550 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



permit the intelligence, wealth, 

 and population of that part of 

 America subject to their domi- 

 nion, as the surest means of pre- 

 serving an empire which they 

 considered the great source of 

 their wealth and power. 



The revolution havin? been 

 auspiciously commenced in the 

 city of Buenos Ayres, was 

 warmly and zealously supported 

 by the great mass of the people 

 descended from the Spaniards ; 

 but the native Spaniards, as well 

 those domesticated in the country 

 as those in the service of the 

 king, were almost all opposed to 

 it, particularly at the time and 

 under the circumstances it took 

 place. Dissensions were the 

 immediate result, and their long 

 standing jealousy and distrust of 

 each other have, by subsequent 

 events, been heightened into 

 deadly hostility, which time alone 

 can wear awa)'. These dissen- 

 sions have been considered as 

 one of the causes that produced 

 those which subsequently took 

 place among the patriots them- 

 selves, and which have been most 

 serious obstacles to the progress 

 of the revolution. Other obsta- 

 cles, however, have been pre- 

 sented by the royal government 

 at Lima, which has hitherto not 

 only been able to sustain itself 

 there, but has found means, by 

 enlisting the native Peruvians in 

 its sei-vice, to send at different 

 times considerable armies into 

 the upper provinces of La Plata, 

 where the war has been carried 

 on from the commencement of 

 the revolution to the present day 

 with various success ; the great 

 extent and peculiar character of 

 the country, and the want of 



resources, having prevented either 

 party frotn making a blow deci- 

 sive of the contest. Wlien we 

 came away, the advantage in 

 that quarter was on the side of 

 the Spaniards, as they were in 

 possession of the provinces of 

 Upper Peru, which had, to a 

 certain degree at least, joined in 

 the revolution, and some of which 

 are represented in the Congress. 

 Every where else they have been 

 obliged to yield up the govern- 

 ment and abandon the country, 

 or submit to the ruling power. 

 The peculiar situation of Monte- 

 video, on the east side of the 

 river La Plata, open to the sea, 

 and strongly fortified, enabled 

 the Spanish naval and military 

 forces, at an early period in the 

 revolution, to make a stand 

 there ; they were ultimately 

 obliged to surrender it ; not, 

 however, until Icmg- protracted, 

 and perhaps ill-directed, efforts 

 on the part of the assailants, had 

 given rise to many jarring inci- 

 dents between those that came 

 from the opposite shores of the 

 river; probably the effect, in part 

 at least, of ancient jealousies, 

 kept alive by the individual in- 

 terests of particular leaders ; 

 these have been followed by 

 events calculated to produce a 

 still greater alienation ; and, 

 although several attempts have 

 been made to bring about a 

 union, they have hitherto been 

 unsuccessful. The provinces of 

 the " Banda Oriental" and the 

 " Entre Rios," on the eastern 

 side of the river, under the direc- 

 tion of General Artigas, ai'e now 

 at war with those on the western 

 side, under the government of 

 the Congress at Buenos Ayies. 



' This 



