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ADVERTISEMENT.

DON VICENTE PAZOS, the author of the following Letters, is a native of Upper Peru: much therefore, of what he describes, is the familiar recollections of his childhood, or the results of his maturer knowledge, and of personal observation.

In his rapid sketch of the revolution of the United Provinces of South America, there are many scenes in which he has borne a part, either as an actor or sufferer, and which are therefore too deeply imprinted on his memory to be easily forgotten;-for the rest, for every fact which is not already history, he relies upon authentic information, and public documents.

I learn from him, that he was induced to address these letters to the Hon. Henry Clay, from sentiments of private friendship, of respect for his public character as the chief of the popular and representative branch of the government of the United States, and because he was the first to raise his voice in our national Legislature in favour of South American Independence.

The Map of the United Provinces of South America, which accompanies this volume, was delineated by the ingenious Mr. E. W. Bridges, City Surveyor, and engraved by those distinguished artists, Messrs. Maverick and Durand. It is compiled from the most recent and approved maps

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and charts of South America, whose errors, where they have been discovered, have been carefully corrected, and whose omissions have been supplied from the author's topographical knowledge of the country.

For the manner in which this work has been translated, I am answerable; it has not been accomplished without much labour, nor without the waste of many hours, taken from business or relaxation;-in the progress of which I have been cheered, by the reflection that I was aiding to disseminate among my fellow-citizens, the knowledge of a country, the most interesting, perhaps, of any on the globe, but which, like the Herculaneum of antiquity, has been buried for centuries beneath the accumulated lavas of oppression, ignorance and superstition.

The following pages point out to the enterprising a boundless scope for the employment of industry, and the display of talent; to commercial men, new objects and channels of trade; to the friend of man, a noble field for the exercise of benevolence; to the friend of God, a splendid theatre for the labours of the Missionary ;-a region where the fountain of living waters has never gushed, nor the tree of life taken root.

I flatter myself that whoever shall peruse this volume, will lay it down with the conviction, that his time has been employed, neither unpleasantly nor unprofitably.

PLATT H. CROSBY.

New-York, March 20, 1819.

PREFACE.

THE struggles which the Patriots of South America are making to establish their independence, have attracted the attention, and deeply interested the sympathies, of the world. Until very lately, the abundant resources of this country, and its unparalleled salubrity of climate, have been regarded, without being entirely disbelieved, as the fables of romance, rather than realities. Few had any interest in the truth, and fewer still had the disposition to investigate it. Investigation would indeed have been unprofitable, and at all events laborious, and without the prospect of future advantage; and the fairest portion of the globe, the most inviting to the adventurer, and the man of science; the most auspicious to the developement of genius, and the prosecution of industry; has been known only through the muddy channels of information which the worst of governments, and of religions, have from time to time thrown open to the world.

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A happier star seems to have risen upon this oppressed country, to preside over its destinies, and to conduct the people in their march towards moral greatness; to attain which, nothing but the incarceration of the mind could have repressed their ardour, or stifled their aspirations. The glorious work of political and religious emancipation is going on simultaneously with the removal of ignorance, apathy, and prejudice,-obstacles formidable indeed, but which the spirit of independence will finally overcome. The termination of the contest now waging, in Peru especially, may be anticipated at an early day; its triumphant issue is so clearly foreseen, that anxiety is barely kept awake, and hope not permitted to slumber. The strong arm of power cannot subdue the energies of a high-minded people, when roused in the cause of their independence, and directed to the overthrow of an odious and humiliating domination. Defeat may damp the ardour of resistance, and smother the flame which it cannot extinguish; but passions, which have long been restrained, will sooner or later burst their barriers, and bear down every thing in their fury.

The independence of the whole of the United Provinces, except those of Upper Peru, has been so long established, and the ability

and determination of the people to maintain it, have been so fully displayed, that incredulity is hushed, and doubt has vanished away. They exercise all the rights of sovereignty, and possess all its advantages, with the exception of their recognition by other nations. This policy of the European governments, however it may have originated, has been pursued by the United States;—with what wisdom will not here be made the subject of inquiry, as it would lead into the mazes of politics, further than is either prudent or desirable, and it is a subject of all others, perhaps, upon which the writer would be heard with the least complacency. Without exposing himself to the hazards which overhang that troubled ocean, he may be indulged in a few remarks. The present embarrassed, it might be said distracted, state of commerce in Europe and the United States, affords strong grounds for believing, that former sources of trade are in a degree becoming exhausted; and in a state of profound peace, like the present, when nations are permitted to pursue their interests and policy undisturbed, competition alone will bear heavily upon commercial profits. In such a state of things, some nations must change their habits and policy, or search out new channels, and pursue new objects of

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