324 SPANISH AMERICA. 



come free and independent, was boldly and 

 firmly asserted. 



Declarations of a similar purport were 

 issued in Mexico, also in Carthagena, So- 

 corro, Tunja, Pamplona, Antioquia, and 

 the other provinces composing the confe- 

 deration of New Grenada, and subsequently 

 by the congress of Buenos-Ayres. 



A short time previously to these events, 

 in January 1811, a discussion took place 

 in the Cortes of Spain respecting the claims 

 of the Spanish Americans ; but even at this 

 period, when conciliation might still, per- 

 haps, have produced an effect favourable 

 to Spanish supremacy in South America ; 

 when, at any rate, it was the only chance 

 that was left, — the majority of the Cortes, 

 adhering closely to the old, stubborn, and 

 vicious policy of their predecessors, after 

 the consideration of the propositions con- 



