we would ask, if any philosopher or statesman has ever been able to reduce to system the process by which a people advance to freedom; or to graduate the precise degree of information necessary, before they commence the work of reform ?

Will those persons who maintain that the South Americans are as yet too ignorant or unfit for self-government, have the goodness to state the period when it would have been more wise in them to have made the effort? Ought they to have waited until their country abounded with statesmen and experienced legislators; but which, in truth, never could have been found, except in the very struggles through which they are now passing? Or when should a people resist oppression? There can be but one answer to this question; and that is-the very day when they know their rights!

Now we believe that no one who is acquainted with the history of South America will venture the assertion, that its inhabitants are ignorant of their rights; and if not, we appeal to the records of history, if any people ever retrograded after having made such progress, unless overwhelmed and crushed by a superior power, interested in the suppression of liberal principles?

Their frequent commotions make nothing against this proposition; for these commotions are not carried on between the friends of monarchies and republics; nor of a privileged few against the many. But these commotions occur between an enthusiastic love of liberty on the one hand, and political inexperience on the other; between the ambition of men too confidently trusted by a confiding people, whom experience has not even yet taught to be sufficiently wary and distrustful. But mark!-whatever these abuses may have been, no one has ever yet been able to perpetuate them, nor ever can!

In shaking off the yoke of Spain, these people achieved, and nobly achieved, their independence. But did that achievement give them the requisite knowledge for managing their civil institutions? Certainly not;-for this experience is only to be acquired by repeated struggles;-and hence their internal commotions have been, and for a time may continue to be, absolutely unavoidable. It is the price, the passage-money, which they are doomed from the very nature of things to pay, in their progress towards the consolidation of their liberty, and has grown out of

causes which have taken place since the revolution; and which have not, and never have had, connexion with any party in the country unfavourable to liberty, and the establishment of republican institutions.

We must give these republics time. The birth and maturity of a nation are not the work of a day; and low indeed must be his estimate of the blessings of liberty, who considers that these people, with all their toils, sacrifices, and sufferings, are paying a price too dear!

Who worked the

But what have they not done already? mines, guarded the flocks, and tilled the soil of Spanish America? The Indian! From whence issued those immense streams of wealth which flowed from the colonies into the lap of the mother country, during the three hundred years of her tyranny and dominion, but from the poor and subjugated Indian? Who can reflect, without horror, on the destruction of eight millions of these wretched beings, who, in Peru alone, perished under the cruel and unjust exactions of the Mita? What excesses and extortions were not committed--civil and ecclesiastical, under the well intended, but much abused, regulation of the Ripartimiento ! Does the total abolition of these abuses--of slavery, the Inquisition, and a hundred others,* on the ruins of the Spanish system, argue unfitness for self-government in these people? Indeed, it appears to us, that if we reflect on what these countries were under the Spanish dominion, the restrictions of commerce, of science and the arts, the political deceptions and superstitions which were constantly practised, and then reflect on the spectacle they now present (disturbed as they are), the only matter of astonishment will be, that they have done so much in the short space of twenty years!

If these views be not deceptive, and a vast deal more might be advanced to show that they are not, how deeply interesting to the friends of liberty in our own country, in Europe, and through

*Though actual toleration has not been extended in these countries, the friends of such a measure are neither few nor without influence. The rising generation will regulate this matter. We have never seen a young man of intelligence, in any of these countries, who was not ultra liberal on this point. The power of the clergy has been overthrown, and they are now, comparatively, the humble pensioners, instead of the haughty and bigoted rulers, of the state.

out the world, to behold these states, containing no less than twelve millions of inhabitants, moving on "through good and through evil report," through heavy sacrifices, oft-repeated and severe trials and conflicts, but without for a moment losing sight of or wavering in their first determination to establish free institutions! They must succeed; though they commit errors, they will correct them. again, and at some perhaps distant day, the hopes of the philanthropist and patriot will be realized. Liberty can only be attained by great sacrifices, and preserved only by eternal vigilance!

The period for the return of the Potomac to the United States had now arrived; indeed, it had passed some time, from a desire to meet with our relief, Commodore Wadsworth, before leaving the station. The public interest, however, not making it necessary to remain longer, every thing was put in readiness for the homeward-bound passage; and on the morning of the ninth of February, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, the Potomac was ready for sea. Joyous was the impulse that throbbed in every bosom, as her hardy tars heaved up the heavy anchors to her bows, while the parting salute was exchanged with the Chilian flag on shore. The wind was fresh, and in a short time Valparaiso faded in the distance. The aspiring hills, and even the lofty mountains in their rear, sunk by degrees, until they at last could be seen no longer.

In three days we passed beyond the Island of Juan Fernandez, and then, changing our course, stood for the stormy Cape, the passing of which was rendered tedious by light, baffling, and often contrary winds.

On the morning of the ninth March, we came in sight of one of the Falkland Islands, in latitude 52° 55' south-a low island of about five miles in length. The day was pleasant and clear; and we began to enjoy, by anticipation, the pleasure of visiting the main group, which was now hid from our view by white fleecy clouds suspended over them.

We stood around to the east end of the island, with the intention of going into Berkley Sound, in compliance with discretioninstructions which the commodore had received from the deary partment to that effect.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Falkland Islands-Controversy between the United States and the Argentine Republic, in reference to our right to a free use of the fisheries in the waters which surround these islands and their adjacencies.

TOWARDS the conclusion of our last chapter, among other things we mentioned the arrival of the Potomac at the Falkland Islands, and that it was the intention of the commodore to have stopped at Port Egmont, agreeably to his conditional instructions from the department, had not the thick fogs, contrary winds, and exceedingly rough weather, rendered it impracticable to do so.

While in the Pacific we had occasionally seen, through the medium of the Buenos Ayrean press, some accounts of the late controversy between the United States and the Argentine Republic, in relation to the sovereignty of these islands, and of our rights to a free use of the fisheries there. The subject struck us at the time as one of deep interest, because there are a thousand other points on the globe where similar questions affecting our rights might be set up with equal pretensions.

We have taken a great deal of pains to inform ourselves of the merits of this controversy, and we have now before us a quarto pamphlet of about one hundred and twenty pages, in Spanish, purporting to be "A collection of Official Documents, showing the origin and present state of the question between the two countries."

This publication, however, is not the best source for obtaining accurate and exact information of the state of the controversy between the United States and the Argentine Republic; but, as yet, it is the only source: for on the ground that the negotiation is still pending, the president did not communicate the correspondence relating to it when called for by the House of Representatives, on the motion of the Honourable John Quincy Adams.

The correspondence contained in the pamphlet to which we have alluded, was published by order of the government of

Buenos Ayres, soon after Mr. Baylies, the late chargé d'affaires of the United States, left that country; and his part of the correspondence, as well as that of the Consul Slacum, as yet, can be seen only through the medium of two translations, first from the English into Spanish, and then from the Spanish into English. Of the instructions to Mr. Baylies, and his correspondence with his own government, we, of course, can have no knowledge; and we have been obliged to rely on this foreign publication, and on information from sources which we believe to be accurate, for the following account of the negotiations.

The attention of the public within a few years has been attracted to the Falkland Islands; and controversies have been revived, with a change of parties indeed, like those which once employed the pens of Junius and Johnson, and called out the eloquence of Lord Chatham! One of the Hispano-American colonies has endeavoured to maintain, in its own behalf, those rights of sovereignty and jurisdiction once claimed by Spain; and a new element has been infused into the existing controversy, which embraces the right of the people of the United States to a free fishery at those islands, and those adjacent.

The steril soil and inhospitable climate of the Falkland Islands, have hitherto prevented their occupation; they were uninhabited when discovered, and, with the exception of occasional and transient residents, have so remained. Yet their position will always render them important in the estimation of commercial nations.

This group, consisting of two large islands and many smaller ones, some of which are mere rocks, is situated for the most part between the fifty-first and fifty-second degrees of south latitude, and nearly opposite the southern extremity of Patagonia, which is the nearest land. The islands lie near the track of all the navigation which passes around Cape Horn, and at no inconvenient distance from the Cape of Good Hope, the harbour of Rio Janeiro, and the Rio de la Plata.

In the long voyages around Cape Horn, into the Pacific Ocean and back, ships are frequently in want of provisions: if a depot were established at the Falklands, supplies might be obtained without any great deviation from a direct course; and this depot might sometimes be of service to the crews of vessels, when,

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