and the Chamber of the Deputies of the Departments are convoked for the 30th of November of the present year. 2. The present decree shall be inserted in the Bulletin of the Laws. Given at the Tuileries, Nov. 4, 1818. Louis. (Signed) The latest accounts which we have received from this kingdom issued from the Moniteur on December 30th. (From the Moniteur of Wednesday, the 30th.) LOUIS, by the Grace of God, To all those whom these presents may concern. We have ordained, and do hereby ordain as follows: The Marquis Dessolles, Peer of France, Minister of State, is nominated Minister Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs, and President of our Council of Ministers. The Sieur de Serre, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, is appointed Keeper of the Seals, Minister Secretary of State for the Department of Justice. The Count de Cazes, Peer of France, is appointed Minister Secretary of State for the Department of the Interior. Baron Portal, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, is appointed Minister Secretary of State for the Department of the Marine. Baron Louis, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, is appointed Minister Secretary of State of the Finance Department. The Ministry of Police is suppressed. 2 Our Minister Secretary of State dominions, with its original provisions, and with additional clauses, and was published by the authorities of the Caraccas on the 20th of last September. These authorities, to prevent all doubt, and to remove all obscurity, on a point so important, add the following interpretation of the Royal Clemency. 1. That the pardon which his Majesty grants to those guilty of insurrection being general, and without any limitation whatever, there shall be comprehended in it and enjoy its immediate benefits, all persons implicated in revolutions anterior to its publication, whatever may have been their speeches or their actions, unless there be some other cause for their detention than their insurrectionary conduct. 2. For the same reason, those shall remain free and unmolested who remain in the province with out having been incarcerated. 3. That the restriction of the royal pardon, with a reference to former provincial laws, shall be literally observed, only sending to Spain such pardoned persons as may be thought dangerous to the tranquillity of the provinces by remaining in them. The 4th article regards the mode in which the claims of delinquents to pardon shall be ascertained. 5. Six months are allowed to those who have fled to foreign countries to return and share the Royal Clemency. 6. The property that had been confiscated on account of rebellion, shall be restored to its owners on their acceptance of the Royal pardon. 7. All pending prosecutions shall cease, and not be renewed. 8. This proclamation and explanation shall be published with the greatest solemnity in the capital and towns of the province, and the neighbouring colonies. A Madrid Gazette of Jan. 8th published this decree of the authorities of the Caraccas for carrying the amnesty into effect. On October 21st 1817 a royal decree was published containing regulations for increasing the white population of the island of Cuba. The preamble of this decree, addressed to the Governor, Captain-general, and Intendant of the island, alludes to the representations made by those officers, in conjunction with the Junta and the Economical Society of the Havanna, regarding the extent of the colony, the number and quality of the inhabitants, and the state of its agriculture. These representations had demonstrated, that the possessions of the Spanish crown in that quarter were in a depopulated and defenceless condition; that the soil which remained uncultivated was capable of producing commodities which were the objects of desire with other nations; and that the only means of rendering it more productive lay in increasing the white population of the island from the Peninsula, from the Canaries, or from the Catholic states in Europe in alliance with the Spanish Crown, by an extension of the regulations and advantages granted to Puerto Rico, in August 1815. The regulations which had been proposed by the local authorities were assented to by his Majesty with some slight variations. His Majesty, on January 23rd, issued the following following decree relative to the establishment of four free ports in the peninsula. "The King having had under his consideration the exposition of the deputies of the boards of trade and revenue, and desirous of giving new vigour to trade by every possible facility in mercantile operations, by opening new channels which may obviate delay and the accumulation of charges, as well as for the supply of the provinces of the peninsula, as for the ports of America, and with a view to afford every possible advantage to the inhabitants of both; his Majesty has been pleased to order that, for the present, Santander, Corunna, Cadiz, and Alicant, are declared free ports, under the conditions which the Directors of the Revenues have pointed out in their report of the 29th of November in the last year; and they are charged, in conformity thereto, to prepare the necessary regula tions and instructions, paying the most particular attention to avoid and guard against any abuse which, under the cloak of this concession, might be attempted to the prejudice of the revenue, or the national manufactures." By order of his Majesty, (Signed) GARAY. The Gazette of Madrid dated March 1st contains a definitive edict relative to the Spanish exiles. It banishes for ever from their country, all those who have acted under the usurper in quality of counsellors, ministers, &c.; all military officers down to the rank of captains inclusively, who served under his banners; and generally, all who in any way abetted the cause of the usurpation. With these exceptions, all the other fugitives are permitted to return, under certain prescribed condi tions, one of which is, that they shall fix their domicile in a determined place, at a prescribed distance from the capital and royal palaces. Various circumstances now began to press hard upon the financial system of this country; and upon April 3rd his Majesty thought proper to address a royal decree to his minister Don Martin de Garay, concerning the means of giving credit to the capitals called the Royal Vales, that they might become productive, instead of remaining in their present unproductive state. His Majesty said, that he had directed the attention of his councils towards this object; and the result of their deliberations was, that it was impossible to attain it by the punctual payment of the interest in specie, since the nation, impoverished by numerous adversities, could not easily find resources sufficient for the annual discharge of the excessive sums to which that interest now amounts. And though, he observed, I might, at the expence of extraordinary sacrifices for my people, create some confidence in the Vales, still their credit would be always precarious, and dependent on the slightest political event, which might render it necessary to augment the expences of the state, and to suspend a system of economy which I have adopted. His Majesty then proceeded to consider consider the radical vice of the Vales, that of serving for stockjobbing speculations; and by way of a remedy, he said he had deliberated on a plan for bringing a part of them into active and useful circulation. For this purpose, without prejudice to the means adopted, and which will soon be published for the intended consolidation of the general credit of the state, he judged it right to resolve as follows: Article 1. The Royal vales, whose holders wish to avail them selves of the proposed advantages, shall be converted into two classes, viz. consolidated vales, and non-consolidated vales. Art. 2. The consolidated vales shall be formed of the third part of each vale which may be offered; and the non-consolidated, of the remaining two-thirds; so that a vale of 150 pieces may be re. duced or exchanged for a consolidated vale of 50, and a nonconsolidated vale of 100. The same thing will take place with the vales of 300 and 600 pieces respectively. Art. 3. The consolidated vales will bear an interest of 4 per cent per annum in specie, from the 1st January, 1st March, and 1st of September, of the present year, according to their respective creations. Art. 4, 5, 6, &c. regulate the payment of the interest, &c. One fifth of the produce of the custom duties is mortgaged for that purpose. It is also provided, that the consolidated vales shall be received for the full value they represent in payment of the custom duties, royal contributions, &c. Debts due by towns to the year 1814, may be paid in non-consolidated vales, which bear no interest, but are allowed to be paid in discharge of the fifth of the custom duties, at the rate of discount at which they may be in the market. The vales which may not be exchanged by their holders for the above mentioned kinds of consolidated and non-consolidated, are to be called "common vales," and will continue their present form, the interest being paid as the state of public credit and obligations contracted by the state may permit. The 18th and last article directs the manner in which the holders must apply to have their existing paper converted into consolidated and non-consolidated. On March 30th, the king of Spain issued a royal decree, addressed as before, to Don Martin de Garay, for the purpose of establishing ports of deposit in the Peninsula. In his introduction he says, that he considers the establishment of ports of deposit a means of commercial encouragement, because it affords to native and foreign speculators a year's relief from the payment of duties, and a general warehouse wherein their goods may be deposited with full security, according to the attention and respect which the laws dispense to individual property. If (said he) the consequences of these establishments correspond with my hopes, as I confidently promise myself they will, I am determined farther to improve the advantage, and to make other ports, consistently with their local and commercial circumstances, participate in the same favour. With this view, and and for the government of these deposit ports, I have ordered, and do order, as follows: 1. Articles of legal commerce proceeding from foreign ports, whether belonging to Spanish or foreign merchants, shall be allowed to be deposited free of import duties. The products and merchandize of America, accompanied by certificates, shall enjoy the same advantage. 2. Foreign property shall be placed under the guarantee of the laws, and will never be liable to any reprisal on account of war between governments, except that of reciprocity in the case of articles the property of Spanish merchants not being respected. 3. The deposits shall continue one year, if the accommodation of the owner require that time; and the period may be prolonged for extraordinary causes, by the authority of the minister of finance. 4. To defray the expense of the warehouses and clerks, 2 per cent shall be levied on the merchandize, one half on the entry, and the other half on the removal. The subsequent articles, in all 31, contain minute regulations respecting the management of the warehouses, the mode of admitting and removing the deposits, levying the duties, &c. The king of Spain, having heard the opinion of his supreme council of war on the 27th of February last relative to foreigners who make common cause with the insurgents of Spanish America, has decreed that every foreigner who shall be taken with arms in his hands in his majesty's dominions of America shall be treated VOL. LX. as a rebel, and be subject to the same punishment as natives, having a due regard to the different ranks in which they serve. A note was transmitted on the 12th of June to the high allied powers, by the cabinet of Madrid, relative to the situation of South America, of which the following is the conclusion: His Majesty received the answers of his High Allies with the greatest satisfaction. They cleared the way to very important negotiations, and led the powers to interpose in the unfortunate circumstances in which America was placed, in order that measures of prudence and vigour might be adopted to reduce the revolted provinces, and to put a period to the immorality and political contagion arising from such an order of things. To follow up proceedings so happily commenced, his Majesty considers, that the moment is arrived when he ought solemnly and categorically to represent to his High Allies, the principles which he has prescribed to himself to produce the good which he has in view, and such as, from his sentiments of humanity, they ought to expect. Accordingly, and in reference to the propositions he has already made, his Majesty declares, that the following are the points on which he is invariably fixed: 1. General amnesty to the insurgents on their submission. 2. Admission of native Americans, endowed with the requisite qualifications, to all offices in common with European Spaniards. 3. Regulation of the commerce of the provinces with foreign states, according to free princi[M] ples |