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CORRESPONDENCE between the Spanish and Colombian
Authorities, relative to Negotiations for Peace.-June to
November, 1820.
(Translation.)

(1.)—The Spanish General Morillo to the Congress of Colombia. MOST SERENE Sirs,

Head-Quarters, Caracas, 17th June, 1820.

YOUR Serene Highnesses being no doubt apprized of the events which have lately occurred in the Peninsula, and the triumph of the general wish of the Nation for the re-establishment of the Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy, as sanctioned in Cadiz in the Year 1812, by the unanimous vote of the Representatives of both Hemispheres; and positive orders having been received by me, from the Constitutional King of the Two Spains, to enter into a liberal and fair accommodation, which may re-unite the whole family, so that all may enjoy the benefits of our political regeneration, and an end be put to the fatal effects of the variances which originated in the desire of being relieved from that oppression which was erroneously thought to be peculiar to these regions, but which, in fact, was universal throughout the whole Empire; I hasten to inform your Highnesses that I have opened a communication with the Military Commander in-Chief of your Government, and his Officers, and have proposed a suspension of hostilities, until a reconciliation can be effected; for the accomplishment of which object, Brigadier Don Thomas de Cires, Governor of the Province of Cumana, and Don Joseph Domingo Duarte, Intendant of the Army, and Superintendent General of Finance, are commissioned to treat with your Highnesses on an equitable, proper, and mutually advantageous basis. In the meanwhile, I have issued orders to my Officers to carry the suspension of hostilities into immediate effect, and to remain in the positions they now occupy, unless they are attacked.

As a Military Chief, obedient to that subordination by which my career has ever been guided, I made war; and now, as a reconciliator, I cheerfully submit to the same subordination, and exhibit those principles of liberality, which the King and the Nation have authorized me to act upon, in order to restore peace and reconciliation to a People by nature Spanish, and who, by the concurrence of circumstances, are entitled to participate in the enjoyment of the reform effected in our Political Institutions.

Your Highnesses ought to lose sight, as I do at this moment, of the horrors of War: let us fix our views solely on the sweet and delightful hope of uniting sons to fathers, brothers to brothers, friends to friends, and Spaniards to Spaniards, whom a fatality had divided; and for so desirable au end, let us join in welcoming a conciliatory Constitution, which we shall improve by mutual consent, as the judicious experience of things may dictate. It equalizes the National representation of both People: one does not depend upon the other, and consequently each is free and independent. In its suffrages rests the authority of [1819-20.] 3 Q

forming the Laws which are to be obeyed, and those regulations of political economy for the improvement of agriculture, commerce, the arts, and every species of industry, without those odious distinctions which the petty policy of past ages had adopted.

The Commissioners will lay before your Highnesses the principles of reconciliation, and I am thoroughly persuaded that affection and goodwill will establish fraternity, even should your Highnesses, from the recollection of what has passed in the epochs of fury and desperation, hesitate to agree at once to the proposals of the Nation, which originate in the wish with which it is animated, of rendering its triumph general to all Spanish Countries in the four quarters of the globe, where its ancient Laws had reached, and where its new Institutions will be the more readily received.

What an agreeable metamorphosis it will be for us all, when we can unite, and I be able to present myself without the apparatus of War, and merely as a peaceable Spanish Citizen, joining in the general expression of joy at the victory reciprocally gained over our passions? Until this be done, your Highnesses will never be able to graduate the difference between the General and the Citizen, in one who has the constitutional honour of being, Your Most Serene Highnesses' most obedient Servant, PABLO MORILLO.

The Most Serene Congress assembled in Guyana.

(2.)—The Spanish General Morillo to the Colombian General Montillo. MOST EXCELLENT SIR, Head- Quarters, Caracas, 17th June, 1820.

THE great and happy events of March, in European Spain, may not, perhaps, have yet reached the notice of your Excellency. His Majesty, always attentive to the good of his beloved People, has spontaneously divested himself of the power which his Predecessors had exercised for 3 Centuries, and sworn to the observance of the Political Constitution of the Monarchy, which was sanctioned by the Cortes on the 18th of March, 1820, in accordance with the universal will of the Nation. Never did a King give such positive proofs of the rectitude and sincerity of his principles, nor make so heroic a sacrifice for the happiness of his Subjects. The Peninsula of Spain took that celebrated Oath in an instant; and the Provinces of American Spain have followed its example in the midst of the acclamations of the People, causing, by their noble conduct, the horrors of intestine War to disappear, as ought in such circumstances to be expected.

The Gazette, which I send to your Excellency herewith, will prove to you these facts. The King, seated upon the august Constitutional Throne of the Spains, and amidst the many and weighty occupations which the changes in the Fundamental Law entail upon him, has, by one of his first acts, turned his eyes towards those Provinces of the Monarchy, which have been devastated by a War, that originated in a atality of circumstances, produced either by an error of calculation,

which has made more horrible the re-action of the Parties, or in a lamentable spirit of revenge, which has occasioned atrocities the more violent, in proportion as the relationship between the Parties was near. It has had no other result than the devastation of Venezuela for principles, perhaps, wholly equivocal. The King, penetrated with sorrow, has seen the misfortunes of these portions of his great Empire, aud has thought that the happiness and satisfaction of his paternal heart would not be complete, unless it opened all its beneficence, and put in action all the means possible to terminate those misfortunes. His first step has therefore been to address to these People the annexed Proclamation, full of moderation and goodness, and worthy of the gratitude of his Subjects, and the admiration of Foreigners. His Majesty, in consequence, not putting narrow limits to his generous intentions, has authorized me particularly to treat with the dissenting Governors; to invite them to explain their views and wishes, and afterwards to cause to disappear for ever the memory of past events. In order, therefore, to fulfil the commands of the King, and to gratify my own wishes, I address my. self, under this date, through the medium of Commissioners fully authorized, to the Authorities actually governing in the separated Countries, in order, in the manner the most clear, satisfactory, and desirable in human prudence, to terminate the dissensions of Brothers. But as it is impossible to listen to, or understand, each other, with arms in our hands, it is necessary to suspend them, with a view to bring about, during the suspension, that state of calm which gives place to reason, and in which the heat of the passions subsides. For this purpose, and under this date, I give orders to the Commanders of the various Divisions of the Military and Naval Forces, under my command, that they cause hostilities to cease on their part, and remain in the Territory which they occupy; and that they count upon this necessary suspension, from the day on which your Excellency receives this, and until one month afterwards. But it not being equally possible that this indispensable measure may be communicated to the Government upon which you depend with the necessary promptitude, I have thought it proper to address directly to you so interesting a Communication.

I expect that your Excellency will acknowledge the frankness of this proceeding, the sincerity of my intentious, and the goodness of the King, who is auxious only for the re-union and happiness of the Great Family. God preserve, &c. Señor Don Mariano Montillo.

PABLO MORILLO.

(3.)-The Congress of Colombia to the Spanish General Morillo. MOST EXCELLent Sir, New Guyana, 13th July, 1820.

THE Sovereign Congress, having been specially convened, for the purpose of considering the Letter addressed to it by your Excellency, from your Head-Quarters at Caracas, the 17th of June last, informing it that Brigadier Don Thomas de Cires and Don Joseph Domingo Duarte

were commissioned to proceed to this Capital, in order to solicit the union of these Countries with the Constitutional Monarchy of Spain, and to submit the basis of reconciliation proposed by the Nation, that August Body met on the 11th inst. in a public sitting, and I transmit, in reply to your Excellency, the following:

Decree." The Sovereign Congress of Colombia, desirous of establishing peace, will hear with pleasure any proposal which may be made on the part of the Spanish Government, provided it has for its basis the acknowledgment of the Sovereignty and Independence of Colombia, but will admit none that does not contain that principle, so often declared by the Government and People of the Republic."

The President of the Sovereign Congress has the honour, &c. FERNANDO DE PENALVER. FELIPE DEPIANO, Secretary.

H. E. Don Pablo Morillo.

(4.)-The Spanish General de la Torre to the Colombian General Bolivar. MOST EXCELLent Sir, Carthagena, 20th July, 1820.

YOUR Excellency well knows, and will, as I do, acknowledge in your heart, that family disputes tend always by a natural impulse to a fraternal reconciliation, particularly when the principal Agents act with good faith, and have in view the public happiness. The Spanish Nation, whose European and Ultramarine sons have been so long at variance, has at length obtained the permanent re-establishment of the Constitution of 1812, which cannot fail to be a bond of re-union, or the meaus of effecting it: the individuals of society can aspire to nothing beyond the attainment of a liberal, just, and wise Government, whose object cannot but be manifest in the Fundamental Code, the Proclamation of His Majesty, the Manifesto of the Provisional Junta, and the Regulations for convoking the Cortes; which I send to you.

This system, which removes all, or the greater part, of the grievances of the Colonial Dissidents, gives the inhabitants of America a participation in the height of glory to which, in all probability, the Nation will be raised. Whereas, on the other hand, if Spain, in consequence of this disunion, loses so great a portion of her power, America unoccupied, and especially this Kingdom, cannot fail soon to discover how impossible it will be for her to support herself alone, owing to the want of a Population proportioned to the extent of her Territory, and to the little progress she has made in general information, in agriculture, industry, commerce, foreign relations, and all the other elements necessary for the formation of a Nation; without being able, in consequence of these disadvantages, and the colour and race of her inhabitants, to avail herself of the example afforded by other Nations, which have respectively separated themselves from the States to which they belonged..

If in the above Documents, or in these my suggestions, or by any better calculation of your own, your Excellency shall find any thing likely to promote reconciliation and union, and shall, in consequence, receive

and swear to the Constitution, and send to the Cortes the number of Depu ties corresponding to the District now occupied by the Forces under your Excellency's command, this superior Government is authorized to consider every thing as settled, and will publish a complete oblivion of the past, which, under the present system, cannot fail to be scrupulously observed. Your Excellency will have the glory of being one of the first authors of the termination of the present calamities of his Country, which is worthy of a better fate, and the Government will acknowledge and reward the merit of so beneficial a resolution.

But if any difficulties should occur to your Excellency, which can be obviated by a permanent or provisional Convention, the superior National Government, which has devolved upon me, is ready to open a Conference, by means of Deputies, for the purpose of overcoming them; or if your Excellency, or the Government to which you belong, should prefer a direct communication with the Court, and will send Commissioners, with Full Powers, to explain your wishes to His Majesty, I will give them the necessary Passports, on the understanding that I am authorized to assure your Excellency that His Majesty will listen to your propositions, and will grant every thing that is compatible with the dignity and welfare of the Monarchy.

But, in any case, should you even be unwilling, immediately, to receive and swear to the Constitution, and to send Deputies to the Cortes, there may be some points which might be previously arranged, and a truce or cessation of hostilities would be desirable for that purpose. This I, therefore, propose to your Excellency, and that it may be settled, by means of Deputies, on the basis of its being without prejudice to the respective position of the parties, and that nothing shall be attempted in the interim which can compromise future operations.

But if, in spite of every thing, the War must he continued, this superior Government will, agreeably to the Orders which it has received, carry it on conformably to the principles of humanity and the Laws of Nations, avoiding every excess, if your Excellency will on your part adopt a similar course.

Finally, the Supreme National Government, of whose pure and cordial good faith the most positive testimony will be always given, authorizes me to assure you, that it will practise the principles of rectitude, which are essential to the beneficial system which it has adopted; but if, unfortunately, there should not result therefrom the salutary effects which the Nation and the King sincerely anticipate, it will have given to Europe and the World an undoubted proof of the greatest moderation; and, no other alternative remaining but that of force to subdue the obstinate, it will be employed with justice and propriety, without subjecting the Government to that responsibility for future misfortunes, which it would have incurred had it not made this overture.

I send the communication to your Excellency contained in this Despatch, through the Commander of the Forces immediately in front of

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