by the very means which should have promoted their felicity: throwing a veil over three centuries of Spanish dominion in America, we shall confine ourselves to the narration of recent and well known facts, which prove how much we have been afflicted; and that we should not be involved in the commotions, disorders, and conquests, which have divided Spain.

The disorders of Europe had increased the evils under which we before suffered; by obstructing complaints and frustrating the means of redress: by authorising the governors placed over us by Spain, to insult and oppress us with impunity, leaving us without the protection or the support of the laws.

It is contrary to the order of nature, impracticable in relation to the government of Spain, and has been more afflicting to America, that territories so much more extensive, and a population incomparably more numerous, should be subjected and dependent on a peninsular corner of the European continent.

The cession and abdication made at Bayonne, the transactions at the Escurial and at Aranjuez; and the orders issued by the imperial lieutenant the marshal duke of Berg to America, authorized the exercise of those rights, which till that period the Americans had sacrificed to the preservation and integrity of the Spanish nation.

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The people of Venezuela, were the first who generally acknowledged, and who preferred that integrity, never forsaking the interests of their European brethren while there remained the least prospect of salvation.

America has acquired a new existence; she was able and was bound to take charge of her own safety and prosperity; she was at liberty to acknowledge or to reject the authority of a king who was so little deserving of that power as to regard his personal safety more than that of the nation over which he had been placed.

As our glory consists in establishing principles consistent with human happiness, and not erecting a partial felicity on the misfortunes of our fellow mortals, we hereby proclaim and declare, that we shall regard as friends and companions in our destiny, and participators of our happiness, all those, who united by the relations of blood, language, and religion, have suffered oppression under the ancient establishments and who shall assert their independence thereof, and of any foreign power whatsoever, engaging that all who shall co-operate with us shall partake in life, fortune, and opinion, declaring and recognizing not only these, but those of every nation, in war enemies; in peace, friends, brethren and fellow citizens...

In consideration therefore, of the solid, public and incontestible motives, which force upon us the necessity of re-assuming our natural rights, thus restored to us by the revolution of human affairs, and in virtue of the imprescriptable rights of every people, to dissolve every agreement, convention or social compact, which doth establish the purposes for which alone all governments are instituted, we are convinced that we cannot and ought not any longer to endure the chains to which we were connected with the government of Spain, and we do declare, like every other independent people, that we are free and determined to hold no dependence on any potentate, power, or government, than we ourselves establish; and that we now take among the sovereign nations of the earth the rank which the Supreme Being and Nature have assigned to us, and to which we have been called by the succession of human events and by a regard for our own happiness.

Although we foresee the difficulties which may attend our new situation, and the obligations which we contract by the rank which we are about to occupy in the political order of the world; and above all, the powerful influence of ancient forms and habits by which (to our regret) we have hitherto affected-yet we also know, that a shameful submission to them, when it is in our power to shake them off, would prove more ignominious to ourselves, and more fatal to posterity, than our long and painful servitude. It therefore becomes our indispensible duty to provide for our security, liberty, and happiness, by an entire and essential subversion and reform of our ancient establishment.

Wherefore, believing, for all these reasons, that we have complied with the respect which we owe to the opinions of mankind, and to the dignity of other nations, with whom we are about to rank, and of whose friendly intercourse we assure ourselves:

We, the representatives of the confederated provinces of Venezuela, invoking the Most High, to witness the justice of our cause, and the rectitude of our intentions, imploring his divine assistance to ratify, at the epoch of our political birth, the dignity to which his Providence has restored us, the ardent desire to live and die free, and in the belief, and the defence of the holy Catholic and apostolic religion of Jesus Christ, as the first of our duties

We, therefore, in the name, by the will and under the authority which we hold for the virtuous inhabitants of Venezuela; do solemnly declare to the world, that these united provinces are and ought to be, from this day forth, in fact, and of right free, sovereign and independent States-that they are absolved from all allegiance to the crown of Spain, and of those who now call, or may hereafter call, themselves as representatives or agents; and that as free, sovereign and independent States, we hold full power to adopt whatever form of government may be deemed suitable to the general will of its inhabitants; to declare war, make peace, form alliances, make commercial alliances, establish commercial treaties, define boundaries and regulate navigation; and to propose and execute all other acts, usually made and executed by free and independent nations: and for the due fulfilment, validity, and stability of this, our solemn declaration, we mutually and reciprocally pledge and bind the provinces to each other, our lives, fortunes, and the honor of the nation.

Done at the Federal Palace of the Carneas, signed with our hands, and sexted with the Great Seal of the provincial Confederation, and countersigned by the Secretary to the Congress assembled, on the 5th day of July, in the year 1811, and in the first of our independence. J. ANT. RODRIGUEZ, rep. and president of Obispos, in province of Barinas. LUIS IGNACIA MENDO, representative, Vice-President of Nutrias, in pro

vince of Barinas.

Signed, by the Representatives assembled, of the provinces of Caricas, Cumana, Barcelona, Barinas, Magarita, Merida, Truxillo, and Villa of Aragua and province of Barcelona. A true copy, (L. S.) FRANCISCO IZNARDI, Secretary.

The congress of the United Provinces resumed its discussions, on the great and august subject of the independence of the people which compose them. The Voice of the whole territory was universally constant and decisive for solemn emancipation from the despotic power of the king of Spain. Notwithstanding that their representatives devoted to so arduous a task all the energy of their talents, tho uprightness of their intentions, and the interest which the sanction of their fate require from the representatives of the people and their posterity; and at the closing of their sessions, they were asked if they wished that the provinces of the union might be a free nation, and independent of the kings of Spain and their metropolis, they immediately cried out, full of the holy ardor of justice, and one after another repeated, successively, their unanimous and spontane ous decision for the independence of the country, in virtue of which they deereed the following Declaration :

We, the representatives of the United Provinces of South America, in general congress assembled, invoking that Eternal Power who presides over the universe, in the name and by the authority of the people whom we represent, protesting to Heaven, to all nations, and to all men, the justice which rules our decisions, solemnly declare, in the face of the whole world, that it is the unanimous and unquestionable will of these provinces to break the burdensome chains which unite them to the king of Spain, to resume the rights of which they have been dispossessed, and invest themselves with the high character of a free nation, and independent of king Ferdinand the seventh, his successors, and metropolis; to remain consequently, in truth of right, with an ample and full power to give to themselves the form of government which justice dictates, and the increase of their actual circumstances demand; thus, all and each of them, publish, declare, and confirm, obliging themselves, through us, to the fulfilment and maintenance of this their will, pledging, as security and guarantee, their lives, fortunes,

and honors.

The present Declaration shall be communicated to all whom it may concern, for its publication; and in virtue of the respect due to all nations, let them ex plain by a manifesto the great motives which have given place to this solemn Declaration.

Passed in the Hall of Sessions-signed with our hands, and sealed with the seal of Congress, and certified by our Secretary.

[Here follow the names of the deputies of the different States and Province]

170. Chili.

Force has been the supreme reason, which, during upwards of three hundred years, has maintained the new world under the necessity of reverencing, as dogma, the usurpation of its rights and seeking therein the origin of its most important duties. It was evident that a day would come, when this enforced submission would cease; but in the mean time it was impossible to anticipate it: the resistance of the inferior against the superior, stamps with a sacrilegious character, his pretensions and serves only to discredit the justice, upon which they are founded. For the 19th century was reserved the spectacle of hearing innocent Anterica claim her rights, and show, that the period of her sufferings could continue no longer than that of her debility. The revolution of the 18th September of 1810, was the first effort Chili made towards accomplishing these high destinies, to which she was called by time and nature. Her inhabitants have given since proofs of the energy and firmness of her will, scorning all the vicissitudes of war.

But the actual circumstances of the war, not permitting the convocation of a national Congress to sanction the public votes, we have ordered that a register should be opened, in which all the citizens of the state might declare for themselves, free and spontaneously, their votes for the urgent necessity of the government proclaiming immediately the independence or for delaying it, or for the negative; and having found, that the generality of the citizens have irrevocably decided by the affirmative this proposition, we have thought proper, in the exercise of the extraordinary power, with which we have been ested by the peoplefor this particular case, to declare, solemnly in their names, in the presence of the Almighty, to make known to the great confederation of mankind, that the continental territory of Chili and her adjacent islands form, in fact and right, a free, independent and sovereign state, and are forever separated from the monarchy of Spain, and fully qualified to adopt the form of government most convenient to their interest.

Given at the Directorial Palace of Conception on the 1st January, 1818, signed with my har and countersigned by our ministers and secretaries of state for the department of state, treasury and war. BERNARDO O'HIGGINS.

Miguel Zanartu, Hipolito De Villegas, Jose Ignacio Zenteno.

171. Peru.

In the royal city of Lima, 15th July, 1821. The señors, who compose it, havIng yesterday assembled in the most excellent Senate with the most excellent and most illustrious Señor, the archbishop of this holy Metropolitan church, the prelates of the religious convents, titulars of Castile and various neighbours of this capital, for the purpose of fulfilling, what had been provided in the official letter of the most excellent Señor, the general in chief of the liberator army of Peru, D. José de San Martin, the contents of which were read; and persuaded of the soundness of the same containing what persons of known probity, learning and patriotism, who inhabit this capital, would express, if the general opinion for indepen dence had been resolved on, which vote will serve as a guide to the said General for proceeding to take the oath: all the Señors agreeing for themselves and satisfied of the opinion of the inhabitants of the capital, said, that the general will was decided for the independence of Peru, of the Spanish dominion and of any foreign dominion whatever, and that they would proceed to sanction the same by means of a solemn oath.

172. Mexico. Extract.

After the long night of three ages, in which America has lain plunged in darkness, the aurora of her felicity at last burst forth; that day dawned for which she has sighed and which she desires may be perpetual: This consummation would never have been obtained, if it had not been founded in justice, nor if justice herself were not to be the base of the government which is to consolidate it. But the junta has the satisfaction to announce that both considerations are combined in the emancipation which we have accomplished.

Nature has marked out the territories of nations by rivers, mountains and other boundaries, which establish their limits. How many states are divided by the Po and the Rhine, as the Alps and the Pyrenees divides Fiance from Italy and from Spain. From this last, immense seas and a vast distance divide America; distances which not only make them different as kingdoms, but establish them as belonging to two different worlds. Policy must necessarily conform to the order of nature, and as it would be monstrous to put in the same space the contrary elements of fire and water, it is equally so to unite in one province, people who are distinct and distant; especially if that difference and distance, extend to the extremity of the two worlds, since then it embraces all the contrarieties which climate can originate. The two vast globes, and opposite movements, cannot revolve without embarrassment upon one axis, but each requires its own; in the same manner, two empires of distinct and opposite qualities require two govern ments, without being susceptible of being united in one, which is never sufficient to govern both well,

If occasionally, the order of nature is violated, in departing from the bounda ries she fixes, it must happen as with fire inclosed in the mines, that an explosion will finally take place. The two Spains, Old and New, or, which is the same thing, Castile and Mexico, which have hitherto borne those names, belong to distinct regions of the earth, to different portions of the globe, to opposite zones of the sphere; differences which at once evince the justice of their separation. If they have been united, as Esau and Jacob in the womb of Rebecca, and have long remained so; this alone, giving to the latter her growth, has rendered it necessary that they should separate, as these twins did, first in the maternal bosom, and afterwards in their descendants. This idea is further enforced by illustrations drawn from animal nature, wherein the offspring, when capable of providing for itself, leaves its dam, the young bird its nest; and New Spain having arrived at the vigor of manhood, is bound by all analogy, it is said, to separate and shift for itself. This it is which justifies the independence of America. She has burst her chains, in order to acquire liberty, and to withdraw herself from the yoke which embarrassed her prosperity, by limiting her labour, her industry, her mmerce, by the sole interest or pleasure of the mother country.

[It is then generally stated, that until a meeting of the cortez, the laws and constitution of Spain, as far as they are applicable, will be the law of the land. The Declaration concludes with a general expression of the desire of the Mexicans to cultivate amicable relations with all other nations-reserving, however, their choicest favor and highest privileges to the Spanish nation, from which they sprung.] Signed at Mexico, October 13, 1821.

ANTONIO, bishop of Puebla, as President.

173. Brazil.

This kingdom, since it acknowledged me their perpetual defender, required of me, immediately, to adopt the most energetic measures for the preservation of their honor and prosperity.

.... Had I hesitated in my determination, I would at once have violated my sacred promise, on the one hand; and, on the other, would have given rise to all the evils of anarchy, the dismemberment of the provinces, and all the fury of a democracy. What wrestling would there not have been amidst such sanguinary parties, between a thousand successive and opposing factions? Who would have retained possession of the gold and diamonds of her mines?-of those formidable rivers which are

the strength of our state?-of that astonishing fertility, the inexaustible fund of so much riches and prosperity? Who could have appeased, allayed the fury of so many conflicting parties?-who could have civilized our distant provinces,divided by so many rivers? Who would have penetrated into the wildness of the interminable forests, to offer aid to our poor deserted Indian?-who could have ascended their lofty and inaccessible mountians? Most assuredly, Brazilians: Brazil would have been ruined, this precious jewel of all beautiful nature, which is at once the envy and admiration of the whole world.

I should have been answerable for all these evils-for all the blood shed-for the unfortunate victims which, unquestionably, would have been sacrificed to the particular views and interests of such contending factions, had I not adopted the measures so earnestly solicited by the people: I, therefore, immediately directed that an assembly of Brazilians should be called for the cement of the political independence of this kingdom, at the same time not intending to break the bonds of the Portuguese fraternity; to tranquilize, on principles of justice, the united kingdoms of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, and to preserve, under the same chief, two families, separated by a wide occan, who can only live united by the equality of rights, and the reciprocation of their interests.

Brazilians! it is not necessary for you to recollect all the evils to which you were subject, or what induced you to make the representation transmitted to me by the chamber of representatives and the people, on the 23d of May, and which gave rise to my royal decree of the 3d of June, of the present year; but a deference for the opinions of mankind requires us to declare the reasons which dictated this course the history of the acts of the congress of Lisbon, with regard to Brazil, ia a history of continual injustice and deceit all having in direct object to destroy the prosperity of Brazil, and so effectually to paralize all its energies, as to make it entirely dependent on the mother country; that the world may have been witness to the justice of our cause, we appeal to the following facts:

The congress of Lisbon gave laws to Brazil without waiting for its representation, thus destroying the sovereignty of the majesty of the nation.

They denied us a delegation of executive power, so necessary to the proper developement of our physical means. Kaowing, at the same time, the great distance which separated us, leaving us without laws appropriate to our climate, our wants, and our local situation:

They gave us a government without stability, and without unity, formed in insubordination, rivalship and contradictions-thus depriving us of the rank which she enjoys, and weakening the foundation of our future grandeur and prosperity, and driving us into all the horrors of anarchy and confusion:

They excluded the Brazilians from all participation in the emoluments arising from offices of honor or profit, and filled your cities with European bayonets, commanded by cruel, rapacious and foreign chiefs:

They received with enthusiasm, and loaded with benefits, all those monsters who attempted to destroy the best affections of the heart, and who triumphed in the idea of extinguishing the last ray of hope among the people:

They cast usurping hands upon the resources of the bank of Brazil, overloaded with an enormous national debt, which the congress never used; at a time when the credit of the bank was united with the public credit of Brazil, and with its own prosperity:

They negociated with foreign nations the alienation of portions of your territory, to weaken and enslave you:

They disarmed your fortresses, stripped your navy yards, left in a defenceless state your harbors, calling to Portugal all your navy-they exhausted your treasures with repeated demands to support the troops which camewithout your permission to shed your blood; and, at the same time, they prohibited the introduction of arms and ammunition with which you could arm yourselves and support your liberty:

They showed a project of commercial relations, which, under the false appearance of imaginary reciprocity and equality, monopolized your riches, and offered your ports to foreigners; thus destroying your agriculture and industry, and again reducing the inhabitants of Brazil to the state of fatherless and unsettled planters: