connexions had also been cemented, with more or less formality, between Colombia and the governments of Brazil, and Rio de la Pla. ta; but the negotiations with Chili still continued unfinished, the latter not having yet ratified the conven. tion concluded in 1822, and accepted by Colombia. Nor had any thing occurred to interrupt the good understanding of Colombia with the United States, and Great Bri. tain.

But the commotions in Venezuela had undoubtedly impeded the exertions of England and America, to induce the court of Spain to acknowledge the independence of the patriots. The executive of Colombia had succeeded in persuading the most respectable governments to take interest in their negotiation; and previous to the movement of Paez, it was furthered by weighty arguments, drawn from the growing strength and good order of the republic, and the apparent stabili ty of its republican institutions. These arguments were no longer available; for the Spanish cabinet had naturally recovered its lost hopes of successful invasion; and on hearing of the disorganized state of the nation, could not but anticipate some benefit from the pros. pect, that Colombia was about to be plunged into a civil war. But the executive relied upon the force of the public sentiment, and the tried valour of the army, for means to

repel any attempted invasion. Ab. sorbed also, as Spain was, by its own domestic cares, and deprived of the important posts of Ulua, Cal lao, and Chiloe, there did not seem to be great danger of immediate hostilities from that quarter.

France had made the same attempt, which we have noticed in the account of Mexico, to obtain for a commercial agent appointed by a subaltern authority, the same rank and privileges which he would have been entitled to, if commissioned by the king himself. The government of Colombia, well aware that such a proceeding was not recognised by the law of na. tions, however desirous to form amicable relations with France, very properly refused its countenance to this disingenuous mode of indirectly obtaining the advantages of a friendly power, without admitting the political existence of the republic.

Previous to the unfortunate events of April, endeavours had been made to place the finances of the republic on a respectable footing; but those disturbances had reduced the public funds to the very lowest degree of depression. The moral force of the law and of the government be ing relaxed, and the taxes having be. come odious, the treasury received no revenue, and the executive was daily called on for payments, in the ordinary course of public expendi ture, which it was utterly impossi

ble to meet. When the municipality of a city undertook to assemble and annul the laws, or abrogate the constitution, it was not to be ex. pected that the system of finance could be regularly enforced, so as to enable the government to discharge its pecuniary obligations.

It is honourable to the Colombian army, that so small a portion of it was infected with the disorderly spirit, which animated Paez and his deluded followers. Subordination, indeed, to the authority of their generals, distinguished the great body of the troops; although in some cantons the soldiery took advantage of the facilities for concert and united exertion which an army affords, to interrupt the course of the laws of their country. A portion of the Colombian troops still remained in Peru, and another in Bolivia. Other portions had been put in motion for the purpose of being concentrated upon the departments where the disorders existed, in case Bolivar should find it necessary to employ force in the restoration of the public tranquillity. The bulk of the army exhibited the greatest alacrity in marching in defence of the constitution; and previous even to the arrival of the Liberator in Caraccas, two considerable bodies of the troops stationed in Venezuela, had declared against Paez. And we shall presently see, that during the events of 1827, the troops were not actuated merely by a blind devo

tion to Bolivar, upon these occasions; because the auxiliary army, which returned from Peru, manifested, at one period, as much opposition to his alleged ambitious designs, as did the most upright of the Colombian patriots.

Bolivar's decisive measures for curtailing the public expenditure, adopted during his temporary presence at the seat of government in November, had interrupted the preparations for equipping the naval forces of the republic in Carthagena. He reduced the number of armed vessels, for the sake of immediate economy. But the agitated condition of the country, by cutting short the public revenue, had already arrested the efforts making to equip a squadron for the purpose of joining the Mexicans in offensive operations against Spain.

Among all the misfortunes which befel the republic, towards the close of the year 1826, one happy event deserves to be mentioned, namely, the entire pacification of the province of los Pastos. This may be considered as the last scene of a war of seventeen years, which the Colombians had waged against the Spanish influence, within the borders of their country. Forty officers and soldiers, commanded by the robber Benavides, who had so long preserved the last relics of the Spanish party, amidst the wild regions of los Pastos, were captured in November, 1826, by colonel

Jose M. Obando, the governor of the province, and suffered the punishment of death, which they so richly merited for their numerous crimes. The industrious people of that agricultural district, were thus relieved from the scourge of war. Indeed, the followers of Benavides might rather be considered a troop of banditti, than a band of royalists; because all interest for the king of Spain seemed, independent of them, to be wholly extinct. Du. ring the agitations, occasioned from one extremity of the nation to the other by the treasonable resist ance of Paez to the summons of the senate, not a movement was made, nor a single voice raised, in favour of Spain, throughout the whole extent of Colombia.

Having thus glanced at the general condition of Colombia at the close of 1826, we proceed to resume the narrative of events at that. period, where we left it in the his. tory of the last year. Bolivar had then reached Puerto Cabello, without meeting with the slightest resistance in his progress through the insurgent districts. During his brief stay at Bogota, he resumed the government for only two days, for the purpose of introducing various economical regulations al ready alluded to, in virtue of the extraordinary powers which he had assumed under the constitution. At that time he published a decree, which the public functionaries of

Colombia may be pardoned for calling immortal, when we consider, that in it he declared that he entered on the exercise of his extraordinary powers, in strict obedience to the constitution, which he pledged himself to preserve unchanged, until the nation should, by legiti mate means, reform it; signifying also his determination to enforce the laws of the land, except where the dangerous crisis then impending required their suspension.

He arrived in Venezuela at a time so critical, that the least further delay would have occasioned all the horrors of civil war. Blood had been shed already in Cumaná. The secession of Puerto Cabello from General Paez, had exaspera. fed the insurgent chief; and all the movements of the opposing parties assumed an alarming aspect, foreboding the approach of actual hostilities. A column of six hundred men, commanded by colonel Cala, occupied Varinas, the 26th of De. cember, for the purpose of enfor. cing the new order of things at the point of the bayonet; but in three days they evacuated their position, and retreated. Another body of Paez's cavalry, undertook to bring to submission the canton of Mantecal, which had declared itself for the constitution; but the timely interposition of an officer of Bolivar's, prevented the evil, which otherwise must have ensued; for colo

nel Inchazu, an officer of tried fidelity and courage, placed himself at the head of the cantons of the Mantecal, Guadualito, and other towns in Apure, prepared to support the constitutional cause. In the west of Venezuela, also, the cantons of Tocuyo and Barquisimeto, of Araure, and others, declared themselves for the Libera. tor; who despatched a body of troops under general Rafael Urdaneta, to support them; and also, to reduce to obedience, by force of arms, those towns which should not voluntarily send in their submission. He himself, having stopped at Maracaibo, to make the requisite arrangements for marching up a strong military force, to be in readiness if their aid should prove necessary, issued the decrees which was published last year, commanding the immediate cessation of hostilities, and declaring the departments of Sulia, Orinoco, Venezuela, and Maturin, to be under his immediate authority. By the suavity and lenity of the measures he pursued, he happily arrested the progress of civil war, re-established the dominion of the laws, and restored peace to Colombia.

Bolivar reached Puerto Cabello December 31st; and immediately issued a decree, dated January 1st, 1827, giving assurance of a general amnesty for all acts done, or opinions expressed, with reference

to reform, during the late troubles; and guaranteeing the persons, property, and offices of all individuals committed therein;-in token of which he continued Paez in command of Venezuela, under the title of civil and military chief; and general Santiago Maviño in the command of Maturin. He further ordered all persons to submit to his authority as president of the repub. lic, denouncing severe punishment against all subsequent acts of hostility. Finally, he renewed his promise of calling the grand con vention of the nation. Paez at this time had his head quarters at Valencia. He received the decree the next morning, and the same day issued a proclamation, announcing his receipt of Bolivar's decree of amnesty of the day before; and declaring his unqualified submission to that decree in all its parts; and his acknowledgment of the president's authority. In consideration of Bolivar's engage. ment to assemble a convention, he annulled and revoked his decree of December 13th, for convoking an assembly of Venezuelians alone in the city of Valencia. In conclusion he said: Congress having decreed the honours of a triumph to the Liberator, whenever he should return from Peru to the bosom of his country; and it being a delightful and sacred duty of Venezuela, to confer this homage on the most illustrious child of her af.

fections, the towns through which he shall pass, ought to prepare to receive him with the majestic pomp belonging to a ceremony invented by antiquity in demonstration of the national gratitude, justly due to heroes, the benefactors of the human race, and the founders of liberty. In the department of Maturin, also, the authority of the president was immediately recognised by general Mariño.

Bolivar very properly considered the insurrection to be now at an end, so far as regarded any cause of apprehension of actual war, in the disturbed departments. The proclamation issued from his head quarters in Puerto Cabello, the 8th of January, expresses this sentiment, in the declamatory and exaggerated idiom, peculiar to the Spanish language. "Inhabitants of Venezuela, Apure and Maturin," he said, "the dominion of evil is at an end.

One of yourselves brings you the olive branch, that under its shade you may celebrate the festival of liberty, of peace, and of glory. Let us sink the year twenty-six in the abyss of time; may a thousand ages sunder it from us; and may it be lost for ever in remotest darkness. I retain no remembrance of what has passed. Colombians, forget the events of the days of sorrow, and let silence blot them from your memory." Indeed, some enthusiasm of expression, may be permitted to the Libe

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rator, on the peaceful termination of a series of disorders, which threatened the most tragical issue, and, as it is, inflicted a deep wound upon the prosperity and character of Colombia.

Very shortly afterwards, Bolivar and Paez met; and the republican party could not fail to observe, that, to outward appearance at least, the liberator greeted the rebellious chieftain with all the cordiality and confidence belonging to faithful and obliged friends, bound together by reciprocal services already per. formed, and by the stronger ties of reciprocal services, expected for the future. The speeches, ceremonies, and festivities in honour of a meeting, which followed Paez's unpunished assault on the constitution of his country, could not have been very essentially different, if they had been designed to celebrate a victory over the Spaniards. Standing alone, this circumstance might have been ascribed to the merciful line of policy adopted by Bolivar; but connected with other events, it acquired fearful importance in the sequel.

In concluding the account of the insurrection of Paez, we should observe, that in the progress of the affair, its whole character and complexion underwent a a complete change. Originally, we appre

hend, the immediate object of Paez, and of his adviser, Peña, was merely to screen themselves from