halld, overthrow it, nor even render it improbable. The utmost anxiety for further ad- vices is felt by all persons connected with South America.