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CHAP. XII.

UNITED STATES.-Discussions on the Tariff Commercial Intercourse with the British Colonies.--BRAZIL.-Differences between the Emperor and the General Assembly.-BUENOS AYRES.-The Federalists defeated in the province of Cordova.-COLOMBIA.Discontents against Bolivar-The Province of Venezuela separates from the Federal Union, and declares itself Independent-The Constituent Congress assembles at Bogota-Bolivar resigns, in opposition to its wishes-New Constitution of Colombia-Bolivar refuses to be a Candidate for the Presidency, and leaves Bogota—Decree in his favour-Act of the Congress regarding Venezuela-Southern Provinces declare for Bolivar against the Government of Bogota.— MEXICO. Revolution.-CHILE.

THE

HE session of the Congress of the United States was opened on the 6th of December, 1829. The principal topic of discussion was the tariff act, imposing alien duties on the importation of foreign goods, which had been, from the moment of its passing, a subject of violent contention, and popular irritation, between the northern and the southern States. The former, who had not ceased to condemn it, as a sacrifice of the manufacturing to the landed interests of the Union, had expected some modification of its provisions from the new President, general Jackson; but the general, in his message, carried the doctrines of protecting home productions till they can compete with foreign im portations, to their utmost length. A motion, however, for re-considering the tariff, was allowed to go to a committee; but the committee, in their report, maintained the absolute inexpediency of intermeddling in any degree with the regulations of the tariff justifying their opinion on these grounds

That, as the tariff was now the law of the land, the faith of the government was pledged to its execution; that any interference would be premature, as some interests had gained more by it and others less, and some of its provisions had proved inefficient, while the causes of the failure were still unascertained; that the appre hension of its being tampered with had already prevented the investment of capital, an evil which could be cured only by a resolution to give it a character of stability; that, so long as any hope was held out of its being altered, foreign goods would continue to be thrown in upon the American market, whatever sacrifice might be made; and lastly, that as a great majority of the people were determined it should be maintained, it was in vain to attempt to alter it. Ano ther attempt was made by a bill, reported from the committee of ways and means, for reducing and modifying some of the articles in the tariff; but the House of Re presentatives refused to allow it to

be even taken into consideration. The liberal party, far from being discouraged, renewed the attack, by bringing in a bill, which proposed to admit the manufactures or produce of other nations into the union, on paying a duty of thirty per cent; the fact being previously asceertaind by the President, that the countries, to which this privilege should extend, levied no higher import duties than thirty per cent on the manufactures and produce of the United States. The effect of such an enactment would have been a virtual repeal of the tariff law, and the trade of Great Britain would have been the chief gainer by the change, as the tariff subjected most articles of British manufacture to higher duties than thirty per cent, while Britain had not yet retaliated, by taxing American produce the raw materials of her manufacture-to the same

amount.

The bill did not pass; but these discussions, and the temper of the government, secured an advantage of a similar kind, by enabling the executive to carry a bill by which it brought to a successful termination the questions that had been stirred for many years, regarding the commercial intercourse between the United States and the British colonies. By various laws, forming the American non-intercourse acts, the United States had laid alien duties on colonial produce brought to the American ports in British vessels. All the relaxations which of late years had been introduced into the mercantile code of Britain, could obtain no concession from America. Negotia tion had been fruitless: for she would not be satisfied with being placed on the same footing with other foreign countries, but de

manded that, in her commercial intercourse with the colonies, she should be placed on the same footing with the mother country herself. The course of these negotiations has been traced in our former volumes. During the present Session of Congress an act was passed, opening the American ports, for the admission of British vessels, from the colonies with the same cargoes which might be brought, and at the same duties that were payable, by American vessels-suspending the alien duties on British vessels and cargoes abolishing the restrictions that had been imposed by acts of Congress on the direct intercourse between the United States and the British Colonies-accepting, in short, all the terms on which a British act of 1825 had offered to foreign nations a participation in her colonial trade, but which America had hitherto obstinately rejected. In consequence of this act, the order in council which had excluded the United States from the benefit of the act of 1825, was recalled.

In SOUTH AMERICA decided symptoms of want of harmony between the emperor of Brazil, and the legislative body began to appear. When the former opened the session of the General Assembly, on the 5th of May, he pointed out certain matters as deserving and requiring the immediate attention of the assembly. These regarded principally the state of the finances, the formation of a bank, and the necessity of providing some legal means for restraining and punishing the utter licentiousness of the press. The assembly was very slow in

Vol. LXVIII. p. 379. Vol. LXIX. p. 324.

approaching all matters about which the emperor was very urgent; it listened patiently to tedious and vapid orations on the nature of society, and the formation of governments, but it neither supplied money, nor provided terrors for libellers. The four months, during which they sat, passed over, and nothing was done; and the emperor, when he closed the session on the 3rd of September, dismissed them with expressions of marked dissatisfaction. "I much regret having to intimate to our General Assembly how disagreeable it is to me that the time fixed for the close of this session should have arrived, without any of those measures having been effected which the constitution of the empire requires, which I had recommended, and which the whole nation hoped from the patriotism of its representatives. It being, however, my duty, as the first and most interested in the prosperity of Brazil, to meet, with a prompt and legal remedy, the evils that afflict the country, and seeing the urgent and indispensable necessity of some legislative measures which remain pending, and of others, which the critical circumstances in which Brazil is placed call for, I have resolved to convoke an extraordinary session of the General Assembly, in order that it may discuss those subjects which I had thought fit to point out to it in the speech from the throne."

The ascendancy which the Federalist party at Buenos Ayres had obtained over those who were styled Unitarians, remained undisturbed in the capital itself. The forces of Lavalle, who had been the head of the latter, were disarmed and dispersed, and that

leader himself retired from the city. Whatever heartburnings and revilings there might be, there was, in the city, no actual outrage or conflict. Rosas, the chief of the successful faction, and one of whose gravest charges against his antagonist Lavalle, had been the putting of general Dorrego to death, without even a court martial, applied, when he thought it necessary or useful, the same principles of government, as the head of the republican province of Buenos Ayres. An officer of the name of Monteros had fallen under suspicion of plotting against the ruling powers. Rosas sent for him, ordered one of his aides-de-camp to escort him under arrest to the barrack, and at the same time gave to Monteros a paper for the commanding officer there, which, in fact, contained an order for his execution. Arrived at the barrack, Monteros delivered the despatch to the officer in command (a brother of the governor). He was seized, and it was notified to him that he must prepare for immediate execution, and he was accordingly shot. This act was defended upon the plea of the critical state of the country-that delay was full of peril-that if the criminal had been brought to trial, accomplices must have been named, and other disclosures made, fatal to the interests of the country

that the governor had been invested by the legislature with extraordinary powers, which he had, in this case, used against a rebel, who was intriguing with the friendly Indians to make war upon Buenos Ayres, and plotting with all the discontented to overthrow the government, and plunge the country again into anarchy-that the proofs against him were positive, and that the most prudent method the go

vernor could take was, to order his instant execution. Lavalle could have made at least as good a defence for shooting Dorrego, who, moreover, had been seized in arms.

In some of the other provinces, the fortunes of the Federalists were less prosperous. We have mentioned in our annals of last year, that Cordova, the capital of the province of the same name, had declared for the Unitarians; that general Paz, after expelling its Fedcral governor Bastos, had taken the field, and defeated the army of the latter party, commanded by Quiroga. Quiroga retired to Mendoza and St. Juan, where he collected his scattered troops, and drew together about 2,000 men, with whom he again marched to invade Cordova. The peasantry of the province rose, at the same time, against the Unitarians, and had several rencontres with the troops of Paz, not very bloody, and generally ending favourably for the latter. The government of Buenos Ayres sent commissioners to the scene of conflict, to offer its mediation between the contending parties. The commissioners, being Federalists, could scarcely be impartial. Paz soon detected their strong leaning towards their partisan, Quiroga, and determined not to trust them, while he amused them with the hope of a successful issue. Quiroga had advanced into the province. Paz refused the commissioners a passport to join him, unless he evacuated the province; but ultimately allowed them to proceed towards Quiroga's camp, with a message, giving the latter two hours to decide on evacuating the province of Cordova, or putting an end to the negotiation. With the two hours' respite in their pockets, the commissioners pro

ceeded to Quiroga. Paz, with all his force, followed quietly; and while Quiroga and the commissioners were, next morning, beginning to copy, in due form, the rough draft of a despatch, refusing Paz's terms, he attacked them, chased Quiroga off the field, dispersed his cavalry, and took all his infantry, artillery, waggon-train, horses, oxen, mules, and moneychest. The engagement, or rather the surprise, took place on the 25th of February. According to Paz's official account, Quiroga's loss amounted to 1,200 prisoners; among them one general and four superior officers; fifty officers killed; eight pieces of artillery, 700 stand of arms, a large quantity of swords, lances, and ammunition, ninety-six carts, 2,000 head of black cattle, 3,000 mules, a great number of horses, flour, wine, baggage, and some gold and silver. The loss of the Unitarians was estimated at thirty men, including one lieutenant-colonel, and two captains, killed.

This occurrence had, at least, the good effect of putting a stop to bloodshed. Quiroga returned disconsolate to Buenos Ayres. The remains of his army, which were again collected under colonel Villafane, entered into a capitulation with the victor, obliging themselves to retire to their different provinces, and lay down their arms; and the governments of the provinces which were in arms against Cordova and her allies, sent deputies to meet those of Cordova, in order to regulate the peace of the interior.

The finances continued to get deeper and deeper into confusion. On the 1st of December, 1829, the deficiency of the revenue to meet the expenditure, had been greater,

during that year, by about two millions of dollars, than it had been in 1828. In the month of April of the present year, financial affairs seemed to be approaching a crisis, and the executive let loose its despotic power on those who were thought to be acting unfavourably in financial operations. Doubloons had risen in value to 165; ten paper dollars were given for one Spanish dollar: all were in consternation. The government is sued a decree prohibiting the exportation of specie, and in virtue of the extraordinary powers granted to it by the legislature, arrested several individuals, amongst them two or three money-brokers, and sent them on board a guard-ship, in the roads. The prisoners were accused of having vilified the government, in order to facilitate their money operations. Doubloons immediately fell to 125 and 130.

In COLOMBIA, the insurrection of Cordova, in the autumn of 1829, proved to be only the forerunner of more serious commotions. The jealousy which was entertained of the designs of Bolivar, to clothe himself with higher and more lasting power than a republic could safely admit, was daily more widely circulated and more readily believed. Letters of the Liberator to some of the most distinguished military leaders were published, in which, while he expressed his will ingness, and even anxiety, to lay down the presidency, which exposed him to so much envy, he declared his resolution of continuing to be the commander-in-chief of the army. In one of these documents, written to general Paz, supreme governor of Venezuela, one of the oldest, the largest, and most important provinces of the Union, he

spoke with great fervour of the benefits which would be conferred on Colombia, if certain measures were adopted, which, however, he did not explicitly detail. "I shall not stop to point them out," said he, "for, I do not wish to incur that responsibility; but I am resolved to retain the supreme command. As the Congress is one of an admirable character, there is no danger in asking what you please, and it will know how to accomplish the business with wisdom and calmness. Never has there been so great necessity as on this occasion, since nothing less is in debate than to constitute society anew, or, so to speak, to give it a new existence. It would be well, in such circumstances, to take great care of the revolutionists; because, under the pretext of public opinion, they may attempt some crime which we ought not to tolerate. Let the Congress be told with moderation what is just, or what you will: but nothing by deeds, and even less by way of threatening. I do not desire the command: but if they wish to wrest it from me by force or intrigue, I will fight to the last."

Whether with or without the privity of Bolivar, certain it is, that, according to the statements of the liberals, his partisans had not been at all anxious to conceal their desire of seeing a crown on the head of their leader. When the general dissatisfaction began to show itself by acts, the minister of the interior addressed a despatch to general Bermudez, as prefect of the district in which Ĉumana is situated, requesting him to exercise his authority to preserve order and obedience to the laws in his department. Bermudez replied, that, when he received the minister's

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