MONTE VIDEO.
Biographical memoranda on the late British minister to
the Plate.—First impressions of the Uruguayan capital
unfavourable.—The New Custom House.—An instance of
enterprise without prudence.—Commercial advantages of
Monte Video.—Prosperity obtained at the expense of Buenos
Ayres.—Revisal of the Buenos Ayrean tariff.—Alluvial deposits
of the Rio Plata.—Gas from mares’ grease.—Traces of a
siege.—Unprofitable ploughing by Oribe’s projectiles.—Condition
of the streets.—The Horses of La Plata, and the Lasso.—Commerce
of London with Monte Video and Buenos Ayres.—Mules for the
Australian Gold Diggings.—Diminution of the Customs.—Bitter
fruits of British and French intervention.—Sir William Gore
Ouseley and the British Loan.—The Market-place.—Italian
boatmen.—Encouragement given to foreigners.—Aspect of
the environs.—The English burial ground.—The latest
revolution.—Sketch of the History of Monte Video.—Senhor
Castellanos.—Immigration from Europe.—Abolition of slavery in
Uruguay.—Formation of agricultural colonies.—Diplomatic and
consular memoranda.
[Illustration: MONTE VIDEO—CAPITAL OF THE BANDA ORIENTAL DEL URUGUAY]
NOTE TO THE ILLUSTRATION.—Pursuing the plan adopted in several
of the preceding chapters, we here follow, in great part, from
the source drawn upon in the former instances, the description
given of Monte Video, by the same hand to which we are indebted
for the illustration. Monte Video, situate in latitude 35
degrees S., longitude 56 degrees W., is the capital of the
‘Banda Oriental’ (eastern shore or banks), or, as it is more
formally designated, the ‘Republic of the Uruguay;’ it is on
the left bank of the River Plate, but, in part, is a seaport,
the river being here above 120 miles across, although this
capital is about 100 miles from the ocean. Yet even near Monte
Video, after the prevalence of certain winds, the water is not
too salt for drinking, in case of necessity; indeed, when off
the port, were it not for this freshness, the stranger could
hardly credit he is not still at sea, instead of in a river,
so immense is it. Monte Video is most advantageously placed
for commercial purposes. It is not enough to say that Buenos
Ayres is the capital of the Argentine Provinces, and Monte
Video that of the Banda Oriental—the extent of territory of
which latter is small in comparison with the former—for these
two places are not only the chief ports of entry through which,
says Parish, the trade of these countries is carried on with
foreign nations, but it will be found that at whichever of them
the largest amount of foreign goods is landed, they are for the
most part destined for the consumption of the people of the
countries watered by the Rio de la Plata and its tributaries.
The amount of foreign goods—so greatly out of proportion to
its population—which, a few years back, was landed at Monte
Video, is chiefly to be ascribed to the blockade of Buenos
Ayres, which temporarily diverted the trade from its ordinary
course. Whenever Buenos Ayres has the misfortune to be so
attacked, the advantageous situation of Monte Video, as a
central port, will always give it importance as an entrepot for
goods destined for the provinces in the interior. This was the
case in a remarkable degree during the late beleaguerment of
Buenos Ayres, by Urquiza, until the admiral of his fleet, the
North American adventurer Coe, went over to the authorities of
the City. During the whole of this time, Monte Video, being the
only open port, prospered immensely in the amount of shipping
entering it. There is no doubt, also, that its situation offers
facilities for the supply at all times by indirect means
of the adjoining provinces of Brazil and of the Argentine
Confederation, of which the Monte Videans will probably avail
themselves, to the detriment of their neighbours’ interests,
unless, in self-defence, the latter so regulate their customs
duties as to countervail all temptations to avoid them. Now
this the Buenos Ayreans are wisely doing; for before the
close of the past year (1853) they effected an important
modification in their tariff, which, coupled with the opening
of the great internal streams, is sure to be productive of
infinite advantage.[77] The harbour at Monte Video, except
during certain winds and violent gales, is good, and the river
basin well sheltered. But the vast body of fresh water of the
River Plate brings with it, especially after floods, immense
quantities of earth, sand, &c., forming continual deposits,
gradually filling up this and other harbours in La Plata, and
diminishing the depth of water in many places. For instance,
in the harbour of Monte Video—the best in the river—formerly
large vessels of war, then called frigates (during the Spanish
colonial government), used to lie quite close to the wharves in
the inner part of the harbour, where none but merchant vessels,
and those not of the largest size, now find sufficient depth.
This gradual accumulation of alluvial deposit might easily be
prevented in the harbour by the use of excavating and dredging
machines. They were, in fact, successfully tried some years
ago, but the invasion of the country and the late siege of its
capital, which lasted above nine years, forced the government
to employ all its resources in self-defence, and this, like
many other useful measures, was suspended, but will be again
resumed speedily, as also many other essential improvements
prosecuted with vigour, now that the prospects of peace are
assured, from the determination of the whole bulk of the
population to abstain from siding with any of the disturbers of
tranquillity. Lighthouses have been erected at the entrance of
the river; its most dangerous parts are buoyed, and licensed
pilots ply off its mouth to take vessels either into the
harbour of Monte Video, or up to Buenos Ayres. With their help,
and the excellent charts and sailing directions that have been
published, the navigation, which would otherwise be difficult,
on account of sand-banks, is made tolerably safe for the vast
number of merchant vessels which are continually on their
passage up and down the river.
The impression on landing here is unfavourable, or at least, was so when
I visited it, though such is the rapidity of change in South American
regions, that, I believe, matters have put on a very much improved aspect
within the short period that has since elapsed. At that time, at all
events, the place was very dirty, from rainy weather; ill-paved streets;
great confusion with carts and horses; all kinds of queer-looking beings
about; and a medley of nations, remarkable even in this focus of motley
emigration. Things looked in a rough, unfinished state, such as you would
hardly expect to find in the second important city of the La Plata; and
the reality contrasted sadly with the gay houses, their fantastic turrets
and look-outs, which present such a picturesque appearance from the sea.
The poverty the place displays is too fully accounted for by the many
years of siege, blockade, civil war, and disaster it has gone through,
rendering it almost miraculous that so much should still exist in the
shape of a city. You land at the ponte, or custom-house wharf, built out
a short distance into the bay, whilst the custom-house itself is in a
street some little distance off. On the right, near the entrance of the
harbour, is the new custom-house, an immense pile, which, when finished,
must prove a great convenience to commerce, so long as the latter is
made to go through the ordeal of fiscal duties, which here comprise
nearly the entire revenue of the state. Close to the new custom-house is
a light-looking jetty, made chiefly of iron, with a good landing-place,
and rails running along the wharf to bonded warehouses on shore. This
wharf or pier was the work of an enterprising Englishman, who had more
public spirit than prudence, and was unsuccessful in his views, owing
partly to there not being sufficient water to enable vessels to come
alongside the structure. The city of Monte Video is erected on a kind
of promontory, running out into the sea, which washes one side, and the
bay the other. Like most Spanish towns in South America, it is built
in squares, with parallel streets, the houses all shapes and sizes,
with square courts, from which you enter the different suites of rooms,
many very handsomely arranged and furnished, the area of the court being
adorned with plants and flowers. Since the siege was raised, parts of
the old fortifications have been pulled down, and new streets are in
process of building, as also a new theatre; so that with a continuance
of peace, Monte Video would soon assume more importance, and many of
its civic defects be remedied. Some spirited individuals have got up
a gas company, and the town is now excellently lighted from a local
commodity called mares’ grease, and certainly a clearer or better light
I never saw anywhere. Country houses are also springing up since the
desolation in which the outskirts were left by the nine years’ siege at
the hands of Rosas and his creatures, of which it still bears the traces
in all directions, particularly at that memorable point between the city
and General Oribe’s camp at Cerrito, where every house was riddled or
destroyed with cannon-shot, and the very ground ploughed up by the same
unproductive metal. In a large square, at the extremity of the town,
stands the cathedral, a huge unfinished building, which towers above
everything else, and is emblematic of the old Spanish taste in churches.
This square will be an acquisition when finished and put in order,
planted with trees, &c., towards which there is already some movement;
but the majority of the streets are scarcely passable in a conveyance,
many being without any pavement at all, a few rough stones being here and
there visible; the rest is a compound of mud and filth, and with holes
that would astonish any well-educated European animal, however profound
his gravity or elongated his ears, but apparently quite natural to the
horses and mules of this country, and regarded by them with an exemplary
equanimity which bipeds of philosophic pretensions in vain endeavour to
emulate.
The difference of race between the inhabitants of Brazil and the River
Plate is very remarkable, indicating at once the great change in climate,
and those other physiological influences that contribute to determine
variety of character among people. At the same time it must be observed
that South America furnishes many almost irreconcilable anomalies of
this kind; for instance, a feeble and peaceful people dwelt on the cold
mountains of Peru; a hardy and warlike race wandered under the burning
sun of Brazil. The Uruguayans partake largely of the attributes of the
latter. The natives are generally athletic-looking men, mounted on horses
that appear part and parcel of themselves; seemingly centaur-like,
‘demi-encorpsed with the brave beast;’ and dressed in a fashion savouring
strongly of the Turk—minus the turban.
And tall, and strong, and swift of foot are they,
Beyond the dwarfing city’s pale abortions.
[Illustration: EL LAZO—THROWING THE LASSO.]
[Illustration: LA VACA ESTRAVIADA—THE STRAY COW.]
The Plata is indeed the land of the horse, _par excellence_, as will
be inferred from the fact of this, the first town of importance on its
banks, being lighted with mares’-grease gas. The animals are, generally
speaking, described by connoisseurs as not exactly equalling the splendid
Spanish parent stock they are descended from, and the first appearance
of which in the country where they are now counted by millions, and
are part almost of the very being of the natives, was regarded with
an awe and astonishment that well nigh paralysed resistance to the
invader. Those that swarm along the plains are rather more useful
than handsome; heads not clumsy, though not elegantly shaped; body
tolerably round, though croup often low; legs, though light, firm and
well placed. They are caught with the lasso, in the use of which, as
likewise of course in the bolas, the Uruguayan Guacho is fully equal,
and is deemed by many even superior, if possible, to his brother of
the Buenos Ayrean pampas, with which the European idea of the exercise
of these captivating implements is chiefly associated; for the Banda
Oriental being much intersected with streams, and trees, and hills, a
greater degree of address is perhaps required in managing a herd of wild
horses or oxen than in the vast table-land stretching, for hundreds upon
hundreds of miles, in an almost unvaried flat, on the opposite bank of
the river. But if the Plate be the land of horses, doubly is it the
land of cows: the whole region may be said to be one vast horn-and-hoof
fair; and the predominant bovine element in the air, the street, the
field, proclaims itself overpoweringly to every sense. This, of course,
strikes one more forcibly, because of its novelty, on landing at Monte
Video, than subsequently at Buenos Ayres, and in the interior; for it is
extraordinary how quickly one loses his fastidiousness, and looks with
indifference upon sights, and inhales odours, that appear insufferably
revolting at the outset of one’s noviciate. The trade carried on by
the Uruguayans in the flesh, and hides, and tallow, of cattle, and the
skins of horses, is very great,[78] considering the extent of territory
and population, and bearing in mind the many impediments of which we
have already spoken, and to which we shall have further to advert
presently. Latterly, a profitable trade is springing up in the article
of mules for Australia; those animals being reared in great perfection
in the fine pastures of the Banda Oriental, and being of infinite use
in the gold fields, owing to their hardy constitution, strength, and
docility. Passengers from Australia, calling at Monte Video, declare the
neighbourhood greatly to resemble the vicinage of Melbourne; and there
is little doubt that judicious explorations would reveal the presence
of large quantities of gold, some having already been found. That the
whole state abounds in metalliferous riches is the conviction of many
competent judges; and, probably, in no part of the civilised world might
small mining capitals be invested with greater certainty of success, or
small ‘captains’ commence operations on their own account with stronger
assurance of reward, especially as the climate, a most important
consideration, admits of Englishmen pursuing their labours without the
enervation experienced from the greater heat and drying winds that
prevail on the opposite side of the river.
[Illustration: TAMBO A REAL EL VASO—MILK AT A RIAL A GLASS.]
To judge from the number of vessels and small craft laying in the
harbour, you would conclude a large trade was carried on; but such is not
exactly the case, although matters are fast improving; the custom-house
revenue, from being down to 700,000 dollars, is now doubled, or 1,400,000
dollars, against 3½ millions of dollars which it returned in 1842,
previous to the siege. The work of destruction was industriously pursued
during that disastrous period, and for hundreds of miles the Banda
Oriental was not only shorn of its cattle but of its population. The
land, in fact, was rendered a desert waste, and made only subservient
to the wants of Oribe’s army. Future annalists will hardly believe it
possible that the history of a second Troy could be illustrated in the
duration of the aggression it was subjected to, under the protective
cannon of the two most powerful nations of Europe, France and England;
but such, alas! was the fact; and the recent melancholy position of Monte
Video is the fruit of an intervention that was not rendered effective,
as it might have been, if vigorously followed up in conformity with the
judicious advice of the resident English minister during a great part
of the troubles, and whose wise suggestions are now reverted to with
regretful but admiring respect, by all dispassionate men in Europe or
America who have read the then requirements of the Plate by the light
of subsequent experience.[79] Indeed, that this feeling has at length
prevailed is shown by acts, more of justice than of favour, on the
part of succeeding governments that, though tardy, are not the less
honourable to those concerned. It will require many years of peaceful
industry to restore this district to what it was in 1842, rich as the
soil undoubtedly is, and reproductive as its affluence in cattle may
be. In the meantime, a good deal of produce is brought hither from the
neighbouring ports and down the rivers, in small craft, which occupy a
long time on the voyage; and some idea may be formed of the number of
these conveyances, when I mention having seen one as high as No. 1,200 at
Buenos Ayres, where they are all numbered, and, it is to be presumed,
at Monte Video likewise. It is hardly necessary to say that there is a
strong rivalry between the two ports for this kind of trade, and also in
numerous other respects; but Monte Video has immeasurably the advantage
as a harbour, and it might be rendered as commodious as any in the world
by a little energy and judicious outlay. It is much to be regretted
that this peaceful rivalry should not be the predominant incentive to
mercantile action, instead of each country wasting its strength and
energies in interminable political squabbles. But both have paid so
bitterly for the indulgence of these internecine animosities, that they
are at length beginning to learn charity and reciprocal indulgence of
each other’s foibles; and there is a reasonable probability that this
mutual comparative toleration is the precursor of joint stability of
institutions, and of that solid and progressive prosperity of which each
is so eminently capable. A most remarkable evidence of the growth of this
better spirit was afforded on the occasion of some disturbances in the
Banda Oriental, at the close of last year, when the authorities at Buenos
Ayres actually offered to place their vessels of war at the disposal
of the Uruguayan authorities, for the maintenance of peace and order.
This the latter were fortunately able to preserve without extraneous
aid; the proffer of which, from such a quarter, augurs the advent of
an era when peace as well as plenty shall take up its abiding place in
these luxuriant regions, from which it seems to have fled from the hour
the white man set foot upon the soil. But the good time, so ardently
desiderated, is not yet exactly arrived; for such is the fluctuating
condition of things in these countries, that almost every alternate mail
brings accounts that upset all one’s previous calculations, and hardly
is the ink dry with which we record our felicitations on the seeming
solidity of peace, when tidings of civil broils once more open the door
of incertitude as to the present, and the worst apprehensions as to the
future. But Brazil is now the great peace-maker, and, as long as she is
so, outrage at least is impossible.
One of the old defences of Monte Video is a Spanish wall, of which only
a portion remains, with a Moorish-looking gateway, which has a very
picturesque air about it, contrasting with the modern appearance of the
houses near it. Through the gateway is visible a large quadrangular
building, apparently used as a barrack in former times, but now
appropriated to a much more useful purpose, that of a public market;
and early in the morning may be seen dozens of people going to and fro
with their purchases for the day—meat, fish, and fine vegetables. The
latter appear to be in profusion; and some cauliflowers were far the
largest I ever saw. Things of this sort are dear, owing to the limited
cultivation, which is carried on chiefly by the Basque population,
whilst the boatmen who ply for hire about the port are Italians to a
man.[80] Some idea may be formed of the scarcity of labourers, when the
commonest cannot be got on board ship for less than 2 dollars each (eight
shillings) per day, and this must be a great drawback to the progress of
the place; otherwise, what may be seen of the soil, even close to the
walls of Monte Video, proves that anything could be grown there under
proper cultivation. Hedges of immense aloes, cactus, clover, and other
spontaneous vegetation, are everywhere visible; whilst near the edge of
the bay there is splendid granite rock, in any quantity, for building
purposes and paving the streets. True, you see no trees about, as they
were all levelled for firewood, &c.; but that the soil close to the town
can grow thousands of them, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt, and
the territory of the Uruguay itself, in many parts, is famous for its
timbered affluence. The citizens are now planting some trees, and with
peace for a few years, the outskirts of Monte Video would present a very
different appearance indeed to what they do at present. The walls of the
English burial-ground were also levelled during the siege; and there is
now only a hedge of aloes, which does not hide even the tombstones. Owing
to that and other circumstances, there is some talk of the site being
removed. Before our arrival, a revolution, attended with some bloodshed,
had again broken out, and things appeared in a very unsettled state,
finally coming to a head by a total upset of the then existing president,
Giro, and his foreign minister, Berro, who took refuge in a French vessel
of war.[81] A provisional government was soon formed, which certainly
seemed to carry with it the sympathies of the people, who, it is to be
hoped, will settle down again quietly—a consummation to which everything
that has happened, as far as is known in Europe, since our departure,
would seem to be steadily tending. Hitherto, as is notorious to every
one, the great curse of these countries is personal ambition; for no man
considers it necessary to consult the interests of his fellow-citizens
beyond what will serve his own purpose. Such a principle as that of true
patriotism, or dispensing legislation for the good of the many, was a
mere chimera, and no wonder the masses should at length kick against a
system by which they are always sufferers.
Fortunately, however, a most marked change in this respect has recently
occurred. The love of anarchic excitement has well nigh subsided, even
amongst the most volatile and hitherto inflammable portion of the
population; while the sentiment conveyed in the Shakspearean malison,
‘A plague on both your houses,’ is that uppermost in the mouths of the
really intelligent and respectable classes of every way of thinking,
when appealed to by contending chiefs, panting for public embroilment
for the sake of personal aggrandisement. A most striking, and, it is to
be hoped, conclusive, evidence of this was furnished in the case of the
recent ejection of the President Giro, or, rather, his own renunciation
of office and attempted exercise of its functions afterwards; for, rather
than join any standard, at least any that involved the disruption of
the public peace, certain classes, who had hitherto been at the beck
of every incendiary in turn, actually fled into the country and hid
themselves, for fear of being compelled to participate in scenes they
had previously so often rejoiced to riot in. The adherents of the Giro
government have since made an attempt to seize upon the power they have
so capriciously abandoned, and succeeded in producing some confusion for
a while, especially at Colonia, whence the authorities had to fly in a
whale-boat to Buenos Ayres; but the provisional executive, strong in the
pacific disposition of the whole people, as already adverted to, quickly
succeeded in restoring order, and maintained it with firmness and temper,
till Brazil has insured enduring peace.
In speaking of the overthrow or dissolution of the recent government of
President Giro, it may be necessary to state, in justice to a deserving
and distinguished public servant, Sen. Don F. Castellanos, that he had
no hand whatever in the circumstances which led to that occurrence,
having many months before resigned the office of Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, the duties of which he discharged with exemplary assiduity,
ability, and success, under the exceedingly difficult obligations imposed
upon the State of the Uruguay, subsequent to the siege being suddenly
raised by the defeat and flight of Rosas. M. Castellanos, whose personal
acquaintance I had the honour of making, is a gentleman of European as
well as American repute, being well versed in the constitutional laws
of the New World, and familiar with the institutions and literature of
the old, speaking French and English with facility and correctness.
During his administration everything possible was done to supply
that great desideratum of the Uruguay and of all the South American
states—immigration from Europe. To this end Senr. Castellanos, shortly
after he accepted office, addressed a despatch to the Consul-General for
the Republic of the Uruguay in London, commanding him to make known to
all whom it might concern, that the whole of the fertile territory of
the Banda Oriental was in a condition of perfect tranquillity, in which
it has virtually since remained, notwithstanding the sudden cessation
since of the government of which he was at the time the Foreign Minister.
He stated that the authorities were anxious to receive any number of
peaceable, well-disposed European emigrants, to whose industry they were
prepared to guarantee all the protection extended to native citizens,
together with peculiar exemptions because of their introduction of skill
and capital. Complete toleration in all matters of religious observance
was insured; and, in a word, every inducement held out to the redundant
population of the Old World to avail itself of the fruitful soil and
genial climate of a constitutionally governed country, admirably adapted
in every respect to Europeans of the Saxon and German stock, the climate
being temperate and healthy in an eminent degree, and its numerous
rivers, extensive sea-coast, and noble harbours, affording every facility
for commerce. In the present condition of our Russian trade in tallow,
for whose production this region has unlimited capabilities, as it has
for another staple—cotton—whose supply is by no means encouragingly
‘looming in the future,’ the announcement here made is likely to have
the effect of directing towards the La Plata a considerable stream
of emigration, which circumstances of various kinds—moral, sanative,
and social—may repel from quarters more alluring to the inconsiderate
millions. Indeed, we understand that a formidable ‘exodus,’ as the
phrase is, may be looked for shortly from the Rhenish provinces on the
Swiss border, to the Banda Oriental; and that an organization on a very
large scale is being matured for colonizing with Germans several hundred
thousand acres of the beautiful undulating tract on the borders of the
Rivers Arapey Grande, Arapey Chico, and the Curaeim. There is no doubt
that the causes which attract the industry and energy of the prudent
Germans in this marked manner will also draw a great number of English
agricultural settlers to the neighbourhood of a city in which so much
English capital and enterprise are being commercially employed as in
Monte Video; and a very potent stimulus to the wishes of the Uruguayan
government in this respect must be afforded by the new Liverpool line of
steamers, running monthly to Brazil and the Plata, under circumstances
very different from those that formerly characterised the Anglo steam
communication with that part of South America.
Some twelve years since, slavery was abolished in the territory of the
Republic. Many hands, then obliged to devote themselves to tillage,
abandoned it in order to occupy themselves in some other branches of
industry which appeared to them more lucrative. Agriculture, which
even then was not engaged in to any great extent, felt the blow; but
what appeared fatal to it was converted into a benefit. For slaves was
substituted free labour, because the government at once comprehended
the necessity of favouring, by all possible means, the principal branch
of industry which supports states; and agriculture, instead of dwindling
away, comparatively flourished. The abandonment of the most fertile
plains, and the prices of their produce, encouraged strangers to come
to cultivate them; and not only did agriculture gain in extent, but the
soil likewise in production, which was doubled by industry. Attracted
by the certainty of profit, and encouraged by the government, the
emigration to the Uruguay was daily increased, and vessels, loaded with
200 to 300 emigrants, continually arrived at Monte Video. More than one
company has been formed, in order, in conjunction with the government, to
promote emigration to the interior of the country and its colonization.
One, under the name of ‘Pastoral and Agricultural Company of Merinos,’
(Sociedade Agricola Pastoral de Merinos) is establishing a colony near
the village of Carmelo, to which it destines a large tract of land.
In its centre will be formed a city, under the name of Pueblo de la
Estrella; and the same colony will have a normal school of agriculture,
and a garden of acclimatization and practical essays of this science. On
the banks of the Uruguay, an agricultural colony of European families
of the same class is also being established. In the same manner a town
will be constructed there, the plan of which is being formed. Another
agricultural society of the colony has promoted an association among the
inhabitants of the city of Colonia, for the colonization of the country.
Some time ago it issued the greater portion of its shares, and, as I
learned, intended to import from the Canary Islands 50 agricultural
families, of four persons each, to whom to distribute lands, seeds,
instruments, &c. In the department of Soriano, other societies intend to
introduce 800 to 1,000 European families, who are to devote themselves to
agriculture; lastly, the necessity for the encouragement of colonization
is everywhere recognized, and its promotion is sought in every possible
way.
These and many other schemes of a somewhat similar kind are yet a very
long way indeed from fruition; and some considerable time must elapse
before they can be anything but dreams. Doubtless the disturbed state of
Europe will lend a great impetus to the immigration we have spoken of,
and the mere talk of the improvements we adverted to bespeaks a yearning
after social good that must ultimately realize its own object. For one
who knows the people well, says:—
Of natural or unschooled talent there is a great deal there. A
vivacious imagination is almost universal in the inhabitants;
and in the fine language which they possess, they express
themselves with a fluency, if not an eloquence, at which we
seldom aim, and to which we much seldomer attain. This facility
has grown out of their tertulia, or conversazione habits.
Among the lawyers, the constant practice of dictating to an
amanuensis, the definitions, reasonings, and refutations in the
various cases in which they are retained, enable them often to
write, and to write with fluency and elegance, upon subjects,
the theory and bearing of which they study for the occasion. Of
course all such writings are more plausible than profound, more
replete with declamation than sound reasoning. The imagination
of the South American is constantly at work; and unconsciously,
perhaps, he is ever showing forth, among his countrymen, things
as they ought to be, not as they are. When we hear him descant,
in glowing and eloquent terms on civil liberty, freedom of the
press, liberal education, privileges of the constitution, we
fancy there must be a tolerably good foundation laid of all
these blessings before so much could be said about them.
This naturally leads me to speak of social life in Monte Video, which,
as far as I had an opportunity of judging, is frank, cordial, and
agreeable, there being a much greater admixture of the citizens with
foreigners, and especially with English, than I observed at Lisbon,
and than I know exists in Brazil. English society in itself is also
much more extensive than I could have well believed, and is of a very
superior order—refined, intelligent, and hospitable. There is full
freedom for religious worship of every kind; and Mr. Samuel Lafone,
of the firm of Lafone Brothers, of Monte Video and Liverpool—a name
preëminent in British trade with the Plate—having, at the expense of
several thousand pounds, constructed a handsome and commodious church
for the use of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, presented it, and the
ground on which it stands (convenient to the anchorage for men-of-war),
to them in perpetuity, without the slightest reserve or expectancy of
remuneration, save the reward conveyed by the consciousness of having
done a noble act, for the best of purposes, and with the purest motives.
There are also considerable numbers of British mechanics in Monte
Video, and agriculturists and shepherds in the Republic, the climate
being humid, temperate, and bracing, like our own. The Uruguay adjoins
that fine healthy province of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, to which some
hundreds of Irish emigrants, more especially from the Barony Forth, in
the county of Wexford—admirable specimens indeed of ‘the finest peasantry
in the world’—have proceeded, within the last few years, from Liverpool,
under the auspices of Admiral Grenfell, the Brazilian Consul-General at
that port; and all the accounts they have hitherto sent home, whether
by themselves, or the pastor who accompanied them, the Rev. R. Walsh,
represent their circumstances and situation as prosperous and happy, an
admirable loamy land being obtainable, in an unlimited quantity, at a
dollar an acre. Some Anglo-South American houses also have a good many
Welch on their properties in the same province, and their reports are all
to the like effect. At still cheaper rates may yet finer land, and in a
still better climate, be obtained in the Uruguay; and from all I have
been able to see, hear, or read, I am inclined to believe that there is
no more eligible spot in the world for an intending emigrant than the
Banda Oriental, whether capitalist or labourer, whether an agriculturist,
a grazier, a wool grower, or even a cotton grower, a horse or cattle
breeder, or one skilled in the preparation of hides, horns, or tallow
for the home market; or whether he be a rural mechanic or farm servant,
or small yeoman desirous of bringing up a family in any or every branch
of husbandry. On all subjects connected with agricultural pursuits in
this region of the world, but more especially as regards the breeding of
horses, cattle, and sheep, and their preparation for the several markets
they are suited to, the excellent work of Mr. M’Cann (‘Two Thousand
Miles’ Ride through the Argentine Provinces’), may with great confidence
be recommended, as furnishing on these points a mass of information
nowhere else to be found, and valuable especially as being the result
of the author’s actual experience. My own observations were naturally
confined to the capital and its immediate vicinity; and my opinion,
therefore, on such extensive matters as those embraced by Mr M’Cann would
be of about the same value as those of a Cockney who should pronounce
on the territorial condition of England from a Sunday afternoon’s
contemplation of a suburban tea-garden. And, speaking somewhat in the
latter sense, I should say that the neighbourhood of Monte Video would
be pronounced by the sentimental gentleman in Pickwick to be the very
paradise of market gardeners, with or without gazelles, as the case might
be.
The mention of gazelles is naturally suggestive of some remarks about
certain other and biped proprietors of _beaux yeux_; but we must reserve
such matters for the next chapter, merely premising that the observations
therein offered are in every respect perfectly applicable to the fair
Monte-Videans, who are, indeed, even fairer, or at least less embrowned,
than the Buenos Ayrean belles, being, if possible, more distinctive
types of Spanish beauty, or what used to be such; for according to the
recent[82] pronunciamento of a most competent and accomplished critic,
the syrens of Southern Europe are no such great charmers after all—an
assurance that must be consolatory to the British mammas of young
Hopefuls quartered at Gibraltar. But, be that as it may, few of the
worser half of humanity will question the right of the Transatlantic
descendants of Castillian dames to the suzerainty of all beholders,
especially when to the Moresque complexion is added that distinctive
optic attribute of the Goth which the Celts so much admire, as shown in
the familiar Portuguese ditty:—
Olhos pardos e negros
Sao os commues;
Mais os do minha amante
Deos fez azues.
Black eyes and brown
You may every day see;
But blue like my lover’s
The gods made for me.
I am happy to be able to fortify my own opinion of the attractions and
conveniences of Monte Video by the very competent authority of Mr.
L. Hugh de Bonelli, secretary to Her Britannic Majesty’s legation in
Bolivia, who, in a very interesting couple of volumes, published by
Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, in the course of last month, (February,
1854,) entitled ‘Travels in Bolivia, with a Tour across the Pampas to
Buenos Ayres, &c.,’ expresses himself infinitely pleased with the place;
and his description is so felicitous that I venture to append it in a
note.[83]
[Illustration: IDA A MISA—GOING TO MASS.]
Since these remarks were written, the news from the Uruguay continues
to be of so conclusive a character as to give every assurance that this
fine country has really at last entered upon the prosperous destiny
its great natural advantages so clearly point to, provided only peace
were ensured. That peace will henceforth be preserved is now certain,
and consequently we may calculate on ordinary events following ordinary
causes, as in all other parts of the world. By the common consent of the
moderate and intelligent of all classes in the Banda Oriental, Brazil
has been solicited to assume the protectorate of the Republic. This high
and responsible trust she has undertaken in the spirit of magnanimity
and disinterestedness that will be inferred from the perusal of our
observations towards the close of the chapter on Rio Janeiro. As there
stated, Brazil has no acquisitive designs on Uruguayan territory; but
she has a design and determination to keep peace in that state for
the sake of having a quiet neighbour on her own important southern
frontier, irrespective of her natural anxiety for the advancement of
so important a portion of the South American east coast as has Monte
Video for its capital. She has not interfered, nor does she intend to
interfere, with the internal or domestic affairs of the Republic in
any way, further than securing the inhabitants the exercise of the
right to elect their own rulers, and securing to those so elected the
right of peaceably discharging their functions without the perpetual
molestations which the armed violence of military adventurers have
for so many years entailed upon all administrations in succession. As
the most essential preliminary to quietude, Brazil has undertaken to
remove one source of ever-irritating provocation and confusion from
the Uruguay, by subsidizing the government to pay what is necessary to
carry on its affairs properly and efficiently, without those pecuniary
impediments that have so frequently paralysed every administration in
turn; but Brazil has insisted that the fiscal resources of the Republic
shall not be squandered in the mere process of collection, as has been
the case hitherto. Brazil, in fact, occupies the position of a police,
who has only the one object to prevent outrage, compel the observance of
honesty, and ensure obedience not to _her_ arbitrary edicts or capricious
ordinances, but to the recognized laws of the country itself. It is
needless to say that if the native Orientals are delighted at this stable
state of things following on the anarchy that had become almost chronic,
still more so are the foreigners, who constitute so large a portion of
the wealthy and influential trading inhabitants of the capital, and of
the landed proprietary. Some suspicions have been expressed that Brazil
would convert her present position to the frustration of the liberal
commercial policy lately established between some of the adjoining
South American states and Europe, and that Paraguay may be relegated to
her former isolation once more in consequence. But nothing can be more
unfounded than such apprehension; for, apart from its being the obvious
interest of Brazil to bring all portions of the continent of which she
forms so important a section into commercial contiguity with the old
world, the former treaties between the Banda Oriental and England and
France and Sardinia, and the new ones between those latter countries and
Paraguay would necessarily demand an intervention from which Brazil would
intuitively shrink; and, moreover, the United States of North America
would immediately resent any obstructions that should impede the course
of events which she evidently contemplates by despatching a diplomatic
and consular representative to Paraguay. Altogether, then, there is
every reason to believe that the good offices of Brazil will prove of
inestimable benefit to the Uruguay, and that that Republic and England
will alike find in such offices the best auxiliary to the mutually
beneficial interests between the two countries.[84]
In Monte Video, accommodation for travellers is naturally very limited,
principally owing to the disorganized state of the city for so many
years. Still, there are some tolerably good hotels, and a fair number of
cafés and restaurants. At Buenos Ayres hotels are numerous, and so far as
my experience extended, the charges are by no means extravagant, as will
be sufficiently proved by a perusal of my bill of costs presented to me
on leaving the Hotel de Paris, where I remained some ten days, retaining
my apartments, though absent up the river nearly half the time:—
Paper dollars.
Bedroom and sitting-room 210
Breakfasts 20
Dinners and wine 130
Lights 11
----
370
Waiters and chambermaid 50
----
420
----
Or about 5 guineas.
There are also plenty of good lodging and boarding-houses, several of
them kept by English and other foreign residents; and the increase to
this kind of accommodation appears to be only limited by the demand.