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DOCTOR MORENO'S DEATH.

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Supposing that this resolution did not spring from an intrigue, (and Saavedra and his party loudly denied that it did,) of all absurdities ever committed, surely this was the greatest,—to form an executive head of two-and-twenty members! Dr. Moreno voted against the enormity; and, seeing a cabal against himself in the measure, he indignantly resigned his secretaryship, and would not, although pressed to do so, resume his seat at the board.

He was named Minister Plenipotentiary to the British court; an honourable banishment, which he accepted in the hope of benefiting his country abroad, since he was not permitted to do so at home. But his suffering was so dreadful at sea, from excessive sickness, that his strength and con stitution gave way; and a very excessive dose of tartaric acid having been most incautiously administered to him, his weak frame sunk under the effects of it, and he breathed his last on board the Fame, in his thirty-third year, in March, 1811. Wrapped in an English Union Jack, his body was consigned to the waves the following day. When the news of his premature death reached Buenos Ayres, it was deplored as a national ca

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lamity; and it must be confessed that, as he was the earliest, so he was certainly one of the best of the patriots who have flourished during the South American revolution.

When Moreno's death and his burial in the sea were communicated to Saavedra, he coldly said, "So much water was necessary to quench so much fire."

We are, &c.,

THE AUTHORS.

LETTER XXXI.

The AUTHORS to GENERAL MILLER.

General Belgrano goes to Paraguay-His Despatches-Decree in favour of the Indians of Paraguay-Elio appointed ViceroyBelgrano's Defeat-General Velasco, Governor of ParaguayThe Junta of Paraguay-Expedition from Paraguay to Corrientes-War in the Banda Oriental-Buenos Ayres Congress— The Portuguese-The Prince Regent of Brazil-Captain Elliot, of the sloop-of-war Mutine-A new Junta in Buenos Ayres— Belgrano, Rondeau, and Artigas, on the Banda Oriental-Elio shut up.

London, 1842.

AMONG the events which characterized the stirring commencement of the second year of the River Plate revolution, was the equipment by Buenos Ayres of a small force destined, as already mentioned, under the command of General Belgrano, not for the conquest of the Paraguayans, but for their liberation from the Spanish yoke. Belgrano's force consisted of 800 men; and in order to convey an idea of the grandiloquent style in which his first operations were communicated, and commemorated

VOL. II.

G

122

BELGRANO'S DESPATCHES.

by the incipient republic, we shall give a translation from the gazette extraordinary issued on this

occasion.

It is dated the 2nd of January, 1811; and the exploits performed by the invading general consisted, without the loss of a man, in his killing two of the enemy, taking a two-pounder, a brace of howitzers, a flag, a few muskets, and a canoe, beside crossing the river Paraná, and removing his head-quarters from Candelaria to Itapúa. With the following eulogium the government introduces to the notice of the people the general's despatches detailing these events :—

"We hasten," says the Junta, "to satisfy public curiosity in regard to the highly-important achievements of our expedition to the north.

"They are so much the more worthy of our applause, that they present to our contemplation an enterprise in which, before a victory could be gained over men, it was necessary to obtain one

over nature.

"Those who know the frightful difficulties of this march will not hesitate to pronounce that our troops are endowed with that strength of frame, and fired

BELGRANO'S DESPATCHES.

123

with that enthusiasm of spirit, which the heroic ages admired in a Hercules and a Theseus. These are rare virtues in a day and generation when the human species has so greatly degenerated in consequence of excessive indulgence in effeminate pleasures. In proportion to the proximity of danger, our troops have assumed a fresh degree of energy. Socrates boasted that he had a good genius always at hand to lend him assistance. Shall we for a moment doubt that the brave general of the expedition had also his good genius, who guides him along the path prepared for him by his high destiny?

"His measures and harangues, at least, have given rise to prodigies of valour, which fall nothing short of the most glorious achievements of our forefathers. The victory gained over those who guarded the pass of the Paraná, raising high the reputation of our arms over those of the enemy, stamp them with a superiority which, as in the case of Suipacha, we may hail as the infallible presage of the humiliating overthrow of our rivals." Here follows a document styled "Proclamation of the General to the Army of Operations in the North,"

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