THE REPUBLICS OF THE RIVER PLATE
The history of no other Republic immediately following on the period of
the Wars of Liberation is quite so complicated as that of Argentina. The
circumstances in the River Plate Provinces differed somewhat from those
of any other part of Spanish South America. From the outset Argentina
loomed more largely in the eye of Europe than did any other of the
sister States. No sooner were the ports thrown open by the newly
constituted Republics than the foreigners flocked to Argentine soil in
numbers which were quite unknown elsewhere. The chief reasons, of
course, for this influx were the temperate climate, the now acknowledged
riches of the land, and the comparative ease with which access to the
country was obtained.
Owing to this latter circumstance, Argentina possessed a great advantage
over Chile, notwithstanding the peculiarly fine climate of the latter
Republic; for the journey over the Andes was strenuous and costly in the
extreme, while the voyage from Europe to the western Republic through
the Straits of Magellan occupied exactly double the time required to
reach Buenos Aires.
These strangers, of course, introduced many progressive ideas and new
habits and luxuries into the land. In non-political matters a
cosmopolitan result was soon evident. At the same time, these foreigners
failed to exercise any but a most indirect influence on the internal
policy of the nation. This was undoubtedly perfectly correct, but in the
face of the curious political situation which prevailed at this period
we have the remarkable spectacle of rapid and definite progress in
commercial, industrial, and private life, while at the same time the
official methods of the public authorities were degenerating with a
rapidity that soon brought the circumstances of government almost to a
point of actual savagery.
In the first instance, men of weight and intellect, such as Rivadavia,
Pueyrredon, and their numerous colleagues, had strained every nerve to
place this new nation of theirs on a par with those of Europe in matters
of intelligence and scientific progress. They had opened colleges,
Universities, hospitals, scientific institutions, libraries, and,
indeed, had endeavoured to provide the community with every instrument
which could further its general progress. Every species of science was
encouraged, even to the introduction of the then novel process of
vaccination.
It was all in vain; the move turned out to be premature. The Spanish
policy of the suppression of education and intelligence was now destined
to show its baneful results. A wave of ignorance and anarchy swept over
the devoted leaders of the revolution, and overwhelmed them completely,
and for the time being even their work. For half a century rival
chieftains rose up one after the other to contend for power. Many of
them employed every conceivable means, whether human or inhuman, to
retain it when once they had succeeded in grasping the coveted
Dictator's throne.
So numerous were these men, and so extensive is the catalogue of their
callous doings, that it is impossible to refer to them in any other but
the briefest fashion here. So extensive, moreover, was the new Republic
of Argentina--or, rather, at that time the collection of frequently
antagonistic provinces which then occupied the area now filled by the
modern Republic--that a single ruler seldom succeeded in maintaining his
authority from frontier to frontier.
In general, the main strife may be said to have been waged between the
provinces of the littoral and those of the Far West. Of all the men who
fought on either side, the greatest leader was, of course, Juan Manuel
Rosas. This astonishing being, as a matter of fact, was by no means one
of the first of these tyrannical Dictators. He was, on the contrary, the
last, so far as Argentina is concerned, but his deeds continued to
savour of an early period to the end.
Although at the time of his advent to power Rosas was merely one of a
type, and found himself surrounded by a number of rival leaders, none
proved himself a match for his extraordinary astuteness and influence
over his neighbours. The Dictator stood out head and shoulders above any
other Argentine despot of his kind. Certainly far more has been written
concerning Rosas than concerning any other South American ruler of his
period--that is to say, so far as Spanish literature is concerned--for,
although his rule attracted a very great deal of attention in England
and elsewhere in Europe for as long as it lasted, the topic appears to
have been allowed to slumber since his banishment and death.
To revert, however, to the first period of the actual independence of
Argentina. This was marked by almost continual warfare on the shores of
the River Plate. Brazil, taking advantage of the confusion in the
territories of her neighbours, had sent her armies to the south, and had
occupied Uruguay, thus extending her frontiers to the long-coveted
shores of the River Plate. This aggression was followed by war between
Buenos Aires and Brazil, while a large section of the Uruguayans,
headed by Artigas, whose name is famed as the great patriot of the Banda
Oriental, by which name the Republic of Uruguay is still familiarly
known, fought desperately against the Portuguese troops.
Notwithstanding the very real perils which the situation held for the
Spanish-speaking folk in these districts, it was not long before serious
jealousies broke out between the leaders. In the end an open breach
occurred between the Argentine army and a section of the Uruguayans.
Artigas flung his devoted bands of soldiery alternately against the
Brazilians and against the soldiers from Buenos Aires, and the more
peaceful inhabitants of Uruguay watched with dismay the advent of a
period of chaos.
During this period, as has been said, the Argentine statesman,
Rivadavia, was working whole-heartedly towards the intellectual
betterment of his country, and in this he was assisted by Alvear and
others. But the warlike stress of the period cut short the majority of
these endeavours. The Brazilians, anxious to conclude the war, had
brought down their entire fleet to the River Plate, and they were
blockading the entrance to the river and the port of Buenos Aires. At
the sight of the hostile vessels the local differences were for the time
being laid aside, and, war vessels being an urgent necessity, public
subscriptions were eagerly forthcoming for the purchase of these.
The small Argentine fleet, when completed, was placed under the orders
of that gallant Irishman, Admiral Brown, and the naval leader lost no
time in forcing his attacks home upon the hostile fleet. Owing to the
fury of these, the efficiency of the blockade was destroyed, although
the Brazilian vessels continued in the neighbourhood for some while.
General Alvear was now appointed commander of the land force operating
against Brazil, and in conjunction with the Uruguayan General,
Lavalleja, he assumed the aggressive, defeated the Imperial army, and
was in turn about to invade the Brazilian province of Rio Grande, when
he found himself obliged to abandon the project owing to the want of
horses from which his army suffered.
In 1827 Rivadavia's Government fell, and after a while Manuel Dorrego, a
gifted soldier and politician, found himself at the head of the State.
Peace was now signed with Brazil, but on terms which the great majority
of the Argentines resented bitterly, and the unrest in the Republic
rapidly came to a head. Dorrego was opposed by General Lavalle, one of
the most famous personalities of the period. Both parties resorted to
arms. Dorrego's force was defeated and its leader captured. On this
Lavalle, a brilliant and liberal-minded man, committed the gravest error
of his career--one, moreover, the nature of which was entirely foreign
to his character--for, after capturing Dorrego, he executed his
prisoner. Reasons of State were the cause of this political crime, since
no personal animosity was involved.
This act was fiercely resented by Dorrego's party in general. It brought
upon Lavalle more particularly the enmity of Juan Manuel Rosas, the man
of blood and iron, whose fierce star had now begun its definite ascent.
An active warfare took place between the two, and although it was
interrupted now and again by truces, these were of short duration, and
the struggle continued almost without intermission until the death of
Lavalle in 1840, when fleeing after his ultimate defeat at the hands of
the opposing party. This, however, is to anticipate somewhat, since it
was as early as 1829 that Rosas first took charge of the Argentine
Government. While this famous leader was in the act of gradually
consolidating his power, the country had become divided into two main
parties--the Federals and the Unitarians.
[Illustration: STATUE OF GENERAL MANUEL BELGRANO.]
Rosas stood as the chief of the Federal party, while Lavalle and his
colleagues represented the Unitarians. After a while it became evident
that, so far as the capital was concerned, the influence of Rosas was
supreme, and it was not long before Buenos Aires began to feel the
weight of that grim personage's hand. Very soon a reign of terror
commenced. The alarmed citizens discovered that all personal security
was now at an end, and that the laws of the Constitution were replaced
by the enactments and degrees made at the will of Rosas. All this time
the latter was strengthening his position, and when the dreaded leader
succeeded in establishing himself firmly in the Dictator's chair, the
severity of his rule increased still more. He laid down laws, not only
concerning public affairs, but also affecting the intimate private life
of the citizens. Red being the Dictator's favourite colour, it followed
in his mind that the nation must mould itself upon his tastes
completely. Thus every citizen of Buenos Aires, in order to show his
loyalty to the autocratic Governor, was obliged to wear a rosette or
band of red.
This wearing of the red naturally became the custom. It was the result
of no special decree, but the unwritten law was not to be denied.
Indeed, did any rash inhabitant of Buenos Aires refrain from obeying it,
the result of his independence was that he betrayed himself an open
enemy of the Dictator, and he met with the inevitable punishment for
this, which was in any case imprisonment, and possibly death. The
blood-like hue, moreover, was encouraged not only in dress, but in
general decorations, and even in the walls of houses, and every other
object in which it could be employed.
The executions during the twenty and odd years which Rosas held office
amounted to many thousands. The melancholy total, indeed, would
assuredly have been still further increased had not the majority of the
more intellectual and of the more important colonial families fled
across the frontiers and taken refuge either in Chile or in Uruguay.
The character of Rosas was strangely complex. It must not be supposed
that he was nothing beyond a mere brigand and tyrant, who busied himself
with executions and plunder, to the exclusion of all other occupations.
He was, indeed, in many respects a man experienced in the ways of the
broader world, and was able, after his particular fashion, to hold his
own with European diplomats and others of the kind.
The great naturalist, Darwin, for instance, when on his visit to the
Argentine Provinces, was brought into contact with Rosas, and admits
that he was very struck with the personality of the leader, who in
conversation was "enthusiastic, sensible, and very grave. His gravity,"
he continues, "is carried to a high pitch." General Rosas, as a matter
of fact, appears to have possessed the happy knack of impressing
favourably almost everyone whom he met, and the explanation of his
policy, when recorded from his own lips, was wont to ring very
differently from that given by his opponents. It is probable enough that
in many respects his views were truly patriotic. His methods, on the
other hand, were callous to an altogether inhuman point. It is, in any
case, quite certain that the value he placed on life was altogether
infinitesimal.
As time went on the power of Rosas steadily increased, and the rival
chieftains one by one withdrew from the contest or met with their death
in one of the wars of the age. Garibaldi himself had broken a lance in
the cause of the Unitarians. Rivera and other progressive leaders had
fought against him in vain. There were others of the type of Quiroga,
who, brought up in the same school as Rosas, although of lesser
birth--for the family of the Dictator was patrician--joined him for a
while in a species of tentative alliance, and then broke away--usually
to their cost.
This Quiroga was one of the most noted chieftains of the interior of the
distraught Republic. He had swept the western provinces with fire and
sword, executing, burning, and plundering wherever he went. Had he not
fallen foul of Rosas, he might have continued his grim career unchecked
for years. As it was, he came in contact with a master-mind, and, as was
inevitable, perished.
There are many Argentines even to-day who claim that, for all the
tyranny of the Dictator, the country was none the worse for his rule,
and that the regime which he introduced, however bloodthirsty and
horrible, was at all events one of discipline such as the distracted
collection of provinces had never known since the days of the Spanish
rule. There is no doubt whatever concerning the existence of this
discipline. So severe was the phase, and so vague was the slender amount
of liberty left to the private citizens, that many of these latter lived
at periods immured within their houses, lest by sallying forth into the
street they should unwittingly offend the powers and pay the penalty.
The relations of Rosas with the foreign Powers soon grew strained. He
fell foul of the French and British nations, and as a result the allied
fleets arrived off the mouth of the River Plate and blockaded Buenos
Aires. The outcome of this, however, was purely negative. Although the
Republic suffered inconvenience from the cessation of trade, the
community was self-supporting, while it was impossible, of course, for
the European forces to attempt to carry on land operations. Thus, after
a prolonged stay in the waters of the River Plate, the blockade was
raised, and the French and British fleets sailed away, having to all
intents and purposes failed to achieve their object.
The extraordinary force of Rosas's character is best instanced by the
length of his rule. This, as has been said, continued for over twenty
years, until the year 1852. That a Dictator should have continued to
hold the reins of power for this length of time in the face of the
opposition and hatred which, although smothered, were rampant on every
side of him was undoubtedly a most amazing feat. His political end, when
it came, was a rapid one. After having humbled every aspirant who strove
to challenge his power, he was confronted by General Urquiza, who had
for years dominated the province of Entre Rios.
The numbers of the actively discontented had now reached truly
formidable dimensions. Brazil and Uruguay both came to the assistance of
those Argentines who were disposed to attempt rebellion afresh, after
years of enforced and trembling peace. A large army composed of
Argentines, Brazilians, and Uruguayans, under the joint command of the
Brazilian Marquis de Caxias and General Urquiza, crossed the Parana
River, invaded the province of Buenos Aires, defeated Rosas's troops,
and advanced on the capital. On February 3, 1852, the fateful Battle of
Caseros was fought, rather less than ten miles from the town of Buenos
Aires. The terrified civilian inhabitants of the town awaited the result
in profound suspense. All the while the fight was raging a succession of
messengers came galloping through the streets bearing contradictory
fragments of news. After some hours the citizens were no longer left in
doubt. The stragglers of Rosas's beaten army came pouring into the town,
and it became known that the Dictator, completely defeated, had fled.
General Rosas and his daughter were received on a British warship, and
sailed for Southampton, in which town the famous leader remained until
the day of his death.
Urquiza was received by the inhabitants of Buenos Aires with delirious
joy as the deliverer of the Republic. By means of the proclamations
which he showered upon the populace he endeavoured to make it clear that
he would continue in that capacity. It was not long, however, before his
actions aroused the suspicions of the townsfolk. In fact, after a while
it became fairly evident that Urquiza, having once found himself in the
full enjoyment of power, was by no means indisposed to follow the
example so grimly set by Rosas--although this possibly in a minor
degree. It is true that the new chief of the Republic passed some
progressive measures, including one which opened the waters of the River
Plate (closed during the rule of Rosas) to foreign commerce; but the
general tendency of his government was popularly held to be of the
reactionary order.
Revolutions against his authority broke out, and in July of 1853, some
eighteen months after the Battle of Caseros, General Urquiza was
conveyed from Buenos Aires in a United States man-of-war to his
head-quarters in his own province of Entre Rios, where he remained,
leading a semi-private life in the enjoyment of his vast estates.
With the retirement of Urquiza we come practically to the modern
conditions of the great Republic of Argentina, for General Bartolome
Mitre now came into power, and with the advent of the famous Argentine
President the Republic began to assume something of its present
importance. It was, however, not until thirty years later that the final
differences between Buenos Aires and the other provinces were completely
adjusted.
The effect of this settlement was remarkable and immediate, for
simultaneously with the removal of the jealousies which had hitherto
reigned between the great province of Buenos Aires and its neighbours
the last impediment in the path of progress vanished, and the Republic
advanced with an almost startling rapidity to the importance of its
present position in the world's affairs.
During all this while the small Republic of Uruguay, which had cut
itself adrift from Argentina in the course of the War of Independence,
had continued on a somewhat chequered and stormy career. After
innumerable struggles, the dauntless little State succeeded in freeing
itself from the aggressions of its powerful neighbours to the north and
south. This did not suffice to put an end to internal unrest, and the
rival parties--the _Colorados_ and the _Blancos_--made a battle-ground
of the Republic for generation after generation. Notwithstanding this,
the intellectual progress of the Uruguayans has continued throughout,
and the development of the national industries on a fitting scale is now
proceeding.