But ever loved to feed, in solitude, And rapt and silent musing, far away It found not elsewhere than within it,-watching Waked o'er the delicate strings of that sweet lyre, Of wandering fancies, like the zephyr's lute, So faint and wild. Thus passed her childhood's years, She sought the Veil--and who could chide ?-we felt We could not bid that pure and gentle spirit Dwell midst its whirl of griefs and sins and passions. And so that saddest of farewells was said, And in the glory of her loveliness, And the deep holy ardor that was burning 'Midst that dark light, soul-kindled, from her eyes, She offered up herself a sacrifice Of life and love and purity, to Heaven. Perchance 'twas but a beautiful delasion, That prisoned life of prayer and solitude-But as she knelt, so innocent and fair— Her thin hands clasped-her look upturned-a tinge, Alas, of hectic brightness, on her cheek Her delicate features so attenuate, And marble pale, from her sad way of life- And heavenly thought, which now absorbed and filled To live there on its memories and hopes, Till the frail bond that fettered it should melt RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE SOUTH-AMERICAN STATES. Continued from page 276.) In the former part of this article, general views were presented of the system by which the Spanish dominions in America were governed-of their condition during the latter years of the subsistence of that system-and of the circumstances which immediately led the inhabitants of those countries to oppose the authority of Spain; together with sketches of the events which marked the commencement of the struggle in the several sections. The occurrences last mentioned took place during the year 1810 and 1811, and were the consequences of the dissolution of the central Junta in Spain, the establishment of the Regency at Cadiz, and the summoning of the Cortes. When the accounts of the overthrow of the Spanish authorities at Caraccas (on the 19th of April, 1810) arrived at Cadiz, the Regency being at first inclined to use conciliatory measures, issued a decree by which the commercial privileges of the American dominions were materially enlarged. Had this decree been carried into execution, possibly the disturbances might have been, at least for a time, quieted; the merchants of Cadiz, however, who were all interested in the continuance of the restrictive system of trade, by means of which they enjoyed advantages as profitable to themselves as onerous to the Americans, vehemently opposed these concessions, and their influence was sufficient to occasion the recall of the decree. In place of conciliatory measures, it was then resolved that force should be used to subdue the Americans; accordingly a large body of troops was sent to Porto Rico, as the most convenient point for the commencement of operations against Caraccas, and a commissioner, named Cortavarria, was empowered to employ any means which he might consider proper, to effect the pacification, as it was termed, of the revolted provinces. In the meantime, the elections of Deputies to the General Cortes were conducted, so far as was practicable, considering that large portions of the kingdom were occupied by the French; and at the end of the summer a hundred and twenty-seven persons appeared at Cadiz as representatives from various provinces of Spain. In many parts of the kingdom no elections had been held, and no deputies presented themselves from America; as this, however, had been foreseen, the vacancies were filled by substitutes, chosen principally from among the natives of the unrepresented provinces, twenty-six being allotted to the Indian dominions, and twenty-three to Spain. These preliminary matters having been arranged, the Cortes held their first meeting on the 24th of September, 1810. They began their labours by a solemn declaration that the sovereignty of the Spanish dominions resided wholly in the Nation, the representatives of which, in consequence possessed the power of determining upon the institutions most proper for their government. In the exercise of the constituent power thus assumed, and notwithstanding the efforts of the British Cabinet to the contrary, the Cortes forthwith issued a number of Decrees by which the system of the Government in both hemispheres was materially altered. The Inquisition was abolished, and the privileges of the clergy were curtailed; nearly all the previously existing restrictions upon the press were removed; the Indians were relieved from many of their peculiar grievances, and subsequently all free inhabitants of the dominions were declared to be entitled to the same political rights; the elective franchise was extended, and the number of representatives to be sent by the countries beyond sea was increased. Some of the harsher measures of the Regency, with regard to the revolted provinces, were countermanded, and the Viceroys Captains-General, and other governors were instructed to act with justice towards the people who should remain firm in their allegiance, and with lenity towards the insurgents. These concessions, however, came too late to produce the desired effects. Ere they were known in America, and indeed ere many of them were made, nearly all the provinces except those in Peru and Guatemala were in a state of insurrection; the general irritation had been likewise increased by the arrival of the pacificating forces, and the knowledge of the severe orders sent by the Regency. Caraccas and La Plata were almost wholly in the possession of the insurgents; the ports of those countries were thrown open to foreign trade; their Juntas had entered into communications with the commanders of the British naval stations in the vicinity of their coasts, and had even sent commissioners to London (among whom was Simon Bolivar, from Caraccas) empowered to negotiate for the recognition of their independence. Under these favorable circumstances, the revolutionists were little inclined to retract; as they had refused to recognize the authority of the Supreme Junta or of the Regency, so they denied the right of the Cortes, in which America was not represented, to legislate for its inhabitants: and they rejected the proposed ameliorations as insufficient or illusory, treating them rather as the offsprings of weakness and dissimulation than as the results and evidences of more liberal dispositions on the part of the Spaniards. Proceeding farther in this line of opinion, it soon became an established principle among the Americans, that whatever might be done in Spain or by Spaniards without the assent of the Monarch, might be done under similar circumstances in America and by Americans. In virtue of this broad assumption, and in imitation of the Supreme Junta of Seville, the provisional authorities of the several sections from which the Spanish rulers had been expelled, proceeded to summon legislative or constituent assemblies. To these bodies the name of Congress was uniformly given in place of that of Cortes; in fact the institutions of the United States had become the theme of universal praise, and their application to the newly freed countries was generally desired. The commissioners from Caraccas and La Plata were received by the people of England with every demonstration of good will and sympathy; the ministry, however, as might have been anticipated, gave no encouragement to their projects for a separation from Spain, and only consented to offer to the Cortes its mediation, in order to procure a compromise between the parties. The commissioners having agreed to this proposition, the offer was formally made to the Cortes. The Deputies for America, who appear to have discharged their assumed duties with fidelity, were urgent for its acceptance, and to that effect, on the 1st of August, 1811, they addressed to the assembly an eloquent representation. The merchants and principal inhabitants of Cadiz, however, again appeared as the advocates of violent measures, to reduce the revolutionists to submission; they offered to advance funds for the prosecution of the war against the insurgent provinces, and even threatened, in case the proposed mediation were accepted, to expel the Cortes from their gates. The discussion was long; it ended, however, in the refusal of the mediation of Great Britain, and the determination on the part of the Spanish Government, to use the most energetic means for the subjection of the rebels; accordingly, as the successes of the combined forces of Spain, Great Britain, and Portugal, against the French, rendered troops disposable, they were dispatched to America. The British Government, upon this, publicly declared its intention to remain neutral in the contest, so long as the insurgents should not take part with the French; and the commissioners of Caraccas and La Plata returned to their countries to warn their fellow citizens of the coming storm. Before the results of these measures could be estimated in Spain, the Cortes had completed what was considered by them as the grand object of their meeting, namely the Constitution by which the Government of the Spanish dominions was to be in future regulated. It was solemnly promulgated at Cadiz on the 19th of March, 1812, signed by one hundred and eighty-two persons, of whom fifty represented or were supposed to represent, the several divisions of the former Indian empire, the others being delegates from Spain. Of this much lauded much vituperated scheme of Government, our limits do not allow us either to present a minute analysis, or to discuss the character. The study of it is necessary for those who wish to form competent ideas of the actual forms of government of the South American Republics, in all of which its features are to be found more or less modified. We cannot, however, avoid citing some of its principal provisions, and those specially affecting the Ameri can dominions. By the Constitution of 1812, the Spanish nation was declared to consist of all Spaniards in either hemisphere. Spaniards were all free men, born and residing in the Spanish dominions, and others to whom the same privileges might be granted. Spanish citizens, who alone could vote, or be elected, or be appointed to civil trusts and offices, were all Spaniards except those who were, by either parent, of African des cent; the latter might, however, be admitted to those privileges under certain circumstances. The government was to be an hereditary monarchy, Ferdinand VII. being recognised as the King; the powers of the State, however, were divided into three branches the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial-the attributes of each of which were distinctly defined. The Legislative power was to be exercised by a single body of Deputies, chosen indirectly for two years, by the citizens, the King possessing only a limited right of veto upon its enactments; the Executive duties were committed to the King, who was aided by a Council of State, and acted through nine responsible ministers; to the Audiencias or Courts alone belonged the application of the laws in civil and criminal cases. The territories of the empire were to be divided into Provinces, all of which were to be governed in the same manner by a Chief, whom the King would appoint, and a Provincial Deputation composed of members chosen biennially by the citizens; the basis of the national representation was to be the same in every part of the dominions, the number of Deputies sent by each Province being proportioned to the number of Spanish citizens inhabiting it. The Council of the Indies, which had disappeared in the course of the great political tempest, was replaced by a Minister of the Kingdom beyond Sea; the press was freed from all restrictions, and from all responsibility, except such as might be imposed on it by the laws. In fine, throughout the whole Spanish empire, the same forms of administration were established, and the same civil rights were recognized, no privilege or disability being founded on birth-place or descent, except with regard to persons of African origin. The General Government was empowered to delay the extension of the privileges in those parts of the dominions, to which it should not be considered judicious to apply them immediately. The Constitution was made known in some parts of America before, and in others after, the arrival of the forces sent from Spain to reduce them to submission. Neither the arrow nor the olive branch proved effectual for that purpose; resistance was opposed to the former wherever it was practicable; the latter was generally rejected with scorn, and when accepted was only used as a means of offence against those who offered it. Long experience of the falsehood and injustice of the Spanish Government had rendered the Americans suspicious with regard to its concessions; no confidence was placed in the sincerity of the Cortes, in holding out these liberal terms, or in the power of that body to maintain the new institutions. Timco Danaos et dona ferentes-was felt if not expressed by every thinking individual. Constitutions had likewise been already formed, and sworn to in America, the observance of which was incompatible with allegiance to the Spanish Government In Caraccas the Congress met agreeably to the call of the Junta, in June, 1811; on the 4th of July of the same year, it published a declaration of the independence of that section, for which was adopted the name of the Confederated States of Venezuela; and on the 23d of December following a republican constitution, formed nearly on the model of that of the United States, was promulgated. General Miranda, who had arrived from England, was appointed chief of the forces, and Bolivar, acting under him, was entrusted with the important command of the fortress of Porto Cabello. The Spanish troops were shut up at Coro, and one or two other places near the coast; quiet was restored, and all things wore a favorable aspect in the new State. Suddenly, however, came a terrible reverse: on the 26th of March, 1812, the whole country was involved in ruin, political as well as physical, by an eart quake, the most violent of which we have any recorded accounts. The cities in which resided the wealthiest, most intelligent, and influential persons, were, many of them, entirely destroyed, and their inhabitants killed or wounded by the dreadful concussion. In Caraccas and its vicinity upwards of twenty thousand persons perished. The awe-struck survivors neglected their usual labours, and the priests, most of whom were devoted to the cause of Spain, succeeded in persuading them, that these miseries had been inflicted by heaven, as special chastisements for their impious rebellion. The Spaniards did not fail to take advantage of these circumstances; their chief commander, Monteverde, who, from a midshipman, had been made a general, by treachery, obtained possession of Porto Cabello, and having re ceived reinforcements from Porto Rico, soon silenced all opposition. Miranda seeing that resistance was hopeless, signed a capitulation at Vittoria, on the 26th of July, by which it was agreed that Caraccas should acknowledge the Spanish Constitution, and send Deputies to the Cortes, that those who preferred it might leave the country within a certain period, and that the liberty and property of those who remained should be respected. This capitulation was made in opposition to the remonstrances and representations of Bolivar, and of many other chief persons, who were convinced that it would not be fulfilled by the Spaniards. Their anticipations proved to have been well founded; for Monteverde, as soon as he had obtained possession of Caraccas, commenced a system of murder, persecution and robbery against the wretched inhabi tants, who had taken part in the rebellion. Miranda attempted to escape from Laguaira; but Bolivar and his friends determining that he should not be alone freed from the evils which, as they conceived, he had thus brought upon their country, delivered him up to Monteverde, by whom he was sent to Spain, where he remained in a dungeon until his death in 1817. Bolivar and his friends made their way to Carthagena. The Spanish Cortes approved the violations of the treaty of Vittoria, declaring, by solemn act, that faith was not to be kept with rebels. After the establishment of this horrid principle of action, the contest between the Spaniards and the Americans was conducted by both parties to its termination, with that tiger-like ferocity, which has, in all ages and countries, characterized the Spanish race. It is, however, due to the chiefs of the insurgents to acknowledge that they appear in general to have acted with much more humanity than their enemies, that the bloody deeds committed by them were, in most cases, retaliatory, and that frequent attempts were made by them to induce the Spanish commanders to adopt a milder system of warfare. In New Granada nearly all the provinces had refused to recognise the existing Spanish Government, and had determined to adopt the republican system; they differed, however, upon the question, whether their Republic should be a confederacy of several States, or should have all its powers committed to one central government. The provinces nearest Bogota preferred the latter form, while those more distant, were in favor of the Federal system. The difference of views upon this subject prevented unity of action, not only in New Granada, but likewise in every other part of Spanish America; it enabled the Europeans to maintain their ground much longer than they otherwise could have done, and it has ever since been the most fruitful cause of civil discord in those countries. The difference being great, was not to be easily compromised, and two independent governments were established, one at Carthagena and the other at Bogota, upon bases which it is needless to explain or qualify. At Bogota, General Narino ruled absolutely under the title of President; in Car thagena the constitutional chief Torrices, seems to have acted with more regard for the wishes and advantage of the people. In each state however, the laws were of little avail, as the whole country was ever disturbed by civil and military contests. At Carthagena, Bolivar succeeded in organising a small force, with which he again raised the standard of opposition to Spain in Venezuela; his attempts however only |