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Columbia. Col Hall Carracas to J.B.Empson esq. London. Inner temple To be seen, but not published. J.B. (Copy) Carracas, July 10th. 1822 or 1823
Mutabilia suntomnia my dear Empson, and in
this country mutabilisima. I set off tomorrow for Santa
Fé de Bogota in obedience to an order of the government,
which has no taste for free newspapers. I know this to be
the real cause of my journey. The ostensible is the business
of my department. I have however more reason
in this matter than I generally have to be satisfied with
my own conduct. The examine of a free newspaper has
roused a spirit of bold enquiry which will never be laid
but in blood. A society of the most respectable and enlightened
Caracanians has been formed to continue the Anglo
Columbian. They have bought a new English printing
apparatus, and the Government by it's zeal to put down
one edition has raised up fifty. This Government is sending
rapidly towards despotism, more perhaps from ignorance
and bad habit than design. Every body us interested with extraordinary
powers because they want the management
necessary to conduct the helm with such as are constitutional.
The executive may be considered as perpetually
asking of the legislature, "what shall we do in this case?"
and the legislature from sheer inability to give a better
answer, replies "Do? do what you please." The misfortune
is that when they come to do what they please, they never
please what is right or reasonable. They are terrified by
their own importance, and destroy the liberty of the country
from mere want of understanding. They are fond of high
names, and so they have proclaimed a system of high police
worse than ten inquisitions, and then are afraid and ashamed
to publish it, so that the people are subjected to one of the most
terrible laws known in any country, without a chance if making
themselves acquainted with its provisions for they neither dare point
it nor even give copies of it to the magistracy who should execute
it. The way in Coro has been admirably mismanaged, but
can not ultimately be of serious consequences: we have in fact
no enemy but ourselves. I am not particularly sorry for the
journey personally, as it gives me an opportunity of visiting
the finest portion of the Cordilleras, and perhaps of visiting Luito,
which is now in our power since the defeat of the Spaniards at
Curiae, I shall not fail to write, but by the blessing of our High
police, it is dubious if my letters reach you. The journey is about
40 days. That is nearly as long as if one were to come back to
Europe. To Luito is almost 40 days more, so that for the purposes of
European communication one might as well be in China.
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Identifier: | JB/012/135/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 12.
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1822-07-10 |
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012 |
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135 |
columbia col. hall carraccas to empson esqr london inner temple |
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001 |
(copy) |
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correspondence |
1 |
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recto |
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john flowerdew colls |
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[[notes_public::"to be seen, but not published jb" [note in bentham's hand]]] |
4196 |
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