Corunna; and from this place the General once more addresses Lord Castlereagh, and observes:

"Your Lordship knows that had I followed my own opinion as a military man, I should have retired with the army from 'Salamanca. The Spanish armies were then beaten; there was no Spanish force to which we could unite; and I was satisfied that no efforts would be made to aid us, or favour the cause in which they were engaged. I was sensible, however, that the apathy and indifference of the Spaniards would never have been believed; that, had the British been withdrawn, the loss of the cause would have been imputed to their retreat; and it was necessary to risk this army to convince the people of England, as well as the rest of Europe, that the Spaniards had neither the power, nor the inclination, to make any efforts for themselves.

"It was for this reason that I marched to Sahagun. As a diversion it succeeded: I brought the whole disposable force of the French against this army, and it has been allowed to follow it, without a single movement being made to favour its retreat.”*

We refrain at present from all farther details of this march, of the partial actions that enlivened it, and of the general action at Corunna which terminated the life of the gallant Commander. Our immediate object has been to exhibit the essential movements and determinations made by Sir John Moore, with the reasons and motives' by which he was instigated; and we have brought our detail sufficiently near to the close of the transaction. Though, however, we have gone through it at some length, we have been forced to pass unnoticed a great variety of statements which are not unimportant in the question; and a large portion of those instances of want of energy, of capacity, of information, of activity, and of hearty co-operation, on the part of the Spaniards, which contributed to form the deci sion of the British General. We have also been obliged to glance

This is the letter which was so much required by and at length submitted to Parliament, but with omissions, which are not here supplied. The Editor subjoins the following note on this subject:

In this dispatch there are several omissions, owing to the following circumstance:

In the month of March last, the Secretary of State for the War Department sent for the Author, and informed him, that it was the intention of Administration to accede to laying this letter before Par liament; which, however, being a private letter, and not written in the usual manner of official dispatches, it was thought proper to omit some passages which his Lordship would point out. The Author

replied, that he could not presume to object to any omissions which did not affect his brother's reputation. After this conversation it was judged improper to fill up the blanks. One passage at the beginning, however, it was considered, might be restored, where mention is made of the Honourable Brigadier-General Stewart, brother to Lord Castlereagh..

but

but slightly at the unfortunate difference of opinion which prevailed between Mr. Frere and Sir John Moore, and at the still more prejudicial want of openness and of accuracy in the communica tion of intelligence from the former to the latter. On these points, the curiosity of the public has been not a little excited; and ma terials for ample satisfaction seem to be furnished in this volume, We confess that it strikes us, from a view of the developement afforded by this work, that the conduct of Sir John' Moore was justified by appearances, and by the result; and we think also that subsequent events, to the present mo ment, confirm his opinions and substantiate his measures. If his decision, then, was right, not only is great praise due to his sagacity, but it must be admitted that his consequent movements are in the highest degree indicative of his military skill and of his firmness. Leaving the present representation, how ever, to the judgment of our readers, we shall now close the subject; to which we must speedily return, in order to take notice of various other publications relative to it which have appeared."

A portrait of Sir John Moore, a view and a plan of the bat tle of Corunna, and a map of Spain and Portugal, with the marches of the British columns, illustrate the volume.

ART. X. History of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres; containing the most accurate Details relative to the Topography, History, Commerce, Population, Government, &c. &c. of that valuable Colony, By Samuel Hull Wilcocke Illustrated with Plates. 8vo. PP. 576. 128. 6d. Boards. Symonds; Black and Co,, &c..

Ο

UR temporary possession of the city of Buenos Ayres, and the general expectation that we were to succeed to the permanent rule of the vast colony dependent on that government, seem to have occasioned the British public to be enriched with the va luable information which the pages before us communicate. As to the materials out of which this volume has been formed, the author intimates that he obtained them in consequence of having been engaged in extensive mercantile pursuits, which had relation to the Spanish colonies in South America. The value of the knowlege, also, which is here imparted, is enhan ced by the difficulty of obtaining it. Most of our readers are: aware of the disappointment which Dr. Robertson experienced in his application for this purpose.

On this subject it is stated by Mr. Wilcocke';

The papers regarding America, which are deposited amongst the records of the Spanish monarchy in the archive of Simancas, near Val ladolid, 120 miles from the seat of government, are stated to be so nu merous as to fill the largest apartment in the archivo, and to com.

pose eight hundred and seventy-three large bundles. Yet this treasure of historical and colonial knowledge is wholly inaccessible, and no admission into the archivo of Simancas is ever granted without a particular order from the king. Some years ago, however, the Spanish government seem to have relaxed, in some degree, from so much of their illiberal system, as to have given access to these archives to Don Antonio Munoz. then occupied in compiling a work called an History of the New World. Of this only one volume was completed, and Munoz was interrupted in the prosecution of his work; which contains some strictures upon the colonial policy of Spain, by which, probably, he gave offence to the council of the Indies. He was debarred from all further access to the necessary documents, and interdicted from publishing any more of his history. Munoz is since dead, and the undertaking has perished with him.

That this system of concealment, than which nothing can be more illiberal, still predominates in the Spanish councils, is proved by a recent instance. The celebrated navigator Malespina, who, from the years 1792 to 1795, was employed by Spain to explore the Pacific Ocean, and her colonies washed by its waves, was, soon after his return to Cadiz, arrested and thrown into prison, as was the padre Gil, an ecclesiastic of a liberal and enlightened mind, who had undertaken the compilation of the voyage. All the papers and drawings belong ing to the expedition were seized, and the botanists and other men of science, who accompanied Malespina, received orders to suspend their labours. Though part of the narrative was actually printed, the impression was suppressed; and the details of that interesting voyage are buried, as so many others have before been, amongst the dusty archives, and in the mouldy recesses of the Spanish charcery.'

With regard to the contents and arrangement of the volume, the writer gives this summary:

After a few preliminary observations respecting the aboriginal population of America, the sources whence it has been conjectured to be derived, and the physical peculiarities of that part of the globe; an enumeration will be given of all the Spanish possessions, and their geographical and political divisions; and the attention of the reader will be more particularly directed to that portion now under con sideration. A brief notice of the first discovery of the river La Plata, will be followed by such accounts as have come down to us relative to the appearance, the government, the customs, and the propensities, of the Indians who were found in the country on its first Occupation by the Spaniards. Their religion, their language, and their arts, will all pass in review.

The grand features of the country will form one of the objects of consideration.

The natural productions occupy the next place.

After a general account of the country, a short history will be entered into of the first discovery of the river La Plata, of its original settlers, and progressive conquerors of the gradual extension of discovery and conquest by which the province of Buenos Ayres came at Length to border upon the dominions which the valour and ferocity of

Pizarro

Pizarro and his companions had gained for Spain upon the shores of the Great South Sea; after this will follow a brief account of the rise, the progress, and the dissolution of the famous establishments of the Jesuits in Paraguay, forming an imperium in imperio, unparalleled in the annals of the world. The historical account of the colony will be brought down to the present time, and concluded by a narra tive of the late capture of it by the British.

The cities, the harbours, the forts, the settlements, and the mis-.. sions scattered over the country, will be next described; and proceeding from these to the plains, the agriculture both of the natives and of their Spanish masters, will be noticed, together with their arts and manufactures.

commerce.

An entire chapter will be devoted to the important subject of The trade as carried on between Buenos Ayres and Spain; that with Africa; the contraband trade with the Portuguese in Brazil, and with the North Americans who frequent those seas; and the interior commerce between Peru and Chili, and the river La Plata, will be detailed. The various articles that are suited for the consumption of the country, and those produced, or found there cal culated for exportation, will be enumerated and described. Sketches will be given of some commercial adventures connected with the colony of Buenos Ayres, proposed to the enterprising spirit of British Merchants; and some, latent commercial advantages to be derived from this colony will be pointed out to the nation..

"The Spanish colonial government, their civil and military establishments, their fiscal regulations, the revenues of the colony, &c. will next appear in rotation. The state of society, the manners, the cus toms and religious ceremonies, as well of the Spaniards, as of the creoles, the Indians, the negroes, the mulattoes, the mestices, and the infinite ramifications of colour and of cast, arising from the intermixture of these various races, will be followed by an account of those unsubdued Indians, who are occasionally allies or enemies of their European neighbours, and who rove over the trackless plains that extend from Paraguay to the straits of Magellan.'

In treating of the geographical divisions of South America, Mr. W. says;

The Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres is the most extensive, as well as, in many respects, the most important, of all. It extends in a direct line from Cape Lobos, which may be taken as its southern boundary, to the farthest northern settlements on the Paraguay, upwards of sixteen hundred miles; and from Cape St. Anthony, at the mouth of the Plata to the ridge of mountains that separate it from Chili, nearly one thousand miles. By the union to it of the provinces of Charcas and Chiquito, it forms a compact body of land, nearly square; and stretches through all the variety of climates to be found in six and twenty degrees of latitude. Its general boundaries are, Amazonia, or the country of the independent Indians of the river Amazon and its vicinity, on the north; Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean on the east; Patagonia on the south; and Peru and Chili on the west.'

Under the head of Rivers, which form so magnificent a feature in this country, the Rio de la Plata first attracts no-: tice; and the author's account of that grand stream thus com

mences :

The RIO DE LA PLATA, or River of Silver, was originally called the River of De Solis, from its first discoverer; but Sebastian Cabor, who first penetrated beyond the junctions of the Parana and the Paraguay, having defeated a body of Indians on the banks of the latter, obtained a considerable booty in gold and silver, whence he bestowed upon the river the pompous appellation which has since prevailed, and which has led many to believe that the precious metals are to be met with in abundance on its banks. It is, however, stated, that the trea sure found in the possession of those Indians, was that which they had, in their turn, taken from Alexis de Garcia, a Portuguese, who, some years before, had penetrated from Brazil to the frontiers of Peru, and was killed, on his return with the plunder he had collected. The name, though thus originating in mistake, was too flattering to, the ambitious cupidity with which the new world was regarded by the adventurers of Europe, to be easily superseded. It has been perpetuated, whilst the name of the first discoverer has been relegated: to a few hills yet called the Sierra de Solis, on the northern shore of its entrance. The distinctive appellation of Rio de la Plata, however, though intended by Cabot for the whole of the majestic stream he had in part ascended, is now only applied to the channel, through which the great body of water formed by the confluence of the Pa rana, the Paraguay, and the Uraguay, flows into the ocean, forming an æstuary of fresh water, without parallel in the rest of the globe for width and magnificence."

How much the late wretched government of old Spain: counteracted the benificent designs of nature, the reader will' be able to form a judgment from this representation of the Country:

The immense plains that extend in almost uninterrupted continuity. from the banks of the Plata to Chili, and to the large rivers of Pata. gonia, claim particular attention. They present a sea of waving grass extending for nine hundred miles, with very few interruptions of wood or eminence. The succulent and nutritive herbage of this tract, affords pasture to those innumerable herds of cattle that rove unowned and unvalued over a great portion of South America, and whose hides and tallow alone are occasionally sought after by theSpanish hunters, and form a principal article of the trade of Buenos Ayres. Wild horses, the progeny of those imported by the Spaniards, likewise abound in these natural meads. They wander from place to place, against the current of the winds: and a traveller has stated that they are in such numbers, that, being in those plains for the space of three weeks, he was continually surrounded by them. Sometimes they passed by, in thick troops on full speed for two or three hours together, during which time, he says, it was with great

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difficulty