International News

BREAKING NEWS: Slaves held over American rebellion plot

United States poised to recognise first South American rebel nation

The authorities in the US state of South Carolina say they have foiled a plan for a slave revolt.

Officials in the state’s largest city, Charleston, say informants had warned them of a rebellion planned for 16 June. As a result, security and patrols have been stepped up across the city in the last week. South Carolina’s state militia has been mobilised to reinforce local law enforcement. Reports from Charleston say 10 slaves were seized on the day the uprising was due to begin. Court hearings are due in the next few days.

MORE IN JULY'S 200

Reports from the western coast of Africa say that a settlement has been established as a home for freed ex-slaves from the USA. The land near Cape Mesurado was bought for the American Colonization Society.

Thousands die, enslaved in Greek island massacre

European support for Greek independence is expected to grow as news sinks in of the scale of the brutal Ottoman military action on the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea.

It is now believed that fewer than 20,000 people may be left on Chios, which is close to the Turkish coast. Latest estimates say 25,000 civilians were killed and as many as 45,000 women and children shipped into slavery after the Easter onslaught. This is said to be bloodiest episode yet in the Greek war for independence from the Ottoman Empire. The conflict was already notorious for violence against noncombatants. Ottoman forces took action after a landing on Chios in March by Greek irregular forces, and are said to have been told to lay waste to the Greek Christian island. As well as those killed

GREEK FAMILIES ON THE ISLAND OF CHIOS, EUGÈNE DELACROX (1824)

or enslaved, thousands of civilians headed for the west coast in the hope of rescue by sea, creating a huge humanitarian crisis. The latest act of violence to shock European diplomats has been the beheading of 10 hostages. The British Ambassador, Lord Strangford, has said the Ottoman violence ‘makes humanity shudder,’ sentiment likely to raise awkward questions in Westminster about Britain’s neutrality, and European nations’ non-intervention in this conflict on their doorstep.

>Resources and further reading

The first new South American nation that has been fighting for independence from Spanish colonial rule is expected to be recognised by the United States in the next few days.

Manuel Torres, who has been representing the interests of о Colombia in the US has been told to be on standby to meet President James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, his Secretary of State, at the White House, a meeting that would signify official recognition. But sources in Washington say recognition of a second independent nation, Mexico, has been delayed after the proclamation of army

PRESIDENT JAMES MONROE

commander Agustin Iturbide as emperor in May. Recognition has appeared inevitable since President Monroe told Congress in March that five states of Spanish America were “in the full enjoyment of their independence”. His message led to a protest from the Spanish ambassador. The authorities in Madrid insist that King Ferdinand VII’s feelings towards the colonies are not of anger but “as a father who wishes to act as a pacific mediator in the dissensions of his children”.

о In the latest blow to Madrid in the Spanish American wars of independence, rebel forces have taken control of the key administrative centre of Quito after defeating the colonial army at the battle of Pichincha in May on the slopes of an Andean volcano. The victorious commander, Antonio José de Sucre, has now been joined in Quito by Simón Bolívar, the leader known as El Libertador, who himself saw off Spanish forces at Bombona in April. Only Upper Peru remains a Spanish stronghold and this is expected to be a target soon for Simón Bolívar and his Argentine counterpart, José de San Martín.

о The Chilian fleet, led by Scottish-born Lord Thomas Cochrane, has arrived in Valparaiso, after supporting independence movements in Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Admiral Cochrane has already been congratulated by Chili’s head of state, Supreme Director Bernardo O’Higgins, with Patriot flags adorning homes across the city, 70 miles north-west of Santiago. >Resources and further reading