APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 479 



make observations, and from which 

 I am this moment returned. 



R. G. Keats, 

 Sir R. J. Strachan, bart. 8^c. 



Present condition oj South Ame- 

 rica. 



The critical situation of the parent 

 states renders it of great importance 

 to us to ascertain the actual situation 

 of the dependencies of Portugal and 

 Spain in the Western world. From 

 Buenos Ayreswe have received the 

 subsequentletter, inclosing the first 

 public act ofgovernmentof thenew 

 viceroy, a copy of which we have 

 also subjoined. By this document 

 and the accompanying intelligence, 

 it will be seen that the ancient sys- 

 tem of Spain with regard to her co- 

 lonies will be adopted by the Junta, 

 and it will be a question for this 

 commercial nation of noinconsider- 

 able magnitude to examine how far 

 it be consistent with its policy to 

 promote that close and intimate 

 union between the mother country 

 and her American territories, under 

 which all direct intercourse will be 

 prevented, and every bale of mer- 

 chandize must be subject to the 

 duties the Supreme government, 

 whatever maybe its character, shall 

 think fit to impose. With such re- 

 marks we shall not be liable to be 

 misunderstood in making these 

 communications. 



Buenos Ayres, 3d August. 

 The wise government of the 

 Supreme Central Junta already ap- 

 pears to dawn in this vast and 

 1)owerful empire — a country which 

 las hitherto been corrupted by in- 

 trigues, and by the evil designs of 

 those who have been invested with 



authority among us. No depart- 

 ment has felt more the miserable 

 effects of these political vices than 

 the commercial. All the best 

 principles of the mercantile interest 

 have been abandoned, and the dis- 

 orders which must necessarily at- 

 tend such a state of things have 

 been occasioned. 



In this deplorable condition 

 were affairs in these rich provinces 

 until the 30th of June last, when 

 at the most seasonable period, to 

 restore us to our meridian splen- 

 dor, arrived D. Baltasar Hidalgo 

 de Cisneros, viceroy of these Pro- 

 vinces in the frigate Proserpine. 

 This worthy and honourable chief, 

 who has conferred so much benefit 

 on the nation during his government 

 of Carthagena, has come among us 

 to be the depository of the confi- 

 dence of the Supreme Central Junta, 

 to convert irregularity into method, 

 and essentially and principally to 

 direct his views, and to employ hit 

 power for the protection and aug- 

 mentation of our commerce. la 

 the few days he has resided here he 

 has attended to this primary object 

 of his mission, by giving directions 

 that all foreign ships whether be- 

 longing to England or elsewhere, 

 should withdraw from our ports ; 

 and he has begun to put in activity 

 the laws by which the Indies have 

 been hitherto governed. By such 

 means the merchants will be re- 

 stored to their privileges, and will 

 be enabled to pursue with advantage 

 their occupations under those early 

 maxims of policy by which the 

 prosperity of these countries has 

 been secured. 



Proclamation of D. Baltasar 

 Hidalgo de Cisneros y la Torre, 

 Knight of the Spanish Order of 



Charles 



