INTRODUCTION. 



97 



the Spaniards of Europe; one would have thought that 

 the legions of Napoleon had planted their standards 

 on their shores. They assembled — they spoke — they 

 thought, and acted. Loyalty gave the impulse, and 

 they flew to arms; but this loyalty was not agreeable 

 to the Europeans, who were alarmed at this sudden 

 transition from the calm of despotism, to the most ter- 

 rific energy. Not so with the enlightened native Amer- 

 icans, in whose breasts the desire of independence, 

 had long burned, and who conceived new hopes, from 

 the political regeneration of their countrymen. All 

 that was now wanting, was to give a direction to the 

 torrent which had begun to flow; this was the work of 

 genius and intelligence, aided by circumstances which 

 carried with them the justiflcation of necessity. To 

 the cry of long live our king Ferdinand, it was not 

 long before that of viva la patria succeeded; and 

 South America became the theatre of one of the most 

 bloody civil wars ever recorded by history. In some 

 places it has been thought necessary by the Spaniards 

 to put to death all the intelligent and intrepid, so 

 that the revolution may have no leaders; in others, 

 shocking to relate, the only remaining hope of regain- 

 ing these countries, is by indiscriminate extermina- 

 tion of the inhabitants. Can any mind human or 

 divine, wish success to such a cause? 



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