of gratitude for the present, and of hope for the future, is heard every where. If those omens are realized, we may hope that the policy of the French government will also prove more propitious to the independence of America. We shall not yet, however, imitate the precipitate enthusiasm and the easy admiration of the French for their prince; and before we make a demigod of him, we shall wait till facts have proved that he is a man. Mean time, we shall merely repeat the following distich, which was found under the word resurrexit, written at the foot of the statue of Henry IV, on the accession of Louis XIV

D'Henri ressuscité j'admire le bon mot;

Mais pour y croire, ami, j'attends la poule au pot.

We remark several luminous ideas, and a great erudition in the memoirs which the minister for foreign affairs of Colombia has presented to the constitutional Congress of the republic. We chiefly admire the lucidity with which H. E. spoke at some length of the treaties of Westphalia and Utrecht, when alluding to the affairs of Quito and Guayaquil, &c. He is also extolled for having, in his relations with all the other powers of the world, established as an invariable rule of his conduct, never to grant to any, what cannot be conceded to all. Would to God that the Roman empire had acted with the same wisdom! But what chiefly excites the enthusiasm of the European statesmen, is the depth of mind which made his Colombian Excellency guess that the true mode of granting an ef

ficacious protection to the trade between Colombia and Great Britain would be a direct arrangement with her government after having previously acknowledged her existence as a sovereign nation.

The president Bolivar, who has not, very likely, studied the war of seven years, to learn how to beat the Spaniards, as his minister for foreign affairs hạs learnt by heart the treaties of Westphalia and Utrecht, to learn how to negotiate with them, has just given up to the republic his military stipend till the peace. It is an act of devotion to the cause of the country, which is very gratifying to the friends of liberty, but which is not to be wondered at, from General Bolivar.

It is said that Portugal has at last consented to treat with Brasil on the explicit basis of the independence of that empire; which denotes that the Portuguese ministry has finally yielded to take into due consideration the national interests. It is plain that we need not despair of any thing.

The last intelligence from South America informs us of the death of the royalist General Valdes. If this event is confirmed, the Editors of the Monitor will give in their next No. a biographical account of that officer.

AMERICAN FUNDS.

Oct. 16th 1824.

The South American Funds have been less agitated during the last week than for a length of time preceding-Colombian Scrip 7 to 6 discount; it to-day becomes stock, and will in future be quoted so, as the holders have now paid up all the instalments. Peruvian Stock has varied from 64 to 67; Brasil and Buenos Ayres nearly in the same proportion; Mexican Stock has varied from 59 to 61.

THE

No. II.

A MONTHLY

Political, Historical, and Commercial

MAGAZINE,

PARTICULARLY DEVOTED TO THE

AFFAIRS OF SOUTH AMERICA.

HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS.

BRASIL.

Decree of the Emperor, relative to Captain John Taylor.#

WILLING to yield to the representations of the British Government, I have thought proper to dismiss from the service of the National and Imperial Navy, Captain John Taylor, commending him for the great zeal and intelligence which he dis

• The Diario of the 20th had prepared us for this official paper, by the following article: “There are national sacrifices, which are really hard, but which policy renders necessary and indispensible. Our Government has just made one of these sacrifices to policy and the VOL. I. No. 2..

X

played in all the commissions, with which he has been intrusted. My Supreme Military Council will hold itself bound to observe and cause to be executed this decree.

(Signed)
(Countersigned)

THE EMPEROR.

FRANCISCO VILLELA BORBOZA.

Palace of Rio de Janeiro, August 7, 1824.

friendship of Great Britain. The brave and intrepid Taylor, we are assured, has just been dismissed from our naval service; this having been required by Great Britain, because Mr. Taylor quitted its service and entered into that of Brasil, Our navy suffers a severe loss in the dismissal of Mr. Taylor. This officer had chosen the Southern Ocean to be the theatre of his glory, and had already surrounded the Imperial Throne with the first trophies of his labours. He was the first who showed our flag before the Tagus, and who, with the greatest zeal, maintained a strict blockade of Pernambuco, during four months of a stormy winter; and it is in the beginning of so brilliant a career, that English policy deprives us of this brave man, and obliges him to withdraw from the service of his Imperial Majesty and the nation.

"But at the same time that we lament the dismissal of Mr. Taylor from the service of the nation, we congratulate ourselves on his heroic resolution not to abandon the empire of Brasil, of which he considers himself as an adopted son. This fact we state on his own authority. Our conviction on this subject is increased by a general report, that this gallant officer is about to be married in a few days to an accomplished, beautiful, and amiable lady, the daughter of one of the chief families of this state-an union which promises great advantages, not only by attaching to us a man so necessary, but by the interest which he will shew as a citizen of Brasil and father of a family in the progressive increase of our prosperity. To possess so excellent an officer is to possess a treasure. History points out to us the assistance which has been given to nations in the most critical periods of their existence by generals dismissed from service. Their country ought to consider them as shields of reserve, of infinite importance. Let us congratulate ourselves, therefore, on the resolution of this deserving officer, and offer him the testimony of our respect and consideration."

The gentleman above referred to was Lieutenant of a British frigate,