South American Independen...
The Times, 1824-01-01T00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,-l cannot conceive any thing mole arrogant than e extract you gave in your paper ot tlhe 17th inst. frcn he Madrid Gazctte; and A ere I not aware of the to;al wan of truth in the whole statement, 1 should begin to fea the tesult of the Soutb Apiericon struggle for indepent ace. 'm e editor runs over the names of numerous previn s iD what he calls Upper and Lower Peru, as if h *as quite well acquainted with Soath Amirican graphy, which I very imuch doubt,' fron what I k fof the country myself, and from what I khow of thek ow ledge the spaniiard. in Europe hbve of their ex-colon a specim,en or w hich tov'k p lace when the miners of Pa os. requested that the quicksilver from the royal mine at G= cavenca might be allowed to he transported direct rom thcnce to Potoi, and not to Lima by Iand ; from thence to A-rica by sea, and thence to Potosi by land- To this p ti- tiOt) the wise minister, I think Galvez, answered, that lie quicksilver shoultd be embarked at Guancavelica, carriedt 1i- rect to Potosi. and thfre landed. His Excellency did thor recollect, or did not know, that neither the one iior Ihe pther place was vwithin a hundred leagues of the sea-cost. If suchl nas, and is miiisterial wisdom in Spain, nuch cpi- fidence ought not to be placed in editorial knowledge in South American topograp'hy. As lo the question of inde- pendent defacto anil dejure, whether logically discussed or i2ot, is ot no importance to thePeruvians; rybebetter questien is, Does a Spanish force exist in Peru, of sufficient strength to reconquer that part of the countrtswhich in 1821 de clared itself independent,oreven to supporttherighis of Spain to the small portion of territory they treadon ? I can answer the Mladrid editor, tnat such a Spanish force does not eo- ist. Let tlih Gazetuaer examir5e, under any point of view, the Apuriii,ac trom its sources to its mouth, thebeautiful val- ICY of Jausa is the spot. to whlich the Spaniards retired in. S521, when the' found Lima to be no longer tenable; and did he, or does he think that that valley could assert its rights when oppressed by an army more irn number that. t1le total of the imale inhabitants of' the whole va.- ley ? BIt let hiin recollect, thtat in lis2o, Jausa did dieclaze itS independence, when the Patriot Gene-al, A renales, a Sp-aniard born, passed thrTough it on ias route from Pisco, to join the main body of the Patriot forces at H uanca, aind part of the inhabitants volunteered r vices, and taught at the Serro de Pasco, when thekipaiieJi, diii-don under General O'Reilly wvas routed, and inmself taken prisoner: this, I think, evinces th-e wish of the Jau- sios i de flwt. The Gazetteer calls the provinces of Hu- aneavclica, and Huanienga, immense-an error in topogra- phica knowledge, in South America: they are not in the first, nior Yet second class of provinces. Huanca- velica was of importanice before its quicksilver tmine was i exhausted but Huamanga was never considered of im ! portance. WVell, but these twvo provinces evinced their sen- ' timenits when the same General Arenales passed through I themn with his division of not 00 men, in IS20. Let the Gazetteer recollect that Huancavelica evince4 its hatred to i the Spanish authorities when Fripac Urnaro rebelled against I tlhem, and again when the C acique Chincheros did the same; let hun recollect that Huamanga joinea the cause of Fripac Umaro, and let him ask the Ta- i lavera troops what are the sentiments of the Hua- rnanginos-4 mnean those that the Cacique Puca Toro buried in a ravine by hurling stones on them from the mountaini tops and sides, when the Viceroy Abascal sent thcm to exterminate what he called a mob of druuken Indians. As to Arequipa, the province may boe called ni- ilense, because it is a very important one, rich, exten- sive, and populous; but I should wish to know if the Madrid gazetteer is aware of the correspeiudeudcc that wascarriedonbetween its Governor Don Juan Bautista Lavalle. ant the Viceroy Pezuela, so soon as the Chi- lian expedition landed at Pisco in 1820; or if ho is aware of the motives that uirged General Ramirez to establish his head-quarters in tbat city ? It' he is not, let him learn that Lavalle declared it to be impossible for him to keep the province, nay even the city, in subjection, without at armed force, and military law being established ; and Ra- mirez fixed his head-quarters in the city for the purp'ss 0. overawing the inhabitants, as his presence reminded their of the sangUinary scenes they witnessed at the execution 0. Chirochf-res,Angulo, Melgar, the virtuous, thenoble, the ge- nerous Melgar, wvhen the Cusco patriot forces were defeater by the army he marched down from Upper Peru; and alsl for the purpose of escaping by the port of Arica, as he di, in 1822, should he not- beoabe to keep the inhabitants il subjection. The feelirgs of the inabitans of e pro ,,oo, -< -o thc vity of Areqipe, -re vey vv.bet) their actions in 1821, when a small divisin 1ax?d at Arica, commanded by Colq?iel Miller: in a few yslhe was joined by the inhabitants of the valleys of Fan and Moquegua, and several very wealthy and respectab- indi- viduals from Arequipa, and other parts: and I calssure the Madrid gazetteer, that in Peru, Arequipa is comonly called the centre of patriotism. As to Cusco, thresidence pro tempore of Don Joseph de la Serna, let it suxte To saY, that it was the first residence of Maico Capac, al -he last of AtabaLipa; that there, in particular, theipaniards are considered as intruders, aud hated as conqi ors. This has been sufficiently proved by the repe&d revolu- tions in that city; and there is a belief anongsthe natives, that the Spanish domination would only lastbout three centuries, as that of the Incas did before it. n fine, it is timpossible to believe that where the beloved Ina -iesided- where the blood of the remains ofthac'?atriarrace wvas spilt-vhere, on the ruins of the throne of a buyed and loving Mllonarch, was raised the unjust tribut the de- gandintg ofita, and tlre oth innocRepartina:deoDs, and orin those of the temple of their innacel and natue ado tion of the Sun, appeared the blood-thirstv and u'iaturd Inqttisition, that human beings can help hating t3 race of the authors of snch deeds. W. ~ Ilioswn Ome 19. ROI?f)U A41PRICAK' I)NDEPENDNANE. . | ,