INTRODUCTION. 



Americans from allegiance to Spain, holding out to 

 them a feigned guardianship and protection,"^ How- 

 ever this may be, the only possessions of Great Bri- 

 tain at present on the southern continent, are those of 

 Esequibo and Demerara, inconsiderable colonies near 

 the equator, taken from the Dutch. The French and 

 Dutch colonies of Guyana, are comparatively of little 

 importance. South America may therefore be consi- 

 dered as divided between Spain and Portugal; the 

 former including the provinces which have gained, or 

 are struggling for independence. 



Spanish America is divided into four viceroyalties; 

 New Spain, New Grenada, Peru, and Rio de la 

 Plata; and into tiie captain-generalships of Yukatan, 

 Guatemala, Venezuela, Chili and Cuba. The islands 

 belonging to, or claimed by Spain, are Cuba, Porto- 

 Rico, Margarita, and St. Andrews. In the Pacific, 

 she possesses the Archipelago of Chiloe, and the 

 island of Juan Fernandez, with some others on the 

 coast of Chili. With the exception of Peru, (some- 

 times called Lima from its capital,) all Spanish 

 •America, has been the theatre of revolutionary strug- 

 gle, or is now actually in possession of the patriots. 

 The viceroyalty of Grenada, a territory more exten- 

 sive than our old thirteen states, was for several years 

 the scene of a bloody contest for independence. The 

 incidents of this contest in the provinces of Carthagena, 

 Santa Martha, Choco, Popayan, and Quito, are fami- 

 liar to most readers. t The blaze has subsided, but 



* I allude to the proclamatioa of Picton, and the other plans on 

 foot in 1797. 



t See *'The outline of the revolution in South America,'* a work 

 written with great impartiality and regard to truth. 



