placed in you. Count upon the promptitude of the Executive in the observance and perfection of your deliberations, and of its absolute consecration to the well-being and security of the republic, Bogota, April 6, 1824. FRANCISCO DE P. SANTANDER. PERU. PROCLAMATION Issued by General La Serna, on receiving intelligence from Spain of Ferdinand's restoration. Don Jose de la Serna, Lieutenant-General of the Armies, Viceroy of Peru, &c. The sacrifices of every kind which are making, and have been made, by the generals, chiefs, officers, troops, and other meritorious persons, for the defence and maintenance of his Majesty's rights, are notorious in these countries. No less notorious is the circumspection with which I have proceeded in executing the laws of the constitutional system, since, in conformity with my proclamation of the 11th of April, 1822, many of those laws remain unfulfilled. I doubt whether those who now boast of being anti-constitutional, would in my place have ventured on such marked violations and modifications, when the constitution was ostensibly protected and recommended by the king himself; but as I do not make a parade of this, nor of any thing else, except of having performed my duty in preserving this territory to the king and the nation, I pass over in silence many things, of which others would make a merit ; and shall only say that I would with pleasure have announced and ordered the abolition of the constitutional system before receiving the original and direct orders from his Majesty, had the laws and fundamental practices permitted me so to do; and if I had not feared that the accounts which have appeared in the enemy's papers, and Spanish papers, re-printed in countries occupied by the enemy, were fabricated. The delay in receiving the King's orders obliged me to issue a proclamation to the Peruvians on the 5th of February, and to address to them on the 5th of the present month the two questions which appear in my circular, published in the Gazette, No. 45. But as Major General Don Geronimo Valdes, commanding the army of the South, in consequence of my powers and instructions, thought it absolutely necessary to abolish the constitutional system in the provinces south of the Desaguadero, on account of the premature and illegal proceeding of the insubordinate and disorderly General Olaneta, who had of his own authority abolished the constitution in Charcas and Potosi, it would not have been consistent with my duty to tolerate the monstrous inconsistency of countries under the same supreme government being administered by opposing systems; and it being imperiously necessary to remove every embarrassment opposed to the preservation of order, the security of Peru, and the conquest of the last remains of the enemy, I have thought fit to declare and decree as follows: 1. Conformably to article 1st of the royal decree, purporting to be dated in Puerto de Santa Maria, October 1, 1823, and transmitted to me by General Olaneta, in a printed paper without date, place, or imprint, the authenticity of which is therefore uncertain; are null and of no value all the acts of the government called constitutional, (of whatever class or kind those acts may be), which has governed the Spanish people from the 7th of March until this day, because during the whole of that period the King our Lord, being deprived of his liberty, was obliged to sanction laws and authorize orders, decrees, and regulations, which were contrary to his will, prepared and expedited by the said constitutional government. [2. This and other articles to art. 9, farther quotes the decree of Puerto de Santa Maria; after which rejoicings are ordered, the troops are required to take a new oath of fidelity to Ferdinand, the constitutional stone to be removed from the places in which it is erected, &c.] 9. Though, in consequence of this proceeding, the first question which I proposed on the 5th current appears to be determined, nevertheless an opinion shall be given upon it conformably to what the laws prescribe, in order that the same may be in all times manifest. On this question, and on the second, the report required in my before-mentioned circular is expected with all possible expedition. 10. Should the Sovereign be displeased with these measures on account of their being premature, and destructive of what is ordered and usually practised even in inferior and detached objects and matters of infinitely less weight and importance than the change of the system of the monarchy, it is to be hoped that his Majesty will direct all his indignation against General Olaneta, who, by depriving me of the pleasure and the glory of proclaiming the triumph of the sacred and primitive right of the crown in the time and form prescribed, has rendered necessary the illegal and prejudicial anticipation of this act, for the important purpose of maintaining the unity and good order of the provinces entrusted to my direction and care. 11. Under these circumstances, I flatter myself that the inhabitants of Peru will give me a renewed proof of their exemplary subordination, by paying a blind obedience to the present proclamation, in which there is no necessity to insert any penalty for causing it to be respected, as I do not apprehend that it will be contravened by a single individual. A competent number of copies of this proclamation must be printed, and circulated by the principal authorities; the same is required to be made public here, and in all other places, with the greatest possible pomp and solemnity. JOSE DE LA SERNA. EULOGIO DE SANTA CRUZ, Secretary, ad interim, to the Viceroy. Given at Cuzco, this 11th of March, 1824. PROCLAMATION Issued by Bolivar, on assuming the Dictatorship of Peru. Peruvians! The disasters of the army and the contentions of parricidal parties, have reduced Peru to the lamentable condition of having recourse to the tyrannical power of a Dictator to preserve it. The Constitutional Congress has confided to me this odious authority, which I could not have refused without treason to Colombia and to Peru, intimately connected by the bonds of justice, liberty, and national interest. I should have preferred never to have come to Peru, and I should even have preferred your loss itself to the odious title of Dictator. But Colombia was compromised, and I could not hesitate. Peruvians! Your chiefs, your internal enemies, have calumniated Colombia, her brave defenders, and myself. They say that we intend to usurp your rights, your territory, and your independence. I declare to you, in the name of Colombia, and by the oath of the liberating army, that my authority shall not exceed the time indispensably requisite to prepare ourselves for victory-that at the moment the army leaves the provinces which it now occupies, you shall be constitutionally governed by your own laws and your own magistrates. Peruvians !-The field of battle, which will be a witness of the valour of our soldiers and the triumph of your liberty —that fortunate field shall see me throw from my hands the dictatorship; and from that field I and my brothers in arms, having given you liberty, will return to Colombia without taking a grain of sand from Peru. General order, Truxillo March 11, 1824. BOLIVAR. MEXICO. PROCLAMATION Of the Supreme Executive Power of the Mexican Federation to the Nation, Standing in the elevated situation in which, without merit or claim on our own parts, we have been placed, and taking from that height a view of the existing circumstances of the nation, we cannot refrain from congratulating ourselves on recognizing that the system ultimately adopted is in general prosperous; and that, with the exception of the occurrences and accidents which proceed from the want of practice and experience, we observe in the conduct of nearly all the states, a basis of sincerity, knowledge, and right intention, which announces and promises that this form of government will finally be consolidated amongst us, notwithstanding the |