INraODUCTION. 



the fire is not yet extinguished, nor will be, until tbere 

 ceases to be any combustible materials. The inci* 

 dents of the war in Venezuela, are also tolerably well 

 known; but, excepting in the island of Margarita, the 

 contest still rages. On the plains of Calabozo and 

 Caraccas, the bloody and exterminating war it is fear- 

 ed, will not soon be brought to a close. It is only in 

 the viceroyalty of La Plata, that the pro^^ress of in- 

 dependence has been firm and sure. It is true, this 

 mighty cause, has been desperately contested in the 

 rugged mountains of the provinces on the heads of the 

 Paraguay and Amazon; the theatre on which La Plata 

 has been struggling for liberty with various success, 

 for the last eight years. Chili in close alliance with 

 this republic, may bid defiance to Spain: without this, 

 if we may judge from the past, the question is doubt- 

 ful. The only viceroyalty of South America, which 

 has remained quiet from the beginning of the contest, 

 is Peru; the most feeble, and with the exception of its 

 mineral wealth, the least important of them all.* This 

 was the point first seized upon by Pizarro, and his 

 daring followers; it was, therefore, the seat of govern- 

 ment for all the rest of South America, on their suc- 

 cessive discovery and conquest. From the reluctance 

 of Spain in the adoption of any new measures called 

 for by the exigence of circumstances, the inconve- 



* It contains about a million of inhabitants, more than one half 

 composed of the spiritless Indian peasantry; of the other half the 

 greater part is made up of negroes and mulattoes. Scarcely a fifth 

 are whites, and the number of monks and nuns is greater than in 

 any other catholic country in the world, and may account for the 

 slow progress of population and the dissoluteness of morals. The 

 staple manufactory of Peru, is priests; and of them, a sufficient 

 number is made to supply all South America. 



