198] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



terbalanced by the course of events 

 in the Caraccas. It is related, 

 that the contending parties hav- 

 ing for some time been collecting 

 .their whole strength for deciding 

 the fate of the province of Ve- 

 nezuela, a dreadful engagement 

 ensued on June 18th in the valleys 

 of Arazua, in which the royalists 

 obtained a complete victory. No 

 .quarter was given, and several 

 thousands of the vanquished were 

 slain. The insurgents, who were 

 in possession of the city of Ca- 

 raccas, dismayed at the intelli- 

 gence, sent deputies to solicit 

 terms of peace, who were or- 

 dered back without hopes of mer- 

 cy. They then separated, and 

 sought safety in flight, and the 

 royalists entered the city on July 

 7th. The insurgent chiefs, with 

 a few followers, took to the 

 mountains, pursued by some light 

 detachments ; whilst a considera- 

 ble body of royalists repaired to 

 La Guayra, whither many of the 

 inhabitants of Caraccas had remo- 

 ved with their portable property. 

 Of these, about 500 escaped to 

 the neighbouring islands, but with 

 great loss of effects, in which the 

 British traders partook, the ship- 

 ping sent for their conveyance not 

 arriving at La Guyara till after 

 the entrance of the conquering 

 party. 



Later intelligence from the river 

 Plate mentions that the general of 

 the Buenos Ayres forces, Don 

 Carlos de Alvear, having inter- 

 cepted a letter from Otorgues, 

 commander of a body of more 

 than a thousand horse, exhorting 

 the late garrison of Montevideo to 

 rise and join him, put himself at 

 the head of some infantry and ca- 

 valry, and on June 25th routed 

 the force of Otorgues. Also, that 



Vigodet, on the day aftei the sur- 

 render, published a proclamation 

 to the inhabitants and garrison «)f 

 Montevideo, acquainting them 

 that he had capitulated on terms 

 much more advantageous than 

 those stated by the victors, and 

 that they were guaranteed by 

 Great Britain. Refusing, in con- 

 sequence, to ratify the capitulation 

 published, he was arrested on 

 board the Buenos Ayres flag ship, 

 3nd was afterwards sent to Rio Ja- 

 neiro, from which place he sailed 

 for Cadiz. Both parties accused 

 each other of breach of faith, but 

 the government of Buenos Ayres 

 remained in quiet possession of 

 its conquest. Letters to the 18th 

 of September speak of great exer- 

 tions made by th;»t government to 

 terminate the calamities of war, 

 and re-establish commerce. Two 

 deputies had been nominated to 

 proceed to Spain, and congratulate 

 Ferdinand VII. on his accession ; 

 and they were said to have re- 

 ceived instructions for conceding 

 the supremacy of the mothtr 

 country, on the condition of con- 

 fining civil and military appoint- 

 ments to the colonists in their own 

 country, with the privilege of tax- 

 ing themselves, and free commerce 

 and navigation with all the world. 

 An extraordinary gazette was 

 published at Madrid in December, 

 containinga dispatch from the Vice- 

 roy of Mexico, dated June ICth. It 

 begins with mentioning, that the 

 communications with Vera Cruz 

 being still interrupted by the causes 

 he had before stated, this djspatcb 

 is sent by the indirect route t>f the 

 coast. He then announces the re- 

 cajiture of the fortress of Ac!q>o1- 

 co, and the destruction of the last 

 entrenchment held by the rebel 

 priest Morelos ; for the details of 



