Has any one of them talked of peace?

Spaniards! you have demanded war; and the war is in the mean time a continual and painful series of dangers, of alarms, of fatigues, and of privations. But if individuals sink under the rigours of adversity, powerful nations never perish; and our's will know how to imitate the magnificent example of the 2d of May, as it has followed it hitherto without turning aside for a moment. Yes, Spaniards, since the 2d of May has again dawned upon our eyes, and finds us struggling with the same inflexibility as at first; let us, on it, proudly repeat to the slaves of Buonaparte, that the tyrant was most bitterly deceived in his calculations at Bayonne. The innocents sacrificed at Madrid could not plunge us into the stupor of terror. By them began a war which perhaps shall last for ages. Thousands upon thousands of warriors shall be immobated to our vengeance. What, though discipline and military skill may give them victories!-their fate shall not, on that account, be better in this terrible country.Conquerors, or conquered-to-day in small numbers, to morrow in greater as many as pass the Pyrenees shall, sooner or later, accompany the three hundred thousand victims whom we have already offered as a holocaust to the manes of those who fell on the 2d of May; and Spain, like the gulph of eternity, shall receive the French on her bosom, and shall not permit one of them to escape from it.

PEDRO DE AGAR, President.
M. J. QUINTANA, Sec...

Gadiz, May 2,

From the Buenos Ayres Cazette, June 15, 1811.

Letter from his Excellency Lord Strangford to this most excellent Junta.

Most Excellent Senor,-I have received the letter of your Excellency of the 24th of February, in which you inform me of the proceedings of General Elio, in interrupting the commerce of Buenos Ayres, and in which (after some observations on the supposed want of legitimate official authority on the part of that General) you beg me to communicate them to my government. On this point I will comply with your Excellency's wishes; but I am convinced that I only anticipate the opinion of my court, when I assure you, that this communication will be received with the deepest regret, and will augment those painful feelings which must be inspired by the present unfortunate contest between Buenos Ayres and its dependencies.

The confidence which your Excellency has placed in me, and the conviction that I shall acquire a new title to it by the proposal which I am about to submit to your consideration, encourage me to speak frankly and without re

serve.

Your Excellency, by constantly expressing a fixed determination to adhere to the common cause of the allies against France, to respect the authority and preserve the claims of your legitimate Sovereign, have secured an undoubted right to the friendship and good offices of Great Britain, founded on a basis much more solid and

extensive,

extensive, than that of the advantages and concessions which you have so liberally and wisely granted to its subjects.

But it is nevertheless to be lamented, that while these principles deserve every applause, their practical results have hitherto so little corresponded to their tenour; and that, in a crisis which requires united efforts and undivided energy, the power of the confederation formed against France should be weakened by the failure of those resources, which might rationally be expected from those who are in no small degree interested in the event of the struggle, but who, unhappily, cannot contribute to its fortunate issue. because they are plunged in all the evils of civil dissension.

Your Excellency knows too well the scrupulous good faith of the Court of London, the sacred ties which connect it with Spain, and the great and universally important object of their mutual alliance, to believe, that Great Britain, without violating that faith, sacrificing those obligations, and abandoning those objects, can lend the sanction of her approbation to measures productive of dissention between the component parts of a * coalition, the happy issue of which depends upon a cordial co-operation and good understanding among

all its constituent members.

But though it is thus impossible for Great Britain to act in opposition to her obligations, and the interests of the just cause which she supports, the just claims which your Excellency has to her friendship, inspire her with a sincere desire to become instrumental to your happiness and prosperity in the only way in which she can at present promote these objects.

I therefore take upon me to offer to your Excellency, in the most ample manner, the good offices and friendly interpositions of the English government, for the purpose of facilitating an amicable settlement of the differences which at present subsist between the Spaniards of both hemispheres, and delivering them from the greatest of all calamities-civil discord, as the origin of their ruin, and of the greatest danger to the common

cause.

I offer this mediation to your Excellency in the firm confidence that it will be undertaken with promptness by the English government, and in the knowledge of what has been already proposed and accepted by other parts of the Spanish monarchy, which were in circumstances similar to those in which Buenos Ayres is now placed.

I beg your Excellency clearly to understand, that the proposal which I make does not involve any disposition on the part of my Court to interpose in the political affairs of the Spanish monarchy, or to support any system inconsistent with liberality and justice, and with the permanent prosperity of Spanish America.

It does not appear possible, that your Excellency can confide your cause in better hands than those of England. Every motive of interest and of policy unites in declaring, that the prosperity of Buenos Ayres must be to us an object of importance; and this consideration, founded on identity of interests, is calculated to produce the most unlimited confidence on the part of your Excellency.

Should the proposal which I have had the honour to make be adopted by your Excellency, I

would

would suggest as the first step to its actual execution, the adoption of measures for an armistice between your Excellency and General Elio; nothing can be more simple than such a negotiation: the withdrawal of your Excellency's troops on the one side, and the cessation of the blockade on the other, would be just measures of mutual concession. It might be stipulated, that this armistice should last till the final adjustment, under the friendly media tion of Great Britain, of the points at present in discussion between the government of Buenos Ayres and that of Spain.

A proposition of this nature, so analogous to the moderation which has characterised the commencement of your Excellency's proceedings, would cover Buenos Ayres with honour; and even should it be rejected, the very fact of having made so equitable an offer would prove, that you had left no means untried to avert the calamities of civil war, while the party that refused to accede to so just a measure would be in a great degree responsible for them.

Your Excellency cannot fail to perceive the various immediate advantages which would result from this proposal. The restoration of commerce would instantly follow, the termination of the difficulties under which British agents have laboured in this part of the world, and the removal of every dispost on to interfere in the affairs of Spanish America, which may have been felt by any other States under the influence of the jealousies excited by the military movements and political proceedings of its neighbours.

I think it proper to apprize your Excellency, that I have also written to General Elio on the subject to which this letter relates, and that I have laboured to produce in him a disposition, corresponding to that which I confidently hope and believe is felt by your Excellency.

I conclude by again requesting your Excellency's attention to the proposition which I have had the honour to make; and that you will favour me with your sentiments upon it, as soon as you conveniently can; and to believe that I am solely actuated by a sincere desire for your peace and prosperity, and for the prosperous issue of the just contest in which we are equally engaged. and in which we cannot hope to conquer if we are divided among ourselves. I have the honour, &c.

STRANGFORD.

Answer of the Junta of Buenos Ayres, to the Letter of Lord Strangford.

"Most Excellent Senor,-The Junta has received by Captain Heywood, of the navy, the confidential letter addressed to them by your Excellency, acknowledging the receipt of their's of the 24th of February. It is not difficult to discover the reasons of your Excellency's silence on the most material part of its contents, nor of your answer to the last, dated March 6th, even had it not been ascertained by other channels, that your Excellency, acknowledging these ports to be in a state of blockade, even to ships of your own nation, chose rather to give a si

lent

lent refusal, notwithstanding the reasons in opposition to it.

This unexpected event, and the great exertions of Admiral de Courcy to free the British flag from the obstructions put many months before, by the government of Monte Video, to the freedom of these ports, present to us a very mortifying contrast. The Junta can assign no cause for this retrograde movement, unless it form part of the plan of the British government to adopt no measures that may tend to disunite America from Spain. The Junta, however, cannot reconcile such inconsistent projects. It is certain that the commercial prospects of Great Britain and America have nothing to do with this disunion.

If Spain should ever renounce her system of exclusion with respect to America, it is time for her to know, that in the state of insignificance in which she is, her true interest consists in soliciting England to approach these sources, whence she may supply that strength which she has exhausted for the interest of Spain, and be enabled to clothe a people left naked by Spanish tyranny at least, in this way, she might have acquired an idea of gratitude and justice; but she chooses rather to be deficient on this score, than to renounce exclusive rights, to which she believes herself to be entitled to all eternity, declaring imperiously, by her emissary General Elio, these ports to be in a state of blockade, and issuing express orders to annihilate the British commerce in this quarter. While she cannot reconcile such conduct with her declaration of attachment to Great Britain, her ally, she

gives the highest offence to the colonies, who, as subject to the same king, have an equal right with Galicia, the Asturias, and Catalonia, to a direct intercourse with the nation that affords them protection. These reasons are of weight sufficient to convince the Junta, that without any violation of the good faith pledged to Spain, and without a breach of any positive agreement, the Court of London may resist the blockade which General Elio has imposed upon British ships.

Your Excellency observes, that it is a matter of regret, that in the present crisis, the power of the confederacy against France should be weakened for want of resources. The Junta is of opinion, that to avoid the mischiefs of which your Excellency speaks, and not to come to a state of the greatest weakness, the most effectual way is, not to place the resources of America in the hands of Spain, but make them pass to England, by means of an open and unrestricted commerce.

The world is not ignorant how incapable Spain is to employ her public funds with economy, as well as to direct her armies, because she has already dilapidated the supplies remitted from America for her defence. Such contributions of loyalty and of honour ought to have been kept sacred; the proper disposal of them was pointed out by her necessities, and the intention of those who granted them. Notwithstanding this, no consideration was sufficient to limit the prodigality and covetousness of the Spanish administrations; and the question is now asked with astonishment, what has become of

such

.