HISTORY--_continued_
Foreign war succeeded by internal chaos--Warriors as
statesmen--The dictatorship of Lavalleja--His methods--The first
open breach between Lavalleja and Rivera--A temporary
reconciliation--Establishment of the Constitution of
Uruguay--Lavalleja and Rivera candidates for the President's
chair--Differences in the temperaments of the two--Rivera is
elected first President of Uruguay--Jealousies and
intrigue--Attack upon Rivera--Narrow escape of the
President--Lavalleja's party temporarily occupy
Montevideo--Defeat of the insurgent general--His flight into
Brazil--Intervention of the Argentine Dictator Rosas--His support
of Lavalleja--Combined forces beaten by Rivera--Lavalleja's
second attempt proves unsuccessful--General Oribe succeeds Rivera
as President--Lavalleja's party again in the ascendant--Rivera
heads a revolution--Civil war--Intervention of
France--Resignation of Oribe--Rivera elected President--His
alliance with the French and Corrientines--Declaration of war
against Rosas--Defeat of the latter--On the withdrawal of the
French Rosas resumes the aggressive--Severe defeat of Rivera and
his allies of the littoral provinces--Oribe besieges
Montevideo--The services of Garibaldi--The Uruguayan forces
decimated--Further incidents of the war--The power of Rosas
broken by Brazil, Uruguay, and Entre-Rios.
For the purpose of a self-contained romance with a popular ending, the
adventures of the leaders of the thirty-three should end at the moment
when the liberation of the Banda Oriental became a dawning certainty,
but history has an unfortunate knack of continuing where fiction
ceases. The fiercest enemy of a hero is longevity.
In this case the phase is especially lamentable, since although daring
deeds of arms persisted, the feats were wrought, not in a joint cause
against a common enemy, but amidst a turbulent confusion of sudden
alliances and yet more rapid breaches between friends and neighbours
that rendered impossible speculation whence the tide of battle would
flow next.
The three names that stood out from the very midst of the chaos of
events were those of Lavalleja, Rivera, and Oribe. Since the three had
fought shoulder to shoulder for their country's redemption this
prominence was only fitting and just. Yet the rôle of each of the
three differed widely now from his previous methods. Cohesion had
departed with the enemy's forces: not so the tale of the battlefields,
that multiplied until they stained the soil of the country a deeper
red than ever before.
The first few months of complete independence gave no inkling of what
was to come. After one or two politicians had held interim offices,
General Rondeau, who had rendered great services to Uruguay, was made
Governor. A disagreement, however, arose between him and the
constitutional assembly. As a result he resigned his post, and
departed to Buenos Aires, shaking the dust of the Banda Oriental from
his feet.
Lavalleja was now invested with the chief office of the land. Alas for
the difference between the striver after liberty and the sitter in the
goddess's chair! Viewed from the lofty pedestal, freedom became
distant far below and lost to sight. In short, Lavalleja became a
dictator of the most arbitrary type from the very beginning of his
authority. He muzzled the Press, such as it was, disbanded various
battalions suspected of loyalty to his private interests, and then
turned upon Rivera, his old comrade-in-arms. Not satisfied with
depriving the latter of his office of Commandant-General, Lavalleja
raised an army, and, intent upon destruction, marched against the man
whom he feared as his most dangerous rival.
The despotic Governor was not mistaken in his estimate of Rivera's
power. Indeed, the result of a battle would have been extremely
doubtful, had the two forces come into conflict. But the strenuous
efforts of several peaceful commissions ended in a reconciliation
between the leaders--a mere loose patching up of differences, it is
true, but one that served for the time being. In the meanwhile the
Constitution of independent Uruguay was established and sworn to, the
event being greeted by the populace with wild enthusiasm.
The new State was, of course, endowed with a President, whose chair
remained to be occupied. As was inevitable, the two candidates for the
high post were Generals Lavalleja and Rivera. Both were, perhaps,
almost equally secure in the admiration of the nation. Nevertheless,
the distinctions between the temperaments of the two were marked.
Rivera was a democrat, a friend of the populace, whom he captivated by
his intimacy and easy manner. Lavalleja's tendencies were, by
comparison, aristocratic; yet it is doubtful whether he lost much in
influence from his loftier pose.
The first legislative act of the National Assembly came as a bitter
blow to Lavalleja. In October of 1830 that body elected as President
General Rivera. As a nation Uruguay had now blossomed out into a
full-blown Constitution. But the youthful constitutional flower was
destined to suffer an almost continuous winter of frosts. It was
beyond the limits of Lavalleja's forbearance to sit quietly by and to
see his rival comfortably installed in the coveted chair of state. It
was not long ere the machinery of plots was set in motion. The first
attempt proved all but successful. Rivera, accompanied only by a few
men, chanced to be in the small town of Durazno, suspecting nothing,
when a force of five hundred of his enemies descended suddenly upon
the place. Their object was the capture of the President, who only
escaped by leaping through a window and by swimming across the River
Yi. A rising of the Charrúa Indians was the next material fruit of the
campaign of intrigue; but the rebellion served no other end than the
practical extirpation of the remnant of the aboriginal race that had
survived until then.
Very shortly after this a revolutionary movement was instigated in
Montevideo itself. Headed by Colonel Garzon, who held in his pocket a
commander-in-chief's commission from Lavalleja, the rising was
temporarily successful. The National Assembly, intimidated, had
already confirmed the appointment of Lavalleja as President, when
Perez, the Vice-President, resisted, and the rest, encouraged by his
example, made a firm stand. As a result, Lavalleja himself made his
appearance in Montevideo, and, with his followers, occupied the
municipal buildings. After an exchange of shots, however, he and his
band were forced to retire.
During the course of these events Rivera had been absent from the
town. On receiving the news he hastened back from the country, and,
placing himself at the head of an army, set out in strenuous pursuit
of Lavalleja. The latter was overtaken at Tupambay. A battle ended in
the shattering of his company, and, closely pursued by the President,
Lavalleja fled across the northern border and sought shelter in
Brazil.
In the meanwhile the famous Rosas had come to power in Argentina, and
the policy of this dictator was destined to awaken very material
echoes in Uruguay. Lending support to Lavalleja, he sent a force of
three hundred men across the river. In order to create a diversion,
these captured the town of Melo from the Government party. Their
triumph was fleeting. Beaten shortly afterwards by Rivera in person,
the invading force fled to Brazil.
But the end of the tide of invasion had not yet come. At the beginning
of 1834 Lavalleja, aided by further contingents furnished by Rosas,
descended once more from the north into his native country. On this
occasion the events of his former attempt were repeated with equally
disastrous results to himself. Beaten once again, he sought Brazil,
the sheltering spot of all the atoms of Uruguayan turbulence.
A little after this the four years of Rivera's term of office expired.
It was now the turn of another of the thirty-three, General Manuel
Oribe, to enter the arena. Oribe was a warrior as well seasoned as the
others. He had fought strenuously under Artigas's standard; but at the
coming of the crisis, declaring that he could no longer serve under
such a tyrant, he joined the Buenos Aires cause. Later, he had formed
one of the most prominent members of the thirty-three. Becoming
embroiled in the disputes of the period, he had found himself in
opposition to Rivera, although he had to thank the President for
promotion in rank.
In March of 1835 General Manuel Oribe was created the second
constitutional President of the Republic. One of his first cares was
to undermine the weighty influence of Rivera, in whose power he saw a
menace to his own office. The new President began the campaign by
summoning back to their country all those _Lavallejistas_ who had been
living in forced exile in Brazil and Argentina. Then, in order to
deliver a death-blow to a rival's prestige, he deprived the late
President of his rank of commandant-general.
Exasperated beyond endurance at this latter move, Rivera immediately
made his appeal to the only authority that was understood at the
period--that of arms. The insurrection attained almost immediately to
formidable proportions. Indeed, there is no doubt that the malcontent
cause would have been successful almost immediately had not Rosas
intervened. As it was, the Dictator sent over from Argentina to the
assistance of the Government five hundred troops, under the command of
Lavalleja, who had thrown in his lot with Oribe against his
arch-rival.
As a preliminary to the actual hostilities Oribe sent forth a
thunderous proclamation, in which Rivera was branded as a traitor to
his country. The first battle ended in favour of the Government, the
forces of the rebellion leaving over two hundred dead upon the field.
The chief historical importance of the contest, however, lies in the
fact that on this occasion were used for the first time the red and
the white colours that distinguished the respective forces of Rivera
and Oribe and that have ever since remained the emblems of bitter
strife.
The fortune of war varied for a while. After numerous indecisive
skirmishes, Rivera won an action at Yucutuja, while a month later
Oribe was successful in a battle on the banks of the River Yi. Then
followed the decisive battle of Palmar, from which the Government
forces emerged no longer as an army, but merely as a scattering of
fugitive stragglers.
In the meanwhile foreign influence, in addition to the lot of war, had
veered in favour of the revolution. The arbitrary methods of Rosas,
extended to foreigners resident within the land, had caused him to
become embroiled with France. Thus the northern power, in addition to
the institution of a blockade of Buenos Aires port, was only too glad
of the opportunity of frustrating the plans of the Argentine despot in
Uruguay. Allying their forces with those of the revolutionists, they
captured the island of Martin Garcia from the Government troops, and
were preparing further active measures of aggression when Oribe
realised the hopelessness of his plight. Adopting the sole course that
was left him, he resigned his office of President, and sailed for
Buenos Aires, accompanied by his late ministers, and a considerable
following of private friends.
Rivera's road to the return of power was now clear. In November of
1838 he made a triumphal entry into Montevideo, and in due course the
National Assembly elected him President for the second time. One of
the first acts of the new chief of the State was the avenging of
Rosas' late interference in favour of his rival. Allying himself with
the French Government and the Province of Corrientes, he declared
war--not against the worthy Argentine nation, as was carefully
explained in the proclamation, but against the "tyrant of the immortal
people of South America."
Rosas was never slow in responding to a challenge of the kind.
Scarcely had the declaration of hostilities been made when he sent an
army of six thousand men to invade Uruguay. Rivera, his forces
strengthened by a thousand French volunteers, marched to meet the
enemy, and at Cagancha he obtained a signal victory, the Argentine
troops being defeated with heavy loss, and thus forced to abandon
their campaign in Uruguay.
It seemed as though the event had put the seal upon Uruguay's success.
But the fortunes of the period were as erratic as the period was
turbulent. Very shortly after the Battle of Cagancha the differences
between Rosas and the French were settled, with the result that an
armistice was effected. With the raising of the blockade of Buenos
Aires and the departure of the French troops from the country, it was
the turn of Rosas to laugh, for his enemy now stood before him
single-handed.
On this occasion the first aggressive steps were taken by the naval
forces. In 1841 the Argentine fleet, under Admiral Brown, made a
practical end to Uruguayan sea power. Some minor vessels that were
subsequently collected were given in charge of the Italian Garibaldi,
and the famous guerilla leader carried on with them a war of
privateering, without, however, meeting with any material success.
In a desperate attempt to stem the formidable tide of Rosas's power,
the three provinces of Corrientes, Entre Rios, and Santa Fé allied
themselves with Uruguay. From the joint States Rivera raised an army
of seven thousand men. But even this heroic effort did not suffice.
Boldly marching through Entre Rios towards Buenos Aires, Rivera found
himself brought to an abrupt halt by the unexpected appearance before
him of his old enemy, Oribe, at the head of an imposing army of
fourteen thousand men. The ensuing battle, fiercely fought, ended in
an overwhelming victory for the superior forces, nearly a thousand of
Rivera's men being massacred in cold blood on the conclusion of the
fight.
The beaten President retired from Entre Rios with the remnants of his
army, while Oribe likewise crossed the Uruguay River, and marched
leisurely southwards from Salto towards Montevideo. In due time his
armies arrived before the capital, which they forthwith proceeded to
invest, thus commencing the great siege of the place that endured for
nine years.
The circumstances of the beleaguering are too numerous and complicated
to bear recapitulation here. One of the most notable features of the
earlier days was a proclamation issued by Oribe to the effect that he
would spare no foreigners whose sympathies lay with the "rebels," as
he termed the Government of Rivera--or rather of Joaquín Suárez, who
had taken the defeated President's post in Montevideo. The result of
the proclamation was exactly the reverse of that anticipated by Oribe,
since the foreigners responded by raising legions of their own and by
flocking to the active defence of the town. The capital, however, was
closely invested by sea as well as by land, Garibaldi's flotilla
finding itself unable to make any headway against Admiral Brown's
blockading fleet.
In the meanwhile Rivera had not been idle. With the amazing
recuperative power that was characteristic of so many of the noted
leaders of the period he had scraped together from the countryside a
force of nearly four thousand men. With these he harassed the rear of
the besieging force to such effect that the Buenos Aires Government,
in order to leave the blockade undisturbed, raised a fresh army, and
sent it, under the command of General Urquiza, to cope with the
unexpected source of danger.
Urquiza came up with Rivera at India Muerta, and the result was fatal
to the Uruguayan force. The end of a desperate conflict saw nearly a
thousand of Rivera's men lying dead upon the Campo. In accordance with
the drastically conclusive methods of the age, the number of prisoners
was small by comparison. As to the surviving remnant, it was scattered
to the four winds on the face of the downlands.
The terrible defeat of India Muerta deprived Rivera of his military
prestige and Uruguay of her last hope of aggressive warfare. Cooped up
in Montevideo, the Government appealed in despair for foreign
intervention. England and France, viewing the policy of Rosas with
dislike, complied with the request. But in the end their interference
proved futile, although the combined European forces went the length
of blockading the Argentine ports, and of defeating Rosas's troops on
the banks of the Paraná.
Rivera in the meanwhile had fallen upon evil days. His last defeat had
involved him in straits that went beyond even the loss of men and
power. The fatal day won for him, unjustly enough as it proved, the
active suspicion of his own people. Doubtful of his loyalty, the
Montevideo Government applied to Brazil for his banishment to Rio de
Janeiro. The petition was acceded to; but the Uruguayan leader seemed
a veritable human phoenix in his ability to spring undismayed from the
ashes of each successive disaster. With the ultimate object of taking
an active part once again in his country's defence, he succeeded in
getting himself appointed by Montevideo as Minister Plenipotentiary to
Paraguay.
Rivera, however, had no intention of proceeding to take up his office.
Once free of Brazil, he sailed boldly down the river to Montevideo,
and raised the popular opinion of the capital so much in his favour
that, after a short period of disturbance in the beleaguered city, he
was once again endowed with trust and command. He took himself
forthwith to the Campo, where he resumed his warlike operations with
varied success.
Nevertheless, it was many years ere this particular period of
Uruguay's strenuous vicissitudes came to an end. The year 1851 marked
one of the numerous dawns in the fortunes of the land. Then an
alliance was concluded between Uruguay and Brazil, while the famous
General Urquiza, revolting against the Buenos Aires tyrant, brought
the forces of Entre Rios to join the league that was now formed
against Rosas. The result was the Battle of Monte Caseros, in which
the combined forces made an end to the dictator's power, and caused
him to flee to Europe.
The soil of Uruguay was once again free from hostile troops. During
the fleeting period of peace that followed, it is necessary to take
leave of two of the three Orientales who had ridden to such purpose on
the breath of the whirlwind. A little more than two years after the
Battle of Monte Caseras, Lavalleja died at Montevideo. In harness to
the end, the liberator of his country ended his career just as he had
once again been elected to take a share in its government. Three short
months later Rivera followed his old comrade and enemy to the land
where the cavalry lance is unknown and where no gunshot crashes echo.