the Audiencia of Peru; and a circular was immediately addressed to all governors of islands, and commandants of forts, or towns, situated upon the coast of the Pacific, instructing them, "in the event of any foreign vessel entering their harbours, to endeavour, to the best of their abilities,[1] to detain her, until a favourable opportunity should present itself for seizing her, with her crew, and to transmit to the capital the earliest possible intelligence of the result."
This correspondence was found in the archives of the Viceroyalty at Lima, and published by the Independent party, when it obtained possession of the capital, together with the decree respecting the college for noble Indians, which I have already quoted.
Like the letter of the Viceroy Calleja, and the representation of the Mexican Audiencia to the Cortes, to which I shall have occasion to allude in the next book, I see no reason to question their authenticity; and, where this is the case, nothing tends to throw so strong a light upon the causes of a revolution, as such documents. They are better than a thousand theories, the result merely of private opinions, more or less warmly expressed; for, without pretending to establish any system, they enable every one to form his own upon a basis, the stability of which there is no reason to doubt.
- ↑ Literally, "with suitable discrimination; art, and prudence—con la sagacidad arte, y prudencia, convenientes."
