XC. of honour or by that love of glory, which is essential to the BOOK character of the soldier. But many in Colombia, were well fitted for the military profession ;-there Bolivar formed and disciplined the shepherds of the Elanos;-there Paez collected his formidable horsemen, composed chiefly of negroes or the descendants of negroes and Indians; a race of men braver, more intelligent, and not less robust than their fathers. The chiefs and the governments have attempted to introduce a conscription, and in this way to form armies; but M. Mollien, a recent traveller, tells us that the people are averse to the service. Volunteer corps have been formed in Buenos Ayres and other cities, but the military spirit is not prevalent in South America. If the forces were attacked by a regular army, it is likely that they would defend themselves by rapid marches, surprises and feigned retreats; a mode of warfare well suited to the character of the troops. The merchants and landed proprietors, two very wealthy classes of men, are perhaps more hostile to the ancient regime than the great body of the people. The agriculturist cannot be friendly to a government that forced him to root out his vines, his tobacco and his hemp for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of the mother country. Trade was formerly confined to a few ports in Spain, it extends at present to every quarter of the globe. The most obvious consequence of the late revolution is the great reduction in the price of commodities; several articles have fallen more than 100 per cent. The inhabitants enjoy the blessings of plenty; industry may be directed to every source of wealth; private property is held sacred; and these advantages, to which the colonists of Spain were altogether strangers, are for that very reason more prized by the citizens of the South American republics. BOOK XC. Estimate of the Population of the Provinces of Buenos Ayres, Cordova, Tucuman, Mendoza, and Salta, under the Names of the different Towns and Districts which send Representatives to Congress. Table furnished by the Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance of the Order of the Supreme Director of the United Provinces of South America, showing the amount of the National Revenue in 1817; the Expenditure and the Balance remaining in the Treasury at the end of the same Year. Produce of the Revenue in 1817 Remaining in the Treasury in Cash in Deposits. In Capitals placed at interest, redeemable at five per cent. In Goods, unsettled Accounts of former years Dollars. 3,037,187 5 3,003,224 44 33,953 1 6,429 24 93,359 3 8,554,404 21 ΟΣ 19,055,597 51 1,438,054 0 17,617,543 51 BOOK XC. *The tables relative to Colombia are taken from the work of Colonel Fran cis Hall. Statement of the Revenue of Venezuela and New Grenada. FIRST, NEW GRENADA. Dollars. Value of European goods, annually imported, 2,500,000 Value of exports chiefly from Guayaquil, Panama, and Revenue arising from, 1. The first and fifth part of gold extracted from ri- } Revenue arising from the same sources as that of New BOOK XCI. DESCRIPTION OF AMERICA CONTINUED. Kingdom of Brazil. XCI. marcation. THE claims of the Portuguese to their empire in Ameri- BOOK ca are founded on Papal edicts by no means remarkable for geographical accuracy. The Spaniards maintained that the country belonged to them by right of discovery and complained that their territory had been invaded. The Pope tried at first to reconcile the two parties by tracing his famous line of demarcation a hundred leagues westward of the Cape Verd Islands; but whatever league we Line of demake use of in measuring this line; whether we take the marine, the Castilian or the Portuguese, which is the 17th part of a degree, the kings of Portugal could never have derived from it any title to their Brazilian dominions. Brazil is marked in the maps of Pedro Nunez and Texeira too far to the east by twenty-two degrees in the first, and by twelve or thirteen in the second. The Portuguese monarch taking advantage of this great and perhaps voluntary error laid claim to a portion of that country. I pleased too with the Pontifical decree, he seized a favourable opportunity of obtaining from Spain still more important concessions. The treaty of Tordesillas, signed the 9th of June, 1594, established a determinate boundary at 370 leagues westward of the Cape 507 |