onoco.
They are, of course, accredited from three several home
governments. The President signified, when the first arrived, that
he would receive the Charge from that government, on the 2d
proximo, but none of us know who the right Charge is. The
newspapers tell nothing satisfactory about it. I suppose you know:
can you write me word be fore the 2d?

"The gentlemen are: Dr. Estremadura, accredited from the
'Constitutional Government,'--his credentials are dated the 2d of
November; Don Paulo Vibeira, of the 'Friends of the People,' 5th
of November; M. Antonio de Vesga, 'Constitution of 1823,' October
27th. They attach great importance to our decision, each having
scrip to sell. In haste, truly yours."

To this letter I returned the following reply:--

"SIR:--Our latest dates from Oronoco are to the 13th ultimo. The
'Constitution of '23' was then in full power. If, however, the
policy of our government be to recognize the gentlemen whose
principals shall be in office on the 2d proximo, it is a very
different affair.

"You may not be acquainted with the formulas for ascertaining the
duration of any given modern revolution. I now use the following,
which I find almost exactly correct.

"Multiply the age of the President by the number of statute miles
from the equator, divide by the number of pages in the given
Constitution; the result will be the length of the outbreak, in
days. This formula includes, as you will see, an allowance for the
heat of the climate, the zeal of the leader, and the verbosity of
the theorists. The Constitution of 1823 was reproclaimed on the
25th of October last If you will give the above formula into the
hands of any of your clerks, the calculation from it will show
that that government will go out of power on the 1st of February,
at 25 minutes after 1, P.M. Your choice, on the 2d, must be
therefore between Vibeira and Estremadura; here you will have no
difficulty. Bobadil (Vibeira's principal) was on the 13th ultimo
confined under sentence of death, at such a distance from the
capital that he cannot possibly escape and get into power before
the 2d of February. The 'Friends of the People,' in Oronoco, have
always moved slowly; they never got up an insurrection in less
than nineteen days' canvassing; that was in 1839. Generally they
are even