Argentina
by W. A. Hirst · English · Gutenberg #40069 · 605,153 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Argentina
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Argentina
Author: W. A. Hirst
Author of introduction, etc.: Martin A. S. Hume
Release date: June 24, 2012 [eBook #40069]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40069
Credits: Produced by Henry Flower, Adrian Mastronardi and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARGENTINA ***
[Illustration: MAP OF
ARGENTINA
AND
ADJOINING STATES]
ARGENTINA
BY
W. A. HIRST
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
MARTIN HUME, M.A.
WITH A MAP AND SIXTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
T. FISHER UNWIN
LONDON LEIPSIC
ADELPHI TERRACE INSELSTRASSE 20
_First Edition_ 1910
_Second Impression_ 1911
_Third Impression_ 1912
_Fourth Impression_ 1914
(_All rights reserved._)
PREFACE
In establishing the commercial and industrial greatness of Argentina my
countrymen have co-operated with her people for a longer time and more
efficiently than any other foreign nation. The land and the people are
therefore a subject of lively interest to Englishmen, and it is hoped
that this sketch, however inadequate, will help towards a closer
knowledge of Argentina. I have received much valuable assistance from
many sources, but I do not indicate them, because I do not wish to shift
the blame for any inaccuracies that may be found in these pages. For all
such mistakes I am solely responsible.
_April 22, 1910._
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION XV
CHAPTER
I. THE COUNTRY--ITS FOUR DIVISIONS--THE RIVERS--THE CLIMATE 1
II. EARLIEST HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY 16
III. THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST 24
IV. THE SPANISH DOMINION 33
V. THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM 49
VI. THE ENGLISH FAILURE IN ARGENTINA 65
VII. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 76
VIII. ANARCHY AND DESPOTISM--THE WAR WITH PARAGUAY 87
IX. MODERN ARGENTINA--SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS 99
X. THE CONSTITUTION--THE ARMY AND NAVY--GENERAL
POLITICAL CONDITIONS 111
XI. CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE--WAGES AND COST
OF LIVING--IMMIGRATION 125
XII. BUENOS AIRES 139
XIII. ARGENTINE LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 152
XIV. RELIGION--EDUCATION--JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE 158
XV. INDUSTRIAL ARGENTINA--RAILWAYS AND MINOR ENTERPRISES 178
XVI. THE PASTORAL INDUSTRIES OF ARGENTINA 196
XVII. COMMERCE AND FINANCE 210
XVIII. AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL PRODUCTS 225
XIX. BAHIA BLANCA AND PATAGONIA 238
XX. ACROSS THE CONTINENT TO MENDOZA UNDER THE ANDES 254
XXI. THE PARANA, ROSARIO, AND SANTA FÉ 265
XXII. THE GRAN CHACO AND THE NORTHERN TOWNS 275
XXIII. INFORMATION FOR ENGLISH TRAVELLERS 284
BIBLIOGRAPHY 295
INDEX 303
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLAZA DE MAYO, BUENOS AIRES _Frontispiece_
Photo kindly lent by the Proprietors of _La Argentina_
FACING PAGE
PLATELAYERS, BUENOS AIRES CENTRAL RAILWAY 5
Photo kindly lent by the Buenos Aires Central Railway
ACONCAGUA 9
Photo kindly lent by the Buenos Aires Pacific Railway
A LONELY SCENE, SIERRA DE LA VENTANA 12
Photo kindly lent by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway
ANDINE PASS 15
Photo kindly lent by the South American Missionary Society
TROOP OF MARES 27
_La Argentina_ photo
RIVER LANDING STAGE 29
Photo kindly lent by Bovril, Ltd.
BULL CALF 29
Bovril, Ltd. photo
PATAGONIANS 43
S. A. M. S. photo
THE RIVER URUGUAY 73
Photo kindly lent by Lemco & Oxo
BOUNDARY LINE IN THE ANDES 82
_La Argentina_ photo
A SHEEP RUN 87
_La Argentina_ photo
PASEO AL BOSQUE, LA PLATA (PROVINCIAL CAPITAL) 101
_La Argentina_ photo
ESTANCIA 102
B. A. G. S. R. photo
STATUE OF CHRIST 109
B. A. P. R. photo
RACECOURSE, LA PLATA 111
B. A. G. S. R. photo
CRUISER, _SAN MARTIN_ 120
_La Argentina_ photo
THE PERMANENT WAY, BUENOS AIRES CENTRAL RAILWAY 129
B. A. C. R. photo
PALERMO PARK, BUENOS AIRES 145
B. A. P. R. photo
IMPORTED STALLION, "CYLLENE," WINNER OF THE ASCOT CUP 147
Photo kindly lent by Mr. Clarence Hailey, High-street, Newmarket
IMPORTED STALLION, "DIAMOND JUBILEE," LATE PROPERTY OF
H.M. KING EDWARD VII 150
Mr. Clarence Hailey's photo
CATTLE DRINKING 155
Lemco & Oxo photo
THE PAMPAS 157
B. A. G. S. R. photo
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CORDOBA 162
_La Argentina_ photo
MAR DEL PLATA 176
B. A. G. S. R. photo
FREIGHT TRAIN FOR ENTRE RIOS CROSSING NEW BRIDGE 178
B. A. C. R. photo
LOCOMOTIVE, BUENOS AIRES GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY 183
B. A. G. S. R. photo
RAILWAY STATION, BUENOS AIRES GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY 185
B. A. G. S. R. photo
RAILWAY CARRIAGE, BUENOS AIRES CENTRAL RAILWAY 188
B. A. C. R. photo
ABERDEEN ANGUS CATTLE, SANTA MARIA, ENTRE RIOS 196
Lemco & Oxo photo
LINCOLN CHAMPION. EXHIBITED BY MR. M. J. COBO 201
_La Argentina_ photo
AN ESTANCIERO'S HOUSE 203
B. A. G. S. R. photo
LEMCO AND OXO PREMISES 205
Lemco & Oxo photo
PURE BRED HEREFORD BULL (OXO) 207
Lemco & Oxo photo
PEDIGREE COW AND CALF 208
Lemco and Oxo photo
ESTANCIA SANTA MARIA 210
Lemco and Oxo photo
GROUP OF HEREFORDS 210
Lemco & Oxo photo
LA CROZE TRAMWAY, NEAR BUENOS AIRES 221
B. A. C. R. photo
COUNTRY LIFE IN ARGENTINA 227
B. A. C. R. photo
THE PRINCIPAL STREET OF MENDOZA 229
B. A. P. R. photo
A MENDOZA VINEYARD 229
B. A. P. R. photo
BULLOCK-BREAKING IN JUJUY 234
S. A. M. S. photo
AN OSTRICH 234
Bovril, Ltd. photo
LA VENTANA 238
B. A. G. S. R. photo
TANDIL ROCKING-STONE 241
B. A. G. S. R. photo
CHUBUT VALLEY 245
Photo kindly lent by the Chubut Railway
AMONG THE CACTUS 250
S. A. M. S. photo
ST. DAVID'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, CHUBUT 250
S. A. M. S. photo
INDIAN CHILD 250
S. A. M. S. photo
A VIEW OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 252
_La Argentina_ photo
GUANACOS IN THE PARK OF MR. HECTOR COBO 254
_La Argentina_ photo
RIVER MENDOZA 256
B. A. P. R. photo
THE HOTEL, PUENTE DEL INCA 258
B. A. P. R. photo
PUENTE DEL INCA 261
B. A. P. R. photo
VIEW OF MARSHY COUNTRY, BUENOS AIRES CENTRAL RAILWAY 263
B. A. C. R. photo
QUAY ON THE RIVER URUGUAY 266
Lemco & Oxo photo
COLON, ENTRE RIOS 266
Lemco & Oxo photo
ROSARIO, THE LAW COURTS 268
_La Argentina_ photo
CALLE CORDOBA, ROSARIO 271
_La Argentina_ photo
THE IGUAZU FALLS 274
_La Argentina_ photo
CHIRIGUANOS AND MATACOS 276
S. A. M. S. photo
CAMP TRAVEL 276
S. A. M. S. photo
TUCUMAN 282
_La Argentina_ photo
PACKET STEAM NAVIGATION CO.'S _ORCOMA_ 285
Photo kindly lent by the Pacific Steam Navigation Co.
INTRODUCTION
The most stupendous achievement ever attained by a nation in so short
a time was the discovery, conquest, and settlement of Mexico and South
America by Spain within the compass of a century. To fix indelibly and
for ever upon the peoples of a vast continent the language, religion,
customs, polity, and laws of a nation on the other side of the globe
called for qualities which could only be temporarily evoked by an
irresistible common sentiment. The sentiment which gave to Spain for a
time the potency to carry through simultaneously the tasks of imposing
religious orthodoxy upon Christendom and founding her great colonial
empire was pride: pride of religion, race, and person, deliberately
fostered by rulers for political ends. This origin of the delusive
strength that carried the Conquistadores through an untracked continent
regardless of perils and sufferings, and made South America Spanish,
rendered inevitable that the rewards, national and individual, should
disappoint the recipients. For pride and its concomitant covetousness
are never satisfied; and the frenzied thirst for rapid riches and
distinction that spurred the Spanish explorers and conquerors onward
rarely ended in the idle luxurious dignity that was their goal, and it
ultimately brought to the mother country nought but penury and
degradation.
It was ignorance of economic truth that led Spaniards in the
sixteenth century to regard the possession of the precious metals as
wealth, regardless of circumstances: and the error coloured the whole
domination of Spain in the New World. That the nation and the
individual should hope to become permanently powerful and rich by
obtaining vast stores of the metallic medium whilst discouraging
productive industry appears to modern ideas ridiculous, but to the
discoverers of America it was regarded as quite the natural course of
events. The effect is seen in the rapid subjection and development of
the regions believed to be rich in the precious metals, and the
comparative neglect of the vast territories where patience and the
labour of man were needed to win nature's abundant bounty from the
fertile soil.
The west side of the South American Continent, though furthest from
Europe, therefore took precedence of the eastern coast in the efforts
and regards of the conquerors. When the piled-up riches of the Incas
and the inexhaustible mines of the Peruvian Andes beckoned to the
greedy adventurers from the mother country, the endless alluvial
pampas and dense primeval forests of the east might call in vain. From
Panama down the Pacific Coast, therefore, the main tide of conquest
and empire flowed, drawn by the magnet gold; and on the northern
continent a similar course was taken. The Aztec empire with its
accumulated treasures absorbed an ever-increasing stream of Spaniards,
whilst the more northern territories now included in the United States
were left later to English settlers, whose hopes were not centred upon
wringing yellow metal from the earth, but upon founding a free new
agricultural England across the sea.
Thus it happened that to navigators in search of the short cut to Asia
rather than to the typical Conquistador was left the first exploration
of what we now know is the coming emporium of the South American
Continent and its permanent centre of productive prosperity. Domingo
de Solis, chief pilot of Spain, was sent by Charles V. to South
America not as a settler, or primarily as a gold-seeker, but as an
explorer; and when in 1508 he entered the noble Bay of Rio Janeiro it
seemed at last that the object of his quest was gained, and that here
was the coveted waterway to the East. But he soon found out his
mistake, and when, sailing further south, he crossed the wide estuary
of the River Plate, his hopes again rose that this tremendous volume
of water, a hundred and fifty miles wide at the mouth, was not a river
merely, but the ocean channel to the Pacific. Returning home with his
hopes still high Solis, was authorised by his sovereign to explore his
important discovery, and in 1516 he sailed into the delta of the great
network of streams that have brought down upon their bosoms from the
far Andes in the course of ages a large portion of the continent as we
now know it.
To the Spaniard's eyes the land was not inviting. Far stretching plains
of waving grasses, great expanses of marsh and swamp, league after
league. No palaces and temples of hewn stone, like those of Peru and
Mexico, met the eye here; no promise of gold in the fat alluvial soil;
no cities where the arts were practised and treasure accumulated. Such
Indians as there were differed vastly from the mild serfs of the Incas.
Nomad savages were these; robust, stout, and hardy, elusive of pursuit
and impossible of subjection in their wandering disunity. For three
hundred miles through the endless pampa-country Solis sailed onward up
the stream, his hopes that this way led to the Indies gradually fading
as he progressed, until he and his men fell into a trap laid for them by
the pampa Indians and were slaughtered.
Four years afterwards Magellan on his epoch-making voyage sailed up the
great river; but he too fell a victim to the perils of the way in the
Asiatic seas, and never returned to Spain to tell of his discoveries in
the heart of South America. Then Sebastian Cabot, the Englishman in the
service of Spain, was sent to explore, and if possible to take
possession of the land for Charles V.; for the Portuguese claimed
indefinite territory in this direction under the convention of
Tordesillas, and it behoved Spain to assert ownership before it was too
late. High up the river Paraguay Cabot found a country with different
features and peopled by another race. Silver ornaments, too, he found in
plenty amongst these Guaranies, to whom distant echoes of Inca influence
had reached across the wastes and mountains to the west. But here, many
hundreds of miles from the ocean and far from any base of supplies, it
was impracticable for Cabot with the resources at his disposal to effect
a settlement, and he also returned to Spain with his story of silver as
an incentive for further expeditions.
This was in 1527, and in the following year the first attempt to
establish a permanent footing on the Plate was made by the building of
a fort at Rosario, but this was soon abandoned for a site on the sea
coast of what is now a part of Brazil to the north of the river. In
the meantime the Portuguese were busy advancing their posts to the
north of the delta in order to assert their claims; and in face of
this, rather than because remunerative metallic treasure from the new
territory was to be expected, Charles V. authorised an extensive
colonising experiment to be made and the great waterway and its banks
claimed for Spain. The stirring history of Mendoza's attempts to found
a settlement on the Paraná, the establishment of Buenos Aires and its
abandonment again and again, the fateful colonisation of Asuncion, far
up the river in the heart of the continent, the heroic adventures of
Irala, Ayolas, and Cabeza de Vaca, and the reconquest of the river
territories down to the sea from the isolated Spanish post of Asuncion
eight hundred miles up stream, is adequately told in Mr. Hirst's
pages, and need not be related here.
The permanent fixing of the flag of Spain on the territory east of the
Andes was not less heroic an achievement than the more showy conquests
of Peru and Mexico; for in the former case the incentive of easily won
gold was absent, and the object was more purely national than was the
case elsewhere. But, though it was necessary for Spain to assert her
ownership over these endless pampas and the unexplored wastes beyond,
the new territory was always subordinated to the gold-producing
viceroyalty of Peru across the Andes. A glance at the map will show
the almost incredible obstacles wilfully interposed by the home
authorities upon the River Plate colonies in forcing the latter not
only to be subject in government to the Viceroy of Peru, but to carry
on most of their commercial communications with the mother country
across the wide continent from the Pacific coast by way of Panama and
Peru. The law was, of course, extensively evaded, and the luxuriant
fertility of the pampa both for agriculture and grazing made the River
Plate colonies prosperous in spite of Government restrictions.
The English slave-traders and adventurers made no scruple of braving
the King of Spain's edicts; and the estuary of the Plate, within a few
weeks' sail of Europe, saw many a cargo welcomed upon a mere pretence
of force by the colonists whose lives were rendered doubly hard by the
obstacles placed in their way by their own Government. In 1586 the Earl
of Cumberland's ships on a privateering expedition to capture every
Spanish and Portuguese vessel they encountered sailed into the River
Plate and learnt some interesting particulars of the settlements from
one of the unfortunate shipmasters they had plundered. These give a good
idea of the difficulties under which traffic was then carried on. "He
told me that the town of Buenos Aires is from the Green island about
seventy leagues' standing on the south side of the river, and from
thence to Santa Fé is one hundred leagues, standing on the same side
also. At which town their ships do discharge all their goods into small
barks, which row and tow up the river to another town called Asuncion,
which is from Santa Fé a hundred and fifty leagues, where the boats
discharge on shore, and so pass all their goods by carts and horses to
Tucuman, which is in Peru." The commerce here referred to was probably
the contraband trade done in spite of the Spanish regulations, for it
was found that even to the far distant towns in the interior, like
Tucuman and Mendoza, it was easier and cheaper thus to convey goods from
Europe by the eastern coast than from the Pacific across the almost
impassable Andes.
The Earl of Cumberland's factor gives also an account of the Spanish
settlements then (1586) existing on the River Plate.[1] "There are in
the river five towns, some of seventy households, some of more. The
first town was about fifty leagues up the river and called Buenos
Aires, the rest some forty or fifty leagues from one another, so that
the uppermost town, called Tucuman, is two hundred and thirty leagues
from the entrance to the river.[2] In these towns is great store of
corn, cattle, wine and sundry fruits, but no money of gold or silver.
They make a certain kind of slight cloth, which they give in truck
for sugar, rice, marmalade, and sucket, which were the commodities
this ship (_i.e._, the prize) had."
Thus with everything against it except its irrepressible natural
advantages of soil and climate and its lack of mineral wealth, the
colony grew in prosperity in spite of man's shortsightedness. There
was no temptation here, even if it had been possible, for the
Spaniards to exterminate the aborigines by forced work in unhealthy
mines. The innumerable herds of cattle and horses that in a very few
years peopled the pampa from the few animals brought from Europe and
abandoned by the first settlers provided sustenance, even wealth, with
comparatively easy labour to the mixed race of Indians and Spaniards,
which took kindly to the half-wild pastoral life in harmony with the
nomadic traditions of the natives; and thus with much less hardship and
cruelty than in other South American regions the Argentines gradually
grew into a homogeneous people, whose pastoral and agricultural pursuits
brought them to a higher level of general well-being than populations
elsewhere in South America.
[Illustration: INDIAN CHILD.]
But great as is the actual and potential wealth of the Argentine from
its favoured soil, it is not that alone that has made its capital the
greatest in South America, and has brought to the development of the
Republic citizens and resources from all the progressive nations of
the world. It is also as the main highway to the remote recesses of
the vast continent that the Argentine region has appealed to the
imaginations of men. The noble waterways, navigable far into the
interior, provide cheap and easy transport for the products of distant
provinces possessing infinite possibilities as yet hardly known. The
unbroken plains, extending from the Atlantic sea-board to the foot of
the Andes eight hundred miles away, offer unrivalled facilities for
the construction of railways to convey to the ports food supplies for
the Old World from this, the greatest undeveloped grain and pasture
region in temperate climes. It is this character of a thoroughfare
offering easy access to the coming continent that ensures for Buenos
Aires its future position as a world emporium, and to the States of
the Argentine Republic readily accessible markets for their abundant
and varied natural products. And to add to this advantage the opening
of the Transandine tunnel, now at last an accomplished fact, makes the
Argentine the natural highway for passengers and fine goods to the
cities of Chile and the Pacific Coast, saving the tedious and costly
voyage round Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan.
The greatest admirers of the old Spanish colonial system will hardly
deny that the prodigious development effected since the declaration of
Argentine independence, of the resources of the country, thanks
largely to the influx of foreign immigrants and capital, would have
been impossible under the Spanish domination. That a new people,
unaccustomed to, and perhaps as yet unprepared for, self-government
and political emancipation should have had to work out its own
problems during a period of turbulence was inevitable. It is no
reproach to the Argentine people that this natural process, necessary
to fit them for a stable political existence, has in the past caused
violence and lawlessness. The constant introduction of men of other
races into the Argentine is giving to the population new features and
qualities which will render the racial stock of the future one of the
most interesting ethnological problems in the world; and this abundant
admixture of foreign blood, readily assimilated as it is by the native
stock, certainly makes for increasing stability.
The same may be said of the large amount of foreign capital invested
in Argentine enterprises. Argentine statesmen, taught by experience as
they have been, and keenly awake to the need for foreign aid in
developing their country, are not in the least likely in future to
frighten away capital by dishonest finance or revolutionary methods.
Responsibility has already brought sobriety into Argentine politics,
and although the official procedure and Governmental ethics of the
Spanish races vary from those usually prevalent in Anglo-Saxon
countries, they are in most cases better suited to the character of
the people than those that commend themselves to us. When we for our
own purposes go to a foreign country, it is unreasonable to expect, as
many Englishmen do, that we can carry with us and impose upon our
hosts our own traditions and standards.
No country known to me impresses upon a visitor from Europe so
forcibly as the Argentine the unlimited possibilities of its soil.
Travelling hour after hour by a railway straight as a line over gently
undulating or perfectly flat plains, stretching on all sides as far as
the eye can reach, the observer is struck by the regular ripple of the
rich grass, like the waves of the sea, as the breeze blows over it.
Here and there little clumps of eucalyptus slightly break the monotony
of the landscape, and a gleam of a bright green alfalfa field
occasionally relieves the eye. Far away at rare intervals gleaming
white walls and turrets surrounded by eucalyptus groves mark the
position of an estancia, and innumerable herds of cattle, sheep, and
almost wild troops of horses everywhere testify to the richness of the
pasture.
[Illustration: A SHEEP RUN.]
From Buenos Aires to Mendoza, almost at the foot of the Andes, some
six hundred miles away, the scene hardly changes. Far to the south the
pampa is poorer and more sparse, but still splendid pasture for
certain sorts of cattle, whilst in Entre Rios, the great tract between
the rivers Paraná and Uruguay, the country is wilder and more broken,
especially towards the north. Scattered amongst the vast flocks of
sheep upon the open veldt are many ostriches, now a profitable
investment, whilst great numbers of running partridges seek cover in
the pampa grass from the dreaded hawks that hover above them. The
native grass is flesh-forming but not fattening, and, to an English
grazier, looks poor food enough for the millions of head of cattle
that thrive upon it. It does not, as does the best English pasture,
entirely cover the surface, but grows in distinct tufts. The native
grass, however, is now rapidly being supplanted in the rich plains of
Central Argentina by new forms of pasture, mostly English, infinitely
richer, perennial in its luxuriance, and forming upon this favoured
soil the best cattle-grazing in the world.
[Illustration: AN OSTRICH.]
Of late years, as Mr. Hirst shows in his book, enormous tracts of
land, especially to the south of Buenos Aires and high up the Paraná,
are being broken up for wheat-growing, and Bahia Blanca, the ambitious
port south of Buenos Aires, bids fair soon to become a great centre of
grain export. Vast quantities of maize are also raised in the country
on the banks of the Paraná, and are mainly exported from Rosario.
Whichever way one turns fresh evidences of fertility are forced upon
the attention. Cattle standing knee-deep in pasture, sheep growing fat
at fifty to the acre, leagues of ripening corn, equal to any on earth,
growing upon virgin soil; flowers to which we are accustomed in
England as tender shrubs developing here into robust blossoming trees;
and fruit orchards flourishing, solid miles of them, prolific beyond
belief, within a short distance of Buenos Aires, where only a few
years ago nothing but wild scrub and tangled forest existed.
The extension of railways in every direction has now to a great extent
destroyed or modified the old free life upon the pampas of Argentina. The
estancias, except in remote districts, are often large establishments
where all the comforts and some of the luxuries of life are to be found,
instead of the walled semi-fortresses of olden times. The white-domed
well, with its shady ombú-tree, still stands near the principal entrance
to the courtyard, and the high palenque, the hitching-post for horses,
still flanks the gateway, but the picturesque gaucho who goes loping
over the plain, his lasso at his saddle-bow, his naked feet thrust into
his big leather horseskin brogues, and his poncho fluttering in the
breeze, is no longer the monarch of the pampa as he once was, for
civilisation has touched even him. The silver ornaments that once
covered his accoutrements are less abundant than they used to be; he is
fortunately less free with his knife, for he was never much of a hand
with a gun, loving the bolas better; and the rural railway station in
which he likes to dawdle about in the intervals of his life in the
saddle is the symbol of his discipline and decline.
The great waterways that characterise Argentina, although they are now
less used for passenger traffic into the hinterland than formerly,
must still in the future be a great, if not the principal, highway for
the produce of the distant interior. Rosario, some two hundred miles
above Buenos Aires on the Paraná, is a progressive and improving port,
serving the rich maize and grain-growing expanses of the province of
Santa Fé; and far up the stream, almost to the Paraguayan border at
Corrientes, river ports are rapidly growing into importance as centres
of export as the surrounding country is developed.
But wonderful as is the apparently boundless promise of this country
of favoured plains, Argentina is not only pampa. The Gran Chaco, a
great country still for the most part a wilderness, is a region of dim
tropical forest, where the parrots, birds of paradise, and brilliant
butterflies vie with those of the Amazon; a hot, moist region, where
the monkey and the land crab flourish exceedingly, and where savage
Indians still hunt down with primitive weapons the jaguar and the
puma. From this sultry country of forest and flood to the almost
treeless, arid steppes of Patagonia is a change rather to another
world than to another province of the same Republic, and hardly less
difference exists between the rolling plains of the pampa country and
the magnificent regions of towering peaks, stern uplands, and vast
lakes that form the Andine portions of Argentina.
The change is noticed as the road approaches Mendoza, where the pampa
gradually gives way to a country strongly resembling parts of Southern
Spain; a land of poplars, willows, and acacias shading endless lines
of irrigation channels; for rain falls but seldom on this eastern side
of the Sierra, and on all hands, climbing the lower laps of the hills
and lining the valleys, are miles of vineyards, which provide a stout
red wine for the rest of the Republic. Further west still the land
becomes more broken and barren as the hills rise higher and higher,
until the ruddy sides, white glaciers, and snow-crested mountains of
the Sierra appear, the giant Aconcagua monarch of them all. Further
south than this the wonderful series of lakes that are almost inland
seas high up in the Andes exist, as yet only partially explored to
decide the frontier dispute between the Argentine and Chile, the
remote valleys and austere uplands where the giant sloth is still
believed by many to linger, a sole survival of the world before the
great flood that destroyed life upon the nascent continent unrecorded
ages ago.
[Illustration: ACONCAGUA.]
This marvellous country of Argentina is destined to be one of the
great nations of the world. Nature is just, and in giving it a
prodigious extent of flat fertile soil has more than compensated it
for withholding the gift of abundant gold that has made the history of
other portions of South America. With a climate that varies, as does
that of Chile, from the tropical to the antarctic, with pasture and
arable land unsurpassed in the world, and with facilities for
transport by land and water enabling the fruits of the soil to be
conveyed easily from remote districts to eager markets for them, no
bounds can be set to the wealth that awaits enterprise in the country.
As a highway, too, the possibilities of Argentina are immense. The
connection of Buenos Aires by rail with Santiago and Valparaiso opens
up a new and shorter route to New Zealand and Australia; whilst the
rapidly progressing extension of the railway into Bolivia--another
link, it is intended, of the line to run eventually from New York to
Buenos Aires--will provide a new and welcome outlet for the treasures
of her mines to Bolivia, a vast country without a port of its own.
The possession of a temperate climate has made the Argentine and Chile
the two South American nations of most promise for the future, owing
to the fact that both countries have attracted and assimilated a great
admixture of the robust peoples of Europe. The immigrants have been to
a large extent drawn from the countries where life is hard and the
fare frugal; from North Italy, from Galicia and Russia; whilst in
stern Patagonia the Scotsman and the Welshman find an environment
after their own hearts. In the second generation the immigrants of all
nations usually become sturdy Argentines, and this easy assimilation
of new ethnological elements is one of the most striking signs of the
energy of the nation as a whole, and the most promising fact as
regards the future political stability of the country. That a
composite race will result from this admixture, possessing much of the
patient laboriousness of the Ligurian and the practical hardheadedness
of the Teuton, to temper the keen vehemence of the Ibero-American, may
be confidently hoped: and if such be the case the advantages that
nature has showered upon the Argentine will be complete, and a
splendid future for the country secure.
MARTIN HUME.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Hakluyt.
[2] It need hardly be mentioned that Tucuman, which had been founded
by the Spaniards from the Peru side some twenty years before, is not
on the river at all, but nearly five hundred miles distant across the
still almost unknown Gran Chaco. Tucuman is now reached by railway
from the south by way of Cordoba.
ARGENTINA
CHAPTER I
THE COUNTRY--ITS FOUR DIVISIONS--THE RIVERS--THE CLIMATE
The attempt to present a bird's-eye view of Argentina may well be called
presumptuous, for the country is larger than Russia in Europe and offers
every variety of climate--"hot, cold, moist, and dry." Nor would the
utmost industry of the traveller suffice to glean anything like complete
information, for large tracts, owing to the inhospitality of nature or
man, are unexplored, and both north and south he would be checked by
impenetrable forests, or rugged barriers of rock, or by savage Indians
who are saved from extinction by the inaccessibility of their
habitations. Further, even as regards the settled parts of those
districts which, however desolate, are practicable to the traveller,
there is more to be learnt (and the conditions are ever changing) than
could well be absorbed in a lifetime, for Argentina is not, like several
South American countries, a mere gigantic mass of potential riches, but
is rapidly assuming a leading position among the commercial states of
the world. From Buenos Aires to Mendoza, from Bahia Blanca to Tucuman,
are to be seen all the signs of wealth and prosperity, all the
unmistakable portents of coming potency usually apparent in a new
country that has emerged from the stage of childhood and weakness and
feels the vigour of lusty youth in its veins, impelling it to take its
place in the system of world politics.
If a single volume is all too short to represent Argentina in its
manifold aspects, still less adequate is a single chapter to sketch
its physical characteristics. In fact, its interest is at present more
physical than moral, rather in its vast capacities for producing
wealth and distributing it by means of magnificent waterways and
ever-extending railroads, than in anything which Argentinians have
done to ennoble life by arts or other services.
Before, however, proceeding to the study of a country the learner must
endeavour to set before himself its principal geographical features,
and as those of Argentina are well defined and comparatively simple
they lend themselves to broad and clear classification. Geographically
Argentina falls into four divisions. Firstly, Patagonia, which
stretches from the Rio Colorado to Cape Horn. Secondly, the Andine
region, which runs from the southern frontier of Bolivia right along
the Chilian border. Thirdly, the Gran Chaco, which embraces the whole
of the north of Argentina except the Andine strip. Fourthly, the
Pampa, which comprises the central and best known region.
Patagonia received its name, _patagon_, or large paw, from the
enormous footprints which the Spanish explorers remarked in the sand.
Till recently it was almost a _terra incognita_, roamed by Indians and
herds of guanacos, but of late years the beginnings of settlement have
been made, and sheep-farming has become a considerable industry. The
southern portion is cold and inclement all the year round, but in the
north the summers are hot. The country is well watered by six
considerable rivers--the Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Deseado, Coyly,
and Gallegos--but scarcity of rain has caused it to be neglected by
agriculturists. The whole of the plateau, indeed, has been called the
Great Shingle Desert; it is of Tertiary formation, and the endless
waste of sand and gravel was chiefly contributed by glacial action.
This inhospitable desert is arranged in terraces which slope gently
eastward, first from heights of 2,000 feet to 500, and then from this
lower elevation to the sea-level.
In old days wonderful tales were told about the Patagonian
giants--their enormous size, strength, and ferocity, but here it need
only be said that the accounts were at least exaggerated. "In height,
although very much above the average--some, indeed, reaching the
height of 6 feet 4 inches, and all being broad and muscular--they have
been greatly exaggerated, for, being very long in the body, they seem
to tower above the European while sitting on horseback. They are short
in the legs, and when standing on the ground do not on an average come
over about 5 feet 11 inches."[3]
The Andine region, which in some of the South American States is the
overwhelming characteristic, does not set a distinctive mark upon
Argentina--essentially a plain country--but the western frontier of
the Republic is guarded by a colossal range of mountains. These begin
with Cerro de las Granadas in the extreme north, and extend beyond the
Upper Colorado basin, where the Sierra Auco Mahinda of 16,000 feet is
one of the most southerly of the important peaks. After this, although
there is still a chain of moderate height, the mountains are not
distinctively Andine. The highest of all the Argentine mountains is
probably the Nevado de Famatina.
[Illustration: ANDINE PASS.]
In general this region is excessively dry and the mountains are
almost bare of vegetation. The annual rainfall at Mendoza is but 6
inches and at San Juan it is only 3.
The Gran Chaco may be taken as a rough denomination for the whole of
the Republic lying north of the Pampa, excluding the Andine fringe.
This is a land of luxuriant vegetation with a warm and moist climate
and, as might be expected, the products vary greatly from those of the
temperate plains. Rice and the sugar-cane, castor-oil, sesame, and the
poppy are all cultivated, but this part of the country is as yet
scantily populated and quite undeveloped; there are therefore few
surplus products to export. It is a region of great beauty, and
travellers praise the silent tropical nights, whose darkness is
relieved by myriads of fireflies, the primeval forests, and the
magnificent rivers. But it is mostly virgin land and in many parts is
peopled by savage inhabitants who make travel dangerous.
[Illustration: A LONELY SCENE, SIERRA DE LA VENTANA.]
The real Argentina is the Pampa; it is that vast and fertile champaign
which makes the great Republic what she is, and to which she owes all
her wealth and prosperity. Erroneous as is the popular idea that
Argentina is merely a land of grassy steppes and rich cornfields, this
is due to the fact that all except specialists have confined their
travels to the Pampa. It extends from Cordoba to the Rios Negro or
Colorado. In it are contained the great and growing towns, and from it
these towns draw their prosperity. It is a country to delight the
heart of the agriculturist. In many countries of South America the
traveller passes through interminable jungles sparingly scattered with
patches of cultivation where a few bony cattle scour for a livelihood.
In the Pampa there is rich tilth and fine pasture; magnificent red and
white beasts graze and fatten, standing knee-deep in the fresh grass,
and sheep innumerable are raised. The dead level of the land is not
quite unbroken, for south of the Plate estuary there are two small
mountain ranges, the Tandil and Ventana. They never exceed 2,800
feet. In the east the rainfall is generally satisfactory, but it
becomes scanty in the western districts. The winter is cold, the
summer decidedly hot, but the climate is not intemperate, and might be
called pleasant but for the fierce hot and cold winds which disturb
enjoyment and are in some cases prejudicial to health. This brief
summary must, for the present, suffice for the four regions; as we
survey the country more in detail, we shall have opportunities of
describing their characteristics more fully. It remains, however, to
take a brief survey of several features which can better be described
while we look at the country as a whole. The geology of Argentina
greatly interested Darwin. He says:[4] "The geology of Patagonia is
interesting. Differently from Europe, where the Tertiary formations
appear to have accumulated in bays, here along hundreds of miles of
coast we have one great deposit, including many Tertiary shells, all
apparently extinct. The most common shell is a massive, gigantic
oyster, sometimes even a foot in diameter. These beds are covered by
others of a peculiar soft, white stone, including much gypsum, and
resembling chalk, but really of a pumiceous nature. It is highly
remarkable, from being composed, to at least one-tenth part of its
bulk, of infusoria: Professor Ehrenberg has already ascertained in it
thirty oceanic forms. This bed extends for 500 miles along the coast,
and probably for a considerably greater distance. At Port St. Julian
its thickness is more than 800 feet! These white beds are everywhere
capped by a mass of gravel, forming probably one of the largest beds
of shingle in the world: it certainly extends from near the Rio
Colorado to between 600 and 700 nautical miles southward; at Santa
Cruz (a river a little south of St. Julian) it reaches to the foot of
the Cordillera; half-way up the river its thickness is more than 200
feet; it probably everywhere extends to this great chain, whence the
well-rounded pebbles of porphyry have been derived: we may consider
its average breadth as 200 miles, and its average thickness as about
50 feet. If this great bed of pebbles, without including the mud
necessarily derived from their attrition, was piled into a mound, it
would form a great mountain chain! When we consider that all these
pebbles, countless as the grains of sand in the desert, have been
derived from the slow-falling masses of rock on the old coast-lines
and banks of rivers, and that these fragments have been dashed into
smaller pieces, and that each of them has since been slowly rolled,
rounded, and far transported, the mind is stupefied in thinking over
the long, absolutely necessary lapse of years. Yet all this gravel has
been transported, and probably rounded, subsequently to the deposition
of the white beds, and long subsequently to the underlying beds with
their Tertiary shells." His observations upon the Cordillera are
equally noteworthy. He says:[5] "No one fact in the geology of South
America interested me more than these terraces of rudely stratified
shingle. They precisely resemble in composition the matter which the
torrents in each valley would deposit if they were checked in their
course by any cause, such as entering a lake or arm of the sea; but
the torrents, instead of depositing matter, are now steadily at work
wearing away both the solid rock and these alluvial deposits, along
the whole line of every main valley and side valley. It is impossible
here to give the reasons, but I am convinced that the shingle terraces
were accumulated during the gradual elevation of the Cordillera by the
torrents delivering, at successive levels, their detritus on the
beach-heads of long, narrow arms of the sea, first high up the
valleys, then lower and lower down as the land slowly rose. If this
be so, and I cannot doubt it, the grand and broken chain of the
Cordillera, instead of having been suddenly thrown up, as was till
lately the universal, and still is the common opinion of geologists,
has been slowly upheaved in mass, in the same gradual manner as the
coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific have risen within the recent
period. A multitude of facts in the structure of the Cordillera, on
this view, receive a simple explanation." His conclusion is: "Daily it
is forced home on the mind of the geologist that nothing, not even the
wind that blows, is so unstable as the level of the crust of this
earth."
[Illustration: LA VENTANA.]
The geological character of Argentina is tolerably uniform. The surface
is a coating of sandy soil, not usually more than 2 feet thick, which is
alluvial and, from a geological point of view, quite modern. In the
western districts it is usually bare of vegetation, but in the east it
is covered with green herbage more or less thick. Underneath this
superficial covering, however, lies the true geological formation, and
this consists of argillaceous earth or mud of a reddish colour and
interspersed with marly rock called by the inhabitants Tosca rock. It
extends to latitude 38° or thereabouts, and is the famous Pampean
formation, which Darwin calls Pampean mud. The thickness of this stratum
varies considerably; it may average about 40 feet, and geologically it
belongs to the Quaternary epoch, otherwise called Diluvian or
Post-Pliocene. Its most remarkable feature is the enormous number of
mammiferous remains which are to be found embedded in this Pampean mud,
and naturalists believe that it would be impossible to dig a deep trench
in any direction without disinterring some of these extinct giants.
Frequently perfect skeletons are discovered. These ossiferous remains
are richest in the province of Buenos Aires and become somewhat less
frequent in the north and west. Some observers have marvelled that such
huge creatures in such vast numbers were ever able to find nourishment,
but that question is not a serious difficulty, for the largest animals
are by no means the most voracious, and doubtless, like elephants of
to-day, their struggle for existence was not so much against hunger as
against the depredations of other animals or natural catastrophes. A
much greater puzzle is their disappearance. It has been suggested that
they were killed off by the Glacial cold, but it is not obvious, as has
been pointed out, why this visitation carried off the mastodons and
spared the parrots and hummingbirds. Another theory, put forward by a
savant named M. Bravard, opines that a vast simoon overwhelmed them, but
such a belief, inadequate and full of difficulties, is refuted by the
fact that most of the skeletons are mutilated. Had they been overwhelmed
by sand storms, they would have been preserved in almost perfect
condition. The notion of drought is also inadequate. Darwin remarks that
it is absurd to suppose that the most terrible calamity of this sort
could destroy every species from Patagonia to Behring Straits. It is
impossible to suppose that prehistoric man hunted down and slew these
great creatures. The simplest hypothesis and the one which surmounts the
greatest number of difficulties is that a mighty deluge overwhelmed man
and beast in common ruin. A great geologist[6] says: "I argue that this
destruction was caused by an invasion of the continent by water--a view
which is completely _en rapport_ with the facts presented by the great
Pampean deposit, which was clearly laid down by water. How otherwise can
we account for this complete destruction and the homogeneousness of the
Pampas deposits containing bones? I find an evident proof of this in
the immense number of bones and of entire animals whose numbers are
greatest at the outlets of the valleys, as Mr. Darwin shows. He found
the greatest number of the remains at Bahia Blanca, at Bajada, also on
the coast, and on the affluents of the Rio Negro, also at the outlet of
the valley. This proves that the animals were floated, and hence were
chiefly carried to the coast."
But D'Orbigny seems to have erred in attempting to push his theory too
far, for he insists that the great deluge not only destroyed the
mammoths but at the same time created the Pampean plain. Nothing,
however, can be more certain than that the lapse of countless ages was
necessary to accumulate "the dust of continents to be." It is
incredible that a great fragment of a continent was created _per
saltum_. Darwin believes (and, it appears, rightly), "that the Pampean
formation was slowly accumulated at the mouth of the former estuary of
the Plata and in the sea adjoining it."[7] As we shall see, when we
come to deal with Patagonia, the country was once a lake or sea, and
the water system of South America was very different from what it now
is, nor is there any difficulty in believing that the stupendous
volume of the Parana waters (then even mightier than now) was able to
wash down an accumulation of mud capable of making the sea into dry
land.
So much, then, for the Quaternary Pampean mud interlaced with the
bones of giant animals.
The Patagonian plain, however, is, in appearance at any rate, a
different and much older formation, namely the Tertiary, an extensive
gravel bed which possibly extends under the whole Quaternary deposit of
the Pampa. But exposures occur of both varieties of this formation,
_i.e._, the Patagonian and the Guaraman, in the banks of the Parana and
elsewhere. It is supposed to have been contributed chiefly by Glacial
action.
[Illustration: THE RIVER URUGUAY.]
The river system of Argentina, which is perhaps the most remarkable
physical feature of the country, next demands our attention. All the
Argentine rivers find their way into the Atlantic, but all are
insignificant compared with the marvellous confluence of mighty streams
in the Plate estuary. The Parana rises in far-away Brazilian mountains,
and is already a noble stream when it reaches the north-eastern confines
of Paraguay. Flowing southward it then, for more than 100 miles, serves
as the boundary between Paraguay and Brazil, and from the point where it
is joined by the Iguazu River it becomes an Argentine stream, and,
inclining more and more to the west, it is now the boundary between
Argentine and Paraguay. At Corrientes it unites with the Paraguay River
and flows almost due south, running into the Plate estuary at the same
point as the Uruguay. Few rivers can match the Parana in majesty; at
Rosario it is 20 miles wide, and would give the impression of the broad
sea were it not for the cluster of poplar-clad islands which intercept
the view. In thus tracing the course of the Parana we have mentioned
only a few of the innumerable streams of the system in which it takes
the most conspicuous part; the waters drain the south of Brazil, the
whole of Uruguay and Paraguay, the fertile districts of Argentina, and
even portions of Bolivia. The Parana--the Nile of the West--debouches
through fourteen channels; it has a drainage area of 1,198,000 square
miles, and the discharge of each twenty-four hours is sufficient to
create a lake a mile square and 1,650 feet deep.[8] Subordinate to
the Parana are several Argentine systems which deserve mention.
The provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios, called the Argentine
Mesopotamia, are drained by the Corrientes, the Saranai, and the
Gualeguay, which last falls eventually not into the Parana but the
Pavon, a curious channel which runs parallel with the lower course of
the great river for a considerable distance.
[Illustration: RIVER LANDING STAGE.]
The northernmost part of the country is drained by the Pilcomayo and
the Vermejo, which both fall into the Paraguay. The Vermejo has a
course of 1,300 miles. The Salado meanders through the Gran Chaco, and
is the only perennial river in that region. Owing to the western
dryness and the curious contour of the Gran Chaco and the Pampa, many
of the rivers are unable to make headway and find a channel to carry
them to the sea. Thus the Rio Dulce which, with innumerable small
tributaries, drains a large area round about Tucuman, ends in a morass
named Porongos, which is connected in flood-time with the great lake
of Mar Chiquita--Little Sea. In like manner the Mendoza river loses
itself in arid country.
Having dealt with the giant, we now turn to the pygmies; for pygmies
are the Patagonian and South Argentine streams in comparison with the
Parana of the upper region. The Colorado basin presents a very curious
phenomenon, in that it has lost the whole of its upper tributaries.
One of these is the aforesaid errant Mendoza, which, with the Salado
(the second river of that name) fail to reach the parent stream and
end in the Laguna Amarga, a group of salt lakes situated at no great
distance from the Rio Colorado. It is certain that, like Central Asia,
Patagonia has experienced an immense increase of aridity--probably in
comparatively recent times. The Colorado proper is perennial, and when
swollen by melting snows from the Andes it is as broad as the Thames
at London Bridge.
[Illustration: AMONG THE CACTUS.]
South of the Colorado we have the Rio Negro. It runs a solitary course
through the desert unaided by any tributaries. It is formed by two
other streams, the Neuquen and the Rio Limaz, which has its source in
the picturesque lake of Nahuelhuapi. Patagonia, it may be added, has
numerous lakes, some of great beauty. Other solitary streams, wholly
dependent upon the Andes, may be enumerated--the Chubut, the Desire, the
Chico, the Santa Cruz, and the Gallegos. On these rivers Burmeister[9]
confesses that his information is very imperfect. They are now somewhat
better known, but they are still difficult to explore. His remarks upon
the Rio de Santa Cruz, concerning which he had gathered more facts than
the others, may be given. He says: "Near the ocean it has a breadth of
from 5 to 10 English miles, and is bordered by terraces in flights which
rise on either side to a height of 500 feet. The surface of these
terraces is occupied by broad plains covered with dry pebbles, and among
them grow stunted plants and thorny bushes. It is a savage and gloomy
land. Further inland, near the source, basaltic rocks appear which
approach close to the river, and its bed is strewn with their fragments,
which are about the size of a man's head. Huge blocks of granite and
palæologic schists are met with only in the neighbourhood of the
Cordillera." Darwin made an adventurous voyage of 140 miles up this
river in 1834, and describes it with his accustomed acuteness and
accuracy.[10]
When we come to deal with Patagonia we shall have another opportunity
of reverting to its scanty and little-known river system.
The climate of Argentina varies greatly, as might be expected in a
country with a length of nearly 2,300 miles from north to south. In
the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, San Luis, Mendoza, parts of
Cordoba, and parts of one or two adjoining provinces, the climate is
temperate with mild winters and moderately hot summers, while in the
north the climate is hot and moist. Towards the south the cold becomes
more and more severe, and the winters last from May to the beginning
of October. Snow frequently falls. In Buenos Aires the spring begins
in September and lasts to mid-December, followed by summer, which
extends into March. Autumn lasts till the end of May, and winter
occupies the rest of the year. The following table will show that in
the city of Buenos Aires itself the extremes are not rigorous:--
At 2 p.m. At 9 p.m.
December 77·6 66·8
January 82·0 71·2
February 80·7 68·9
March 81·1 69·0
April 72·0 59·9
May 61·3 55·0
June 59·7 52·5
July 55·2 47·0
August 60·8 51·7
September 67·2 56·0
October 67·1 59·6
November 75·4 62·8
The annual rainfall is about 34 inches. But the above table gives only
the average temperature. The thermometer in Buenos Aires often rises
as high as 100, and in the early mornings of June and July sometimes
touches freezing-point. In Mendoza, Cordoba, and Tucuman, and many
other places, the mercury frequently falls below 32, while in
Patagonia the cold of winter is intense.
The following figures will give a rough idea of the general climate of
the Republic:--
Mean
Temperature. Maximum. Rainfall.
Ushwiya (Fuegia) 42 81 120 inches
Bahia Blanca 60 105 19 "
Buenos Aires 64 100 34 "
San Luis 61 103 24 "
Rosario 63 101 40 "
Mendoza 60 100 6 "
San Juan 65 108 3 "
Cordoba 61 111 26 "
La Rioja 67 109 12 "
Catamarca 69 109 10 "
Santiago del Estero 70 113 19 "
Tucuman 68 104 39 "
Salta 63 109 23 "
On the whole, the climate of Buenos Aires is good, and does not
interfere with the comfort or pursuits of a healthy and vigorous
man. Its worst feature is the _sonda_, or north wind, which blows
tempestuously chiefly in the winter, and causes rapid fluctuations in
the temperature. The winds from the north are always considered
unhealthy. In the summer the heat is greatly aggravated by the
_pamperos_--the strong winds from the south-west. But the general
climate of the country is dry and invigorating.
It will be noticed that the rainfall is scanty. Unfortunately, nearly
all the valuable parts of Argentina have barely sufficient rain, and
Mendoza is almost rainless. Irrigation, therefore, is largely used,
and when it is extended over the south many millions of additional
acres will be brought under the plough. Droughts are by far the most
formidable foe of the agriculturist. The _Gran Seco_ of 1827-1832,
during which period scarcely any rain fell in the Pampa, destroyed all
the vegetation down to the thistles, and caused enormous loss.[11] It
is feared that the dry area is extending; but it is fortunate that the
magnificent rivers of Argentina would suffice to irrigate every part
of the country, and even arid Patagonia has perennial streams. In
general, it may be said that the climate of Argentina is far from
disagreeable, and highly favourable to health and work.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] W. O. Campbell, "Through Patagonia," p. 6.
[4] "Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. viii.
[5] "Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. xv.
[6] D'Orbigny _apud_ Howorth, "The Mammoth and the Flood," p. 352.
[7] Darwin, "Geological Observations on South America," p. 99.
[8] It is estimated that during the floods the Parana rolls down
1,650,000 cubic feet per second, while the Uruguay volume amounts to
500,000.
[9] "Description Physique," i. 310-11.
[10] "We found the river course very tortuous, and strewed with
immense fragments of various ancient slaty rocks, and of granite. The
plain bordering the valley had here attained an elevation of about
eleven hundred feet above the river, and its character was much
altered. The well-rounded pebbles of porphyry were mingled with many
immense angular fragments of basalt and of primary rocks" ("Voyage of
the _Beagle_" chap. ix.).
[11] "Very great numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horses
perished from the want of food and water. A man told me that the deer
used to come into his courtyard to the well, which he had been obliged
to dig to supply his own family with water; and that the partridges
had hardly strength to fly away when pursued. The lowest estimation of
the loss of cattle in Buenos Ayres alone was taken at one million
head" (Darwin, "Voyage of the _Beagle_," chap. vii.).
CHAPTER II
EARLIEST HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY
Scanty beyond all belief is our information about the people of the
River Plate before the coming of the Spaniards. Mexico and Peru had
goodly hoards of gold and silver, and were therefore objects of eager
curiosity to the invaders whose chroniclers deigned to inquire into
the traditions and mythology of their subjects; but the Silvery
River--the Rio Plata--washed no treasure regions, and the settlements
in that part of the continent were despised and neglected. Accordingly
anthropologists have been obliged to work backwards; they can only
infer the character of the prehistoric races by examining their
descendants and such scanty traces as have survived from ancient days.
And they are able to glean very little.
The European belief[12] in a western land beyond the Pillars of
Hercules was deep-rooted in classical antiquity. Beginning with a
vague legend of a wonderful world in the west, it hardened into a
semi-scientific hypothesis. The pseudo-Aristotle[13] seems to have been
the first to treat this subject in a practical manner. He says: "Popular
speech divides our inhabited world into islands and continents, but it
ignores the fact that the whole is but a single island surrounded by the
sea named the Atlantic. It is probable that there are other lands far
away, some of which are larger, some smaller, than the world we know."
He conjectured that on the other side of the Atlantic there was a great
Terra Australis corresponding to Africa. Strabo opined that it would be
possible to make a westward voyage to India were it not for the immense
extent of the Atlantic, and if circumstances had been favourable there
would probably have been an early discovery of America. It is believed
that the Carthaginians visited Madeira and the Canaries. But the two
maritime nations, Greece and Carthage, fell before Rome, and the
triumphs of Rome were on land. Roman poets and panegyrists often
indulged in vague and magnificent predictions of nations both in the
remotest East and the remotest West who should come under the sway of
Rome, and Seneca's[14] language is particularly precise, but they found
the ocean an insuperable barrier. With the downfall of the Empire and
the influx of barbarians progress was checked, but it is certain that
about a thousand years after the birth of Christ some hardy Norsemen
reached Greenland, and it is even conjectured that they penetrated into
North America. Then, in the later Middle Ages, as the trading spirit
grew stronger and the demand for slaves increased, the Portuguese began
to make voyages down the African coast. But discovery became no longer a
mere profitable adventure, it was imperatively demanded as the salvation
of Christendom from ruin, when the Turks obtained possession of
Constantinople and the caravan routes. Unless the rich Indian trade
could be continued, two-thirds of the wealth of Europe would be
destroyed, and thus the work of discovery was stimulated. The Portuguese
found an easy route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope; but the
unsuccessful attempts to reach India by a western voyage brought even
more fruit, and at last the great island in the Atlantic was discovered.
Anthropologists have found much difficulty in determining the
origin of the various peoples who were found in the New World. The
supposition now is that the human race migrated into the continent
from Europe by way of Greenland and Labrador, and from Asia by way of
the Behring Straits, and proof is afforded by the discovery in the
Pampas of Argentina and many other places both of the long-headed
Afro-European and the round-headed Asiatic skull. The Europeans were
probably the first arrivals, and they appear early to have found their
way into Argentina, whither they were afterwards followed by the
Asiatics. It should be noticed that the whole primitive civilisation
of South America was concentrated into a comparatively narrow strip of
mountainous country between Chile and Colombia, but this imperfect
civilisation probably came into existence in quite recent times.
The Spaniards themselves, doubtless relying on native, traditions,
believed that the establishment of the Inca dominion was an event of
no great antiquity.[15] But it appears certain that this itself was
preceded by a civilisation of "white and bearded men" round about Lake
Titicaca, and Prescott declines to hazard a conjecture as to the
antiquity of South American civilisation. The long-headed race (its
origin is uncertain) kept to the east, the round-headed (usually held
to be Mongolian) kept to the west, and they met in Patagonia. However,
some savants consider that all the American races are veritable
aborigines and have no Asiatic or European origin, and although this
theory seems hardly borne out by the little evidence we possess, there
is no reason to question the belief of Ehrenreich and many others
that the South American Indians have been so long isolated that they
form a distinct type.
Evidence as to the date of their migration or the length of time they
may have been settled in Argentina we have none, but there is a theory
of considerable plausibility to the effect that there was a break in
the continuity of the human race in South America. It has already been
shown that the bones of huge extinct animals appear very frequently in
Argentina; indeed, as Darwin remarks, "the whole area of the Pampas is
one wide sepulchre for these extinct animals." Now, mingled with them
have often been found human bones and the tools and weapons of man in
his pleistocene stage. Near Buenos Aires,[16] for example, a discovery
was made of bones of the mastodon, machairodus, and other extinct
animals, and together with them were mingled human bones and tools in
stone and bone. These facts help to strengthen the hypothesis that
at a remote period of antiquity there occurred some gigantic natural
cataclysm which swept away alike man and the vast animals with which
he lived in these regions. Little as we know about the origin of
South American man we can, of course, classify the races which are
known to exist in South America or which existed when the Spaniards
appeared.[17] The aborigines may be divided into three great
races--the Ando-Peruvian, the Pampean, and the Brasilio-Guaranian.
The Ando-Peruvian has three branches, known as the Peruvian proper,
the Antisian, and the Araucanian. The Pampean likewise has three
branches--the Pampean proper, the Chiquitean, the Moxean; while the
Brasilio-Guaranian has no ramifications. The Peruvians, who do not
concern us here, include, of course, the whole of the Inca race. The
Antisians are so called because they lived in the mountains east of
Cuzco, which the Incas called Antis (hence Andes), and they now
inhabit the hot and moist forest-lands of Bolivia and Peru. They
are, and always have been, savages, with clear olive complexions and
slight, somewhat effeminate figures. The Tacana is their most
important tribe. The Araucanians (who include the Fuegians) are more
important for our purpose, and are a very hardy race, who fought for
hundreds of years on equal terms with the Spaniards and were finally
subdued rather by the subtle blight of civilisation than by arms. A
Frenchman[18] who visited the River Plate in the middle of the
eighteenth century describes them in the following terms: "The Indians
who inhabit this part of America, north and south of the river de la
Plata, are of that race called by the Spaniards Indios bravos. They
are middle-sized, very ugly, and afflicted with the itch. They are of
a deep tawny colour, which they blacken still more by continually
rubbing themselves with grease. They have no other dress than a great
cloak of roe-deer skins hanging down to their heels, in which they
wrap themselves up. These skins are very well dressed; they turn the
hairy side inwards and paint the outside with various colours. The
distinguishing mark of their cacique is a band or strap of leather,
which is tied round his forehead; it is formed into a diadem or crown and
adorned with plates of copper. Their arms are bows and arrows; and they
likewise make use of nooses and of balls.... Sometimes they come in
bodies of two or three hundred men, to carry off the cattle from the
lands of the Spaniards or to attack the caravans of the travellers.
They plunder and murder or carry them into slavery. This evil cannot be
remedied; for how is it possible to conquer a nomadic nation in an
immense uncultivated country, where it would be difficult even to find
them? Besides, these Indians are brave and inured to hardships, and
those times exist no longer when one Spaniard could put a thousand
Indians to flight." D'Orbigny says that in character and religion the
Araucanians have strong affinities to the Patagonians and Puelches, but
physically they are very different, and they undoubtedly belong to the
Peruvian or mountain race.
The Pampean race spread over the whole of modern Argentina and beyond.
They include the Patagonians and Puelches of the south and many
tribes, such as the Charruas, in the river regions of the north. These
all belong to the branch of the Pampean proper.
The Chiquitean branch is of less importance, comprising the foreign
Indians of Paraguay--the unfortunate people who were so cruelly
harried by the Paulistas in the seventeenth century. The Moxeans are
an interesting branch, but they do not properly belong to our subject,
for they inhabit the unexplored forest tracts on the confines of Peru,
Bolivia, and Brazil.
The Brasilio-Guaranian race is very extensive, spreading from the
north of Argentina over the whole of Brazil. They are a rude race,
civilised by the Jesuits, but probably the paternal form of government
was the highest to which they were adapted, and when their protectors
departed they retrograded. Their physical characteristics are
described as follows:[19] "The traits of the Guaranies can be
distinguished at the first glance from those of the Pampean tribes;
their head is round and not compressed sideways, nor does their
forehead recede; it is, on the contrary, high, and its flatness in
some of the tribes is due to artificial causes. Their face is almost
circular, the nose short and rather large with nostrils far less open
than those of the plain races. Their mouth is of moderate size, but
slightly projecting; their lips are somewhat thin, their eyes small
and expressive, ... their chin is round, very short, and it never
advances as far as the line of the mouth; their cheekbones are not
prominent in their youth, but in later life they project somewhat;
their eyebrows are well arched and very narrow. Their hair is long,
straight, coarse, and black, and their beard, among the tribes of
Paraguay and the Missions, is reduced merely to a few short bristles,
straight and scanty, growing on the chin and upper lip." The Guaranies
were more important in the earlier days when both their subjection and
protection were grave problems. Those who still live in their original
state are to be found in the primitive forests of the north, where it
is difficult to disturb them.
The religion of these rude tribes was tolerably uniform and, as might
have been expected, was on a much lower grade than that of the Incas,
who worshipped the invisible God Pachacamac, the creator of all
things. In general they believed in Quecubu, an evil spirit, but (what
is curious) they did not think it necessary to propitiate him in any
way, nor, again, did they worship or supplicate the Creator of the
world in which they had a shadowy belief. They believed that man was
perfectly free in his actions and that neither good deeds nor evil
deeds would affect the action either of the Creator or the evil
spirit. This Epicurean apathy was tempered by a belief in a future
life--the translation to a paradise of delight beyond the seas. Such
ritual and religious observances as they had appear to have centred
in their medicine-men, who interpreted dreams and omens and the like.
If we consider their extreme barbarism, we may judge that their
religion was singularly free from the taint of cruel rites and gross
superstitions, but it seems to have been weak and cold. The majority
of the tribes, even the most savage, have now nominally embraced
Christianity.
It is thus possible to form some idea of the condition of the
aborigines at the time of the appearance of the Spaniards, but to
obtain any knowledge of the events in South America during the
centuries immediately preceding that event is a flat impossibility,
and it is probably safe to say that the veil will never be uplifted,
for the relics we have are of prehistoric not of modern man. Nor, in all
probability, do we lose much by our ignorance, for judging by the actual
state of the inhabitants of the extra-Andine regions of South America,
when the Spaniards found them, we may repeat the disparaging verdict of
Thucydides upon ancient Greece--that looking back as far as we can we
are inclined to believe that the ancients were not distinguished, either
in war or in anything else.
The history of Argentina may be held to begin with the advent of the
Spaniards.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] For much of the matter in this chapter I am indebted to the late
E. J. Payne's valuable "History of the New World called America."
[13] In "De Mundo."
[14]
"Venient annis saecula seris
Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum
Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus,
Tiphys que novos detegat orbes,
Nec sit terris ultima Thule."
("Medea," ii. 373.)
[15] "Some writers carry back the date five hundred, or even five
hundred and fifty, years before the Spanish invasion.... In the Report
of the Royal Audience of Peru, the epoch is more modestly fixed at two
hundred years before the Conquest" (Prescott, "Conquest of Peru," p.
5, _note_).
[16] See Sir H. H. Howorth, "The Mammoth and the Flood," chap. xii.
[17] See D'Orbigny, "L'Homme Américain," _passim_.
[18] De Bougainville, "A Voyage Round the World," pp. 24-5.
[19] D'Orbigny, ii. 295-7.
CHAPTER III
THE EUROPEAN CONQUEST
Compared with Mexico and Peru the southern portions of the New World
at first excited little interest, because they produced neither gold
nor silver. Yet even here the discoverer was very early at work, and
achievements less showy but on an almost equally grand scale have to
be recorded. In 1515 Juan Diaz de Solis was sent out on a voyage of
discovery by the King of Castile, who wished to counteract Portuguese
influence on the east coast of South America, and Solis was the first
European to sail up the River Plate, which he named after himself. But
he trusted to the natives, who proved treacherous. They invited him to
land, and when he had accepted their invitation they attacked and
killed him and every man in the boat-crew, and afterwards roasted and
devoured them in the sight of their companions. It was long before the
Spaniards touched on that coast again, and the name of Solis had no
permanence in the land which he discovered.
Some ten years later a more fortunate expedition was made by the
Englishman Cabot. In the service of the King of Spain he left Seville
with four ships, intending to make a search for the islands of Tarsis,
Ophir, and Eastern Cathay by the newly discovered Straits of Magellan.
The little fleet touched at Pernambuco and remained there for three
months. The Spaniards still appear to have had a design to check the
Portuguese in Brazil, but Cabot evidently found them too strong in
that quarter, so, says Purchas,[20] "he thought good to busy himself
in something that might be profitable; and entered the year 29
discovering the River of Plate, where he was almost three years; and
not being seconded, with relation of that which he had found, returned
to Castile, having gone many leagues up the River. He found plate or
silver among the Indians of those countries, for in the wars which
these Indians had with those of the kingdoms of Peru they took it, and
from it is called the River of Plate, of which the country hath taken
the name."
Here Purchas makes two mistakes. The discovery was not made in 1529,
but several years earlier, and the river derived its name not from any
metallic booty but from its silvery colour. Cabot went some distance
up the Paraguay River, where he met with many adventures and lost
many of his followers, and he made a serious endeavour to lay the
foundations of Spanish power in Argentina, but the natives were
unfriendly and he found the enterprise too formidable for his limited
means. It is not surprising that he failed to secure the goodwill of
the Indians. Cabot was a skilful and daring navigator and less
ruthless than most of the Spanish adventurers, but he was rough in his
methods and tainted by the prevailing inhumanity of the time. At San
Vincente, for example, he bought fifty or sixty slaves of both sexes
for the benefit of his partners in Seville. He had, in fact, disobeyed
his instructions, which were to make for the Pacific, and when he
returned to Seville in 1530 he was at once prosecuted and punished on
various charges, though his disgrace was but temporary. His expedition
has merely a geographical importance.
Charles V. had too many anxious concerns in Europe to take an active
part in organising expeditions to the New World, and he found it
convenient to commit the task to wealthy nobles. Pedro de Mendoza had
enriched himself at the sack of Rome and had dreams of still greater
wealth. Accordingly he obtained a grant of the whole country from the
River Plate to the Straits of Magellan, with a salary of 2,000 ducats
a year as Governor, a similar sum as an official allowance, and
valuable privileges as to ransom and booty. In return, he engaged to
take out an adequate force and to open up a land route from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. In August, 1534, he set sail from Cadiz with
eleven ships and 800 men. This was the largest expedition which had
ever sailed from Europe to the New World. Mendoza seems to have been
an enterprising leader, but his lack of experience brought many
unnecessary hardships upon his followers. The fleet entered the River
Plate in January, 1535, and Mendoza landed on the right bank and
founded the city of Buenos Aires, "so named in regard of the freshness
of the air, and the healthfulness of his men, during their abode
there."[21] The Adelantado, or Governor, was eager to push up the
great rivers and discover a land fabulously rich in gold, such as was
then enriching many of his more fortunate countrymen. But still the
difficulties were insuperable; the Indians were implacably hostile and
cut off all foraging parties; the Spaniards had come with inadequate
provisions and were frequently in danger of starvation. Many died of
their privations, and the site of Buenos Aires was abandoned within a
year of its foundation. Mendoza's lieutenants made many adventurous
expeditions up the vast waterways and the ill-fated Azolas founded
Asuncion in 1536.[22] But their deeds belong more to the history of
Spanish conquest than to Argentina proper. The estuary of the Plate
was subject to sudden storms, and Mendoza, having lost eight ships and
being thoroughly wearied by his misfortunes, decided to return home.
On the voyage he fell ill and died, and of his large force not more
than one hundred and fifty survived their privations and dangers. A
highly interesting and important matter should here be mentioned. The
Spaniards brought only thirty mares and seven stallions for breeding
purposes, but a Portuguese mariner states thirty years later the
country near the coast was full of horses.
[Illustration: TROOP OF MARES.]
As successor to Mendoza the Spanish Government appointed Cabeza de
Vaca, an experienced adventurer, who sailed from Spain in 1540 with
four hundred men. He landed at Santa Catherina in Brazil, and thence
made a most adventurous march to Asuncion. He set out on October 18,
1541, and did not arrive till March 11, 1542, after suffering
extraordinary hardships. At Asuncion he found that the Spanish
settlers had chosen Domingo Irala as their chief. The two rivals,
however, had enough work for both, and Cabeza de Vaca sailed down to
the River Plate where the Spaniards had practically abandoned their
settlements, and the few survivors were in great danger of destruction
by the Indians. He refounded Buenos Aires towards the end of 1542; but
the time was not yet ripe for the planting of colonies, and not many
months later the city was abandoned for the second time. Nor was
Cabeza de Vaca fortunate in his undertakings in Paraguay. His attempts
to reform abuses made him unpopular with the settlers, who preferred
Irala, and in 1544 Cabeza de Vaca was seized and sent a prisoner to
Spain where, after the law's long delays, he was acquitted, but never
compensated.
Irala, who was an able and daring leader, contrived to maintain his
authority till his death, which occurred in 1557, and credit is due to
him for keeping the Spanish flag flying in the isolated post of
Asuncion, which was rapidly growing in importance, and in 1547 was
made the seat of a Bishop by Pope Paul III. All this time, however, it
should be remembered that we are dealing rather with the history of
what is now Paraguay than Argentina, for the southern settlements on
the River Plate were once more in the hands of the Indians. It was at
this time that another important town was established in territory
which now belongs to Argentina. Peru had been conquered by Pizarro,
parts of Chile by Almagro, and in 1559 Hurtado de Mendoza passed over
the Andes from the west and founded the pleasant city which bears his
name. This work of building cities on the eastern side of the Andes
was carried on by other Spaniards from Peru, and they founded Tucuman
in 1565 and Cordoba in 1573.
In the meantime the Guaranies of Paraguay steadily resisted every
advance of the Spaniards, but in 1560 they were defeated in a
great battle at Acari, and the Spaniards began to push southwards
with the determination of again colonising the Parana country--a
step, indeed, which was almost essential to their safety, since it
would secure their communication with the Atlantic. The necessary
exploit was achieved by a man who deserves an honoured place among
Spanish-American worthies--Juan de Garay.[23] He advanced slowly
towards the south from Asuncion, and in 1573 founded Santa Fé at the
junction of the Parana and the Paraguay. In 1580 he took the still
more important step of re-establishing Buenos Aires for the third
time. With a true statesman's instinct he recognised that a mere
military post would not be sufficient for the security of the rapidly
growing colonies, and he took with him, besides Creoles and Spaniards,
two hundred Indian settlers, and he laid out a town on a considerable
scale, while farms and ranches were established in the neighbourhood.
There was sharp fighting with the Indians, and Garay was unfortunately
killed in a skirmish, but his work remained behind him. "The city,"
says Southey,[24] "immediately began to prosper, and the ship which
sailed for Castile with tidings of its refoundation, took home a cargo
of sugar, and the first hides with which Europe was supplied from the
wild cattle which now began to over-spread the open country, and soon
produced a total change in the manners of all the adjoining tribes."
In 1588 Corrientes had been founded, and the people began to acquire
pastoral wealth, although the advantages which they drew from the
rapidly increasing herds of horses and cattle were seriously discounted
by the exactions and restrictions of officials. It was a piece of great
good fortune for both settlers and Indians that neither gold nor silver
was to be found in the River Plate country, and thus European marauders,
whether Spanish or English, were without one great temptation to harry
them. The next generation was one of steady progress, and by the year
1620 the city of Buenos Aires contained three thousand inhabitants. The
indefatigable Jesuits established themselves in the country in 1590, and
though their history properly belongs to Paraguay, they did much good in
Argentina by protecting the Indians and spreading civilisation.
In 1620 a step of extreme importance was taken. The office of
Adelantado, or Governor, was abolished, and the River Plate country
was formed into two separate provinces. Thus we get a rough beginning
of Argentina, which now consisted of Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Entre
Rios, Corrientes, and the tract now called Uruguay. This last,
however, was still uninhabited. Buenos Aires became the seat of
a bishop. But the whole of the settlements remained under the
Viceroyalty of Peru.
More important than any measure of partition was the personality of
Hernan Darias de Saavedra, the ruler at that time. Of pure Spanish
blood, he was born in South America in 1561, early distinguished
himself in wars with the Indians, and took as his model the able
Garay. In 1602 he was appointed to act as Governor of Buenos Aires,
and during his term of authority, which did not really end when a new
Spanish Governor was placed over his head, he distinguished himself at
once by his severity to refractory Indians and his energetic measures
to protect those who followed peaceful pursuits. In 1615 he became
substantive Governor, and it was by his advice that the division of
1620 was made.
His whole heart was in the peaceful development of the country; he
encouraged the Jesuits to teach industries to the natives and to
settle virgin tracts, and at the same time he set his face against all
forms of slavery. Few Spanish Americans have exercised more beneficent
rule, and he was the founder of Argentine prosperity--a tradition
which the country never wholly lost in the worst days, and which in
recent times it has renewed in a wonderful manner. Not long after the
partition this noble-minded statesman died, full, as the historian
says, of glory and virtues. Funes[25] remarks: "From tender years he
performed military service, earning fame for valour. His valour was
rendered the more illustrious by that consummate prudence which in war
gives glory to warriors. He distinguished himself by his ability both
in the arts of peace and war. He was a staunch protector of the
Indians and, in fine, being one of the heroes to whom the New World
has given birth, he deserved to have his portrait placed in the
Chamber of Commerce in Cadiz. We regret that time has destroyed the
records which might have enabled us to draw a more accurate likeness."
With his death it may be said that the history of Argentina as a
Spanish colony has fairly begun. It is true that the Governorship of
Buenos Aires was both smaller and larger than the present Argentine
Republic--larger as comprising Uruguay, and considerably smaller in
the absence of Patagonia and much other territory. In fact, there were
three Governorships--Buenos Aires, Paraguay, and Tucuman--and these
were looked upon as a single colony, although each one was an
administrative entity, dependent upon the Crown and independent of its
neighbours. Our narrative will necessarily ignore the interesting
history of Paraguay and embrace the other two provinces. The above
narrative has few of the exciting episodes which marked the history of
the conquest of Mexico or Peru, but the history, though less dazzling,
is less sullied by crimes, and the two figures of Garay and Hernan
Darias afford examples of disinterested toil for the common welfare
which in that age was rare indeed except among a small proportion of
the clergy. And as the earlier years of Argentina were less turbulent,
so have the latter years been more blessed with prosperity than has
been the case with other South American States.
The colonisation of South America proceeded upon lines very different
from those pursued in the northern continent. The latter was the
objective of men who belonged, for the most part, to the Anglo-Saxon
race, and who came not for adventure or any kind of gain, but to
escape from uncongenial institutions and live their own life. As far
as possible they avoided contact with the natives, and neither
desired, nor, in fact, maintained, intimate relations with the mother
country. But in spite of the circumstances of their exile, they
carried with them most of the institutions of their own land, and
continued to develop on the lines of their brothers on the other side of
the Atlantic. The Spaniards did not, indeed, treat the natives in South
America with humanity; on the contrary, in the mining regions their
cruelty was notorious, and they were frequently at war with the old
inhabitants. But in Argentina and many other places they showed no
disinclination to intermarry; they made, as we have seen, systematic
settlements of Indians, which assumed that the conquered race was an
integral part of their own body politic, and in some respects their
policy was statesmanlike and even humane according to the standards of
the time. The result was a fusion of races, and the various nations
which sprang up were as much Indian as Spanish. How the Argentine nation
was evolved it will be the business of the succeeding historical
chapters to show, as it will be that of the remainder of this volume to
display the country and the people as they actually are after four
centuries of growth.
FOOTNOTES:
[20] Purchas, "His Pilgrimage," xiv. 546.
[21] R. Hakluyt, Extra Series, xi. 252.
[22] Or 1537 or 1538, according to various authorities.
[23] "A man of indefatigable courage and a rare prudence, he joined
with these qualities the experience of serving in many glorious
campaigns" (Funes, i. 287).
[24] "History of Brazil," i. 349.
[25] "Ensayo de la Historia Civil," p. 318.
CHAPTER IV
THE SPANISH DOMINION
The subsequent history of Argentina during the Spanish dominion does
not present much incident, and indeed it is not an uncommon practice
for historians of Latin-American countries to make a single leap from
the Conquest to the Revolution. But to the real student of history
there is much that is of interest in the record of the attempt of
Spain to govern a mighty empire and the rapid decay of her power. In
the next chapter the Spanish colonial system will be examined; in the
present it will be observed in operation. Much will be said about the
illiberal restrictions which here receive only incidental notice, but
however short-sighted they may have been, at least they could not
prevent Argentina from thriving. A considerable trade sprang up
between Cordoba and the Andine territories now known as Chile and
Bolivia; nor was it only in material well-being that progress was
made. At Cordoba, also, a university was founded in 1613, and the town
became a seat of learning and a centre of Jesuit influence. For some
years peace reigned, but in the second quarter of the seventeenth
century it received two serious disturbances. The first was a
dangerous Indian war with the powerful nation of the Calchaquies.
This people had lived from time immemorial in the valleys of Rioja and
Catamarca, and had been under the suzerainty of the Incas. As the
Spaniards around the River Plate became more powerful they made
aggressions upon the Calchaquies, and by the end of the sixteenth
century had partly subdued them. Many of these Indians were sold into
slavery, and many more were forced to settle about Santa Fé and
Rosario, but the spirit of the remainder was still unsubdued, and they
awaited an opportunity of recovering their independence. It was about
the middle of the century that they made their expiring effort. A
leader named Bohorquez came forward and claimed to be the descendant
and heir of the Inca kings. He is said to have been a mere impostor
of humble Andalusian origin, but it is seldom easy to find out the
exact truth about pretenders. Funes doubts whether he was in his right
mind. "But the light of reason appeared when he took his first steps
in deceit, an art to which he was naturally inclined."[26] He and his
wife were greeted with the honours due to the Inca kings, the revolt
spread, and he caused the Spaniards endless trouble. The Calchaquies,
whom he claimed to represent, were a hardy race, and down to modern
times have shown good fighting qualities, and they were inflamed by
resentment against the intruding Spaniards, who had undoubtedly
oppressed them. Bohorquez first came forward in 1656, and though he
appears to have possessed nothing better than the showy qualities of a
bold charlatan, he brought about a dangerous war. Don Alonso Mercado,
who had been appointed Governor of Tucuman the year before, was
obstinate and overbearing, and, strangely enough, began by patronising
and encouraging the impostor. The Jesuits, who were always anxious to
redress Indian grievances, also supported him, and the revolt assumed
such serious proportions that the Governor soon had to abandon his
former attitude and took up arms against him. The Indians, who, with
simple credulity, accepted all the claims of Bohorquez, made a long
and heroic resistance, but the Spanish power was too great. The
pretender was defeated, and the Spaniards, aware that there could be
no safety for the northern provinces as long as Bohorquez was alive,
spared no effort to track him down, and were eventually successful.
Bohorquez was taken to Lima and put to death, and the Calchaquies were
placed under a military Deputy-Governor, who was subordinate to
Tucuman. Their martial spirit, however, did not die out, and in the
nineteenth century they proved themselves one of the most spirited of
the warlike races of South America.
The other trouble of the seventeenth century was more serious and
involved more bloodshed. We have seen that there was considerable
jealousy between the Spanish and Portuguese in South America. In 1580
Portugal had been united to Spain, but this change did not make the
relations any more harmonious, for there was a standing cause of
quarrel between the two nations. The Portuguese had founded in the
temperate Brazilian uplands the city of São Paulo, and the inhabitants
known as Paulistas, were a turbulent people and had an intense hatred
of the Jesuits. The Jesuits, supported by the Spanish Government,
protected the Indians and devoted themselves to their general welfare,
but the chief business of the Paulistas was to capture Indians and
sell them into slavery. They looked with covetous eyes upon the
Reductions, as the Jesuit settlements were called, for here was the
raw material of their industry in the shape of hundreds of thousands
of submissive Indians. Accordingly, in 1629 they picked a quarrel with
the Jesuits and attacked the Reduction of San Antonio, where they
committed great ravages, killing and capturing multitudes of the
helpless Indians. The Jesuits, who were not loved by the Governor of
Paraguay, were compelled to evacuate Guayra and the scope of their
benevolent labours was largely curtailed. This cruel and devastating
war continued for many years and caused widespread ruin and loss of
life until, in 1638, the Jesuits appealed to the Court of Spain,
requesting that their wrongs might be redressed and that they might
arm their helpless converts against the oppressor. The appeal was
successful. "The King," says Southey,[27] "confirmed all the former
laws in favour of the Indians: he declared the conduct of the
Paulistas, who had carried away more than thirty thousand slaves from
Guayra, and had begun the same work of devastation in the Tapé and on
the Uruguay, to be contrary to all laws, human and divine, and
cognisable by the Holy Office. The enslaved Indians were ordered to be
set at liberty, and directions given to punish those who should commit
these crimes in future, as guilty of high treason. A more important
edict, because more easily carried into effect, provided that all
Indians converted by the Jesuits in the province of Guayra, Tapé,
Parana, and Uruguay, should be considered as immediate vassals of the
Crown, and not on any pretext consigned to any person for personal
service. Their tribute was fixed, but not to commence till the year
1649, by which time, it was presumed, they might be capable of
discharging it. And the King not only granted permission to the
Jesuits to arm their converts, but sent out positive orders to the
Governors of Paraguay and the Plata to exert themselves for the
protection of the Reductions." But in 1640 Portugal regained her
independence and the marauding Paulistas left a lasting mark on the
map of South America. Undoubtedly but for their incursions the whole
valley of the Parana would have been Spanish instead of Portuguese,
but, as it was, the Spaniards had to retire behind the river Iguazu.
Emboldened by this success, the Portuguese ever kept in view the
design of extending their dominions still further southward. In 1680
the Governor of Rio de Janeiro sent an expedition by sea and built a
fort, which he named Nova Colonia, opposite the city of Buenos Aires.
Thus the disputed territory of Uruguay was for the first time
occupied by Europeans. The establishment of this hostile post caused
great annoyance to the Governor of Buenos Aires, and he succeeded in
capturing it upon several occasions, but the Home Government, in view
of European politics, had no wish to offend Portugal, nor did it
consider that the possession of almost uninhabited tracts was worth
the risk of complications. It thus happened that Nova Colonia was
always restored to the Portuguese eventually. It became a most
prosperous port, for it was the seat of the contraband trade, and by
its means the Argentines were able to export hides to Brazil.
Doubtless it was beneficial to them, however much it may have
interfered with the illicit gains of Spanish Governors. It remained in
the possession of the Portuguese until 1777.
The contraband trade was indeed the chief feature of the domestic
history of Argentina in the sixteenth century, and its tendency was to
raise important international questions. The fight against the Spanish
monopoly became every year keener as the various countries of Europe
became more settled and secure and began to devote their energies to
trade. In 1616 the monopoly received a heavy blow by the discovery of
a way into the Pacific without passing through the guarded Straits of
Magellan. This was made by the Dutchman, Schouten,[28] who named Cape
Horn after Hoorn, his birthplace. Immediately numerous Dutch and
English ships took advantage of the new route and a great trade sprang
up. As we have seen, the Governors of Buenos Aires played a prominent
part in this trade, and no earthly power was able to prevent the
economic law from taking effect. The case of Villacorta, a Governor
who was discovered to have sent away three million dollars' worth of
prohibited goods to Flanders, illustrates the helplessness of the
artificial law. He was dismissed at the moment, but not long after he
reappears as Governor of Tucuman. But, however illegally, trade went
on and Argentina flourished. A traveller[29] who visited Buenos Aires
in 1769 says that its chief trade was with Chile and Peru, and that it
sent to them "cotton, mules, some skins, and about 400,000 Spanish
pounds' weight of the Paraguay herb, or South Sea tea, every year." In
fact Argentina, like the other Spanish colonies, advanced steadily in
wealth and population during the eighteenth century, until progress
was abruptly checked by the Revolution. But her history from the
founding of Nova Colonia to the appearance of the English before
Buenos Aires is remarkably barren in incident.
It was, of course, the fate of colonies to be pawns in the wars
between powerful European States. Spain was a principal in the great war
of the Spanish Succession, which was ended in 1713 by the Peace of
Utrecht. Two of the articles were of importance to the Spanish
possessions. By the _Asiento de Negros_ England obtained the right to
send yearly to the Spanish colonies twelve hundred negro slaves, and
Buenos Aires was named as one of the establishments for that traffic,
while by the _Navio de Permiso_ she was permitted to send out yearly to
the South Seas a ship with 650 tons of merchandise. These concessions,
of course, greatly stimulated the contraband trade, for the colonists
were as eager to buy as the English merchants were to sell, nor had the
Spanish officials the will or the power to prevent many interlopers
following in the wake of the privileged ships. Parish[30] remarks that
it was "a trade which supplied the most pressing wants of the colony,
and the profits of which were shared by the native capitalists. If they
(the officials) did occasionally make a show of exercising their right
to visit the ships, it was an empty threat, little heeded by men who
were looked upon with almost as much dread as the buccaneers who had so
long been the terror of all that part of the world."
Under the Bourbons and under the skilful administration of Alberoni,
the fortune of Spain revived, and the colonies benefited in a
corresponding degree.
In 1726 the Spaniards seized and fortified Montevideo which had been
founded by the Portuguese a few years previously; this was an
important step, for it declared that, in spite of Nova Colonia, the
territory now known as Uruguay should be Spanish. The new town rapidly
became wealthy and second only to Buenos Aires.
There can be little doubt that historians have considerably exaggerated
the weakness and decay of Spain during the eighteenth century. Her
comparative strength is proved by the fact that she maintained her trade
regulations which were only contravened surreptitiously. The attempt of
England to overthrow them by force shows how great was the resistive
power of this unenterprising but still formidable empire. The War of
Jenkins's Ear may be considered as a rehearsal of the struggle for the
New World which occupied a great part of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, and which is still unfinished.
Therefore, although the war is in itself trivial and ineffective, its
purport is not so; it was the battle of the new spirit against the
old, of the trader against the official, of the active against the
passive. If here and elsewhere the latter had conquered, we might
have had, in place of our modern hives of industry, vast thinly
populated regions dotted with little, self-sufficient villages, which
possibly were destined to be overrun by a more restless and energetic
yellow race.[31]
Undoubtedly the English had not a shadow of right on their side; they
were encouraging the breaking of treaties and flagrant political
dishonesty. But under the brutal economic codes of the time there was
no law but the law of the stronger; England might take if she had the
power and Spain might keep if she could. The turbulent English mobs,
clamouring for war, were shrewder than Walpole, shrewder than Burke,
for they knew that to an island and trading people outlets for their
commerce were matters of sheer necessity.
The Spaniards strongly disliked the Asiento Treaty, and, as is well
known, English merchants, under cover of the privilege, carried on
extensive smuggling operations against which the Spanish _guarda
costas_ retaliated vigorously. It was in 1731 that they perpetrated
upon Captain Jenkins the outrage which was to make so great a stir
some years later. It may be added that Jenkins did really lose his ear
on the high seas, and that the insinuations that the whole affair was
a fabrication are themselves quite without foundation.[32] However,
not for nearly seven years was there any attempt to make political
capital out of it, although the smuggling question remained a constant
source of irritation between the two countries. It was at the
beginning of 1738 that circumstances were favourable for an outbreak,
for a powerful opposition was longing to bring about the fall of
Walpole, and his position was weakened by the death of Queen Caroline.
No weapon could be more effectual than the accusation of being
insensible to the claims of national honour and of tamely suffering
insults from Spain. On March 30th Carteret, in the House of Commons,
carried an address against the right of search, and Walpole, who was
anxious on all grounds to settle the matter, expedited the negotiations
which had been for some time proceeding with Spain on the subject of
compensation. In January, 1739, the terms of the agreement were
published to the following effect. The Spaniards were willing that
damages against themselves should be assessed to the amount of £200,000,
but, on the other hand, the English Government acknowledged a
counterclaim of £60,000, on account of the destruction of the Spanish
fleet by Byng in 1718. With this and other possible deductions and
abatements, the compensation seemed rather meagre, and the whole
question of right of search being left to a Commission's decision, there
was nothing in the findings that could be agreeable to Englishmen. A
storm at once rose. The Prince of Wales voted against the Government.
Young Pitt thundered against Walpole. The Prime Minister had to give
way. His colleagues were in favour of war, and, as often happened in
such struggles, Admiral Vernon was despatched, long before a declaration
of war, "to destroy the Spanish settlements and to distress their
shipping." The national feeling continued to rise, and great were the
manifestations of popular joy on the occasion of the formal declaration
of war on October 23rd. "They now ring the bells," said Walpole, "they
will soon ring their hands."
Meanwhile Vernon, though his force was small, lost no time, and having
appeared off Porto Bello with six ships on November 20th, he captured
it the next day, and the news of this success (which did not reach
London till March, 1740), was received with extravagant demonstrations
of rejoicing. In the spring Vernon was menacing Cartagena, and on March
24, 1740, captured Chagre. The home authorities appear to have been
extremely dilatory, for it took them a whole year to send effectual
reinforcements, and then their value was seriously discounted by the
fact that General Wentworth had succeeded to the command of the land
forces. This officer was thoroughly incompetent, and no exhortations of
Vernon could rouse him to energy, and owing to his mismanagement the
assault upon Cartagena of April 9th was a complete failure. The armament
departed about a week later, having lost at least eight thousand men,
and in July an attempt upon Santiago in Cuba failed likewise, owing to
Wentworth's incompetence. Little more of note occurred on that side, and
it is here proper to mention that Vernon was in nowise to blame for the
unfortunate results, and that, with an efficient colleague, there seems
no reason to doubt that he would have made a great name for himself in
the annals of the British Navy. Nor should Smollett, because he happens
to be a famous novelist, be accepted as a judge of the strategy of the
expedition. He had, in fact, infinitely less materials for forming a
judgment than a private at Waterloo had for criticising Wellington's
dispositions.
The haphazard general management is well illustrated by the only
brilliant achievement of the war--the Anson circumnavigation. Anson,
with six ships manned by Chelsea pensioners and raw recruits, was
ordered to the Pacific, and set sail on September 18, 1740. Although
his little squadron dwindled to three, he rounded the Horn, and
subsequently burnt Paita in Peru, and played havoc with Spanish
commerce. He crossed the Pacific, captured a great treasure-ship, and
returned by the Cape of Good Hope to England, which he reached June
15, 1744. He brought home treasure amounting to £500,000, and this was
paraded through the streets of London in thirty-two wagons.
It would be difficult to say when the War of Jenkins's Ear ended, or
what were its results. Carlyle[33] says: "What became subsequently of
the Spanish War, we in vain inquire of History-Books. The War did not
die for many years to come, but neither did it publicly live; it
disappears at this point: a River Niger, seen once flowing broad
enough, but issuing--Does it issue nowhere, then? Where does it
issue?... Forgotten by official people; left to the dumb English
Nation." Doubtless it was not forgotten by the people; they soon
showed once more their eagerness to break down the monopoly, and this
curious war is noteworthy both as striking the real keynote of a long
series of vast struggles, and also as showing the great _vis inertiæ_
of Spain. Southey[34] remarks that the history of the War of Jenkins's
Ear proves the strength of Spain in South America, and points out that
an event in the war contributed indirectly to the prosperity of the
River Plate settlement. When it was known that Anson was fitting out
his celebrated squadron, the Spanish Government for its part also
despatched six ships and three thousand five hundred men to protect
the settlement. They delayed a long time there and, it is said,
eventually not more than one hundred of the crews returned home, the
greater part remaining to settle in the country.
Not less important than these hostilities against English and
Portuguese (who from their near neighbourhood were almost equally
dangerous in the contraband trade) was the loss to South America of
that body which had been the conscience of Spanish America, which had
protected the Indians, instructed the ignorant, and turned the
wilderness into fertile fields. For a long time the civil power in
Roman Catholic countries had been jealous of the influence wielded by
the Jesuits. As their object was to suppress everything opposed to the
Roman Catholic system as they understood it, so every element that
felt itself menaced naturally rose in self-defence, and the Jesuits
found themselves friendless in Europe. Their downfall was principally
due to the able and astute Pombal, the Prime Minister of Portugal, who
considered that his country was depressed by a too powerful hierarchy,
and his machinations were greatly assisted by circumstances in the
River Plate settlements.
Colonia had long been a trouble to the Spaniards, diminishing their
trade and insulting them by its propinquity, and in 1750 they made
overtures for an exchange. The offending port was to be surrendered
and the Portuguese were to receive in exchange a large portion of the
Jesuit Missions, _i.e._, the territory called La Guayra and about
20,000 square miles to the east of the Uruguay River. This included
seven Jesuit Reductions, and the Society and the Indians strenuously
resisted the transference. Although the story of the Jesuits belongs
rather to Paraguay than Argentina, it is for many reasons necessary to
refer to that wonderful and benevolent despotism which they exercised
in the Parana settlements, and also to relate the circumstances of
their expulsion from South America--a matter of great importance to
all the colonies.
The Jesuits did not commence effective work in Paraguay earlier than
the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the days of the conquest
attempts had been made by them to convert the natives and to further
general missionary work, but the circumstances had not been favourable.
It was in 1610 that two members of the Order, Cataldino and Mazeta,
founded the settlement of Loreto on the Upper Parana. An unfriendly
critic[35] remarks: "They began by gathering together about one hundred
and fifty wandering families, whom they persuaded to settle, and they
united them into a little township. This was the slight foundation upon
which they have built a superstructure which has amazed the world, and
added so much power at the same time, that it has brought so much envy
and jealousy upon their society. For when they had made this beginning,
they laboured with such indefatigable pains, and with such masterly
policy that, by degrees, they mollified the minds of the most savage
nations,[36] fixed the most rambling, and subdued the most averse to
government. They prevailed upon thousands of various dispersed tribes of
people to embrace their religion, and to submit to their government; and
when they had submitted, the Jesuits left nothing undone that could
conduce to their remaining in this subjection, or that could tend to
increase their number to the degree requisite for a well-ordered and
potent society, and their labours were attended with amazing success."
The Jesuit establishments are one of the many meritorious acts of
Saavedra who, seeing with concern the depression of the Indians and
recognising their value to the Spanish Crown, appealed to the King,
whereupon Phillip III., in 1609, issued royal letters patent to the
Order of Jesuits for the conversion of the Indians. It is true that the
Jesuits drew considerable wealth from their obedient subjects. They
exported hides in large quantities and had a monopoly of the production
of _maté_. Their method of government also would have been unsuitable to
a race of harder fibre,[37] for they jealously excluded their Reductions
from the external world, allowing no European to enter, and the Indians
were kept constantly at work at the agricultural pursuits which the
Jesuits themselves had greatly improved. But in those days it was rare
indeed for any settlers to pay any regard to the welfare of the
uncivilised races whom they encountered, and it must be remembered that
the Jesuits were practically the only Christian missionaries in the
period between the Reformation and the middle of the eighteenth century.
All honour, then, is due to them for their devotion and philanthropy.
When the peaceful Indians heard of the great disaster that had overtaken
them in their abandonment to their old enemies the Portuguese, there was
consternation, but they were remorselessly driven from their homes.
However, the Jesuits protested strongly, and in the end the Spanish
Government was induced to annul the treaty. Nevertheless, the Indians
never recovered their losses and the West of Rio Grande became
permanently Portuguese, in spite of the abrogation of the treaty. The
result would, no doubt, have been different had their powerful
protectors remained in the country.
The officials at Buenos Aires cared much about Colonia and little for
the Reductions or the fate of the Indians, and the Jesuits were
accused of having brought about the recision of the treaty. Any
pretext was now welcome, for their destruction was contemplated. As we
have seen, the able Pombal had resolved to expel them from Portugal,
and in 1759 he trumped up against them a charge of attempting to
assassinate the King, and issued a decree for their deportation from
Portugal. France eventually followed this example, and in 1767 even
the Spanish King was induced to do the same, while in 1773 Pope
Clement XIV. decreed the entire suppression of the Order.
In Argentina the Jesuits were seized and deported. It was expected
that the Indians, who were armed, would make a serious resistance, but
they were as sheep having no shepherd, and rather than remain in their
old abodes to be harried by new masters they migrated to Entre Rios
and Uruguay. But the work of the Jesuits has not perished, for they
and the conventual orders were the first to give an example of
humanity in the treatment of inferior races.
This great change was quickly followed by another. In 1776 the
Vice-royalty of Buenos Aires was created, that is, the four countries
now known as Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, were detached from
the Vice-royalty of Peru, under Don Pedro Cevallos, sometime Governor
of Buenos Aires. This step was a recognition of the importance of
Buenos Aires, to which all observers testify. All the efforts of the
Spaniards to force the trade of Europe over the Isthmus of Panama and
the Andes had failed, and Buenos Aires was now to fulfil its destiny
as the metropolis of Spanish America. The new Governor brought a large
force, for there had been serious trouble with Portugal. As the latter
was too weak to resist, and as the news of peace between the two
countries followed almost immediately, there was no difficulty in
coming to terms, and Colonia was finally made over to Spain. The result
of this important treaty was that Spain was left in undisputed
possession of Uruguay and Portugal of Brazil in its present form, for
she recovered Rio Grande and Santa Catharina. Free trade was established
between Buenos Aires and Spain, and Argentina made wonderful industrial
advances. The rest of the century was uneventfully prosperous, but great
events were in the wind, and they were destined to have a powerful
influence on Spanish America. The easygoing paternal rule was to come to
an end, and a long period of bloodshed and turbulence was to succeed. As
was the case in every other part of the world, the motive power was
supplied by the French Revolution.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Funes, vol. iii. 73.
[27] "History of Brazil," ii. 322-3.
[28] Drake in 1578 visited the south of Tierra del Fuego, and
discovered that there was a passage round, but he did not himself make
the voyage round Cape Horn.
[29] Bourgainville (See J. H. Moore), "Collection of Voyages and
Travels," 266.
[30] "Buenos Ayres," 59.
[31] Carlyle has an accurate perception of the gravity of the issue.
"The Jenkins's Ear Question, which then looked so mad to everybody,
how sane has it now grown to my Constitutional Friend! In abstruse
ludicrous form there lay immense questions involved in it; which were
serious enough, certain enough, though invisible to everybody. Half
the World lay hidden in embryo under it. Colonial-Empire, whose is it
to be? Shall Half the World be England's, for industrial purposes;
which is innocent, laudable, conformable to the Multiplication-table
at least, and other plain Laws? Or shall it be Spain's for
arrogant-torpid sham-devotional purposes, contradictory to every Law?"
("History of Frederick the Great," xii. 12, § 3).
[32] See Sir J. K. Laughton, _English Historical Review_, October,
1889.
[33] See Sir J. K. Laughton, _English Historical Review_, October,
1889.
[34] "History of Brazil," iii. 300.
[35] "An Account of the Spanish Settlement in America," 340-1.
[36] "They collected them into fixed habitations, gave them laws,
introduced useful and polite arts among them; and, in short, of a
barbarous nation, without civilised manners, and without religious
principles, they made a good-natured and well-governed people, who
strictly observed the Christian ceremonies" (De Bougainville, p. 98).
[37] "These Indians live at present in an entire assurance, that
whatever their priests advise them to is good, and whatever they
reprehend is bad" (Ulloa, ii. 183).
CHAPTER V
THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM
Colonies were one of the many new things which were introduced to
Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. Of them mediæval Europe
had known nothing since the dissolution of the Roman Empire; the means
of communication were too bad, the Asiatic races were too powerful,
and the Western world itself was too thinly populated to allow of
distant excursions. The planting of settlements was familiar to both
Greece and Rome. The Greek system was the simpler of the two, for the
city state merely propagated itself by colonies as a plant propagates
itself by seeds, and two cities existed instead of one, each independent
of the other. But a Roman colony was incorporated as a subordinate and
inferior part of the mother state. Greek history and literature were
almost unknown in the Middle Ages, and even after the Renaissance they
remained much less familiar than Latin. On the other hand, many European
States, and especially Spain, inherited their law and their municipal
systems from Rome, Latin was the international language, and the Church,
by far the most powerful mediæval institution, was Roman. It is,
therefore, not surprising that Spain followed the Roman colonial system,
but all the circumstances were so different that beyond the mere
incorporation and inferiority of the new dominions there was little
other resemblance.
The main difference and the main characteristic of the Spanish
colonial system was this--the colonies were the private property of
the King of Spain. This, then, is the keystone of the edifice--that
the dominions were vested in the Crown, not in the nation. The
derivation of this theory is doubtless from the fact that in the early
exploring days the Spanish and Portuguese kings were, really or
apparently, private adventurers, and, in fact, the adventurers always
assumed that they were stewards of royal estates rather than officers
of a kingdom. Thus the colonies were the property of the King of Spain
for the time being. Ferdinand had, in 1511, established a tribunal to
manage his new property. This was the Council of the Indies, which
made laws for the colonies and distributed all the appointments and
acted as a Court of Appeal from the Audiencia in America. The King
made all grants of land, and allowed the colonists only local
liberties; the Spanish nation had no concern whatever in the matter. A
modern parallel is the Congo Free State as it was a year or two ago.
It is probable that the New World had little to complain of except in
the matter of trade and commerce, but here the system was illiberal
and short-sighted. The fifth share of the King in the produce of all
the gold and silver mines was a small matter in comparison with the
multitude of harassing restrictions,[38] which Spain never had the
wisdom to cancel till it was too late. No colony was allowed to trade
with any country except Spain; all the exports, whatever their
destination, had first to go to the mother country, and the navigation
laws were conceived in a similar spirit. The most glaring instance of
stupidity was the prohibition of import trade laid upon Buenos Aires. No
Atlantic colonial port might receive goods from Spain except Nombre de
Dios. When Argentina purchased goods from Spain they were despatched
across the Atlantic to Nombre de Dios, carried by mule across the
Isthmus, transhipped to Callao, and then taken over innumerable
mountains into the River Plate country. Merely to state such a system is
to condemn it, but there was no possibility of altering it, because the
whole shipping trade of Spain was in the hands of a syndicate of Cadiz
merchants, and they were all-powerful.
As is well known, no foreign State was allowed to trade with Spanish
America, nor was any foreigner even allowed to enter it without
special permission. Various manufactures were forbidden, and even the
cultivation of the vine and olive was placed under restrictions, as it
was feared that their produce might compete with the produce of Spain.
In fact, the ideal of the home-staying Spaniard was that the colonies
should be mere mining-camps. Gold and silver were regarded as the
whole of wealth, and it was considered the height of commercial wisdom
to drain the whole produce of the mines of America into Spanish ports
without allowing a fraction to be diverted elsewhere.
Thus legitimate trade was made extremely difficult, for the Spaniards
even discouraged colonial exports from the fear that precious metals
might be concealed among them. Accordingly, in 1599, the Governor of
Buenos Aires was commanded to forbid exportation and importation alike
under penalty of death. But the stringency of the various laws and
regulations defeated their own objects, a gigantic contraband trade grew
up, and all the officials, from the Governor downward, were implicated
in it. Bribes accompanied almost every business transaction.[39] The
manufactures of Europe were surreptitiously landed at Buenos Aires, and
of course ruined the sale of the goods that had come over oceans,
Isthmus, and mountains. This contraband trade was chiefly carried on by
the English and the Dutch, and, as Professor Seeley has frequently
pointed out, the power to trade with the New World formed for some two
hundred years the chief bone of contention in the foreign politics of
European countries. The practice of smuggling has had two marked and
very pernicious effects upon Spanish-American character; it has fostered
contempt of law and the preference of Government service to profitable
industry. As the Argentines despised the laws of contraband, so they
came to despise all laws, and during their independent history the
shackles of the law have been cobwebs light as air to restrain
individuals or communities from disturbing the public peace. In a word,
out of the contraband trade sprang one of the worst features of South
America--lawlessness and turbulence. It is obvious that it also fostered
an almost equally injurious spirit--the craving of office. It was easier
and more profitable to take bribes from the smugglers than to engage
actively in smuggling, and so the tradition has descended to prefer the
certain emoluments (direct and indirect) of office to the uncertain
gains of trade. In Spanish America it is better to be the nephew of a
President than of a successful trader. Of course, it would be absurd to
attribute these two evils solely to the contraband trade, but the first
has been undoubtedly encouraged, and the second, to a considerable
extent, caused by the practice which was forced upon the Spanish
colonies by an absurd fiscal system. The economic condition, therefore,
of these countries appears to us very sombre. It must, however, be
remembered that such treatment of "plantations" was the accepted policy
of the age, and probably the reason why Spain was more unfortunate with
her foreign possessions than other nations is rather to be found in the
indolent character of her sons and her foreign embarrassments than in
any particular set of restrictions.
Till the middle of the eighteenth century the principles of the
Spanish colonial system were considered the last words of commercial
policy by all nations and practically all individuals.[40] That great
statesman, Lord Chatham, was fully convinced of the wisdom of these
principles. He remarked: "Let the sovereign authority of this country
over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised,
and be made to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever. That
we may bind their _trade_, confine their _manufactures_, and exercise
every _power_ whatsoever, except that of taking money out of their
pocket without their consent."[41] Indeed, the general commercial and
colonial policy of Spain was at least as liberal as that of England,
and was, during the half century preceding the Revolution, infinitely
more liberal, and if we make allowance for the enlargement of the
human mind in a hundred and fifty years, it must be admitted that the
present commercial policy of the South American Republics compares
unfavourably with the Spanish system. There was at least material
prosperity. Adam Smith,[42] while censuring the Spanish system of
government and considering it inferior to that obtaining in English
colonies, recognised that great progress was being made. He says:
"The Spanish colonies are under a government in many respects less
favourable to agriculture, improvement, and population, than that of the
English colonies. They seem, however, to be advancing in all these much
more rapidly than any country in Europe. In a fertile soil and happy
climate the great abundance and cheapness of land, a circumstance common
to all new colonies, is, it seems, so great an advantage as to
compensate many defects in civil government." It is impossible to put
down the failure of Spain to anything but defect of character--the grand
defect of _mañana_, of putting off every exertion till to-morrow, or
rather for ever. But it cannot be denied that a hundred years ago the
ill-starred country had to face a series of misfortunes which might well
have disheartened a more energetic people. The revolutionary spirit
which had spread all over the globe was at first wonderfully impotent in
the Spanish settlements owing to the rigid disciplinary system which had
been in force for upwards of two hundred years. Yet that of itself would
have been enough to have taxed all the energies of an ancient and
absolute monarchy. Further, Spain contrived to change sides in such a
way during the war as to get all the hardships of defeat and none of the
fruits of victory. When she was in alliance with France her fleet was
destroyed by the English, and when she was in alliance with England her
territory was overrun by the French. At this crisis also she was
afflicted by the feeblest king of a feeble line and probably the worst
queen and minister that ever lived. Under these circumstances it can
hardly be a matter for wonder that she lost her colonies.
And yet if her general policy towards them be considered, it must be
acknowledged that she deserved her fate less than any colonial power
then existing. The Spanish merchants did indeed greatly hamper the
development of South America, but they acted in obedience to a theory
which was considered axiomatic and which was rigorously put into
practice by every other nation. The King and the high officials always
exerted their influence in favour of humane treatment of the Indians.
Irala was conspicuous for his humanity, and the protective regulations
which he put forward on their behalf and at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, when reports reached Spain that the Indians in
Tucuman were being ill-treated, it was ordered that Don Francisco de
Alfaro, Auditor of the Supreme Court of Peru, should go to Paraguay
and investigate the whole matter. The result was the Ordinances of
Alfaro in 1612, which abolished both the forcible subjection of
Indians and slavery, and substituted a small capitation tax. As we
have seen, the Court of Madrid warmly seconded the early efforts of
the Jesuits. The treatment, then, of subject races was as benevolent
as circumstances and theories would permit, nor were the colonists in
practice subject to any considerable severity. The commercial
regulations were easily evaded, and the Argentina steadily advanced in
prosperity.
The latter days of Spanish rule were extremely creditable to the
sagacity and liberality of the Crown and its advisers. In 1764 a line
of vessels was established to run between Corunna and various South
American ports, with permission to carry Spanish merchandise and bring
back in return the products of the colonies, and in 1774 the colonies
were allowed intercommunication and trade. In 1778 a new commercial code
was drawn up for the benefit of the Spanish Indies, and this was
surprisingly liberal for those days. Nine ports in Spain and twenty-four
in the colonies were declared "ports of entry," and goods, for the most
part, were allowed to pass in and out freely. The general duty was
nominally 3 per cent. on Spanish goods and 7 per cent. on foreign goods;
but as the latter had to be shipped from Spain, the duty upon them was
really 40 or 50 per cent. If we compare this scale with that now in
force, we shall see how greatly South America has retrograded since the
removal of the control of Spain. It is interesting to remember that
these beneficent regulations were framed while Smith was publishing the
"Wealth of Nations," and that therefore backward Spain anticipated both
Pitt and Huskisson.
After this Argentina advanced by leaps and bounds. The average export
of hides had been 150,000; they soon rose to 800,000, and in one
particular year the figure was 1,400,000. At least seventy ships
sailed to Spain every year, and the population of Buenos Aires rose
from 37,000 in 1778, to 72,000 in 1800. Buenos Aires became openly
what she had long been struggling to be--the _entrepôt_ for wine and
brandy from Cuzo, hides from Tucuman, tobacco, _yerba maté_, and wood
from Paraguay, and gold, silver, copper, rice, sugar, and cocoa from
the distant interior. Had the fate of Spain been happier, and the
character of her sons stronger, South America would have had a very
different destiny, for everything pointed to a period of peaceful
development, and the people had a government which was exactly suited
to them. The Revolution substituted for the mild rule of Spain a
preposterous democracy which was only effective or tolerable when
metamorphosed into a dictatorship, and for more than two centuries of
comparative peace an indefinitely long period of disorder and
bloodshed.
Before closing this brief sketch of a period which has been both
neglected and misunderstood (for it is usually passed over with a few
reflections upon the perversity and tyranny of Spanish rule) it is
desirable to indicate briefly the machinery of government, which
underwent substantial alteration only in the last generation of the
Spanish dominion. The King had a special body of advisers to help him
in the administration of his oversea territory, and this was called
the Council of the Indies. There were only two Viceroys--who, of
course, were subject to the home authorities--they were the Viceroy
of Mexico and the Viceroy of Peru. The latter ruled over the whole of
South America. When a new colony was founded it was put under the
charge of an Adelantado, or Governor, who was nominally subject to the
Viceroy, but in practice he was independent and answerable only to the
King. When he vacated office his acts were subject to a review, and he
was liable to punishment if found guilty of misconduct, but in the
nature of things there was little effective check upon him by the Home
Government, and he was really a military ruler with almost despotic
powers. However, the Spaniards, following the Roman tradition, always
strongly favoured municipal government, and provisions were made which
modified the arbitrary character of the system, although, as was
inevitable, there were loud complaints that the claims of the
Creoles--those born in the country--were neglected, and that the good
posts were given to Spaniards from over the seas. Even to the last
this grievance remained.[43]
The system of local government, which modified this exclusiveness and
gave the children of the soil a considerable share in the management
of their own affairs, is a most important feature in the history of
Argentina.
To begin with, the Governor made grants of land to each white
settler. The recipients of the grants became Encomenderos, who
received also in fief several Indian villages and took tribute from
the inhabitants in return for protection and Christian teaching. The
Encomenderos swore "to defend, enrich, and ennoble the kingdom and
care for the Indians," and they appear to have discharged their trust
with tolerable fidelity.
But the Spaniards are city-dwelling people, and the history of
Argentina chiefly centres in the towns where the governing body was
the Cabildo, or town council. The Cabildo consisted of from six to
twelve members, and although they had bought their offices of the King
and held them for life, they imparted no insignificant popular element
into the system of government, and when the Revolution came the
Cabildos had sufficient vitality to act as the rallying-point for the
revolutionists in every district. In Buenos Aires the Cabildo had
great power, and the Governor could not easily override it, while in
every city in the provinces the little town councils represented
Creole and local interests. This system lent itself to particularism
and was unfavourable to representative government, which accordingly has
not been a success in Argentina, partly owing to this cause and partly
to the natural incapacity of the people. It has been always very
difficult to obtain a national assembly even for the decision of the
most momentous questions and legislation, elections and administrations
are controlled by functionaries rather than by electors and deputies.
Under Spanish rule the Cabildo system worked extremely well. In the
thinly populated districts the great proprietors ruled in patriarchal
fashion.
Inefficiency and indolence were the chief grievances which the
inhabitants of the Plate district could have reasonably urged against
their rulers. The commercial regulations, as we have seen, were so bad
that they were perpetually evaded, and the Governor and other
officials took bribes and connived at the evasions. Thus grew up the
evil tradition that official and political careers are above all
others desirable, and that the productive classes are fair game for
every kind of official exaction. But, in spite of all defects, the
settlements steadily prospered, there were few serious Indian wars,
comparatively little fighting even with the Portuguese or other
foreign nations, and civil tumults were few and far between. If we
make allowance for the natural progress that all nations must make in
the face of all adverse circumstances, we cannot deny that even
Argentina has lost ground in the nineteenth century, as compared with
her position in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Another institution which exerted great influence upon the history of
Spanish America was the Consulado, or Chamber of Commerce. In 1543 the
first of these bodies was founded at Seville, and its principal object
was to regulate trade with the Indies. The Consulado of Cadiz became
eventually by far the most influential and gained an unenviable
notoriety for its commerce-destroying enactments; but it was following
the accepted commercial principles of the age, and there can be no
doubt that the Consulados at Mexico and Lima were beneficial. Their
business was to adjudge commercial suits and carry on the entire trade
in their respective Viceroyalties, and in general they undertook the
commercial development of the settlements. Their policy was cautious
and conservative.
Such, then, were the institutions which tempered the rigours of
personal or despotic rule, modifying either the unlimited power of the
Crown or the absolute military sway of the Governor. But in theory the
royal authority was as complete as that of the Roman Emperor. Just as
in later days Queen Victoria took the title of Empress of India as the
successor of the Mogul Emperor, so the King of Spain was Emperor of
the Indies in succession to Montezuma in Mexico and the Incas in Peru.
The King's will was the source of law; legislation was carried out by
means of Cédulas Reales, or Royal Decrees, which were issued by the
Council of the Indies in his name, and, as was natural, the attempt
was made at regulation on far too complete a scale, and matters which
ought to have been settled by local authorities were the subject of
decrees, and thus these enactments increased with alarming rapidity.
The principles of these Cédulas soon fell into confusion; it is said
that their codification, ordered in 1635, was not carried into effect
until 1680, by which time it had become obsolete. It does not appear,
however, that the rulers troubled themselves much about the confusion
of the law; they would probably have been much more uneasy had all the
decrees become effective, for it was obviously impossible to carry on
all legislation at such a distance, and travellers and annalists
agreed that the Governors and their subordinates usually neglected the
law and governed according to equity. The result was not unsatisfactory.
Current ideas about history are very often wrong; they are often the
repetition at third or fourth hand of an extremely indifferent
authority. An American traveller may have come with the preconceived
belief that all republics are free and all monarchies grinding
tyrannies, and having accordingly stated that the condition of South
America under Spanish rule was miserable, his statement has been
echoed by all his successors. Or, again, another writer notices that
the commercial regulations were absurd and vexatious, and he declares
that the colonies were paralysed by the blight of Spanish rule. A
third has no difficulty in discovering instances of atrocities
committed against the Indians who worked in the Peruvian mines, and he
enlarges upon the greed and inhumanity of the Spaniards. Thus the
whole history, which possesses few striking incidents to tempt
investigators, is distorted by prejudice and the three hundred years
of Spanish rule are summarily dismissed as a barren period, fruitful
in nothing but misery.
In fact, from first to last the Spanish colonies enjoyed a more
liberal trade policy than did those of England. The reason that the
abuses of the Spanish colonies were so much more prominent was that
the Spanish trade was incomparably more valuable than the North
American. Again, apart from the mines, the Spanish treatment of the
Indians was considerably in advance of the standards of the time in
humanity, nor would it be easy to find any body of men in the three
centuries who pursued a wiser and juster policy towards inferior and
conquered races. And, further, such cruelty as was perpetrated was the
work of private exploiters or, at worst, of disobedient officials. The
King of Spain and the ecclesiastics of Spain made every effort to
redress the instances of ill-treatment which came to their ears. It
was Charles III. who encouraged the Jesuits to proceed upon their
mission of mercy, and if he had had the power he would have restrained
the cruelty of the Portuguese Paulistas. The condition of the River
Plate settlements under Spanish rule compares favourably with that of
most civilised nations during the same period.
A recent writer,[44] summing up the general subject, makes some
remarks which deserve quotation: "In discussing the often-repeated
accusation of Spanish oppression, it is necessary to define what sort
of oppression is meant: whether oppression of the Indians by the
whites, or oppression of the whites by the Spanish Government. If the
former is meant, then the Creoles were as guilty as the Europeans, and
both were more guilty than the Spanish Government and its immediate
representatives. If the latter, the restraint of the whites was in fact
the measure of protection enjoyed by the natives; free immigration
and large autonomy granted to European settlers would have meant
extermination or enslavement. But the theory of a universal control
which should foster both 'commonwealths' and protect the weaker was
largely ineffective; and in this failure lay the troubles of the
Indians....
"The usual exclusion of Creoles from the highest posts was a
grievance; but both its extent and its significance were much
exaggerated during the struggle for independence, since a very large
number of subordinate posts, some of them commanding large influence
and dignity, were usually held by Creoles. In fact, almost all the
revolutionary leaders were connected with the royal service through
posts held either by themselves or by their fathers....
"Here was an empire which, by the testimony of its own administrators,
was honeycombed with continuous decay in all directions; yet this
empire survived repeated external shocks, continually extended its
influence, and after three centuries evoked the admiration of foreign
observers. This vitality is not explained by the theoretic system of
administration, nor yet by the practical neglect of that system.
Perhaps the explanation may partly be found in personal character....
Examples constantly recur of admirable and loyal service, which has
something Oriental in its simplicity and self-abandonment; in
emergencies the presence of one capable leader counterbalances all
vices. Again, the undefinable Spanish quality of _hidalguía_, which
animated the better part of the community, especially in New Spain,
showed itself in a noble charity and hospitality, a liberal and
careless use of wealth, indifference to material results, and an
old-fashioned, uncalculating loyalty, sometimes almost fantastic."
The Spaniards had not the constructive genius of the Romans, and both in
the mechanical contrivances of civilisation and in the moral force which
founds laws and institutions they were far inferior. But they played
very much the same part in South America which the Romans did in Europe.
France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy are not more distinctively Roman than
Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Colombia are Spanish. As Spain was in
language and institutions the most completely Romanised of all European
countries, so she has left her mark upon the West more distinctively
than any other colonising Power. For good or evil, Buenos Aires, Lima,
and the rest are Spanish cities, and there seems no reason to believe
that they will ever be anything else, and the Spanish influence seems
likely to be as permanent as the Roman in Southern Europe. Nor will any
candid student of the history of the continent be unwilling to
acknowledge that it was no small achievement for a nation to build up
and administer such an empire, and he will regret that ignorance and
prejudice have prevented the world from giving the praise due to a vast
political and religious experiment which, in spite of extraordinary
difficulties, was successful as far as its own character was concerned,
and which, when it broke down by reason of the weakness of the mother
country, left behind it all its institutions, political, religious, and
social. Governors became Dictators or Presidents, but everything remains
substantially Spanish.
FOOTNOTES:
[38] The following is a typical example. "In 1602 a custom-house was
established at Cordoba for the purpose of levying duties equivalent to
50 per cent. of the value of all commodities passing between Peru and
the River Plate. It was not till 1665 that this irritating restraint
on commercial business was relaxed" (C. E. Akers, "A History of South
America," p. 11).
[39] "The commerce between Peru and Buenos Aires is chiefly for cattle
and mules; such as are concerned in the former, go first to the
Governor, and ask his leave to drive a herd of cattle into Peru, which
is never refused when backed by a present of some thousand pieces of
eight" ("An Account of the Spanish Settlements in America (1762)"
331).
[40] "In the trade to America every nation endeavours to engross as
much as possible the whole market of its own colonies, by fairly
excluding all other nations from any direct trade to them" (Adam
Smith, "Wealth of Nations," ii. 129).
[41] Thackeray, "A History of William Pitt," ii. 73, 74.
[42] "Wealth of Nations," i. 203.
[43] Writing of the time of Galvez, Funes (iii. 225) says: "Civil and
military appointments were never before distributed with such complete
partiality to the European Spaniards. In general, the native-born were
shut out; they were not esteemed worthy to be appointed door-keepers
of the offices." He also remarks that there was similar exclusiveness
in the distribution of ecclesiastical preferment.
[44] A. F. Kirkpatrick, "Cambridge Modern History," x. 277-9.
CHAPTER VI
THE ENGLISH FAILURE IN ARGENTINA
In the early years of the nineteenth century England was engaged in a
life and death struggle with Napoleon, and Spain and Holland, two of
the chief colonial Powers, were in alliance with the Corsican. At
Trafalgar, in 1805, the naval power of France and Spain had been
shattered, but Napoleon was master of practically the whole of Europe,
and he was devising weapons against his enemies which he hoped would
be more potent than fleets or armies. England's trade and industries
were advancing rapidly, but the long-continued war tended to spoil her
markets, and Napoleon was attempting to prevent his subject allies
from engaging in any trade whatever with the enemy. Consequently there
was throughout the war frequent distress, especially in the North of
England, and the manufacturing interest was urgent upon the Government
to find new markets. Possibly in some cases the effective fighting
strength of England was dissipated in distant expeditions, but in
these years some of the most valuable additions were made to our
Empire, and if the expedition which is to be related had been in
competent hands, the history of South America would have been changed
and England would have had vast dominions in every continent of the
world.
One such was acquired in South Africa in January, 1806, when Cape Town
was rapidly and easily taken from the Dutch. Sir Home Popham commanded
the naval forces while Sir David Baird was Commander-in-Chief. Popham
was an able and restless man, and hearing a few months later from an
American sea-captain that the people of Buenos Aires and Montevideo
were oppressed by the Spanish Government and would welcome the English
as liberators, he resolved to make an attempt in that quarter and
persuaded Baird to lend him a brigade.[45] The flotilla consisted of
five ships of war and five transports, and the little army numbered
1,635 men under the command of that fine soldier, General Beresford.
Popham was disobeying his orders and leaving Cape Town defenceless,
but he knew that the acquisition of a new trade opening would atone
for any technical disobedience in the eyes of the Home Government. The
expedition left Table Bay on the 13th of April, 1806, and reached the
River Plate on June 10th. Very wisely Popham proceeded to Buenos Aires
instead of Montevideo, and on June 25th anchored off Quilmes, which is
15 miles south of the capital, and disembarked the same evening. The
Spanish Viceroy made a very feeble resistance, and the next day the
English force was encamped in the suburb of Barracas. On the 27th of
June Beresford hoisted the English flag on the fort and a city of
72,000 inhabitants had been captured by a weak brigade. The Viceroy
fled to Cordoba, and undoubtedly the feebleness displayed by the
Spanish officials on that occasion helped to prepare the ground for
the subsequent Revolution. The Argentines, indeed, had lost the
qualities of self-help and initiative under the paternal rule of
Spain, but they were ashamed of the surrender to so small a force, and
under their nonchalant attitude there was an eager desire to expel the
foreigners if an opportunity should arise. All that was needed was a
leader, and a leader was found in Jacques Liniers. He was a Frenchman
who had been thirty years in the service of Spain, and at the time of
the invasion he was Governor of Misiones. Seeing that the people were
ripe for an attempt upon the English he made his way to Montevideo and
asked for help from the General in command. This was readily given,
and with a small force he marched to Colonia and thence passed over by
boats to Conchas, 21 miles north of Buenos Aires. Meanwhile Puirredon,
a Creole patriot, had been skirmishing in the neighbourhood, and had
succeeded in capturing a gun from the English. This success, which was
won by Gauchos, greatly emboldened Liniers and gave him confidence in
the abilities of his followers for partisan warfare. His force
amounted to 1,124 men with two large guns and four small pieces. On
August 10th he suddenly entered the northern suburb of Buenos Aires.
The next day he summoned Beresford to surrender, and on his refusal
the attack began. On the 12th the enemy forced their way to the
Cathedral which overlooks the square where the English had their
headquarters, and soon, by annoying street-fighting, compelled them to
abandon all the neighbouring streets. From the square itself Beresford
was forced by artillery fire to retreat, and the situation was soon
seen to be untenable. After 165 had been killed or wounded, the
English force, which had attempted an enterprise for which its numbers
were altogether inadequate, surrendered to General Liniers. He
honourably desired to keep the terms, which were that the soldiers
should be embarked for England and not serve again until exchanged,
but the Spanish authorities maintained that they had surrendered at
discretion and marched them up-country as prisoners of war. Beresford,
it may be added, contrived to escape six months later. The people of
Buenos Aires had learned the lesson that if they desired security they
must depend upon themselves rather than upon Spain. The first step
they took was to depose their faint-hearted Viceroy and set up Liniers
in his place.
Popham had sent home a glowing account of the commercial possibilities
of the new conquest, and English traders made immense preparations to
take advantage of the opportunity which was indeed sufficiently great.
Sir David Baird had sent reinforcements of 1,400 men from the Cape,
which arrived after the surrender, but of course Popham was too weak
to retake the capital. He landed at Maldonado on the left bank and
awaited reinforcements which were soon forthcoming, for the Cabinet
had been greatly elated by the easy initial victory. On October 11th
Admiral Sterling sailed from England in charge of a military force of
4,350 and a month later an expedition of equal strength under General
Crauford followed for Chile. When the news of the disaster to
Beresford reached England a swift ship was despatched after Crauford,
ordering him to sail to the River Plate. Finally there followed
General Whitelocke with additional troops and orders to take command
of the whole expedition. The total armament amounted to twelve
thousand men, eighteen ships of war, and eighty transports--a force
amply sufficient to command success if it were well handled, but
unfortunately it was placed in incompetent hands. The Ministry of All
the Talents failed to justify its title in the planning of expeditions
and the allocation of commanders.
John Whitelocke,[46] the new commander, had served with moderate
success in the West Indies, but he owed his advancement (chiefly in
pacific appointments) to his brother-in-law, Matthew Lewis, the Deputy
Secretary at War, and father of the well-known "Monk" Lewis. But his
appointment to this important command remains a mystery. It appears
from Windham's Diary that he wished to give the command to Sir John
Stuart, while Leveson-Gower was in favour of Whitelocke, and the
annotator to the Diary declares that the Duke of York decided in
favour of Whitelocke. This does not seem very probable, and though
Lord Holland, who was a member of the not very competent Cabinet,
suggests more plausibly that Whitelocke as Inspector-General of
Recruiting was opposed to an important scheme of Windham, who
therefore wished to get rid of him, still this view seems untenable in
face of Windham's positive statement. The appointment can only be
considered as one of the many blunders which sometimes counteract
England's usual good luck; and on this occasion the effect was
complete.
However, until he arrived matters proceeded in brilliant fashion. The
first officer of high rank to appear was Sir Samuel Auchmuty, a loyal
American who had served the King, for whose sake his family had
suffered ruin, in America, India, and Egypt. Although he had expected
merely to assist in the task of completing the conquest of Argentina,
he was not dismayed when he found that the work had to be begun over
again. He promptly began the bombardment of Montevideo and within a
few days, February 3, 1807, the breach was found to be practicable.
The town, strongly fortified as it was, taken by storm with a loss to
the English of six hundred men, and the General acting humanely and
prudently, conciliated the inhabitants and established civil rule.
Many adventurous English merchantmen, whose owners anticipated a boom,
arrived and unloaded, and necessaries and luxuries were sold at prices
hitherto unknown in Argentina.
Whitelocke arrived on May 10th and Crauford on June 15th. It was on
June 28th that the expedition left Montevideo. It consisted of four
brigades, of which three were commanded by Generals Crauford,
Auchmuty, and Lumley, the fourth by Colonel Mahon. The transports left
amidst the cheers of the fleet, and success might well have been
anticipated, for an enterprise was being attempted which a year earlier
had been easily accomplished by less than one-sixth of Whitelocke's
army, which was ten thousand strong. But these proportions hardly
represented the difference between the brother-in-law of Matthew Lewis
and the future victor of Albuera, and, moreover, the spirit of the
colonists had risen, and they rejected both the feeble restrictions of
Spain and the new prosperity offered by England. The first mistake was
made in landing at Ensenada, 48 miles south of Buenos Aires, and the
troops had to make long marches through deep swamps. But Whitelocke
arrived at Quilmes (where he ought to have landed) on July 1st without
having seen an enemy, and all promised to go well.
On that day Liniers attempted to oppose the invaders in force, but
Crauford, with a vigorous charge, beat down all resistance and pursued
the enemy to the suburbs. There is little doubt that Crauford was
correct in his belief that if he had been supported by the main body,
Buenos Aires would have fallen on that very day. But Leveson-Gower,
the second in command, who was as incompetent as Whitelocke and who
was the moving spirit in the whole disaster, recalled the troops and
gave the discouraged Spaniards a welcome delay. On July 2nd Whitelocke
called upon them to surrender, and they refused. He himself was well
aware of the difficulties of an assault. As soon as Crauford arrived
at Montevideo the Commander-in-Chief had taken him round the works,
pointed out the peculiar facilities which the flat-roofed South
American houses afforded for street-fighting, and declared that he
would never expose his troops to the risk of a general assault. In
this resolve Crauford heartily concurred.
The General had two easy and certain means of attaining his object. He
might blockade the town and so starve it into surrender, or he might
bombard it. But unfortunately he was too unstable to persevere in his
previous resolution, and he allowed Leveson-Gower to persuade him to
adopt a preposterous scheme of assault. It was decided that on July
5th the troops should be divided into eight columns, and orders were
actually issued that they should advance with their muskets unloaded,
lest they should be tempted to waste time in returning the enemy's
fire. The columns were to march through the town until each had
arrived at the square nearest the river. Then they were to halt and,
apparently, do nothing, for no further orders were issued.
The attack began at half-past six in the morning. When the English had
entered the town a withering fire was poured upon them from innumerable
houses. But they pushed gallantly on. Auchmuty, who was on the left,
made his way to the Retiro and the Plaza de Toros, where he captured
thirty-two guns and six hundred prisoners. The troops on the right
seized the Residencia. But these successes were of no avail through lack
of a competent guiding mind; the column leaders did not even know the
whereabouts of the Commander-in-Chief, much less what he wished them to
do, and further, the ill-judged scheme had borne its natural fruit in
several serious disasters.
Crauford had seized the Convent of San Domingo, but he was surrounded
by a very large force of the enemy who kept up a deadly fire of
musketry and artillery, and by half-past four in the afternoon he was
compelled to surrender. The same fate befell columns under Colonel
Cadogan and Colonel Duff. In this day's fighting the English lost 70
officers and 1,130 men, killed and wounded, while prisoners amounted
to 120 and 1,500.
Whitelocke and Auchmuty were now besieged in the Retiro. Their army
had suffered severely, but they had still a large and efficient force,
they had command of the sea, and the knowledge that the English
Government would support them with all its available strength. Even if
ordinary skill were out of the question, ordinary resolution would
quickly have retrieved the initial reverses. But it was not to be.
Flushed by his success, General Liniers the next day sent a flag of
truce to Whitelocke proposing to surrender all his prisoners if the
English would evacuate Buenos Aires. He probably hardly expected
anything but rejection of such terms, but the civilian Alzaga seemed
to have had a better appreciation of the character of Whitelocke and
insisted that _Montevideo_ should be added to _Buenos Aires_. Nothing
could be lost by making extravagant demands. The panic-stricken
Whitelocke agreed to everything. At first he seems to have hesitated a
little, but Liniers had added the menace that he could not be
responsible for the safety of the prisoners if the attack were
renewed. In any case such a threat should have been treated with
contempt, but it was, as it happened, perfectly empty, for the life
and property of every inhabitant of Montevideo were in Whitelocke's
power.
Finally, he accepted the terms of surrender without raising the
slightest objection to the inclusion of Montevideo, and taking great
credit to himself for his humanity in yielding to Linier's threat, he
wrote complacently: "Influenced by this consideration, which I knew to
be founded in fact, and reflecting of how little advantage would be
the possession of a country the inhabitants of which were so absolutely
hostile, I resolved to forego the advantages which the bravery of the
troops had obtained, and acceded to a treaty, which I trust will meet
the approbation of his Majesty."
He had signified his willingness to withdraw from Buenos Aires
in forty-eight hours and from Montevideo in two months. As the
Judge-Advocate remarked at the subsequent trial: "He is his own accuser:
he has furnished the strongest testimony against himself." The English
army sailed from Buenos Aires on July 12th, from Montevideo on September
9, 1807.
Seldom has there been such a fine army and such splendid officers
under such a pusillanimous commander. A young officer[47] on the staff
remarks that on many of the street corners in Montevideo was written:
"General Whitelocke is either a coward or a traitor! Perhaps both!" He
also tells us: "All the English merchants are in an uproar. They say
the losses will be immense; that upwards of three millions worth of
property is on its way to this country, and that, if it is given up,
half the merchants in England will be ruined. God knows what will be
the result of this unfortunate affair. It appears to me one of the
most severe blows that England has ever received." Whittingham adds,
with some penetration, that "the period of a revolution" was "not far
distant."
It is some small consolation that the court-martials administered
even-handed justice. The most important tribunal adjudged "that the
said Lieutenant-General Whitelocke be cashiered, and declared totally
unfit and unworthy to serve his Majesty in any military capacity
whatever." On the other hand Popham, who had disobeyed his orders in
initiating the whole scheme, was severely reprimanded, but received a
sword of honour from the City of London and a few months later was
given an important command.
Sir David Baird, who had sanctioned Popham's adventure, was censured
and recalled from the Cape, but he also was given the chief command of
the very same expedition as Popham--that against Copenhagen. It is
certain that public opinion would not have sanctioned any severe
measures against officers who had been zealous in the South American
attempt.
The most noticeable point throughout the whole affair is the eagerness
of the English commercial world, which was dreading the loss of the
Continental markets and was rightly convinced that the discovery of
new outlets was a matter of life and death.
The remarks of the Judge-Advocate condense the whole case: "By this
most unfortunate event all the hopes have been defeated which had been
justly and generally entertained, of discovering new markets for our
manufactures, of giving a wider scope to the spirit and enterprise of
our merchants, of opening new sources of treasure, and new fields for
exertion in supplying either the rude wants of countries emerging from
barbarism, or the artificial and increasing demands of luxury and
refinement, in those remote quarters of the globe. Important as these
objects must be at all times to this country, the state of Europe, and
the attempts that have been daily making to exclude us from our
accustomed intercourse with the Continent, have added to the importance
of these objects, and to the disappointment of these hopes." It is,
perhaps, doubtful whether England could have held any considerable
territory in Argentina, for a revolutionary spirit was rapidly being
wafted into South America from Europe, and though the population was
small the country was vast, and if the population had continued hostile
the difficulty of either conciliating or conquering them would have been
immense. But, doubtless, the retention of Montevideo and the territory
now called Uruguay would have been feasible, and would have been highly
beneficial both to England and South America. To have had one country in
South America governed upon liberal and conservative principles, with an
enlightened system of commerce and complete security for life and
property, would have been an incalculable benefit, and would undoubtedly
been a salutary check upon the wars and revolutions which have
devastated South America since the overthrow of the Spanish dominion.
FOOTNOTES:
[45] "From various informations I have received from different people
of the defenceless state of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and their
dependencies, I have deemed it expedient, with the squadron under my
command, assisted by his Majesty's 71st Regiment, to proceed on an
expedition against those places, not doubting in the smallest degree
of such success as will add lustre to his Majesty's arms, distress our
enemies, and open a most beneficial trade for Great Britain" (Popham
to Governor of St. Helena, April 13, 1806).
[46] "All future prospects were marred and rendered hopeless by the
selection of General Whitelocke for the chief command; a man of most
unpopular character, unrecommended by previous services, and void of
all claim or pretension beyond powerful interest" (J. W. Cole,
"Memoirs of British Generals," i. 224).
[47] See "A Memoir of Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham" 24, 25.
CHAPTER VII
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
When the English retired from Buenos Aires and Montevideo there
seemed no reason to expect any change in the relations between
Argentina and the mother country. The Spanish rule was not rigorous,
and, from a financial point of view, its policy was now highly
favourable to the colonists. They also warmly sympathised with their
European kinsmen in the apparently hopeless struggle against the
oppression of Napoleon. When Charles IV. abdicated in 1808, all the
Spanish-American dependencies hailed Ferdinand VII. as their King
with enthusiasm. Nothing seemed less likely than any kind of disloyalty.
And yet a very few years saw the beginning of a struggle which ended in
an old and haughty nation being stripped of every one of the dominions
she possessed on the American continent, and sinking into a state of
lethargy and decay from which, after the lapse of a century, there seems
little prospect of a "Roman recovery." The causes of this strange
phenomenon certainly do not seem adequate. It is, of course, obvious
that the weakness of the Home Government and their own successful
repulse of the English showed the Argentines that if they had the will
to be independent there was no doubt about the power. Again, their sense
of importance could not but be increased by the eagerness with which
foreigners sought for a share in their trade, and Cisneros, the Viceroy,
had strengthened this impression by admitting neutrals unreservedly to
the South American trade--a step which he took with great reluctance.
But neither of these circumstances could have had any effect if goodwill
and loyalty had remained unimpaired. These had probably been undermined
by the jealousy between Creole and Spaniard, by the pride of caste shown
by the latter towards the former, and by the preference always given to
Spaniards in the matter of official appointments. As the people of
Argentina increased in consciousness of worth and power, they would be
the less willing to brook this assumption of superiority, and doubtless
hot-headed young men had frequently discussed the possibility of the
step for which the cant term is now "cutting the painter." There is a
further circumstance which may have had influence on the course of
events. Able and ambitious men could not but see that in the turmoil of
revolution, followed by independence, there was a prospect of unbounded
riches, and power, which, however speculative, is always more attractive
to such minds than to be seated in the mean. Indeed a certain Francisco
Miranda from Caracas, ex-volunteer in Washington's army, had, at the
close of the war, discussed Spanish emancipation with Washington
himself. He then visited Europe, fought in the French revolutionary
army, and actually attained to the rank of general. His efforts
subsequently to induce Pitt or President Adams to initiate a war of
liberation in South America were, however, unsuccessful, but his
constant intrigues with Spanish Americans show that the project was
undoubtedly in the air.
Yet when we have gone over the meagre list of possible causes, we
cannot but attribute the chief place to one which strengthened all the
circumstances favourable to change and neutralised or reversed those
which were unfavourable. This was the doctrine of the Rights of Man or,
to be plain, the revolutionary spirit itself. Its influence was felt
by all classes, and it caused ferment and bloodshed in such widely
different places as Ireland and the West Indies. It had already
invaded England, and afterwards attacked her ancient rival and
overthrew the French monarchy and trampled down the French Church.
Thus, this purely moral cause must be taken as the efficient factor of
the Spanish-American Revolution; the others could have effected
nothing had not the seemingly barren dogma of equality provided an
atmosphere and a soil ready to foster any revolutionary seed that
might find its way to South America.
Ferdinand VII. was proclaimed King in 1808. The heroic Liniers was
then Viceroy at Buenos Aires, but doubtless his French nationality
gave rise to suspicions, and as soon as the news came that Joseph,
the puppet of Napoleon, had been imposed upon Spain, the Frenchman was
deposed, and on July 19, 1809, Cisneros became Viceroy in the name of
Ferdinand. As stated above, he threw open the ports with startling
results, for the customs revenue was immediately quadrupled. And
yet this wise measure revealed to the people their strength and
self-sufficiency, and may have predisposed them to revolution.[48]
On the 13th of May, 1810, news came from Spain that the mother country
was now under the heel of France and had no longer any power to help
or control them. Cisneros was in a very difficult situation. On May
25th he consented to the formation of a Council under the title of the
Provisional Government of the Provinces of Rio de la Plata, and this
date has been generally regarded by historians as the beginning of the
Revolution. Prominent among those who desired change were Moreno,
Belgrano, Saavedra, and Castelli. Moreno, who was secretary to the new
Council, was a man of large views, irresistible enthusiasm, and full
of daring. Belgrano was equally fervent in the cause and was devoted
to Moreno, content to serve him without reward for the liberation of
Spanish America, and he was one of the few men in the Province who, by
business aptitude and coolness of character, was qualified to direct
the movement. The Council acted with considerable adroitness.
Professing to be acting for Ferdinand and thus conciliating all
classes, they worked steadily in the direction of depressing and
discrediting all Spanish officials, and at last, on June 1st, Moreno
ordered Cisneros and other high functionaries to be seized and
deported. A merchant brig conveyed them to the Canaries and they
vanish from history.
Moreno anticipated trouble from Cordoba; but even there his opponents
were losing ground. Liniers had retired thither, but despairing of
success he, with several loyal Spaniards, collected a force of about
four hundred men and marched in the direction of Peru. They were
pursued, overwhelmed, and captured. The liberator of La Plata and
five of his colleagues were thereupon shot. This outrage, equally
remarkable as an instance of atrocity and ingratitude, was a fitting
prelude to Spanish-American history. Before the end of the year the
whole of the north was in the hands of the revolutionists, and about
the same time they experienced an equally valuable success. The
loyalists still held Montevideo and their fleet blockaded Buenos
Aires. Moreno took advantage of the English anxiety for open markets,
and appealed to the English Minister at Madrid. He received the reply
that the British Government could not recognise the blockade, as it
desired to maintain a position of perfect neutrality, and thus a
potent Spanish weapon was rendered innoxious.
However, it was very early evident that unity and federation would not
characterise the Revolution; that each Province would aim at its own
particular independence; that Buenos Aires would not be the New York
of a single new nation. An expedition sent to Paraguay, with the
object of extirpating the Spanish partisans, failed altogether to
attach that country to Argentina. Paraguay, like its neighbours,
preferred independence.
At the same time jealousies broke out between the leaders. Moreno was
worsted in a personal dispute with Saavedra, and at the beginning of
the year 1811 was glad to accept an important mission to England. He
died on the voyage thither. But the revolutionists were reminded that
internal dissensions were out of place by the arrival at Montevideo of
the able and energetic Elio, who had been appointed Viceroy by the
Home Government. Although he was speedily forced to content himself
with holding the town only, he was a source of great trouble to the
Council and formed a valuable rallying-point for the loyalists. The
Peruvian partisans also harassed them in the north, but Belgrano, by
the victory of Tucuman on September 25th, laid the foundations of
Argentine independence. The triumphant general wrote to Buenos Aires:
"Our country may celebrate with just pride the complete victory
obtained on the 25th of September, the anniversary of Our Lady of
Mercy, whose protection we had invoked. We have captured seven guns,
three flags, one standard, fifty officers, four chaplains, two curés,
and six hundred men, besides four hundred wounded prisoners, the
stores belonging to the infantry and the artillery, the largest part
of the baggage. Such is the day's result. Officers and soldiers have
behaved gloriously and bravely. We are pursuing the routed enemy."
This victory freed the north from all fear of invasion in the future.
There is no need to give details of the skirmishes with the royal
forces or the skirmishes between intriguing leaders which occupied the
next eighteen months. It is sufficient to say that during this time
the influence of the soldier San Martin was growing rapidly, and
towards the close of the year 1813 he replaced Belgrano as commander
of the northern army. Hitherto power had been in the hands of two or
three men, among whom Alvear was now the most prominent; but in
January, 1814, a Congress assembled at Buenos Aires, and on the 31st
of that month it chose Posadas, a relation of Alvear, to be Dictator
of the so-called United Provinces. In June Alvear captured Montevideo,
and the hopes of Spain in the Plate district were for ever quenched;
but Uruguay refused to be subordinate to Buenos Aires, and Posadas was
in no position to coerce her. Uruguay, therefore, finally severed the
connection with Argentina, and passes out of our history.
Meanwhile San Martin, who had become Governor of Mendoza, was carrying
on that campaign for the liberation of South America which was to make
his name immortal; but in Buenos Aires affairs were going by no means
well--in fact, anarchy reigned. The appointment of Puirredon as
Dictator brought about some improvement, and on July 9, 1816, the
separation from Spain was formally announced.
The next year San Martin, with an efficient army of four thousand men,
moved to help the Chilians, and gained a glorious victory over the
Spaniards at Chacabuco, not far from Santiago. A year later he won a
no less decisive triumph at Maipu (April 5, 1818), which secured the
independence of Chile, and by his victories he also strengthened the
position of Puirredon and the Government at Buenos Aires.
It was now time for constructive work. A Congress assembled once
more at Buenos Aires, and, on May 25, 1819, promulgated a federal
Constitution on the pattern of the United States of North America. At
the same time Puirredon was glad to resign his difficult position,
and, in his stead, General Rondeau became Dictator, or President. He
was incapable, and the system of government by Juntas or Dictators,
which had distracted the country for ten years, came to an end, and
seemed likely to be succeeded by even worse conditions, for all the
"United Provinces" flew back to particularism and anarchy. But in
1821 the able and honest Rivadavia intervened, and reduced affairs to
some semblance of order. In that year also San Martin entered Lima in
triumph, and it was clearly necessary to organise the new and
sovereign States of South America. In 1822 Lord Londonderry declared
for the part of the English Government that "so large a portion of the
world could not long continue without some recognised and established
relations, and that the State, which neither by its councils nor by
its arms could effectually assert its own rights over its dependencies
so as to enforce obedience, and thus make itself responsible for
maintaining their relations with other Powers, must sooner or later be
prepared to see those relations established by the overruling
necessity of the case in some other form." The United States had
recognised the independence of Argentina, and in 1823 the complicated
state of world politics made decisive action necessary. Spain was once
more in the grip of France, and it was the object of England to
counteract her influence. Accordingly it was intimated to France that
England considered the separation of the colonies from Spain as
complete, and in the December of that year the United States put
forward the celebrated Munroe Doctrine to serve as a warning to France
or any other European Power that might cherish transatlantic designs.
It was on January 23, 1825, that the inevitable result was brought
about. With the countenance of Sir Woodbine Parish, the English
Minister, whose name is preserved by a meritorious work upon the
country where he played so conspicuous a part, the federal States
assembled and decreed the fundamental law of the Constitution. Here we
may date the true commencement of the Republic of Argentina. The
Revolution was at an end. True to the general character of her history
Argentina displayed, in this important struggle, fewer striking events
than any of the other young nations. The battles in her territory
were few, and even the city feuds and inevitable executions were
comparatively mild and infrequent. And yet that Argentina had the
leading share in the Revolution no one can doubt, for, first of all,
she gave to Spanish America that disinterested patriot San Martin, who
was the George Washington of South America; and, in the next place,
the victory of Belgrano at Tucuman went far towards paralysing
loyalist activity in Peru, and finally Buenos Aires was even then
regarded as the capital of the continent, on which were fixed the eyes
of all South American revolutionists, and towards which all the plans
of European statecraft and private intrigue were directed. Argentina
was the leader and organiser of victory.
And what good came of it all? It may be regarded as a regrettable
necessity due to the weakness of Spain. Spain was too feeble and the
other Powers were too alien in every way to control this great Empire.
It was necessary to act; but who will say that the consequences of the
action were wholly beneficial? Argentina exchanged a benevolent, if
unenterprising, Government for a long period of anarchy, alternating
with despotism, but she was less unfortunate than most of the sister
Republics. The men who fought and laboured for the cause of South
American independence had no illusion on the subject. General Bolivar,
the Liberator, when his task was over, said: "This country will
inevitably fall into the hands of the unbridled rabble, and little by
little become a prey to petty tyrants of all colours and races. If it
were possible for any part of the world to return to a state of
primitive chaos, that would be the fate of South America."
South America was in every respect most unfortunate. The weakness
and misfortunes of Spain followed closely upon the growth of the
revolutionary spirit which disturbed the whole world, and though the
Continent was for a long time comparatively little affected by it,
vigorous intrigues in Europe kept it alive, and when the time was ripe
the revolutionists set to work. Equally unfortunate was it that the
Revolution took place at a time when unchecked democracy was
considered a practicable form of government. Experience has shown that
it is beset with difficulties in all States; but where a portion of
the people have political instincts and capacity, public affairs may
go on, even if to some extent hampered by professions of a belief in
ochlocracy, without serious disaster. Few people in the world could
have been found less suited to direct democratic institutions than the
Spanish Creole was at the time of the War of Independence. Little town
communities, paternally governed groups of villages, all with complete
local self-government and united only by common loyalty to a King or
Viceroy--such was the form of government under which the Indo-Spaniards
might have lived and prospered; but the constitutions which they
attempted to formulate were altogether incongruous under the
circumstances. Political theorising has cost South America very dear.
Canning's oft-quoted sentence about the "New World which was called
into existence to redress the balance of the Old" is, in the sense in
which it is often quoted, a piece of cheap rhetoric. But, in fact, he
was arguing that it was not worth while to go to war with France on
account of the marching of French troops into Spain; the present
Spain, he said, was not the country of which our ancestors were
jealous; the Spain over the waters is independent, and the fact has
entirely changed the balance of power.
To suppose, as those who quote the phrase often suppose, that South
America was initiating a happy age in contrast to the wrongs and
oppressions of the Old World, is too extravagant a belief to require
refutation. In the nineteenth century the countries of Europe made
steady progress, and even their internal troubles were generally
fruitful in improved conditions. In South America most of the
countries retrograded, and the whole continent was drenched with blood
uselessly shed. Comparative tranquillity now prevails, but this is due
to the general progress of the peoples--a progress which it would be
rash to say was furthered by their political institutions. The heroics
which have been uttered over the Spanish-America War of Independence
are discounted by the facts of South American history. For a long time
bloodshed and tyranny were its results; the people were as yet
unfitted for full emancipation, and so little advantage has been taken
of the experiences of three-quarters of a century that the promise of
the future is by no means serene, and its chief hope is that material
prosperity may counterbalance defective political conditions. These
are still unsound, and until rulers and subjects advance in civic
capacity the good of Argentina will be the effects rather of the
industry and enterprise of private individuals than of assemblies and
statesmen.
FOOTNOTE:
[48] "The Liberal Creoles were delighted, for experience showed them
the immense resources of their country, and proved that it could
subsist upon its revenues without asking for anything from Peru or
Spain" (Arcos, "La Plata," p. 241).
CHAPTER VIII
ANARCHY AND DESPOTISM--THE WAR WITH PARAGUAY
The rule of Rivadavia was of great value to the country. He reformed
the laws and administration, introduced wide and somewhat drastic
ecclesiastical changes, established the University of Buenos Aires,
and, in general, pursued an enlightened and progressive policy.[49]
But the country was divided into two hostile parties, and neither
being prepared to tolerate the triumph of the opposing system, the
position of Rivadavia was rendered very difficult. He belonged to the
Unitarian party, and its members have succeeded in maintaining their
system, which aimed at a Republic with merely municipal local
government. Buenos Aires was to be the administrative centre and to
control every province, and thus to hold the position which Paris
occupied in France. But the propertied classes in the interior
belonged chiefly to the Federalist party. They viewed with suspicion
the oligarchy of office at the capital, and advocated a federation on
the model of the United States. At first Rivadavia held his ground
against his active opponents, led by Manuel Dorrego, who were eagerly
looking for an occasion against him; and this was speedily found in a
foreign war.
Uruguay has been united to Brazil, but in 1825 it revolted against the
Emperor, and, as might have been expected, Argentina took the part of
her neighbour, and Brazil declared war. Assisted by Admiral Brown, an
Irishman, the Argentines inflicted great loss upon Brazilian shipping,
and Alvear took command of a large army, which invaded Rio Grande do
Sul and completely defeated the Brazilians at Ituzaingo on February
20, 1827. This blow was decisive, and a treaty was made by which
Rivadavia, distracted by domestic troubles and anxious to secure peace
at any price, agreed that Uruguay should still remain a part of Brazil.
His enemies had already spared no efforts to rouse prejudice and inflame
public resentment against him. Appeals had been made to provincial
jealousies, the issue of paper-money was alleged to be draining the
country of the precious metals, and even his statesmanlike efforts to
encourage immigration and the hospitality he offered to foreigners were
matters of accusation against him. The treaty raised a storm of
indignation, and had to be annulled. Rivadavia was so completely
discredited by this transaction that on July 7, 1827, he was forced to
resign, and thus the country lost probably the best constructive
statesman she has produced--a loss which she could ill afford.
Dorrego succeeded him, but in reality the Republic was showing a
strong tendency to split up, and Lopez in Santa Fé, Ibarra in
Santiago, Bustos in Cordoba, and Quiroga in Cuyo, possessed almost as
much power as Dorrego at Buenos Aires. However, with the help of
several of these men, he succeeded in ending the war by a compromise
which left Uruguay an independent state. Argentina was thus free to
devote herself to domestic warfare.
Lavalle was now the head of the Unitarians, and he succeeded in
expelling Dorrego from Buenos Aires. The latter fled to his estates
and raised a body of adherents, but was captured and shot by Lavalle.
The death of Dorrego cleared the way for a man who was destined to
have a much longer political life than is usual in South America, and
also to fill a much larger space in the eyes of the world. That man
was Juan Manuel Rosas.
Darwin records that he and the well-wishers of Argentina were looking
with satisfaction and hope at the vigorous measures and rapid advances
of this remarkable man, and he also adds in a note written years
afterwards that these hopes had been miserably disappointed. Rosas
was a rich man, and from his earliest days had been engaged in
cattle-raising on the southern Pampas. In this hardy open-air life he
had greatly distinguished himself by his boldness and skill in riding,
and was the idol of hundreds of half-savage Gauchos. He was not
endowed with signal abilities, but he was a hard, practical man, full
of audacity and little troubled by scruples. He was now the chief of
the Federalists, but at first there seemed little prospect that he
would be able to make head against Lavalle. The latter led an army to
attack his enemies in Santa Fé, while General Paz marched upon
Cordoba, and at the same time they sent some veteran troops to operate
against Rosas in the south. But these were overthrown by the hardy
horsemen of Rosas, and he came to the rescue of the Federalists.
General Paz had captured Cordoba, and defeated Quiroga with heavy
slaughter, but Rosas' weight turned the scale. He marched to Buenos
Aires, and in June, 1829, Lavalle, who had become involved in a
dispute with the French Minister, was glad to resign and leave the
country. His successor, Viamont, was a puppet of Rosas.
On December 8, 1829, Rosas was elected Captain-General in the
interests of the Federalists, but he had no intention of allowing
Federalist principles to stand in the way of his supreme rule. Lopez
was despatched against Paz, who had the misfortune to be accidentally
taken prisoner. Showing unusual magnanimity, Lopez spared his life.
The troops of the Unitarians never recovered from the loss of their
brave leader, and being attacked by the ferocious Quiroga and driven
to Tucuman, they were in a hopeless position. Quiroga butchered five
hundred prisoners in cold blood, and few of the remnants of Paz's army
escaped to Bolivia.
Rosas then employed himself in consolidating his power at Buenos
Aires, and with this object he repealed several of the Liberal laws of
Rivadavia. In this task he was assisted by a clever and crafty man
named Anchorena, with whose collaboration he passed a rigorous law of
"suspects" directed against the Unitarians. Severe as he was against
that party, and detested as he was by the late holders of office in
the capital, who resented the dominion of a rustic, he was really, by
his masterful measures, advancing the principle against which he posed
as the nominal antagonist.[50] At the end of 1832 his term of office
came to an end, and he was re-elected. But as his extraordinary powers
were not renewed he haughtily refused office, and left Buenos Aires to
reduce the Indians of the Pampa, who had taken advantage of the civil
discords of Argentina. Again a man of straw was put at the helm. His
name was Balcarce.
In the Indian war Rosas was successful, penetrating as far as the Rio
Negro and destroying, according to his own computation, twenty
thousand of the enemy. It is not necessary to describe the manoeuvres
and hesitations which preceded his return to nominal as well as real
power. In 1835 he accepted the title of Governor and Captain-General,
and henceforth ruled as a military Dictator. Never was there a more
ruthless tyrant. The two most prominent soldiers and possible rivals
left in Buenos Aires were Quiroga and Lopez. Quiroga had seen the
elevation of Rosas with ill-concealed disgust, and the new Dictator
resolved to make away with him. Rosas, therefore, commissioned him to
go to pacify Salta and Tucuman, and on his way thither caused him and
his suite to be assassinated. Shortly afterwards Lopez died, and it is
only necessary to say that his physician was handsomely rewarded by
Rosas. He established a reign of terror, and formed a club of ruffians
called the Massorca, whose business it was to murder his enemies. One
Maza attempted a Parliamentary resistance to him, and the crafty
Dictator, after the plan had failed, first lulled him into security by
vague promises of safety and then sent four men to stab him to death.
His death was followed by an extensive proscription; in fact, the
history at this period is distinctly Tacitean.
The power of Rosas was the greater because he had the help of a skilful
general named Urquiza, against whom none of the Dictator's many enemies
could make head. For a long time his power was unassailable, for the
poignards of the Massorca were ready to repress any opposition, and even
the Church was powerless against him. He expelled the Jesuits, paying a
tribute at the same time to "their Christian and moral virtues," but
declaring that they were opposed to the principles of government.
Undoubtedly they were to the principles of his Government.
One of the main features of his policy was jealousy of foreign
influence. He decided that all children born in Argentina were _ipso
facto_ citizens and liable to military service, and this decision
remains in force at the present day. It led, however, to endless trouble
with France. It is probable that if he had been able Rosas would have
closed the country to all foreign nations, as his brother-tyrant,
Francia, did in Paraguay.
But the old Greek saying that the worst disease of tyranny is the
impossibility of reposing trust in its friends was to be justified, and
Urquiza, his right-hand man, who had crushed the invaders from Uruguay
at the battle of India Muerta and who had overawed all opposition, was
at last to prove faithless. He had long been established as Governor of
Entre Rios, where he had acted with remorseless cruelty in stamping out
disaffection. His first attempts to subvert the authority of Rosas were
unsuccessful, but in 1851 he made an alliance with Brazil and one of the
Uruguayan factions, and in the December of that year he assembled a
force of twenty-four thousand men, crossed the Parana, and marched into
Santa Fé. On February 3, 1852, Rosas was overwhelmed at the battle of
Casseros near the capital and he fled to Europe. Twenty-five years later
he died in Hampshire.
Rosas disappeared unregretted. Although it is possible that at the
time he came to the front a military dictatorship was the only
possible form of government, yet he was one of the worst of the long
list of South American tyrants, and it is probably impossible to find
any redeeming feature about him except the fact that he encouraged
agriculture--a service which was largely neutralised by his hatred of
foreigners and foreign commerce. Undoubtedly he stopped the progress of
a promising country, not only for the twenty years of his remorseless
tyranny but for the long years which were required to recover from the
effects of his sanguinary and soulless domination.[51]
Anxious as all were for peace and constitutional government, there was
some civil warfare and much dissension before the position of Urquiza
could be secured. Finally, on May 1, 1853, the Constituent Congress
drew up a Federal constitution, and this is practically still in
force.[52] Hardly less important was the treaty of the 10th of July
following, made with England, France, and the United States, which
declared that the Parana and other rivers should be for ever open to
navigation.
Urquiza was elected the first President under the new constitution for
a period of six years, and the country began to recuperate. The port
of Rosario sprang into being, and the other river cities rapidly
doubled in population. But towards the end of Urquiza's term civil
troubles were renewed. The Province of Buenos Aires had been left
outside the Confederation and was in a position of antagonism to the
other Provinces. The party of the capital was called the Porteños--the
men of the Port--and they took the place of the old Unitarian
party. In 1859 Buenos Aires actually declared war upon the Federal
Government, but Urquiza defeated its forces. Before a settlement could
be made his term of office expired and he was succeeded by Dr. Durqui.
Fortunately, the Governor of Buenos Aires, Bartolemo Mitre, was a true
patriot, and though he was obliged to make war upon the President his
efforts were directed to settling the Federal question, and they were,
for the time, successful. Urquiza evacuated the capital and retired
southwards. Mitre followed him with a large army, and in October,
1861, defeated him at Pavon and himself became President.
It would have been well if the energies of Mitre had been left
unhampered to settle the thorny question of the respective claims of
the Porteños and the provincials, but it was the misfortune of
Argentina to be suddenly involved in the most serious foreign war of
its history. This was the great Paraguayan war.
The occasion of the hostilities was Uruguay. That country had long been
distracted by the savage political strife of the Colorados and Blancos,
and in 1864 the Blancos, having got the upper hand, elected Dr. Aguirre
to the Presidency, who, by his rigorous measures against all suspected
of disaffection, excited the resentment of both Argentina and Brazil.
Both of these countries had important stock-raising interests on the
Uruguay frontiers, and in the civil turmoil their subjects were
frequently subjected to extortion and plunder. Having incurred the
hostility of its too-powerful neighbours, Uruguay looked about for an
ally, and found one in General Lopez, the Dictator of Paraguay.
Lopez in his youth had visited Europe, admired the great armies of the
Continent, and returned convinced that he might play the part of
Napoleon in South America. He had still hardly reached middle age and
was able, cruel, and obstinate. He devoted all his efforts to raising
and equipping an army by which he hoped to make himself the arbiter of
South Ame
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/40069