192

SIEGE OF MONTE VIDEO.

by the citizens on the executive was that of calling together the General Assembly within three months from the 8th of October, the day of the assembling or rising of the multitude and military, and that on which the new government was installed. To this were appointed, as secretaries ad interim, Don Juan Manuel Luca, Don Tomas Guido, and Don Domingo Trillo.

On the 13th of November the siege of Monte Video was, for the second time, established. All the enemy's sorties, some of them very formidable, were repulsed; a great scarcity of provisions prevailed within the walls; and while the marinos on the one hand were landing, in small parties, on the unprotected parts of the Paraná, especially San Nicolas, and sacking them, José Eugenio Culta, with his guerrilla parties, was driving off, or taking prisoner, every enemy to the republican cause on the Banda Oriental. He marched upon Canalones and took it; he carried off seven hundred head of cattle and eight prisoners from the Cerrito; he entered Miguelete, and riding forward to within a league of Monte Video, took by surprise a number of outposts.

These operations immediately preceded the

SUCCESS OF RONDEAU.

193

sitting down of Rondeau with his army, as already stated, before Monte Video. He closed the year by a very gallant action on the 31st December, when the enemy, with his whole force of two thousand men, sallied from the fortress, and attacked the besieging troops. But Vigodet, who on this occasion commanded the Montevideans was repulsed with the loss of a great many men in killed and wounded, of a pair of colours, 120 muskets, ammunition, &c.; while Rondeau's loss consisted of only 67 men, in killed and wounded.

The most encouraging feature of the war, was the reassurance by the Court of Brazil, ratified by Lord Strangford, and still more substantially confirmed by the entire evacuation of the Banda Oriental by the Portuguese troops, that it would thenceforward remain neutral in military operations, and in all others, would maintain the best possible understanding with the Argentine republic.

Admiral Fleming having written from Lima some letters, in which he protested Great Britain's determination to bring the colonies again under the control of Spain, and asserted, at the same time, that the Junta had offered to deliver the

VOL. II.

K

194

FISCAL REGULATIONS.

country into the hands of Doña Carlota, Lord Strangford assured the Government that such letters were written, and such declarations made, entirely without authority. The sole object of Admiral Fleming's expedition, says the British ambassador at the Court of Rio de Janeiro, was to bring home specie.

A few fiscal regulations were made toward the close of this year, just worth noticing as indicative of a desire to improve. A premium of three per cent., exacted in all transactions, on hard dollars, was abolished as unfair in principle, and complicating mercantile transactions. The monopoly of tobacco was disallowed.

A frank and friendly invitation was held out to foreigners of all nations to settle in the new state; and the principle of artizans taking apprentices was enforced.

As illustrative of the persevering efforts of the Spaniards to regain their original ascendency, we have here to mention that though the last conspiracy was detected, and the leaders of it punished with death so lately as July of this year, the year was not destined to close without something of a similar attempt being made. Various

CONSPIRACY DETECTED.

195

letters between the conspirators and the most influential individuals in the besieged garrison of Monte Video were intercepted; and they left no doubt that a second attempt at insurrection was at hand.

Five European Spaniards, the most undeniably implicated, were shot, and as usual gibbeted as a public, but loathsome spectacle.

The following regulations were then adopted on the 23rd of December against all European Spaniards :—

1st. That they should not, on pain of death, congregate in one place to a number exceeding three.

2nd. That under the same penalty they should not be found on horseback, either in the capital, or its vicinity; and

3rd. That any one of them detected in an attempt to escape, whether to Monte Video or to any other place occupied by the enemy, should be instantly shot.

Yours, &c.

THE AUTHORS.

LETTER XXXV.

THE AUTHORS to GENERAL Miller.

Complaints of the Court of Brazil-This Court, and the Government of Buenos Ayres-The Asamblea-Don Carlos de AlvearBelgrano's Victory in Peru-Terms of Capitulation-Ratified— Expedition from Lima against Chile-Vaccination introduced by Dr. Segurola-Bishop of Cordova-Paraguay-The Prueba and San Pablo-General O'Higgins-Defeat at Vilcapugiò.

London, 1842.

A BRAZILIAN vessel of war arrived at Buenos Ayres on the 16th January, 1813, bringing remonstrances from the Court of Rio de Janeiro, and from the British ambassador there, against the conduct of many officers of the army of the Banda Oriental, at the time that Brazil was giving effect to the treaty of peace between the two governments by quietly evacuating the Spanish American territory, in endeavouring to seduce the Portuguese troops, and to bribe their commanders, to join the ranks of Artigas and Rondeau.

The Buenos Ayres government solemnly dis