GENERAL HISTORY. 



[161 



but the present administration has 

 taken care to regulate every thing 

 according to the law of nations. 

 Latterly, one of our privateers 

 captured two Portuguese vessels 

 under the mistaken idea that we 

 were at war vvith that power. 

 They shall be immediately re- 

 stored, in order to show that we 

 have no otlier interest in the pri- 

 vateers than in so far as they con- 

 tribute to our national defence ; 

 and that we have no other enemies 

 but Spaniards, against whom our 

 whole eflForts are to be directed. 

 At present, the Supreme Govern- 

 ment has appointed a commission, 

 which is acting incessantly in order 

 to put a stop to the future abuses 

 of our privateers. We hold no- 

 thing more sacred than honour, 

 and no time shall be lost in re- 

 moving all occasion for those ca- 

 lumnies raised by our enemies. 

 Neither anarchical nor sans culotte 

 ideas exist in South America. We 

 did not declare our independence 

 until interior order was completely 

 established." 



The Royal General Morillo, on 

 the 14th of Julvj landed on the 



island of Margaretta, and sent a 

 column of his troops to attack 

 Porlamar, of which they took 

 possession, after a desperate re- 

 sistance. Three hundred of the 

 Patriots were killed, and many 

 were wounded and made pri- 

 soners. The survivors fled to the 

 mountains. The island was sur- 

 rounded with twenty Spanish ships 

 of war ; and several of the insur- 

 gent families who endeavoured 

 to escape had already been taken. 

 A dispatch from Don Francisco 

 de Orantia to Viceroy Don Juan 

 Ruez de Apodaca, dated from Si- 

 lao, in the government of Mexico, 

 October 27, contains an account 

 of his having taken prisoner Mina, 

 the nephew of the celebrated ge- 

 neral against the French, with 

 twenty-five other persons, in the 

 pass of Venadito, where Mina was 

 at the head of 200 men, nearly the 

 half of whom are killed. This cap- 

 ture appears to have been con- 

 sidered as of great importance by 

 the Spanish government, which 

 could not remain indifferent as to 

 the possible success of the enter- 

 prise. 



Vol. LIX. 



M 



€HAr' 



