Manuel Torres (1762-1822) of Gran Colombia was the first diplomatic representative of Latin America to be officially received by the government of the United States. A Spaniard by birth, Torres went to New Granada at an early age and there grew to manhood under the tutelage of his uncle, the Archbishop-Viceroy Antonio Caballero y Góngora. Because of his liberal leanings and revolutionary activity, Torres was forced to flee to Philadelphia in 1796. The remainder of his life was devoted to furthering the cause of Latin American independence. As chargé d’affaires, purchasing agent, publicist, and political economist, Torres worked untiringly to bring together in closer harmony the United States and the new nations emerging to the south. The confidence which he inspired in such political figures as James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay won for him recognition as the official representative of the Republic of Gran Colombia on June 19, 1822.
A need for foreign aid had become manifest with the call of the Spanish colonials to arms in 1810. Naturally enough, eyes were turned toward the United States, a friendly neighbor in time of peace and presumably in time of war. It was not long after the revolutionary movements began in Spanish America that agents began to arrive in Washington and Philadelphia seeking arms and recognition of the rebellious Spanish provinces as independent states.1 Several reasons accounted for Philadelphia’s popularity with the Spanish Americans. Centrally located (about equidistant from New York and Washington), the city was a publishing center where the agents could have their propaganda pamphlets printed cheaply. Also it was the home of Manuel Torres, who acted as liaison between the revolutionists and the North American merchants, volunteers, and government.2
As it happened, the United States government was dedicated to a policy of strict neutrality. Such a policy inevitably led the agents to procure aid from private, less reliable sources. Presidents James Madison and James Monroe permitted the patriots to reside in the United States, held unofficial correspondence with many of them, and did not prevent them from purchasing munitions and shipping them to their respective governments. Most of the agents, however, soon ran short of cash and credit and were forced either to return home or to remain in the United States in an unofficial capacity to work for their objectives by furnishing impassioned articles of propaganda to newspapers and periodicals. By March 1822, Manuel Torres was the only authorized agent of a Spanish American government in the republic of the North.3
Because of his origin, education, command of English, and knowledge of affairs in Europe and the United States, Torres could advance diplomatic negotiations with the Washington government better than any other agent. He well understood the neutrality of the United States and its wranglings with Spain over the acquisition of Florida. He was accustomed to moving with ease in Washington, where leading politicians were among his trusted friends. Moreover, during his long residence in Philadelphia, he had made personal and business contacts that were of inestimable value to him and his cause. “One saw . . . [him] at the diplomatic dinners and receptions displaying that noble distinction which he always possessed; but under the polished grace of the gentleman, all soon discovered an accomplished politician and a true diplomat.”4
The fact that his government was unrecognized, and that his functions as chargé d’affaires remained at best ill defined did not seem to discourage Torres. In letters and personal interviews he bombarded President Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams with pointed reasons for giving open support to the republicans’ struggles for independence. Both men were obdurate until convinced that such action would in no way jeopardize the best interests of the United States. To Torres went much of the credit for calming their fears on this score and for showing that the United States would benefit rather than suffer by a change in policy toward the Latin American states. Adams seemed especially cautious about promising too much to the man “who now styles himself Chargé d’Affaires from the Republic of Colombia,”5 but even he could not deny the force of patriot victories in the field. Although the military activities of 1818 in New Granada and Venezuela gave slight advantage to either patriots or royalists, the following year brought Simón Bolívar’s campaigns to a climax. On August 7, 1819, after a march across the treacherous Andes, the Liberator achieved a brilliant victory at Boyacá and three days later rode triumphantly into Bogotá. The independence of New Granada was sealed. On December 17, 1819, the Congress of Angostura promulgated the so-called Fundamental Law uniting Venezuela and New Granada under the title of the Republic of Gran Colombia.6 Two new nations in one were created, embracing a vast territory bounded by two great oceans. Such historic developments were not without effect on the United States government, thanks to Torres’ publicity.
Torres inherited from Lino de Clemente the indeterminate functions of unofficial Venezuelan chargé d’affaires in the United States during the early spring of 1819.7 On August 14, seven days after the battle of Boyacá, he was confirmed in his appointment by Francisco Antonio Zea, Vice President of Venezuela, and Juan Germán Roscio, Secretary of State and Foreign Relations.8 In his diplomatic credentials Torres was authorized “to do in the United States everything possible to put an immediate end to the conflict in which the patriots of Venezuela are now engaged for their independence and liberty.” He was instructed to negotiate “with the government of Said United States; with their Banks, or With individuals, concerning the necessary measures for the obtaining of those important ends; or to adopt any other means of whatever Kind, which may conduce to that purpose; provided, that nothing Shall be done, contrary to the constitution and laws of the United States.. . .”9
On August 31 Roscio prepared for Torres his first formal instructions. Their delivery was entrusted to Dr. Samuel Douglas Forsyth, a North American citizen domiciled in Cucutá, Angostura, whom the Venezuelan government sent to the United States on a special mission.10 Forsyth had “expressly asked for a letter of introduction in order that Mr. Torres might aid him in this enterprise.11 Both men were to work together to buy supplies for the Venezuelan patriots and especially food and war materials for General John d’Evereaux’s Irish Legion, a crack group of volunteers. Forsyth hoped that he and Torres could convince the Philadelphia merchants of the Venezuelan need for provisions to the value of $100,000.12
Bolívar’s stunning victories and the tidings that “more than $3,000,000 in the king’s treasury” had fallen “into the hands of the patriots, with other spoils of much value,” did much to bolster the rebels’ credit.13 However, the economic doldrums resulting from the depression of 1819 in the United States caused most merchants to hold off signing any large contracts. The exception was Jacob Idler, whose great mercantile house in Philadelphia sold large quantities of supplies to South Americans. Idler, whom Torres had known for several years, was one of the few merchants to risk such transactions with Bolívar’s as yet unrecognized government.
On January 28, 1820, after enough time had elapsed for news of the unification of New Granada and Venezuela to reach Philadelphia, Torres notified Idler that he had been appointed agent for Gran Colombia and was interested in doing business with him. In order to accomplish the aims of his government it was necessary, Torres wrote, that contracts be concluded with and executed by14
. . . persons properly qualified to make a strict inspection of the arms, powder, and ammunitions; and I do not know of any individual but yourself, capable of performing this indispensable task.. . . It may perhaps occur to you that your means would not enable you to go as far as the wants of my government may require; but if this should be the case, you are at liberty to give a share in such contracts to any of your friends that you may think advisable. But it is understood that the performance of the inspection of all the articles in order to ascertain their good quality, must be a duty exclusively imposed upon you.
In compliance with Torres’ letter, Idler addressed several of his business associates along the eastern seaboard to enlist their cooperation. Contractors for the different firms combed the commercial centers of the United States for arms, but the results of their search were disappointing. According to a report submitted to Torres, “scarcely four Thousand muskets have been found fit for service, out of more Than fourteen Thousand, that have been inspected in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.. . .”15 Torres and Forsyth did manage to negotiate with a commercial house in Baltimore for a supply of turpentine, gunpowder, and meat valued at $37,400.16
This cargo, while helpful, was only a fraction of that which was needed. On February 2, 1820, the Venezuelan Secretary of State and Foreign Relations wrote Torres that the demand for war materials had been “multiplied with the triumph of our arms—if before 10,000 muskets and 200 quintals of gunpowder were not enough, double that number is now insufficient.” The chargé d’affaires was instructed to buy at least 10,000 muskets, payment for which would be guaranteed by the ordinary revenue of Venezuela “and all that belongs to the national treasury.”17 Shortly afterwards the number of muskets Torres had to seek was increased to 30,000.18
The better to entice the North American merchants, Torres was authorized to offer the tobacco of Barinas province as an additional guarantee for payment. He presented this proposal to Idler, whom he discerned to be “perfectly acquainted with the resources as well as the present situation of the Republic of Colombia.”19 The merchant was apparently satisfied with the quality of the Barinas tobacco, for on April 6, 1820, he and Torres celebrated a contract, the terms of which Forsyth viewed as “very favorable” to his government.20
The contract called for the shipment to Angostura by Idler and his associates of 50 quintals of gunpowder, 4,023 muskets, 3,500 cartridge belts, 46 sabers, 172,000 flints, and other supplies of food and clothing worth in all $63,071.50.21 Half of this amount was to be paid by the government of Gran Colombia within twenty days after the supplies arrived at Angostura. Payment was to be in either Barinas tobacco or in pesos, doubloons, or gold and silver bars.22 Forsyth was named as attorney by Idler and his associates to see that all bills were duly collected. Idler’s associates in this case were Mees, Boer and Moens, a Dutch firm with a branch office in Philadelphia, and a powerful mercantile house in New York, probably that of Bogart and Kneeland. Torres warned his superiors in Venezuela that failure to execute the terms of the contract posthaste would be “the greatest misfortune that could befall the Republic, because we would lose the aid these people can and are willing to give us if we conduct ourselves properly toward them.”23 Unfortunately for the credit of Gran Colombia, the admonition was not heeded.
At this same time Torres hurriedly signed a supplementary contract with Idler and his associates for the delivery of 115 muskets, 3,400 flints, and other war materials valued at $8,371.30.24 This brought the total purchases of the hard-working chargé d’affaires for the period from December 1819 to April 1820 to $108,842.80.
Although suffering from the first symptoms of a lingering illness that eventually proved fatal, Torres never flagged in his efforts to give material aid to the patriots.25 In July 1820 the Colombian government received 5,000 muskets and other arms he had obtained, and a month later, on August 18, Torres and Idler signed their second important contract.26 This one called for the shipment to Angostura of 3,188 muskets, 4,171 uniforms, 4,006 pairs of shoes, 1,680 caps, and sorely needed medical and naval supplies. The value of the cargo amounted to $72,639.93, and the method of payment was similar to that provided in the contract of the previous April.27 On September 21, 1820, Idler agreed to make available cargo worth $52,320, including the cost of 4,360 French muskets.28 Torres never stopped reminding the merchant of the increasing demands for supplies in Gran Colombia.
During the summer of 1820 Torres volunteered to dispatch naval supplies to Admiral Luis Brión of the Colombian navy.29 Brión requested in reply not only supplies but two corvettes as well. After careful inquiry Torres decided that it would be impossible to secure the corvettes until the necessary funds for their purchase had been provided. This information he forwarded to Brión, adding that he would try to remit part of the other supplies for which the admiral had asked.30 Torres informed Brión of his recent purchases from Idler and others and stated that the same men at one time had been well disposed to send to Gran Colombia all the naval goods they could get their hands on.
For a time uncomplimentary rumors about Gran Colombia made American merchants wary. A ship arrived at New York from Angostura that had recently gone to South America to speculate with the government. The mission failed, and the speculators immediately began spreading reports that the Colombian troops lived in misery, and that the government’s cashboxes were empty. But reports soon reached the United States of Bolívar’s victories in the province of Santa Marta, and patriot credit increased considerably. Torres then negotiated for 2,000 muskets and 150 quintals of gunpowder on the guarantee his government would set aside funds for their payment. He promised Brión to do his best to send him supplies by the same boat, and “if practical I will make a separate contract with . . . [the merchants] to give the government the option of either receiving or declining the supplies under the conditions that are stipulated.”
Torres estimated that the muskets and powder would cost $33,375 and the naval supplies $11,275, and he advised the admiral to let him know exactly what he needed and the funds that he had on hand. He wrote: “With this knowledge I could arrange in the contracts the periods of payment without risk of compromising the credit of the Government or your reputation.. . . The need in which I find myself for taking every possible precaution to maintain the credit which the Government is acquiring will not permit me to proceed in any other way.. . .”31 In spite of Torres’ prudence, Idler and other merchants almost invariably had difficulty in collecting the debts owed them by the Colombians.32
Torres had every reason to be worried about his government’s financial situation. In January 1821 he learned that the government had not only been unable to pay for the goods shipped by Idler the previous August, but actually lacked enough funds to meet the expenses of current operations. On top of all this, Bolívar was desperate for six thousand uniforms and asked Torres to buy them. The vice president of Venezuela recommended that Idler be given the contract! He also expressed appreciation for Torres’ many services and was confident that the chargé d’affaires would successfully execute the Liberator’s latest request. “The interest,” wrote the vice president, “which motivates you in the service of Colombia (and the excellent proof of same which you have thus far given) is assurance for me of the prompt and happy termination of these proposals.”33
To enable Torres to perform his commercial duties with greater facility, the Colombian government sent from Angostura to Philadelphia a cargo of tobacco to be placed at his disposal.34 Amazingly enough Torres quickly came to terms with Idler, and a ship left Philadelphia in the middle of February 1821, carrying uniforms for Bolívar’s army of liberation.35 He had already sent 1,150 muskets and other arms the preceding month.36
It was well that Torres had private sources on which to rely because his attempts to purchase arms on credit from the United States government failed. Feeling that Idler and his associates could not possibly supply all the arms he wanted, Torres asked General John Mason to find out from Secretary of War John C. Calhoun if the government had any public arms for sale. As it happened, the government did have between three and four thousand stand of arms which it thought advisable to sell.37 By February 11, 1820, Torres was in Washington trying to obtain these arms “in a manner and under conditions that the President may think most proper.” He informed President James Monroe on February 12 that Gran Colombia required the immediate purchase of muskets from the United States government, since other sources had not, as yet, been adequate. Monroe promised to take the matter up with the Secretary of State. Meanwhile Torres met Calhoun, who offered to help him “by smoothing out some of the difficulties likely to crop up in his Department.”38 Calhoun revealed himself as an astute observer of the Latin American scene, sympathetic to the patriot cause and especially interested in the future of Cuba.
On February 16 Torres went to the office of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to describe Gran Colombia’s crying shortage of munitions. The Secretary of State listened attentively to Torres and suggested that he submit his observations in writing.39 Consequently, on March 18, 1820, Torres addressed a memorial to Adams in which he confessed that in spite of every exertion, Gran Colombia had been able to purchase only one-sixth of the firearms needed. He wrote:40
In this State of things, in conformity with my instructions, I am compelled to apply to the President of the United States, for a Supply of twenty thousand Muskets to the Republic of Colombia.. . . It is . . . the opinion of my Government, that the United States will be perfectly justifiable [sic], in according this Assistance to a neighbouring people, who are combatting [sic] under the greatest disadvantages, for the Same Rights, for which, the North-Americans fought forty years ago.. . . The Republic of Colombia, with the help of twenty Thousand Muskets will be enabled to Secure her emancipation, and . . . to promote effectually the revolution in Peru and Mexico . . . I . . . [assure] your Excellency with Sincerity, that the means of my Government, are adequate and competent at present, to fulfill with punctuallity [sic], any contract or engagement, that I may subscribe in its name.
Torres was satisfied that his memorial had produced “great effects on the Executive.”41 However, on March 25 Monroe informed him that the Constitution did not grant the President jurisdiction over the selling of arms.42 To sound out Adams’ opinion on the subject, Torres three days later paid him a visit. Like Monroe, the Secretary of State frankly admitted that without congressional sanction the President probably lacked authority to dispose of public arms for the purpose which Torres had in mind. Apparently the chargé d’affaires had expected this answer, for he told Adams that he had only wanted to know what to tell his government.43 Torres did not insist that the Washington government make the sale. Being a diplomat, he concluded that such a move would be not only futile but also detrimental to his cause. Thus he was willing to exercise restraint.
In a special cabinet meeting of March 29, 1820, Monroe brought up for consideration “the question, upon the proposal of Manuel Torres, that the Government should sell upon credit to the Republic of Colombia any number short of twenty thousand stand of arms, to enable them to extend the South American Revolution into Peru and Mexico.”44 There is evidence that various patriot advocates in and out of the cabinet favored the sale. One of its most prominent supporters was Henry Clay’s colleague, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, senator from Kentucky. Adams described Johnson as someone upon whom “Torres and Forsyth . . . fasten . . . to promote each his own views . . ., ”45 and the senator certainly worked industriously to help Torres.46 General John Mason and Colonel G. Bomford of the Ordnance Department approved the sale of the muskets,47 and it was Torres’ belief that a majority of the House of Representatives did also.48
Within the cabinet Secretary of War Calhoun and Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson expressed a strong desire to furnish the arms. Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford was “less explicit and more shy.” As for Adams, there was no hesitation on his part. The secretary said: “To supply the arms professedly for the purpose set forth in the memorial of Torres would be a direct departure from neutrality, an act of absolute hostility to Spain.. . .”40 Unfortunately, Adams’ arguments carried the day. As he commented with satisfaction in his Memoirs: “The decision was unanimous that the proposal could not be complied with, and I am to answer Mr. Torres accordingly.”50 This he did on March 30 in a polite but firm note stating that the administration chose not to depart from “the principle of impartial neutrality.”51 Regardless of the cabinet’s decision, Torres still held that the intentions of the Washington government toward Gran Colombia were friendly, and that some change in policy could be expected “before too long.”52
Forsyth had gone to Washington with Torres in the middle of March 1820 to aid him in his dealings with the government. Adams sarcastically accused the doctor of “winding up-stairs” to get appointed United States agent to Gran Colombia.53 Indeed the Secretary of State was prone to feel54
some distrust of everything proposed and desired by these South American gentlemen. Mr. Torres and Mr. Forsyth have pursued a different system from that of . . . [other South Americans]. Instead of bullying and insulting, their course had been to soothe and coax. But their object was evidently the same. The proposal of Torres was that while professing neutrality . . . [the United States] should furnish actual warlike aid to South America.
Still Adams found Torres trustworthy, consulted him on all political and military events in Spanish America, and always treated him with courtesy. The chargé d’affaires’ strong pro-United States sympathies, of which he made no secret,55 undeniably impressed Adams.
Adams’ unyielding manner did not inordinately disturb Torres. Whenever he was in Washington, he continued to call on Adams at his office or home to renew the request for recognition of Gran Colombia and for a supply of arms, munitions, and clothing.56 In regard to the arms Adams stalwartly remained noncommittal, promising Torres only that the United States would do as much for the Colombians as was compatible with its neutral character.
President Monroe was willing to go further in the way of encouragement. Conversing with Torres on December 19, 1820, Monroe announced that the United States had been and always would be Gran Colombia’s best friend, and that he would do whatever was possible to make available the supplies which the country needed. Immediately after this meeting Torres interviewed Secretary of the Treasury Crawford, who said that the government was now of a mind to give Gran Colombia the aid it wanted. Crawford asked him if he had ample authority to sign a convention, and Torres answered affirmatively.57
These various conferences moved Torres to write to his government overenthusiastically that “we will obtain our objective with regard to a supply of arms, clothing, etc., and once this first step is taken, the recognition of our Independence will follow without much delay. . . .”58 Adams continued to procrastinate, however, and on January 22, 1821, he told Torres that since he expected Gran Colombia to be shortly recognized “by all the world,” he trusted that henceforth the country would have no use for muskets and munitions of war.59 These expressions of sympathy were all that Torres was able to elicit from the United States government before 1822. Fortunately he found among private citizens a more adventurous spirit, motivated by business interests. Indeed, Torres’ general success as purchasing agent was astounding. During an eighteen-month period Torres, in the execution of contracts made with Idler and several other merchants, delivered to Gran Colombia over 11,000 muskets, 250,000 flints, and 25,000 firelocks.60 The magnitude of these figures can be better understood when it is remembered that the normal size of armies in Torres’ day was only a few thousand men, fighting on a battlefield all parts of which were usually visible through a single pair of field glasses. Up to 1818 Bolívar had fought thirty actions in Venezuela and in only ten had more than nine hundred men taken part. The largest force Bolívar commanded in any engagement was at the second battle of Carabobo, where his strength amounted to six thousand troops.61 In this light, Torres’ contributions take on vital significance.
Finally Torres was rewarded for his persistent interviews with Monroe, Adams, and other members of the administration. In June 1822 the United States welcomed Gran Colombia into the world family of nations, and Monroe received Torres as the first official diplomatic representative from Latin America. The signal event was tinged with sadness, however, for he was mortally ill and had scarcely strength enough for the return trip to his home in Philadelphia. On July 15, 1822, Manuel Torres, “the friend of all America, of humanity, and virtue,” died.62 Two days later he was buried with full military honors, a solemn tribute to the “talent, patriotism, and personal worth” of an indefatigable chargé d’affaires.63
William Spence Robertson, “The First Legations of the United States in Latin America,” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, II (September 1915), 184-185.
José de Onís, The United States as Seen by Spanish American Writers, 1776-1890 (New York, 1952), 34.
Robertson, “The First Legations,” II, 189.
Alberto Miramón, “Los diplomáticos de la libertad,” Boletín de historia y antigüedades (Bogotá), XXXVI (April-June 1949), 264.
John Quincy Adams, Memoirs of . . .. Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848, ed. by Charles Francis Adams (12 vols., Philadelphia, 1874-1877), V, 43.
E. Taylor Parks, Colombia and the United States, 1765-1934 (Durham, 1935), 69-70; Frederic L. Paxson, The Independence of the South-American Republics; A Study in Recognition and Foreign Policy (Philadelphia, 1903), 82-85.
Francisco José Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática. Los Estados Unidos y las repúblicas hispanoamericanas de 1810 a 1830 (Bogotá, 1917), 79.
Roscio to Torres, August 14, 1819, in Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 136.
First Credentials of Manuel Torres, in William R. Manning (ed.), Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States concerning the Independence of the Latin-American Nations (3 vols., New York, 1925), II, 1177-1178.
Forsyth to Simón Bolívar, October 29, 1820, Archivo Nacional de Colombia (hereinafter cited as ANC): Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60 (microfilm).
Roscio to Torres, September 1, 1819, in Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 144.
Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60.
Niles’ Weekly Register, XVII (February 19, 1820), 429; Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60.
Torres to Idler, January 28, 1820, quoted in Jane Lucas de Grummond, “The Jacob Idler Claim against Venezuela, 1817-1890,” HAHR, XXXIV (May 1954), 133-134.
Torres to John Quincy Adams, March 18, 1820, in Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 1216; Torres to the Secretary of State of the Department of Venezuela, April 18, 1820, in Pedro Ignacio Cadena, Anales diplomáticos de Colombia (Bogotá, 1878), 110.
Enclosure No. 4, “Invoice of the cargo of the schooner Montpelier,” December 27, 1819, sent by Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de República, tomo 60. The supplies were shipped to Angostura on the Montpelier in the early part of 1820.
José Rafael Revenga to Torres, February 2, 1820, in Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 147.
Raimundo Rivas, Relaciones internacionales entre Colombia y los Estados Unidos, 1810-1850 (Bogotá, 1915), 12.
Torres to Idler, July 28, 1820, in John Bassett Moore, History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to Which the United States Has Been a Party (6 vols., Washington, 1898), IV, 3527.
Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60.
Enclosure No. 3, “Invoice of the cargo of the brig Wilmot,” sent by Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60. The most significant clause in the three contracts Torres made with Idler was that in return for reducing the price of muskets from $20—the price paid him at Montevideo—to $12, Idler was to have the Barinas tobacco monopoly. Idler later explained the reason for reducing the price of muskets in return for the monopoly until all his accounts were paid was that he could double the $8 difference since this tobacco was scarce in Holland “and even in ordinary times 2nd and 3rd quality Varinas [sic] Tobacco sold from 70 to 90/100 p[er] pound, the better sort $1.25 and often for fine as high as $2 p[er] pound.” de Grummond, “The Jacob Idler Claim,” 134-135.
Enclosure no. 2, “Copy of article 5 of the contract celebrated in Philadelphia, between Jacob Idler and Manual Torres . . .,” sent by Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANO: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60; Moore, International Arbitrations, IV, 3534.
Torres to Juan Germán Roscio and José Rafael Revenga, May 20, 1820, Cadena, Anales diplomáticos, 134; Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 167.
Enclosure no. 5, “Invoice of the cargo of the ship Eugenia,” sent by Forsyth to Bolívar, October 29, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60.
Torres to Adams, August 11, 1820, The National Archives of the United States of America (hereinafter cited as NA): Department of State, Colombia (New Granada) Notes, vol. I, pt. 1.
Charles Carroll Griffin, The United States and the Disruption of the Spanish Empire, 1810-1822 (New York, 1937), 258, fn. 62.
“Invoice of the goods shipped on the Endymion,” Simón Bolívar O’Leary (ed.), Memorias del General O’Leary (28 vols., Caracas, 1880-1883), XVII, 488; Revenga to Bolívar, October 4, 1820, ibid., XVII, 486-487; Moore, International Arbitrations, IV, 3535.
Moore, International Arbitrations, IV, 3493, 3537.
Revenga to Bolívar, October 4, 1820, O’Leary, Memorias del General O’Leary, XVII, 487.
Torres to Bríon, November 7, 1820, ANC: Miscelánea de la República, tomo 60.
Ibid., tomo 60.
See de Grummond, “The Jacob Idler Claim,” 131-157; Moore, International Arbitrations, IV, 3491-3544.
Carlos Soublette to Torres, December 8, 1820, ANC: Ministerio de hacienda, tomo 272.
Soublette to Torres, January 18, 1821, ANC: Ministerio de hacienda, tomo 215.
Torres to Soublette, April 3, 1821, ANC: Ministerio de hacienda, tomo 272.
Torres to Soublette, April 23, 1821, ANC: Ministerio de hacienda, tomo 272.
Adams, Memoirs, IV, 514.
Torres to the Secretary of State and Foreign Relations of Venezuela, February 20, 1820, Nicolás García Samudio, Capítulos de historia diplomática (Bogotá, 1925), 57.
Ibid., 80; Torres to Adams, March 22, 1820, NA: Department of State, Colombia (New Granada) Notes, vol. I, pt. 1.
Torres to Adams, March 18, 1820, in Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence, II, 1186-1189.
Torres to the Secretary of State and Foreign Relations of Venezuela, April 13, 1820, in Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 150.
Ibid., 150-151.
Adams, Memoirs, V, 44.
Ibid., V, 45.
Ibid., V, 36.
Ibid., IV, 507.
Ibid., V, 45.
Torres to Roscio and Revenga, May 20, 1820, Cadena, Anales diplomáticos, 121-122.
Adams, Memoirs, V, 46.
Ibid., V, 47.
Adams to Torres, March 30, 1820, NA: Department of State, Notes to Foreign Legations, II, 383.
Torres to the Secretary of State and Foreign Relations of Venezuela, April 13, 1820, in Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 150-151.
Adams, Memoirs, V, 50.
Ibid., V, 51.
Torres to Adams, August 11, 1820, NA: Department of State, Colombia (New Granada) Notes, vol. I, pt. I.
Adams noted that Torres had visited him on the following dates “to renew his old propositions for a recognition of the republic of Colombia, and his request for a supply of muskets”: October 16, October 17, December 18, December 19, 1820; January 20, February 19, 1821. Adams, Memoirs, V, 186, 187, 240, 283.
Torres to the Secretary of State and Foreign Relations of Colombia, December 26, 1820, in Urrutia, Páginas de historia diplomática, 174.
Ibid., 174-175.
Adams, Memoirs, V, 240.
Moore, International Arbitrations, IV, 3493.
Alfred Hasbrouck, Foreign Legionaries in the Liberation of Spanish South America (New York, 1928), 233, 389.
William Duane to James Monroe, July 15, 1822, New York Public Library, The Monroe Papers.
Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, July 18, 1822, quoted in Arthur Preston Whitaker, The United States and the Independence of Latin America, 1800-1830 (New York, 1941), 389, fn. 36.
Author notes
The author is instructor of history at East Carolina University.
