are connected by close relations. This seems to be exactly the case in which The United States and these Provinces stand, with respect to each other; a flattering situation, which gives the signal of our success, and forms our best apology. It is on this occasion that Citizen Don Manuel Hermenegildo de Aguirre, Commissary General of War, is deputed towards you in the character of the Agent of this Government. If his recommendable qualities are the best pledge of the faithful discharge of his Commission and of its favorable issue, the upright and generous sentiments of your Excellency are not less auspicious to it. The concurrence of these circumstances induces me to hope the most favorable results. I trust, therefore, that your Excellency will be pleased to grant to the said Citizen Aguirre, all the protection and consideration required by his diplomatic rank and the actual state of our relations. This will be a new tie by which The United States of the North will more effectually secure the gratitude and affection of the Free Provinces of the South. God preserve you many years. The Hon. James Monroe. J. MARTIN DE PUEYRREDON. No. 9.-General San Martin to the President of The United States. MOST EXCELLENT SIR, (Translation.) [No Date.] CHARGED by the Supreme Director of the Provinces of South America, with the command of the Army of the Andes, Heaven crowned my Forces with a victory on the 12th of February, over the Oppressors of the beautiful Kingdom of Chile. The sacred rights of nature being restored to the Inhabitants of this Country, by the influence of the National Arms, and the efficacious impulse of my Government, fortune has opened a favorable field to new enterprizes, which secure the power of liberty and the ruin of the Enemies of America. Towards securing and consolidating this object, the Supreme Director of the Government of Chile has considered as a principal instrument, the Armament in these Sates, of a Squadron destined to the Pacific Ocean, which, united to the Forces that are preparing in the River La Plata, may co-operate in sustaining the ulterior Military Operations of the Army under my command in South America; and, convinced of the advantages which our actual political situation promises, I have crossed the Andes, in order to concert in the Capital, among other things, the guarantee of my Government, and in compliance with the Stipulations, between the Supreme Director of Chile and its intimate Ally, to carry into effect the plan which has been confided to Don Manuel Aguirre. Your Excellency, who enjoys the honor of presiding over a free People, who contended, and shed their blood in a similar Cause to that in which the Inhabitants of South America are now engaged, will, I hope, deign to extend to the above-named Person such protection as is compatible with the actual relations of your Government; and I have the high satisfaction of assuring your Excellency, that the arms of the Country under my orders, will not fail to give consistency and respect to the promises of both Governments. I am happy in having this agreeable occasion to pay a tribute to your Excellency, of the homage and profound respect with which I have the honor to be, &c. The Hon. James Monroe. JOSE DE SAN MARTIN. No. 10.-The Secretary of State of Venezuela to the Secretary of State of The United States.-(Translation.) MOST EXCELLENT Sir, Palace of the Government, Pampatar, 22nd May, 1817-7th. THE Executive Department of the Confederated States of Venezuela has charged me to transmit to His Excellency the President of The United States, through your hands, the annexed Copies of the Act of the happy re-establishment of the Congress of Venezuela, the exercise of its powers, and other particulars therein contained. Be pleased, Sir, to lay the whole before His Excellency, and assure him that this Government will have the highest satisfaction in communicating to him whatever may occur hereafter. May heaven preserve your life, for the general good of Mankind, and the prosperity of your Republic. The Hon. J. Q. Adams. CAETANO BEZARES. Secretary of State, ad interim. (Enclosure.)—The President of Venezuela to the President of The United States, communicating the re-establishment of the Federative Government of the Provinces of Costa-Firme,—the Main. MOST EXCEllent Sir, (Translation.) Pampatar, (Port of New Sparta,) 21st May, 1817.—7th. THE fortune of arms, which decides the fate of Empires, and a disastrous combination of circumstances, well known to your Government, have interrupted the progress of this Republic, established by a Proclamation of the 5th June, 1811, and occasioned the Capitulation of the 26th July, 1812, entered into between the Commander-in-Chief of the Patriot Army, Francisco Miranda, and Don Domingo Monteverde, Commander of the Spanish Forces, which Compact, shamefully violated in the end, has drawn on Venezuela the signal disasters which this Country has yet to deplore, and of which you have received information through Citizens Scott and Lowry, who were eye-witnesses of those events. This has been followed alternately by prosperous and adverse fortune, which this Continent has experienced since the year 1812. To this date nothing more propitious has presented itself, than the reinstatement of the Federative Government, which was brought about on the 8th of the present month, in the City of San Felipe de Cariaco, within the jurisdiction of the State of Cumana, by the legal proceedings, which your Excellency may perceive by reference to the Official Documents which, in the name of the Executive Department, I have the honor of forwarding to you. And I have to assure your Excellency that, having wrested Venezuela from the hands of the Enemies of her liberty and independence in almost every part of the 7 Provinces of the Confederation, she desires nothing more earnestly than to extend her relations with her Brethren of North America, identified as they are by nature, and by political and Republican principles, with the great Family of the South. Venezuela, at the first period of its emancipation, deputed to your Republic 2 of its Citizens, John Vincente Bolivar, and Talisfero Orea, both furnished with Credentials and competent Powers to transact all business, and who had it specially in charge to assure your Excellency of the ardent wishes of the People of Venezuela to make such arrangements as would conduce to the happiness of both Nations. The state of affairs in Europe at that period, retarded the success which Caraccas promised herself by the acknowledgment of her Independence by the Republic of the North; but a change having taken place, and a sentiment favorable to our Cause extended throughout the Continent of Colombia, the Government of this People, whom I represent, does not doubt that your Excellency, taking into consideration the mutual interests which we propose, will give your concurrence, in as far as depends on yourself, towards the establishment of diplomatic arrangements and stipulations, which Citizen Joseph Cortes Madariaga has it in charge to open; and being assured of the noble qualities attached to your Excellency, I flatter myself that our Negotiations will be speedily concluded. The Executive Department has the honor to tender to your Excellency the homage of this Republic, and the high consideration and respect with which, in its name, I remain, &c. The Hon. James Monroe. FRSCO. ZAVIER DE MAYS. (Sub-Enclosure.)-Proceedings upon the occasion of the Installation of the Supreme Congress of Venezuela. (Translation.) City of San Felipe de Cariaco, 8th May, 1817. His Excellency General Santiago Marino, Second in Command of the Republic, having by Note called upon the following Persons, to assemble in a meeting, namely, His Excellency Admiral Luis Brion, Commander of the Naval Forces, the Intendant General Antonio Zea, Joseph Cortes Madariaga, Canon of the Holy Church of Caraccas, Jacobo Xavier Mays, who acted as President of the Executive Department at the time of the recess of the Congress of Venezuela, Francisco Xavier de Alcala, Diego Valenilla, Diego Antonio Alcala, Manuel Ysaba, Francisco de Paula Naval, Diego Bautista Urbanesa, and Manuel Maneyro, he thus addressed them: CITIZENS, Never have I experienced greater satisfaction than on the present occasion, in seeing you truly reunited to deliberate on the most proper measures to be adopted for the safety of our Country, under such extraordinary political events which have induced our illustrious Compatriot, Jose Cortes Madariaga, to attend as Supreme Chief, in whose name, and at whose request, I have the honor of addressing you, as Second in Command. The above honorable Citizen, Jose Cortes Madariaga, here present, will explain to you his sentiments and reasons; and you will be able to judge for yourselves, whether they be not of such weight as to induce you to institute immediately a Provisional Government, without calling together Deputies, whose election cannot be effected soon enough, in consequence of the state of commotion and War in which our Country is placed. No one can be ignorant, that, in all its reverses, our Republic has not had a firmer Supporter or a warmer Friend than our incomparable Patriot and Citizen, G. Simon Bolivar, all whose designs have been directed to the re-establishment of the representative Government, which the People had fixed upon as their Fundamental Constitution, but vested with more energy, force and unity. This has been the most ardent desire, and the object for which he has twice convoked the Congress; the assembling of which, as I have before observed, has been retarded by political machinations and military commotions. But, in consequence of the extraordinary circumstance above alluded to, I have thought proper to do, in the name, and at the instance of the Supreme Chief, what would be done by him if present; and that is, to propose a Provisional Government, conformable to the Constitution decreed by the Congress of Venezuela. Whilst the Deputies to the New Congress are reassembling, he will proceed to make such reforms and modifications as may be deemed necessary in our Political Institutions. It is on this subject that I wish to obtain your sentiments and advice, after hearing Citizen Cortes." Citizen Cortes followed, and observed, That, animated by sentiments of friendship and attachment towards the South Venezuelans, and their noble Compatriots, particularly since the year 1812, he should pass over the series of reverses, in the course of which a multitude of Persons, of all ages, sexes, and professions, who, by their numbers, virtues, valor, and wisdom, aggrandized the States of the Confederacy, had been swept away by the calamities of an exterminating warfare, declared and carried on against us by our Enemies; and having heard, through the most respectable channel of the public expression, that the time had arrived when South America should rise, in all its dignity, and declare itself in the face of the World, he had taken a considerable Journey, and repaired to this Continent from the Windward Islands, for the express purpose of imparting to his Fellow-Citizens the favorable tidings which led him to hope, that Venezuela will be included in the common prosperity of South America within the present year; and by means of its exterior relations, contribute to the inspiring of confidence, and establishing its emancipation on a solid and permanent basis, worthy of this precious portion of the Globe. He declared, moreover, that he abstained, through delicacy, from making, on this occasion, certain other reflections, of great importance, which he had communicated in his Official Correspondence with the Supreme Chief of the Republic, to General Marino, Second in Command, and to the Admiral of the Squadron; and, being convinced of their weight and importance, the 2 latter Gentlemen had given proofs of the respect with which they had received his Communications. Referring himself to the President as to their contents, he concluded by recommending anew the imperious necessity of the measure, and called for the prompt establishment of the Government. ner: The Admiral next addressed the Assembly in the following man "Fellow-Citizens and Brothers, Nothing has filled with greater pleasure an adopted Son of Venezuela, than the presence of this respectable Assembly, called together by the Second in Command, who is vested with the powers of the First, on a subject so important to the salvation of our Country; his name from this day will be immortalized, having complied with the wishes of the Sovereign People of Venezuela, and fulfilled those of our Sovereign Chief. I felicitate you, Brothers, on so wise a step, aud I have the satisfaction of announcing to you, for your own, that the sacrifices which I have made to this day in the service of my Country, are nothing in comparison to what I pledge myself to consecrate to it henceforward; convinced as I am, that a Government, stable and energetic, by supporting our own force, will likewise induce our foreign Friends to extend to us the hand of friendship, and contribute to the maintenance of our liberty and independence. They are already well disposed; they are acquainted with the integrity of my principles; they know that I have not shrunk from any fatigues or exertions in the Cause of Venezuela; and, with the aid of the Squadron under my command, they only wait to co-operate with your virtue, union, and wisdom, in consolidating the Republic and increasing its respectability." All the Speakers were of an unanimous opinion on the subject proposed, and demonstrated with great energy, the necessity of immediately establishing the Provisional Government proposed by his Excel |