(1). From the Spanish Conquest to the War of Independence: here the
principal actors were maritime explorers, buccaneers, and mercantile
adventurers;
(2). The War of Independence from 1810 to 1826: in this period
Irishmen performed feats of valor worthy to rank with those in Greek
or Roman history.
(3). Since the Independence; a period of commercial and industrial
development, in which Irishmen have played a foremost part.
* * * * *
It has been said that George Barlow, the companion of Sebastian
Cabot, was an Irishman. Cabot was the first Britisher to sail up the
Rio de la Plata, and gave it its name just thirty-five years after
the discovery of America. Barlow was in the service of the king of
Spain, and in that country met Cabot, who had been appointed Pilot
Major to his Majesty in the year 1518. In 1577 we read of the famous
Admiral Drake's expedition to the River Plate, which he reached on
April 14, 1578. Evidently it was a successful one in the opinion of
Queen Elizabeth, for on Drake's return to Plymouth, September 26,
1580, she came aboard his ship and knighted him. There seem to have
been three Irishmen on this expedition, Fenton, Merrick, and Ward.
Fenton, who was in command of two vessels, was attacked by a Spanish
squadron between Brazil and the River Plate, and the battle continued
by moonlight until one of the Spaniards was sunk. The Spanish
historian adds that Fenton might have sunk another of the enemy's
ships, but refrained because there were several women on board.
Lozana in his _History_ mentions a revolution in Paraguay in 1555,
which was headed by an Irishman named Nicholas Colman. This
revolution was quickly suppressed by the Spanish viceroy, Yrala, but
Colman led a second revolution in 1570, when Captain Rigueline was
governor of Guayra. The mutineers named Colman for their chief, put
their treasures into canoes, and floated down the Parana until their
boats were capsized by some rapids, probably the falls of Apipe in
Misiones. The viceroy, on hearing of the revolt, sent troops to bring
back the fugitives, and the latter were treated with unusual
clemency. Lozana describes Colman as a daring, turbulent buccaneer.
For fifteen years he seems to have played an important part in
Guayra; his subsequent fate is unknown.
In 1626 an expedition commanded by James Purcell, an Irishman,
established itself on the island of Tocujos, in the mouth of the
Amazon.
Captain Charles O'Hara was sent by Governor Arana from Montevideo in
March, 1761, to destroy the old landmarks of Rio Negro and Ching
between the dominions of Portugal and Spain. The officer next under
him was Lieutenant Charles Murphy, afterwards governor of Paraguay.
This expedition suffered great hardships.
Several of the expeditions of the privateers of the eighteenth
century sailed from Ireland. Dampier, a skilful navigator, went on a
cruise to intercept the Spanish galleons returning from the River
Plate with booty supposed to be worth £600,000 sterling. He sailed
from Kinsale in September, 1703, with two vessels, and no doubt
amongst the crews were many Irishmen. It was on this expedition that
Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch sailor, was put on shore at Juan
Fernandez in 1704, where he remained until rescued by Captain Rogers,
who commanded the _Duke_, a vessel of 320 tons, which sailed from
Cork on September 1, 1708, touched by chance at Juan Fernandez, and
found the original of Defoe's remarkable story, _Robinson Crusoe_,
who presented a wild appearance dressed in his goatskins.
In 1765 Captain Macnamara, with two vessels called the _Lord Clive_
and the _Ambuscade_, mounting between them 104 guns, attempted to
take Colonia, in front of Buenos Ayres, from the Spaniards. Having
shelled the place for four hours, Macnamara expected every moment to
see a white flag hoisted, when, by some mishap, the _Lord Clive_ took
fire, and 262 persons perished. The Spaniards fired upon the poor
fellows in the water, only 78 escaping to land. Macnamara was seen to
sink. His sword was found a few years ago by a Colonia fisherman, who
presented it to the British consul at Montevideo. Most of the Irish
names still extant in the Argentine provinces, such as Sarsfield,
Carrol, and Butler, are probably derived from these captives. Among
the descendants of the survivors of Macnamara's expedition may be
mentioned the ablest lawyer ever known in Buenos Ayres and for many
years Prime Minister, the late Dr. Velez Sarsfield, and also Governor
O'Neill.
The year 1586 saw an expedition of a very different character,
consisting of the first Jesuits sent to convert Paraguay, under the
direction of Father Thomas Field, an Irishman, and son of a Limerick
doctor. Their vessel fell into the hands of English privateers off
the Brazilian coast, but the sea rovers respected their captives, and
after sundry adventures the latter landed at Buenos Ayres, whence
they proceeded over land to Cordoba. The year following they set out
for Paraguay, where Father Field and his companions laid the
foundation of the Jesuit commonwealth of Misiones, which had such
wonderful development in the following two centuries as to cause
Voltaire to admit that "the Jesuit establishment in Paraguay seems to
be the triumph of humanity."
Another Irish Jesuit, Father Thaddeus Ennis, appears in authority in
Misiones shortly before the downfall. In 1756, when Spain ceded San
Miguel and other missions to Portugal, Father Ennis was entrusted
with the removal lower down to Parana of such tribes as refused to
become Portuguese subjects.
Yet another Jesuit, Father Falkiner, son of an Irish Protestant
doctor in Manchester, who had himself studied medicine, was one of
the most successful travellers and missionaries of the 18th century.
Among his friends in London was a ship-captain who traded from the
coast of Guinea to Brazil, carrying slaves for the company recently
established by Queen Anne's patent, and he it doubtless was who
prevailed on the young physician to try a seafaring life. In one of
his voyages as ship surgeon, from Guinea to Buenos Ayres, he fell ill
at the latter port, and, there being no hotels, he had the good
fortune to enjoy the hospitality of the Jesuit superior, Father
Mahony, whose name proclaims his Irish nationality. Such was the
impression made on Falkiner by the kindness of the Jesuits that he
shortly afterwards was received into the Church and entered as a
novice in the College of St. Ignatius at Buenos Ayres. He spent the
first years of his missionary career in Misiones and Tucuman. Later
on he was despatched by his superior to Patagonia, and his success
there during 27 years was almost equal to what has already been
mentioned of Father Field in Paraguay. He converted many tribes, and
traversed nearly every part of Patagonia from Rio Negro to Magellan's
Straits, and as far inland as the Andes. He knew most of the Indian
tongues, and by his winning manners and knowledge of medicine gained
a great influence over the savages. When he published his life and
travels, such was the effect of his book upon the king of Spain that
he at once ordered surveys and settlements to be made along the
Patagonian coast, which Father Falkiner represented as exposed to
seizure by the first adventurer who should land there. Father
Falkiner's book has been translated into French, German, and Spanish.
He returned to England and died at Spetchly, Worcestershire, near the
end of the 18th century.
In 1774 the bishop of Ayachucho was Dr. James O'Phelan, who rebuilt
the old Cathedral of Pasco. His father was an Irish officer in the
Spanish army.