the storms by which their infant state was menaced. After an interval of hesitation, brigadiergeneral Rondeau was elected, and entered upon his functions on June 9th. An armistice was concluded with Artigas, chief of Montevideo, and the Bandar Oriental, which appears not to have been since broken, though no alliance was formed between the parties. A treaty with the republic of Chili was formed, the articles of which will be found amongst our state-papers, and the union of the states of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Corrientes, has been consolidated by a definitive league. The constitution, consisting of 138 articles, clearly and concisely drawn, has been published and received the assent of the people. The following are its most important provisions:

The legislative power is to be exercised by a national congress composed of two houses, that of Representatives and that of Senators. The former is composed of delegates elected in the proportion of one for every district containing 25,000 inhabitants. The deputy must be upward of twenty-six years of age, must have been seven years a citizen previous to his nomination, and must possess 4,000 dollars of property, or some equivalent which is not well defined in the article. The representatives sit for four years, but a half of the chamber is renewed every two years. The House of Deputies originates all money bills, and has the special right of impeaching ministers and the high officers of state. The Senate is to consist of the same VOL. LXI.

number of provincial senators as there are provinces; of three military senators, of one bishop, and three ecclesiastics; of a representative of each university, and of the director whose period of government is ended. The appointment of the senators is for twelve years, and they must at their nomination have attained the age of thirty, having been nine years a citizen. The legislature is to sit for about six months in the year: they have freedom of speech, and other necessary privileges. They have the power of citing the ministers before them, to obtain any requisite information. Any of them may originate laws. When the projects of law have been agreed to by both houses, they are to be transmitted to the director for his sanction, who must return them in fifteen days, either with his approbation or objections. If he approves, the bill becomes a law; if he states objections, these objections are considered; but if two-thirds of the members of both Houses support the original project, their votes constitute a final sanction without a second application to the director. The supreme director is elected by the two Houses assembled. He is to be supreme chief of all the land and sea forces. He is to open the sittings of the Legisla ture; he appoints all the officers of the public force, envoys, consuls, and others; he chooses and dismisses his ministers, who are responsible for their conduct while employed under him; all objects of finance, police, public, national, and scientific establishments, as well as all those formed [S]

and

and supported by the funds of the state, are confided to his supreme charge and inspection. He has the power of pardon, except in cases of state conviction. The supreme judicial power of the state is to reside in a supreme court, consisting of seven judges and two recorders, nominated by the director; every one of whom must have been a regular barrister eight years, and have attained the fortieth year of his age. This court shall, exclusively, take cognizance of all causes relating to envoys and consuls from foreign nations, all causes in which a province may be a party, all those concerning public functionaries, all those relating to crimes committed against the law of nations, &c. The members exercise their functions during good behaviour. The supreme court, as well as the other tribunals, is open to the public.

Chili. This newly established republic has completely succeed ed in driving the Spanish forces from its territory. General Balcarce, commander of the army in the south of Chili, having possessed himself without resistance of the forts of Dos Angales and Nacimiento on the Indian frontier, came in contact with colonel Sanchez, followed by about 480 men, the remains of an armament sent from Cadiz. The colonel was on his retreat to Valdivia, but the Araucan Indians had refused to allow him to pass. He had lost all his baggage, and was also encumbered with a helpless train of women, including a convent of nuns with their confessor at their head. Under these circumstances, he was apparently

Lord Cochrane, vice-admiral of the republic, sailed from Valparaiso in the month of January with four of his largest vessels, with the intention of attacking two Spanish frigates in the harbour of Callao. In this attempt he was unsuccessful, but he was able to give formidable interruption during several months to the trade of the coast of Peru, and occasionally to make captures of considerable value. In the month of July lord Cochrane declared the port of Callao, and in fact the whole Peruvian coast, in a state of blockade, but his attempts upon this important port all proved ineffectual; and it is probably attributable to this failure, that the Spaniards still hold Peru in subjection, notwithstanding the revolutionary propensity which seems to have manifested itself in this, as in the surrounding countries.

General Macgregor, with a trifling force, carried in a few hours the town of Porto Bello, notwithstanding the superior numbers of the garrison; a rich booty and a large supply of military stores fell into his hands, and he addressed on the occasion the following boastful proclamation to his army:

"SOLDIERS!-The army of New Granada has covered itself with glory. Porto Bello, the most famous fortress of South America, could only withstand a few hours the valour of our army.

The

The light brigade, under the or. ders of the gallant general Rafter, overcame obstacles and difficulties which only men animated with your enthusiasm could have attempted. The advance, led by the brave captain Ross, attacked the enemy with such intrepidity, that they fled with fear and astonishment to their walls.

"The navy, under commodore Hudson, in covering the landing, and in the diversion he made in attacking the Spanish forts in the harbour, did every thing that their intrepidity gave me a right to expect from them. The captains and seamen of the transports are deserving of every praise for the exertions they made in landing the troops.

"Soldiers!-Our first conquest has been glorious; it has opened the road to fortune and additional fame. Panama invites our approach, and the South Sea shall soon behold upon her shore the conquerors of the isthmus.

"GREGOR M'GREGOR. "Head-quarters, Porto Bello, April 10."

In the midst of these anticipations of glory and plunder, and on the eve of his departure for Panama, M'Gregor was surprised by general Hone, the Spanish commander at Panama, who advanced unperceived by a circuitous route through the thick woods which flank the town. The house in which Macgregor had taken up his quarters was entered before he had received the slightest intimation of the approach of the enemy, and he saved his life by leaping out of a window and afterwards swimming on board his

ship. His troops, notwithstanding the desertion of their leader, made a gallant resistance and obtained honourable terms of capitulation; but the place was recovered by the Spaniards and was a salutary check given to the audacity of these lawless adventurers. Macgregor, with the wreck of his troops, repaired to Aux Cayes, where he remained for some months inactive, awaiting the arrival of British succours. Being at length in circumstances for a new attempt, he sailed from Aux Cayes with about 200 men, said to be the remnant of more than 1,200 British soldiers, who had perished through hunger and disease, and bent his course towards Rio de la Hache, a town of new Grenada to the west of the gulph of Maracaibo. This place was carried by assault, with the loss however of one third of the English troops; it was recaptured after a few days with the slaughter of nearly the whole of the survivors. Macgregor himself is stated to have remained safely on board his ship till the first action was over, and to have returned to it before the commencement of the second. He was afterwards deserted by his surviving officers, and his disgraceful career is probably terminated for ever.

The Independents have for some time past possessed so decided a preponderance of maritime force on both shores of the Isthmus of Darien, that the Spaniards in these parts are compelled to endure without redress the outrages of the swarm of pirates who now infest the seas. Commodore Aury, one of the

most

most formidable of the class, obtained, early in the summer, the complete command of the Gulf of Dulse, where he carried on a shocking system of pillage. Amongst other places, he made himself master of the forts of St. Philip and Isabel which he quitted at the end of two days, having in that short space of time collected, and without the loss of a

man, 1,500 serons of indigo, and 300,000 dollars in specie. The exploits of an Aury or a Macgregor, though utterly insignificant to the final decision of the great question of South American independence, may yet be permitted to claim a place in contemporary history as concomitants of a state of turbulence, revolution, and civil war.

CHRONICLE