MONTE VIDEO. 



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the news that the captain of the Clio had 

 pulled down the flag of Buenos Ayres, and 

 taken formal possession of the islands in the 

 king's name, came upon them quite unexpect- 

 edly, and when Mr. Gore, our charge d'affaires 

 at that time, was called upon for an explanation, 

 but alleged he could give no information, and 

 had in fact received none from home on this 

 subject, the people were angry, and the go- 

 vernment took no pains to soften their feelings. 



Until the first dispute with England about 

 the Falklands, in the year 1770, the Spaniards 

 never thought of the country south of the Rio 

 Negro. From that time they attempted to 

 make settlements at various points beyond that 

 river, all of which they afterwards abandoned. 

 The people of the Plata can only have inherited 

 from Spain, at most, the limits which the pa- 

 rent country really possessed previous to the 



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