_Sir,—The undersigned native citizens of_Brazil, the River Plate, and the Falkland Islands With the Cape Horn route to Australia. Including notices of Lisbon, Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde.

of Uruguay feel the necessity of manifesting to your Excellency

the very great esteem in which they hold the loyalty of your

character, and the many high services that your Excellency,

in the discharge of the functions confided to you by the

Government of Her Majesty, your august Sovereign, has lent

to the cause of the independence of our country. The war

which desolates our native soil is strictly, on the part

of the Orientals, a struggle of legitimate defence and of

independence—a struggle which we have not provoked, and in

the result of which we neither seek nor desire more than the

preservation of the position in which we were placed by the

compact celebrated in 1828, between the Empire of Brazil and

the Argentine Republic—a position recognized by all nations,

and virtually, but solemnly, guaranteed by England and

France. Certain of the efficacy of this guarantee, and of the

political and commercial interest of these two great Powers

in the maintenance of the Oriented Nationality, with all its

consequences, and in its not being crushed by an anti-social

power, repelling every idea of civilization, the Orientals

sought their aid, and a just and proper alliance. The principle

on which this alliance was based was honourable, and its

objects, besides being honourable, were civilizing and fertile

in beneficial results for the external peace of these regions,

and for the internal peace of our country, which we desire with

all the strength we possess, having for sole object, that the

Oriental family to which we belong being reconciled, it may,

without foreign coercion or influence, elect, freely, and in

the mode consecrated by its laws, its own government, which

shall rule it in conformity with the constitution and the

Oriental interests. The two agents charged in 1845, by England

and France, to give aid to the Oriental nationality and restore

peace to our hearths, and the Admirals Englefield and Lainé,

who had command of the intervening forces, have discharged so

noble a mission in the manner most cordial, most in conformity

with the intentions explicitly declared by their governments,

and with the thoughts and desire of ours, and of all good

Orientals; for which we acknowledge that we owe them sincere

and profound gratitude. We beg your Excellency will permit us

to record in this letter, as regards yourself personally, the

expression of this sentiment; let us add that of the wishes

we entertain for your prosperity, and we beg you always to

preserve a recollection of our country and that of those

citizens, who, faithful interpreters of the feelings of the

country in which they live, have the honour of offering to your

Excellency the homage of the respect, adhesion and friendship

which we possess, and with which we are,—your Excellency’s most

faithful servants, &c., &c._

[B] Monsieur le Ministre Plénipotentiaire. Les soussignés, residants

Français à Montevideo, ont appris avec une sincere affliction votre

prochain départ pour l’Angleterre. Les preuves réitérées de votre

bienveillance pour nous, le parfait accord qui a tonjours régné entre

vous et Monsieur le Baron Deffaudis, votre générosité envers nos com

patriotes malheureux, la noblesse de votre caractère, votre constante

sollicitude à défendre les intérèts généraux du commerce, peuvent

vous avoir attiré l’animosité des ennemis de l’intervention et de

l’humanite; mais ils vous ont acquis la reconnaissance des populations

civilisées des deux rives de la Plate. Daignez done, Monsieur le Ministre

Plénipotentiaire, accepter le tribut de nos regrets les plus sinceres;

croire que votre souvenir nous sera toujours cher, et agréer l’hommage

des sentiments respectueux avec lesquels nous avons l’honneur d’être,

Monsieur le Ministre Plénipotentiaire, vos très-obeissants serviteurs.

[C] Address of the British residents and merchants to the British

minister to the states of La Plata.—We, the undersigned, British

merchants and residents of Monte Video, having learned with sorrow, that

your Excellency is on the eve of retiring from the position you have

held amongst us, with so much credit to yourself and benefit to our

country, beg leave to express our sense of admiration at the enlightened

and impartial conduct, just views, and penetrating judgment which have

distinguished you throughout your arduous career, during the intervention

of the British and French governments in the River Plate. We gladly bear

witness to the firmness, justice, and humanity, which characterized your

proceedings, amidst the numerous difficulties and afflicting scenes which

have often surrounded you; and we have beheld with unmixed satisfaction

the constant harmony that has prevailed between your Excellency and your

respected colleague, Baron Deffaudis, which as well as your individual

efforts, has so greatly promoted concord and unanimity among all classes

of both nations, and foreigners, in Monte Video. Impressed with a deep

sense of obligation for your invariable attention to the interests of

British subjects, and for your watchful care over their persons and

property, whenever endangered, and also for the kindness and urbanity

which have marked your personal intercourse with us, we cannot permit

your Excellency to leave these shores without receiving our heartfelt

thanks and grateful acknowledgments. With a just appreciation of the

merits of your Excellency in your official capacity, and an affectionate

regard for your private character, we beg you will accept our sincere

wishes for the future health and happiness of yourself and family. We

have the honour to be, &c. (Signed by 85 British residents.)

[D] This, however, is more apparent than real. Though the Earl of Derby,

speaking on the Address to the Throne, the opening night of the present

session, pleasantly twitted Ministers with their omission in the Royal

Speech of all allusion to Sir C. Hotham’s Paraguayan mission, and with

consequent indifference to its objects, it must not be inferred that the

Aberdeen Cabinet is in the least degree insensible to the importance of

securing such benefits to our commerce as the Malmesbury Treaty seeks

to accomplish, though there may be some discrepancy of opinion as to

the extent that treaty succeeded in such direction. Seven years ago,

Lord Aberdeen, then foreign secretary in the Peel Administration, in his

instructions to Sir William G. Ouseley, then minister at Buenos Ayres,

for his guidance in the joint intervention by England and France between

Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, said:—‘The war in which the Argentine arms

are at present engaged, is waged against a state, the independence of

which England is virtually bound to uphold.’ Lord Aberdeen instructed his

minister, ‘to open up the great arteries of the South-American continent

to the free circulation of commerce, would be not only a vast benefit to

the trade of Europe, but a practical, and perhaps the best, security for

the preservation of peace in South America.’

[E] So long ago as the reign of Elizabeth, Sir John Ouseley, of

Courteen-hall, Northamptonshire, a distinguished military officer,

in obedience to the orders of the Earl of Essex, then commanding in

Portugal, went ambassador to the Emperor of Morocco, and subsequently

fell at the siege of Breda, in 1624. The uncle of Sir William and father

of the present baronet (Rev. Sir F. Arthur Gore Ouseley, to whom the Duke

of Wellington, the Duke of York, and Marchioness of Salisbury, stood

sponsors), was the celebrated ambassador to Persia, of which country he

obtained the Order of the Lion and the Sun, and subsequently the Grand

Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of St. Alexander Newski, when he was

appointed plenipotentiary to St. Petersburgh. His brother, Sir William,

(father of the late minister to the Plate), accompanied him to Persia,

was the well-known historian of that mission, as already stated, and

author of many learned Oriental works, in recognition of whose merits he

received the Order of Knighthood.

[F] The eldest son of Sir William, Mr. W. Charles Ouseley, accompanied

the expedition of the blockading squadron up the Parana river; and,

inheriting his father’s faculty of pictorial delineation, as evinced in

the ‘South American Sketches,’ contributed to that magnificent volume two

subjects, taken at Corrientes, which will be found copied in the chapter

devoted to that country; but, owing to haste on the part of our artist,

the copy affords an imperfect idea of the original. Mr. W. C. Ouseley

likewise accompanied Sir C. Hotham, as attaché, during the recent mission

to Paraguay, and returned with his Excellency in the autumn of 1853.

[80] The liberal spirit of this State encourages foreigners. Imitating

the United States, it facilitates the acquirements of the privileges of

native citizens by emigrants from foreign countries, and even surpasses,

in this respect, the wise provisions of that system, so advantageous

for a new and thinly-peopled country, and so successfully adopted

by North America. Foreign merchants have brought their business and

capital to Monte Video, while hard-working Basques, Germans, Irish,

French, and Italians, (chiefly Genoese) have flocked to this city,

and, in most instances, obtained the rights of denizens or citizens.

Residence, marriage with a native, the acquisition of a certain amount

of property, real or personal, are among the conditions conferring

citizenship. This privilege may appear to be somewhat easily granted;

but it must be recollected that no ‘Oriental’ citizen existed previous

to 1828; consequently there has not been time for the development of

any very jealous feeling of exclusive national rights, as possessed by

one race only in the republic of the Uruguay. It is for these reasons

that so many foreigners have flocked to the Banda Oriental, and settled

in the interior as well as in the towns; and hence the rapid increase

of Monte Video in trade and population, which even the invasion and

siege of its capital, so lately at an end, have not sufficed to reduce

to the level of their former comparative insignificance. The whole of

the Banda Oriental being freed from the invaders, and the independence

of the republic being guaranteed by Brazil, commerce and agriculture

are therefore now reviving; and it is to be hoped that the numerous

resources of the country will be peaceably and usefully developed; while

the free navigation of the tributaries of the River Plate, now ensured,

will be of the greatest importance to the trade of all nations, and

produce incalculable benefits to the States through which those noble

rivers flow. The exports, as before stated, comprise all of the staple

commodities produced by the Argentine provinces, viz: hides, tallow,

horns, horse-hair, jerked beef, wool, &c., to which, in all probability,

corn will be added in a few years, the soil of this State being for the

most part admirably adapted to agricultural purposes.

[81] It is not within the scope of this publication to give anything

like a history of the several places touched at, still less of a place

whose late history, in particular, has been so unprecedentedly troublous,

even in these regions of disorder, as has that of the capital of the

Uruguay. Still a few particulars are essential, and in matters of this

sort no authority is preferable to that of Sir W. Parish. Monte Video

was commenced in 1726, under the name of San Felipe, Puerto de Monte

Video, by Zavala, governor of Buenos Ayres, who had been ordered by the

government to make permanent settlements there and at Maldonado, for the

more effectual maintenance of the rights of the Spanish crown, after

dislodging the Portuguese from the vicinity of the former place, where

they had established themselves. Some families were transported thither

from the Canaries, and others removed there from Buenos Ayres, in order

to secure the privileges offered to the new settlers. The viceroy sent

large sums of money from Potosi to carry on the works; and the walls in

due time assumed, with the labour of the Guavian Indians, the appearance

of an important fortification. In 1808, when the intelligence of the

abdication of the king, and the declaration of war against France, was

received at Buenos Ayres, Elio, the Governor of Monte Video, was the

first to disobey the orders of Don Santiago Liniers, the viceroy at the

time; and convoking the inhabitants, established an independent junta of

the Monte Videans, after the example of those set up in the Peninsula.

They subsequently took their share in the war of independence; and their

deputies, with those of all the other provinces of the Rio de la Plata,

assembled in congress at Tucuman, solemnly declared their separation

from Spain, and their determination to constitute a free and independent

State, on the 19th of July, 1816. During the struggle with the mother

country, one common object, paramount to all other considerations, the

complete establishment of their political independence, bound together

the widely spread provinces of the old viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres; but

the very circumstances of that struggle, and the vicissitudes of the

war, which often for long periods cut off their communications with

their old metropolis and with each other, obliging them to provide

separately for their new temporary government and security, gave rise,

especially in those at a distance, to habits of independence, which, as

they acquired strength, loosened, more or less, the ties which bound

them to Buenos Ayres, and in some cases produced an entire separation.

Amongst others, the Banda Oriental was withdrawn from the authority of

the capital by the notorious Artigas, whose anarchical proceedings,

fraught with the most fatal consequences to the peace of the republic,

afforded a plausible pretext for the occupation of Monte Video by their

Portuguese neighbours—the cause, eventually, of a long and ruinous war

between the republic and Brazil, which was only terminated by British

mediation, and by the territory in question being erected into a new and

independent State, in 1828. Some further particulars, respecting both

its previous and subsequent history, will be found under the head of

Buenos Ayres. Besides Monte Video, the chief towns are Colonia (nearly

opposite Buenos Ayres) and Maldonado; together with sixteen smaller

towns, several hamlets, and numerous estançias or farms, and ranchos or

cottages; but the whole population of the republic, which is divided

into nine departments, and covers a fertile area of about 200,000 square

miles suited for almost every purpose required by man, does not exceed

probably one half the population of Liverpool. Still it is growing, and

will continue to grow, for, during the few years of peace, since its

independence, the population has increased, that of the capital from

about 12,000 to nearly 50,000. The city proper, formerly not extending

beyond the citadel (now converted into a marketplace), rapidly spread,

and handsome buildings and streets were constructed, extending as far

as the recent inner (formerly the outer) lines of the fortification,

enlarging the area to several times its previous size. Beyond are villas

and ‘saladeros’ (establishments for slaughtering cattle and preparing

hides and tallow), while pretty and sometimes spacious suburban dwellings

surrounded by well-cultivated gardens, extend to a considerable distance

beyond the outer walls.

[82] Lady Louisa Tennison, who, in her beautiful work _Andalusia, &c._,

published by Bentley at the close of last year [1853], says:—

I know that I shall be accused of insensibility and want of

taste, when I confess that my first disappointment on landing

in Spain was the almost total absence of beauty amongst the

Spanish women. Poets have sung of Spain’s ‘dark-glancing

daughters,’ and travellers have wandered through the country,

with minds so deeply impressed with the preconceived idea of

the beauty of the women, that they have found them all their

imaginations so fondly pictured, and their works have fostered,

what I cannot help maintaining, is a mere delusion; one of the

many in which people still indulge when they think and dream

of Spain. The women of Spain have magnificent eyes, beautiful

hair, and generally fine teeth; but more than that cannot be

said by those who are content to give an honest opinion. I

have rarely seen one whose features could be called strictly

beautiful, and that bewitching grace and fascination about

their figures and their walk which they formerly possessed,

have disappeared with the high comb which supported the

mantilla, and the narrow _basquina_, which gave a peculiar

character to their walk. With the change in their costume,

those distinctive charms have vanished. The gaudy colours which

now prevail have destroyed the elegance that always accompanies

black, in which alone, some years since, a lady could appear

in public. No further proof of this is required than to see

the same people at church, where black is still considered

indispensable, and on the Alameda with red dresses and yellow

shawls, or some colours equally gaudy, and combined with as

little regard to taste. The men have likewise abandoned the

cloak, and now appear in paletots and every variety of foreign

invention: nor have they either gained by their sacrifices

at the altar of French fashion. By no means distinguished

in figure, none needed more the rich folds of the _capa_ to

lend them that air of grace and dignity which it peculiarly

possesses.

[83] The appearance of the city of Monte Video is most prepossessing.

It is built on an eminence which forms a small peninsula, being washed

on three sides by the sea, and from the various sea-breezes to which

the situation exposes it, must be a very healthy spot. It is calculated

to maintain a very extensive commerce, and would, doubtless, long have

enjoyed it, had not the vitality of the little Republic sunk under

the obstinate persecution to which it was subjected by Rosas, in the

person of the savage and overbearing Lieutenant Orebbe. At the time of

my visit the Brazilian fleet, under the command of Admiral Wingfield,

was in the offing. Notwithstanding the devastating effects of war, this

city, Phœnix-like, is again rising from her ashes. Lines of bastions and

batteries are daily giving place to scenes of commercial enterprise and

agricultural activity. The husbandman labours with his ploughshare and

the sickle, where deadly engines of war once vented forth their flames.

Streets lined with new and extensive buildings are met with at every

turn. Elegant French shops attract the eye, as their well-stored windows

exhibit the beautiful fabrics of European manufacture. So great is the

number of foreigners who are domiciled in the city, that it has quite the

appearance of a colony of strangers, the natives of the country forming

but a small proportion of the entire population. The Basques predominate.

After that the Italians take the lead. Little good has been effected

by the maintenance of a foreign legion for so long a time, under the

auspices of the celebrated Italian leader, Garibaldi. The present troops

of the Republic are the emancipated negroes, officered by native whites.

The Hotel de Paris is kept by a French cook, who at one time belonged to

a French vessel of war. For the accommodation of a few rooms and board

for three persons, I was charged here at the rate of a doubloon a day.

There are several other hotels in the city. That of Il Comercio bears a

good repute. The whole place, including the suburbs, literally swarms

with _cafés_ and _estaminets_. That of the Bal d’Oro, which is a large

establishment near the quay, carries off the palm, and is much frequented

by officers of the French navy. The various dwelling-houses are provided

with flat roofs, and these, combined with a number of observatories,

which are the constant resort of the inmates, gave the city a lively and

agreeable aspect. The market-place, which formerly formed a part of the

old fort or citadel in the time of the Spaniards, is well supplied with

every species of provisions. Its display of fish far surpasses that of

Buenos Ayres, both as regards variety and quality.

As a maritime and commercial port, Monte Video holds a very desirable

position, and will doubtless before long supersede Buenos Ayres, as the

first port on the coast for the disembarkation of goods for the internal

consumption of the country. The effects of the cessation of hostilities

begin already to be seen in a great outlay of capital; and in the course

of a few years, when commercial relations are on a better basis, and

security to life and property is better insured, this city will rise into

greater mercantile importance than any other in this part of the New

World.

[84] Owing to the disturbed condition in which the Banda Oriental had

been for so many years, during the aggression of Rosas, and the absorbing

anxiety that has since prevailed to repair some of the disasters so

occasioned, added to the domestic dissentions that have too often

supervened, the authorities in the Uruguay have not been able to devote

much attention to the cultivation of European diplomatic relations.

Any affairs of that nature in England pertaining to the republic are

transacted at the Consulate Office, New Palace Yard, Westminster; and

commercial consular matters in Liverpool by Mr. Hall, Dale-street, who

is himself a citizen, and the son of a citizen, of the Uruguay, having

succeeded his father in his present office. The British diplomatic and

consular staff in the Uruguay consists of Mr. G. J. R. Gordon, who was

private secretary to the late Sir Edward Disbrowe, at Stuttgard, in 1832,

was appointed unpaid attaché at Frankfort in 1833, at Stockholm in 1834,

paid attaché at Rio Janeiro in 1836, chargé d’affaires there in 1837, to

a special mission in Paraguay in 1842, secretary of legation at Stockholm

in 1843, and chargé d’affaires and consul-general in the Uruguay in 1853.

His salary in the latter capacity is 1400l. per annum, exclusive of 1_l._

per day for diplomatic services as chargé d’affaires. The vice-consul at

Monte Video, who receives 500_l._ per annum, or 100_l._ more than the

same officer at Buenos Ayres, is Mr. G. S. L. Hunt, who served some time

in the army, was a supernumerary clerk in the Librarian’s Department of

the Foreign Office in 1846, and in 1847 was appointed to his present post

at Monte Video, where he for some time acted as consul-general.

[85] Many of the Buenos Ayrean houses, especially in the suburbs, consist

of a square of building surrounding a Patio, or quadrangular court,

paved with marble, and having either a fountain, or, more frequently, a

draw-well, in the centre, and often pleasingly ornamented with flowers,

shrubs and fruit. The mode and materials of building here, as in other

parts of South America, are such as to obviate, in a great degree, the

danger of fire. Stone or brick, iron, stucco, and tiles are the chief

component parts of a house; little wood is employed, except for beams,

and this is generally hard and heavy, especially in Brazil, and not

readily combustible, as explained in a previous chapter. The floors,

except in some houses built by foreigners, are not constructed of wood,

but of glazed tiles, as in the South of Europe; the staircases being also

of solid masonry. The population of Buenos Ayres had been constantly

decreasing since the time Rosas introduced his reign of terror; but

there is now a decided turn in the state of things in that respect. It

may be simply classified into the white and coloured races; the latter

constituting nearly a fourth of the whole, which is a smaller proportion

than in any other town on the east side of South America. The slave-trade

was prohibited in 1813, by a decree of the first constituent assembly,

consequently any further supply of the negro-stock has ceased; and since

then slavery has gradually become extinguished, not only in Buenos Ayres,

but in all the provinces of La Plata, either by the slaves enrolling

themselves as soldiers, or by their purchasing their freedom. The negroes

now constitute, perhaps, the most useful and industrious class of the

lower orders of the community.

[86] A large proportion of the population of Buenos Ayres, as is stated

in the text, consists of foreigners, many of whom have formed matrimonial

alliances with the native ladies. The latter are reputed the handsomest

women in South America; though the palm is disputed by their fair sisters

of Monte Video, on the grounds set forth in the chapter on that head;

and, in the unsophisticated state of society in which they move, their

frank and obliging manners render them doubly attractive to strangers.

They are passionately fond of dancing; and in their love of, if not

proficiency in, music will vie with the young ladies of any country in

the world. Amongst the men the same taste, in a higher degree, appears to

be developed in a talent for poetry; and they are generally well-grounded

in most of the leading branches of general, and especially of commercial,

knowledge. Living is very moderate here: the river abounds in excellent

fish; and fresh meat may be purchased at an exceedingly low rate. Water

is comparatively the most expensive article, for the lower orders are

obliged to depend for a supply upon the itinerant water-carriers, who

hawk it about the streets in ox-carts. But the higher classes generally

have large tanks or reservoirs under the pavement of their courtyards,

into which the rain-water, collected from the flat-terraced roofs of

their houses, is conducted by pipes, and, in general, a sufficiency may

thus be secured for the ordinary purposes of the family. In addition to

what has been said of the climate of Buenos Ayres, it may be remarked

that at times it is insufferably hot; the prevailing character of the

atmosphere, however, being dampness, which produces many bronchial

affections. But although the whole country appears low and marshy, cases

of intermittent fever are hardly known there; and it may therefore be

considered generally healthy, but certainly not to the extent to justify

the appellation of Buenos Ayres—Good Airs—bestowed upon it by Menoza, its

original founder, in special allusion to its supposed salubrity.

[87] The buildings are generally not more than two stories high, _i.e._,

a ground floor, and one over it, unless the ‘açoteas,’ or terraces,

are to be considered as a third, along which, the whole range of a

‘block’ of houses may, by climbing over the partitions or parapets, be

traversed without descending into the streets. In times of siege, attacks

by foreign enemies, or during internal struggles, these houses form

temporary fortresses, admitting of formidable defence; and being solidly

built and furnished with strong gates and doors, while the windows of

the lower and ground-floors are protected by strong iron bars, it is no

easy matter to take a town, or even a house, built in this way, as has

been sufficiently proved on the occasion in question. Whitelock was a

vain, foolish, insensible man, though not a coward, as was generally

believed, and the prevalence of which belief partly led to his being

disgraced on his return home. The fact is, he seems to have had a most

contemptuous opinion of the Spaniards, from the circumstance of the place

having been taken a short time previously, almost without resistance,

by Admiral Sir Home Popham and Viscount Beresford, the armament having

been fitted out, without any authority from England, at the Cape of Good

Hope; and so elated was its commander by his unexpected success that he

wrote home declaring all South America to be ready to receive us with

open arms. So indeed, it proved in one sense, as Whitelock subsequently

found to his cost on attempting to recover the city after the British

garrison had been expelled; for his men were mown down with musketry

and grape in scores, without being able to return the fire with any

effect. It was on this occasion that the gallant Colonel Thompson, late

M.P. for Bradford, was taken prisoner by General Liniers, who was shot

as a rebel three years afterwards himself. The excesses Thompson saw

committed under Whitelock impelled him to that denunciation of flogging,

and other military abuses, which had so offended the authorities at home

that he has never had his proper promotion by seniority, and is now

(March, 1854) an unredressed complainant against the injustice of having

been passed over in the last brevet, and told that his name shall never

appear in another. As the news of the extraordinary success of Popham

and Beresford at Buenos Ayres stimulated the despatch of an expedition

the following year, under Sir Samuel Auchmuchty, against Monte Video,

where, however the British suffered most severely, one third of the

whole army being killed, though finally effecting the capture of the

place, so was its evacuation caused some six months subsequently by the

intelligence of the defeat of Whitelock—the withdrawal of the whole of

the English force from the Plate being, indeed, the condition on which

the Spaniards gave up their prisoners, and permitted the survivors of

these ill-starred expeditions to withdraw in peace. The commander of

the land forces of the first expedition against Buenos Ayres, Viscount

Beresford, who was then taken prisoner, but escaped, and afterwards

captured Madeira, which he held for some years on behalf of the crown

of Portugal, in the wars of which country, especially at Albuera, he so

eminently distinguished himself, died only in the course of the present

year. The late Lord Holland, in his posthumous ‘Memoirs of the Whig

Party during My Time,’ published a few weeks back, has a very singular

chapter on the secret history of these expeditions. His lordship, who was

a member of the cabinet at the time, says that Whitelock’s was but one

of a series of South American expeditions, and that it was originally

destined for Valparaiso. It was fortunately ‘detained by subsequent

events at Buenos Ayres, and the worst part of our plan was thus concealed

from the knowledge, and escaped the censure, of the public.’ Had the then

minister, Lord Grenville, remained in office, he would have sent against

Mexico Sir Arthur Wellesley, who, in that case, might probably never have

become Duke of Wellington. Sir Arthur, however, was sent to Portugal,

where the Convention of Cintra seemed to offer an augury of evil to the

croakers, which his genius subsequently so gloriously falsified.

[88] I shall not only not repeat none of the Cenci-like stories told

of this lady and her father, and current in every mouth on the Plata,

but tell something of a very different kind from Mr. Bonelli, adding,

however, that it is the first of the sort I ever heard, and I am quite

sure it will be looked upon as rare news in Buenos Ayres, though Mr.

M’Cann also says something similar, viz.—

This severe and bloodthirsty man had a daughter, and it is pleasing to

turn away from the contemplation of the many vices which disfigure his

character to those beautiful traits of humanity and tenderness which

distinguished hers. Manisiletta was loved and honoured by all; pity

lurked within her soul, and every attribute of womanly feeling was there.

This good creature, with tears and supplication, often prevailed with

the harsh tyrant when other means were useless. At her entreaties, many

a life was spared, and many a prayer of gratitude has ascended to heaven

for the rescue of a father or a brother from his impending fate, at her

kind interference.

[89] In January 1831, the provinces of Buenos Ayres, Entre Rios,

Corrientes, and Santa Fé, entered into a federal compact, to which all

the other provinces at subsequent periods became parties. The union was

a voluntary alliance. No general constitution was promulgated, and the

adhesion of the several members was left to be secured by the resources

of the person who might obtain the direction of affairs. This Argentine

Confederation, like the republic which it had succeeded, soon fell into

a state of anarchy, and it was not till the election of General Rosas as

governor or captain-general, with almost absolute power, in 1836, that

even temporary quiet was secured. By this arrangement the provincial

government of Buenos Ayres was invested with extraordinary powers, and

temporarily charged with the transaction of all matters appertaining to

the common interests of the confederation, and the carrying out of its

business with foreign nations. Rosas had previously served as governor

and captain-general of Buenos Ayres for the usual term of three years,

and had obtained unrivalled influence in that province, chiefly through

his military powers, as displayed against the Indians. His decision and

energy secured for awhile internal peace, and the provinces began to

recover from the effects of the long prevalent anarchy. But cruelty and

despotism marked his sway at home, and his ambition, which continually

prompted him to endeavours to extend his power over the whole country

watered by the Plata and the Parana, led him into disputes with foreign

powers: and these ultimately brought about his downfall. His commercial

policy had for its object to secure for Buenos Ayres the monopoly of the

trade of the Plata, his political policy to obtain a like territorial

superiority.

On the death of Francia, dictator of Paraguay, he refused to acknowledge

the independence of that power, insisting that it should join the

Argentine Confederation, at the same time he refused to allow the

navigation of the Parana by vessels bound to Paraguay. Lopez, the new

dictator of Paraguay, therefore entered into alliance with the Banda

Oriental, now called Uruguay, with which Rosas was at war. These powers

applied for assistance to Brazil. The war was prolonged until the whole

country on both sides of the Plata and the Parana was in a state of

confusion. On the earnest appeal of the merchants and others interested,

Great Britain volunteered her mediation, but it was rejected by Rosas,

who marched his troops within a few miles of Monte Video, which his

fleet at the same time blockaded. The emperor of Brazil now interfered,

and sent a special mission to request the interposition of the courts

of London and Paris. The British and French governments in February

1845, decided on sending plenipotentiaries to the Plata to offer their

mediation, and to announce their intention to enforce a cessation of

hostilities if needful, by an armed intervention. The offer was rejected

by Rosas, but readily accepted by his opponents. The united fleet of

England and France at once commenced operations by seizing the fleet of

Rosas which was blockading Monte Video, and the island of Martin Garcia

which commands the entrances of the Parana and the Uruguay. The harbour

of Buenos Ayres was at the same time declared under blockade, and the

combined fleet prepared to open the Parana, and to convoy as far as

Corrientes any merchant vessels that might desire to ascend that river.

Rosas on his part made hasty preparations to intercept the fleet by

planting batteries with parks of heavy artillery at Point Obligado; and

placing three strong chains across the river, supported by 24 vessels

and 10 fire-ships. On the 19th of November 1845, the combined fleet,

consisting of eight sailing and three steam vessels, forced the passage

with trifling loss to itself, but entirely destroying the batteries, and

considerably injuring the army of Rosas. On the return of the fleet, with

a convoy of 110 vessels, it was encountered at San Lorenzo by a very

powerful battery which Rosas had erected in an admirable position, in the

full expectation of destroying a large number of the merchant vessels,

and of crippling the naval force. The battery commanded the river, and

was difficult of attack by the steamers, but it was speedily silenced by

a rocket-brigade, which had been the previous night secretly landed on

a small island in the river. The combined fleet escaped with trifling

loss, the rocket-brigade lost not a man; but four of the merchant vessels

which, through unskilful pilotage, ran ashore, were burnt to prevent them

falling into the hands of Rosas. The loss to the Argentine army was very

great. Again plenipotentiaries were sent out by the combined powers,

but Rosas refused to yield; and England withdrew from the blockade in

July, 1848. It was however continued by France until January, 1849. On

the final withdrawal of the two great powers in 1850, Brazil determined

on active interference. The power of the Dictator, General Rosas,

essentially despotic, and devoted to the maintenance of the supremacy

of Buenos Ayres, had moreover become intolerable to the provinces which

desired a federal and equal union. Accordingly, towards the close of

1850, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay entered into a treaty, to which

Corrientes and Entre Rios, as represented by General Urquiza, became

parties, by which they bound themselves to continue hostilities until

they had effected the deposition of Rosas, ‘whose power and tyranny’ they

declared to be ‘incompatible with the peace and happiness of this part

of the world.’ Early in the spring of 1851 a Brazilian fleet blockaded

Buenos Ayres, and soon after an Argentine force commanded by Urquiza

crossed the Uruguay. The struggle was now virtually terminated. General

Oribe, who commanded the army of Rosas at Monte Video, made a show of

resistance, but it was merely to gain time in order to complete his

arrangements with Urquiza, and he soon after capitulated. His soldiers

for the most part joined the army of Urquiza, who, at the head of a force

amounting it is said to 70,000 men, crossed into Buenos Ayres. A general

engagement was fought on the plains of Moron, February 2, 1851, when the

army of Rosas was entirely defeated. Rosas, who had commanded in person,

succeeded in escaping from the field; and, in the dress of a peasant, he

reached in safety the house of the British minister at Buenos Ayres. From

thence, with his daughter, he proceeded on board H.M.’s steamer Locust,

and on the 10th of February sailed in the Conflict steamer for England.

But the fall of the tyrant did not bring peace to the unhappy country.

Urquiza, by the governors of the provinces assembled at San Nicolas, was

invested with the chief power, and appointed Provisional Director of the

Argentine Confederation. The Chamber of Representatives of Buenos Ayres,

however, declared against him, and protested against the proceedings of

the convention on the ground of the superior privileges of Buenos Ayres

being menaced. Urquiza dissolved the Chamber, and insurrection broke out.

Civil war, with all its aggravated evils, thereupon ensued. [See memoir

of Urquiza.]

[90] General José Maria Paz, minister of war, to whom I had the pleasure

of a personal introduction, is a man of benevolent aspect and quick

address. He is a native of Buenos Ayres, and commenced his military

career during the war of independence against Spain, in which he greatly

distinguished himself. In the campaign against Brazil, in 1825, he

commanded a brigade in the army of General Alviar, and added to the

laurels he had already won. When General Rosas seized upon the supreme

government of Buenos Ayres, General Paz was among those who opposed his

usurpations; but in one of the engagements which followed he was taken

prisoner, and kept a long time in confinement. Having at length obtained

his liberation, he commanded in the province of Corrientes, and defeated

General Echague at the battle of Cargaassu, in which he displayed the

greatest tact and ability. He commanded the garrison of Monte Video

during the memorable siege that city sustained from the forces of Rosas

and Oribe, and is generally esteemed one of the ablest, and the most

honourable, truthful, and humane of the South American chiefs.

[91] The English and foreign merchants residing in this city have

established an English club-house, where a limited number of beds is

provided for bachelor members. This fine establishment is conducted

by a committee of gentlemen, and contains every possible convenience,

including a reading and news-room, as well as one for billiards; and, in

fact, economy, comfort, and every facility of commercial intercourse,

have been consulted in all its arrangements. The foreign population of

this city includes a great number of shopkeepers, who form quite a little

Paris of elegant shops. Hatmakers, tailors, _coiffeurs_, _modistes_,

and bootmakers predominate amongst the French; merchants, storekeepers,

publicans, and boarding-house keepers amongst the English; and amongst

the Italians, warehousemen and captains of small craft trading to the

inland ports on the mighty Plata. The immigration of Irish to this

place must have been on a very extensive scale, since all the hotel

and boarding-houses, which are invariably European, have them in their

employ. They are also to be found in great numbers on the farms in the

neighbourhood of the capital, which are held by Englishmen, and which

supply the city regularly with butter, eggs, and milk. The difficulty in

finding a washerwoman is indescribable, and would scarcely be credited.

I had to send my servant in all directions before he could find one, and

then I discovered that I could enlist her in my service only on these

conditions—first, that I should await her leisure, and next that I should

pay at the rate of three or four royals for each article!—_Bonelli._

[92] The remarks made in reference to the description of trade carried

on with Monte Video may be considered as applicable in a great degree to

Buenos Ayres. The following is the latest published official statement

of the imports into the United Kingdom from the Oriental Republic in

1851:—untanned hides, 10,247 cwts.; seal-skins, 12,008; tallow, 8,664

cwts. In the same year the imports from the Argentine Republic were as

follows:—untanned hides, 261,653; lamb skins, 55,744; nutria skins,

7,417; tallow, 135,856 cwts.; wool, 853,194 lbs.; unwrought copper,

127 cwts.; cotton goods, 90_l._ value; India silk handkerchiefs, 432

pieces; brandy, 18 galls.; Spanish wines, 56 galls.; French ditto, 19

galls.; tobacco, 18 lbs. Buenos Ayres is the great source of our supply

of hides, and the quantity of tallow imported thence is only exceeded

by the supplies we obtain from Russia and our Australian colonies. The

latter source being now closed by war, and likely to be so as long as the

Eastern difficulty continues, our trade with the Plate in that respect

becomes of course proportionably important.

[93] In reference to the correspondence between England and the River

Plate, Buenos Ayres had long enjoyed considerable advantage over the

Uruguay; but both are now on the same footing in this respect. One great

reason of the little interchange of correspondence between Great Britain

and Monte Video has been the high rate of postage; but such cause is now

removed by a Treasury warrant, (dated February 24th, 1854,) directing

that on every letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight, posted in or

addressed to any part of the republic of Uruguay, to or from the British

islands and colonies, or transmitted from Uruguay to any foreign country,

through England, there shall be charged 1_s._ If the letter exceeds half

an ounce in weight, the postage is 2_s._; exceeding one ounce, 4_s._;

exceeding two ounces, 6_s._; exceeding three ounces, 8_s._; and for every

ounce above four ounces, two additional rates of postage. Fractions above

four ounces to be charged as an additional ounce. Books and magazines to

pay the following rates:—not exceeding half a pound in weight, 6_d._;

above that weight, 1_s._ per pound, and all fractions charged as an

additional pound. The postage must be prepaid in stamps, and the packets

must be open at the ends or sides, contain printed matter only, and not

exceed twenty-four inches in length, breadth, or depth. British and

Uruguayan newspapers may be sent direct to and from the United Kingdom

and the Uruguay at the rate of 1_d._ each.

[94] Our present diplomatic relations with the Disunited Provinces of

the Plata are of a peculiarly embarrassing and uncertain kind, owing

to Urquiza being the ostensible head of the Confederation, though not

of its most important province, Buenos Ayres. This anomalous state of

things long occasioned proceedings on the part of our representative

there, Captain R. Gore, R.N., that have naturally and almost unavoidably

produced some strong opposition and animadversion. Into the justness

of these strictures it is not the business of the author to inquire;

and, accordingly, he contents himself with supplying some few data of

the antecedents of the functionaries about to be enumerated. First,

the gallant gentleman just named, whose salary as consul-general is

1600_l._, with the usual 1_l._ per day as chargé d’affaires. He is

fourth brother of the Earl of Arran, and sat for the borough of New Ross

in 1841 and 1847, when he declared himself ‘a cordial supporter of the

Melbourne ministry,’ and an ‘advocate for free trade and the abolition

of monopolies.’ He was appointed chargé d’affaires and consul-general

in the Uruguay in 1846, and transferred to Buenos Ayres in 1851. Our

Buenos Ayrean consul, whose salary, I believe, is 600_l._, is Mr. M. T.

Hood, who was employed for some years in the consulate-general at Monte

Video, appointed vice-consul there in 1841, acting consul-general there

in 1846, and consul-general at Buenos Ayres in 1847. Our Buenos Ayrean

vice-consul is Mr. T. Parish, to whom I shall have to express a sense

of my obligations in a subsequent chapter. As regards the diplomatic

representation in this country of the Argentine Confederation, like the

Uruguay, and for much the same reason, it is confined merely to the

consul-general in London, Mr. George F. Dixon, Great Winchester-street,

City, the minister, Don Manuel Moreno, having for some considerable time

left England, where he had resided for many years during the supremacy

of Rosas. The consuls and vice-consuls for the Argentine Confederation

are Liverpool, Mr. Hugh C. Smith; Dover, Mr. S. M. Latham; Falmouth, Mr.

Alfred Fox; Plymouth, Mr. J. Luscombe; and Glasgow, Mr. George Young.

[95] A present probably from the English admiral of that name.

[96] Speaking of the descent of the river, at a terrific pace, by the

Alecto, Commander M’Kinnon, in his work ‘Steam Warfare on the Parana,’ to

which reference has already been made, says:—There was only one person

in South America who had either the nerve, knowledge, or ability to do

it. It is natural to suppose that this person must have been a native of

the country, brought up on the river, and who had spent a long and active

life in getting such a thorough and precise knowledge. With pride do I

say it, this was not the case. The pilot was a brother officer, Captain

B. J. Sullivan, who coolly stood on the paddle-box, and conned the vessel

by a motion of his hand to the quarter-master. The whole of the river, up

to Corrientes, is now surveyed by the above-mentioned officer, and better

known, by his means, in London, than at Rosas’ capital, Buenos Ayres.

[97] The author on whom we have so frequently drawn for facts and

illustrations, seems to attach greater moment to Corrientes, speaking

of which he says, ‘There is more of a military authority combined with

usual duties of a Captain of the Port in South America than is exercised

by our Harbour Master, giving him some of the powers of a commandant.

The existence of regularly organized ports of entry for foreign vessels

so far up the river (and there are others much higher up the Parana and

Paraguay) is not generally known. It has been the not unnatural, but

injurious, policy of the government of Buenos Ayres (Rosas) to seek to

monopolise the trade of the states of La Plata, and to prevent direct

intercourse between the other maritime, or rather fluvial, provinces and

foreign countries. Europeans have been in the habit of looking on Buenos

Ayres and Monte Video as the sole ports fitted for foreign commerce in

the states of La Plata, whereas there is no doubt that the best ports are

in the river Parana itself, which affords excellent positions for depôts

of produce, and for loading or discharging vessels. Many such ports

exist on the banks, not only of the Parana, but of the rivers Uruguay

and Paraguay. In the Parana there is deep water, generally from five to

twenty, and sometimes forty, fathoms, with good anchorage. The current

runs three or four knots, often more, when floods increase the large body

of water coming down from the river Paraguay and the numerous smaller

rivers which empty themselves into the Parana from various quarters, and

are swollen by the melting snow of the Andes. The soil about Corrientes

is sandy: trees thrive, but there is more brushwood than timber. The

inhabitants, having hitherto had but little intercourse with the rest of

the world, are naturally ignorant respecting Europe and its usages. Many

of them know but little Spanish, using the Indian dialect, the ‘Guarani,’

which prevails more or less throughout all this part of the interior of

South America, including Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. Of their little

knowledge of things considered as the everyday comforts or necessaries

of life in other countries, an eye-witness related a somewhat amusing

proof. ‘An old Scotchman, who had been settled at Corrientes for the

greater part of his life, begged some coal from a British war-steamer

on her way up. His sole object in making the request was to be enabled

to vindicate his reputation for veracity. It seems that he had often

told them that in England they had a kind of black stone that could be

used as fuel, an assertion which was scouted as absurd and incredible,

and he was considered as a Scotch Munchausen. He obtained the coal,

however, and on the day fixed for the experiment half the town assembled,

and, seated in a large circle, with their cigarritos in their mouths,

watched the smoke arising from the coal with silent incredulity. It

did not readily ignite, so the Dons began to shrug their shoulders and

intimate their contempt for the whole affair; but when the fire blazed

up, a total change came over them, and it was highly amusing to witness

the enthusiastic delight they evinced, shouting energetically, vivaing,

&c.’ He adds, speaking of the Corrientines, ‘As a race, the men of this

country seem much finer in stature and appearance than the women, who

are generally small, fair, and delicate, and it is said that further

in the interior and in Paraguay they are still more fair and northern

looking.’ Some travellers assert that what they call their religion is

often little else than superstition, and that their morality is far from

strict, but this may be a false impression, adopted on slight grounds. In

dress they are perfectly innocent of any superfluity, for which the great

heat is a valid reason. But whatever are their shortcomings resulting

from their isolated position, they are most hospitable and kind towards

strangers. ‘Travelling through the country one is well received at every

house one rides up to; refreshment is always promptly offered, especially

water melons, which are particularly grateful in these climates. Payment

when offered is almost invariably declined, and never demanded.’ In

consequence of the gradual filling up of the Parana by alluvial deposits

towards the Delta at its mouth, the navigation is much better higher up

in the river than where it spreads into many small channels, emptying

themselves into the upper part of the River Plate; still a vessel

drawing sixteen or seventeen feet of water can go over all the passes

when the river is moderately high; although during the prevalence of

certain winds from the north and west there is less water, and near the

island of Martin Garcia generally not more on the banks than fourteen

feet. Thus from Colonia to the Bajada, and further up to the pass of San

Juan, without any extraordinary rise in the water, a large vessel can

ascend. From San Juan to Corrientes there is only a depth of thirteen

feet on the worst passes, and about the same depth may be had all the

way to Assumption, watching opportunity. There are neither ‘snags’ nor

‘sawyers’ [trunks of trees carried down by the current and fixed in the

bottom, very dangerous in the Mississippi and other great rivers of

North America, where they are known by these names], rocks, nor other

obstructions, but steamers may go at full speed up or down by keeping the

right channel. In the broad parts the stream runs at the rate of about

three, and in the narrow channels, four knots, or even more.’

[98] I have since ascertained that not only did Mr. Hopkins and his

party arrive safely at Assumption, but that the vessel had returned to

Buenos Ayres, and was going up again—a proof how easily the river can

be navigated. Mr. Hopkins was received with great cordiality by General

Lopez, and in return for the present of an American carriage, had given

to him a large quantity of maté, with a grant of valuable land on the

banks of the river, near Assumption. He has been appointed, I hear,

United States consul to Paraguay, and thus infinitely increased his means

of effecting the results I confidently venture to anticipate at his hands.

[99] The description of this magnificent and important river, by the

authors of ‘Letters from Paraguay,’ is too accurate and graphic to be

omitted here, viz.:—The Paraná, having its source in the southern part

of the Brazilian province of Goyaz, flows down from latitude 81 degrees

south, still increased, as it runs, by numerous tributary springs. It

is uninterrupted in its course by any obstacle to navigation, except

by that formidable one, called the Salto Grande, (the Great Waterfall,

_literally_, the Great Leap,) which in latitude 24 degrees, with a noise

and tumult, heard many miles off, dashes its foaming mass of water over

rocks, precipices, and chasms, of the most stupendous character. Resuming

after this its placid course, the wide and glassy Paraná, richly wooded

on both sides, and navigable by small vessels, pours down its salubrious

waters impregnated with sarsaparilla, till, at Corrientes, it forms its

junction with the River Paraguay. From that point the two rivers joined,

go under the name of the one river, Paraná, the latter being, sometimes,

though erroneously, below this, considered the parent stream. The Paraná

discharges itself into the River Plate, by several mouths; by that of

the Paraná Guazú, at which point the waters of the Uruguay also fall

in: of the Paraná Miní, lower down; and of the Paraná de las Palmas,

still near to Buenos Ayres. Thus formed, the Rio de la Plata pours its

accumulated waters into the Atlantic; and although its mouth at the two

opposite capes of Santa Maria and San Antonio is one hundred and fifty

miles wide, it does no more than correspond to the grandeur of the inland

navigation. From its source, in Matto Grosso, latitude 14 degrees south,

till its confluence with the Paraná at Corrientes, the River Paraguay has

already run a course of 1,200 miles; from Corrientes to Buenos Ayres,

the distance measured by both these streams under the one name of the

Paraná is 740; while from Buenos Ayres to Cape St. Antonio and Maria,

the combined waters of the Paraguay, Paraná, and Uruguay, united under

the one name of River Plate, run a farther distance of 200; making a

total course of 2,150 miles, including the windings, which are often of

a very sweeping kind. Of this immense tract of water, fifteen hundred

miles are navigable by vessels drawing ten feet. The river abounds

with fish from its mouth to its source. The pexerey (king’s fish), the

dorado, mullet, pacū (a sort of turbot), and many others, are found in

it; its banks are for the most part richly studded with wood; its various

islands are adorned with beautiful shrubs, evergreens, creepers, &c.;

the woods abound with game, and the adjacent country teems with cattle.

The waters are highly salubrious; the soil all along the banks of the

river, with the exception of the Great Chaco, is rich and fertile in the

highest degree. But notwithstanding all these advantages—notwithstanding

that the country has been for three hundred years in the possession of

a civilized European nation—after I had galloped two hundred and eighty

leagues, I did not see above four or five small towns. Not more than a

like number of vessels were to be descried on my route, while at every

fifteen miles distance a miserable hut, with its half-dozen inhabitants,

was alone interposed to relieve the monotony of the scene. The secret of

all the silence, solitude, and abandonment of Nature to herself, which I

saw and lamented, is of course to be traced to the inadequate means which

have hitherto been used to provide even a semblance of the population

necessary to cover a country of such vast fertility and extent.

[100] Mr. McCann is in error in stating the population of this town at

8,000; and his general description of it would apply more to Rosario,

probably owing to some error in his notes afterwards, when describing the

two towns.

[101] ‘I will mention a few of the uses to which I have seen hides

applied. The hammocks in which the people sleep were hides cut, like a

puzzle, to spread out as so much net-work, neat, cool, and pleasant.

The milk from cows was collected and emptied into a hide spread out on

sticks in the shape of a large bucket or tub, capable of holding from

sixteen to twenty gallons. The houses and carts were covered with hides;

a hide-spout conveyed water off roofs. The tanpits were hides spread out

like the milk tub before mentioned, containing other hides under tanning

process. Everything connected with horse furniture was supplied by hides.

The beams and supports of houses were lashed by hide thongs. The doors

and windows, and, frequently, the very walls, were hides laced together;

in short, everything almost was hides.’—_Mackinnon._

[102] Rosario is most favourably situated for carrying on a large trade,

which promises soon to locate itself here. Already there is an English

branch establishment here, and a resident English consul has been

appointed.

[103] The capital of the province of Corrientes, of which our sketch is

taken from the deck of a man-of-war, is not a large place. Its population

has been variously estimated at 3,000, 6,000, and 8,000 inhabitants.

This difference is partly accounted for by the fluctuations incident to

the military system by which they have too long been oppressed. In fact,

subjection to martial law has hitherto been, not the exceptional, but the

normal state of these countries. A traveller visiting one of these towns

while the greater part of its male inhabitants are absent on military

service as volunteers, would have a very different impression as to the

number of its population from that which he would receive during a time

of peace, and in the commercial and busy season. Moreover, a great many

of the wives and children of these men follow, as best they may, the

march of the troops, so that whole districts are thus nearly depopulated

by these frequent drains of their inhabitants. The ‘Gauchos,’ as the

country people are called, are naturally a good-natured, hardy, and

courageous race. The demoralization and recklessness consequent on their

being forcibly taken from useful and peaceful occupations to swell the

ranks of some ambitious ‘caudillo’ or chieftain, have of course produced

much evil, inuring them to scenes of violence, bloodshed, and injustice.

It is true that they are called out and armed for the loudly-proclaimed

purpose of defending ‘la libertad, la patria,’ &c., and appeals to the

feelings of independence, honour, virtue, and all the high-sounding words

of the sonorous language of Spain are employed by those who want their

services. Here, as too generally in Spanish America, their feelings of

patriotism have been so frequently invoked either to defend or attack

some individual or party, that it is only surprising their characters

are not more perverted, and that the moral devastation should not keep

pace with that which has so long physically blighted these naturally

fine provinces. The resources of these states have been wasted in order

to maintain a military force much too large in proportion to their

population, and it has been employed either in aggression on neighbouring

countries, or for the intimidation or coercion of the provinces

themselves, to support the personal policy of the executive. Thus their

great capabilities of production have not been developed, and industrial

improvement has been completely checked. The evils of such a system are

even more injuriously felt in these vast and thinly inhabited regions

than they might be in countries differently circumstanced.

The wealth of Corrientes consists chiefly in vast herds of cattle, sheep,

and horses. The pasturage of the province is remarkably fine: its exports

are hides, tallow, wool, hair, and some agricultural produce. The trade

which might arise with the countries in the interior, through which these

mighty rivers flow, were the navigation open, is beyond calculation, and

its profits would soon enable the States of La Plata to pay with ease

their foreign and domestic creditors, and to raise funds for internal

improvements. During the few months that the navigation of the Parana

was kept open in 1845-6, two convoys, (under the admirable arrangements

adopted by the distinguished officer who commanded H.M. squadron in the

Parana, Commodore Sir Charles Hotham), one consisting of upwards of one

hundred vessels, laden with produce, the other of more than seventy, came

down that river and the Paraguay with very little loss or damage, after

having exchanged the cargoes of European or North American merchandise

that they brought up for the goods with which the different depôts at

Corrientes and other places were overflowing, to the value of some

millions of hard dollars. It is true that an accumulation of produce

at the ports of the river then existed, caused by the interdiction

of the navigation by the governing power of one of the banks of the

river. But as it is the manifest interest of the different states whose

natural outlet is by the River Plate and its confluents,—the Parana

and Uruguay,—that internal navigation should be free, or placed, for

instance, on a similar footing to that of the Rhine, it is to be hoped

that before very long the governments most interested in this question,

those of La Plata especially, will awaken to a sense of the vast interest

they have in opening these great channels of inter-communication to the

commerce of the world.

[104] Le Paraguay; son passe, son present, et son avenir; par un

Etranger, qui a vecu longtemps dans ce pays, ouvrage publie a

Rio-Janeiro, et reproduit en France; par General Oriental Pacheco-y-Obes.

[105] Mr. G. W. Drabble, a gentleman who proceeded some time ago from

Manchester on a visit to the River Plate, determined to devote some of

his time and attention to ascertaining the capability of the Argentine

territory and the Banda Oriental for growing cotton. Lord Clarendon

having been written to by the Manchester Commercial Association to ask

his assistance for Mr. Drabble in carrying out this intention, replied,

in a letter, dated the 1st of March, that he would have particular

pleasure in complying with the request, and that his Lordship ‘had

recommended Mr. Drabble to the kind offices of Captain Gore (Her

Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires at Buenos Ayres) and Mr. Hunt (the British

Acting Consul-General), and had instructed them to afford to Mr. Drabble

every facility and assistance in their power in furtherance of his

object, which was one in which Her Majesty’s Government take great

interest.’ A letter was afterwards received from the Consul-General at

Monte Video, 4th of June, stating that he would be very glad indeed to

give Mr. Drabble every assistance in his power. The following letter to

Mr. J. A. Turner, president of the Manchester Commercial Association,

details the result of Mr. Drabble’s investigations:—‘Buenos Ayres, Oct.

1. The unsettled state of politics that prevailed on my arrival here

prevented my being able to avail myself of the offers of assistance

by Mr. Gore and Mr. Hunt, nor was a journey to the interior provinces

then practicable. From Paraguay, fortunately, General Lopez, son of

the President of that country, was passing through this city, on a

visit to Europe; which enabled me to be presented to him by Sir Charles

Hotham, who has rendered me every assistance, and given me most valuable

information as to that country. That territory appearing to hold forth

more prospect of success in the cultivation of cotton, I have sent up

a gentleman possessing the requisite talent, so that he may be enabled

to furnish an accurate report as to the facilities that may be there

found. Even here, however, I would observe that much more attention is

being attached to the country of Paraguay, as a rich field of enterprise;

and, as a pioneer to what we hope may be continued efforts, a steamer

started from this port yesterday to that destination, conveying a company

recently arrived from the United States’ said to be well supported,

consisting of several directors, and conveying with them machines for the

cultivation and cleaning of cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice; sawmills,

for making available for export the valuable wood that there so abounds,

and other machines suitable for the development of its resources. If

they are once enabled to establish a footing there, and, especially, if

the project of steam navigation up our interior rivers is accomplished,

great results may attend these primary efforts. Some of the interior

provinces of this confederation have been long said to be most suitable

for the cultivation of cotton, and a sample, pronounced to be of very

fine quality, from one of them (Tucuman), was last year exhibited in

Manchester. I have forwarded, per steamer, another example from the

neighbouring province of Catamarca, the lands of which are reported as

being capable of producing a much superior article to any other of these

States. I consider, however, that a great difficulty will exist in the

development of this cultivation, in any of these interior provinces, from

the long land carriage required to bring it to an exterior market. The

cost of the best qualities there, as plucked, say with seed, is 7rs. to

8rs. per arroba; if cleaned up there, as it must be to give the least

hope of successful competition, it is calculated that the yield would

give about 25 per cent. of gross, thus placing the cost of an arroba,

or 25 lbs., at an average of 30rs.; expenses of cleaning would be 2rs.;

carriage to Buenos Ayres, per arroba, 6rs.; total, 38rs.; which, taken

at to-day’s rate of exchange, would net per lb. 8⅕d. In Catamarca the

cotton tree has been cultivated regularly, but, attention never having

been paid to it as an article of export, the production has never

increased. It is a perennial plant, sown in spring, and yielding the

same year. It grows about four feet to five feet high. In the winter it

is cut down, but the following spring it shoots up for another year’s

yield. No great care is paid to it till the time of gathering the pod,

when it is regularly plucked. The Paraguay and Corrientes plants are of

the same class. The quality of the Corrientes cotton has so far been

much inferior. It is, however, in the same latitude, and the soil is

represented as being equally fertile, and from its geological position,

that province would seem to be the most preferable. The great drawback

to the extension of this cultivation will be the want of labour. The

population of Catamarca is not more than 40,000; that of Tucuman may

be estimated at 50,000. But even so, there are so many other articles

of production of great value, and requiring little labour, as tobacco,

sugar, &c., that it will be difficult to obtain sufficient hands for the

plucking and cleaning, unless expressly imported. The requirements of

the native population are few, and their ambition soon satisfied. It is,

therefore, almost impossible to get them to labour for more than their

actual wants. That these countries, however, present many facilities and

advantages for the extension of this cultivation cannot be doubted; nor

that capital, properly laid out, would, with care and energy, give every

prospect of ample profit. But the commencement of this, as of all other

undertakings, requires to be followed up with the greatest energy, and

under the personal superintendence of a practical and interested party.

Although Mr. Drabble estimates that only 25 per cent. of clean cotton

would be obtained from the seed, some gentlemen in Manchester, who have

had much acquaintance with the subject, are of opinion that, with such

fine growths as the samples already sent home from the district, the net

produce of clean cotton would be much more likely to be one-third of the

gross weight than one-fourth, and, consequently, the cost at which cotton

could be supplied would be proportionately reduced.

[106] The chief provisions are the following:—British subjects are free

to navigate the banks of the rivers of Paraguay. British traders may

settle and carry on commerce in any of their towns, instead of being

restricted to Assumption, as hitherto. Finally, they may marry the

daughters of the country—a privilege from which they have until now

been debarred. Similar treaties have been made with France, the United

States, and Sardinia. This treaty (said an eminent ‘Economical’ authority

at the time it was made known in England,) will help to forward the

designs of Bolivia to promote the free navigation of the rivers that

run from her territory into the Plate. Could that navigation be opened,

it would be something like spreading the advantages conferred by the

Mississippi on North America over South America. The Plate is formed by

the junction of the Parana and the Uruguay. From the Plate to Assumption,

the Parana, with its branch the Paraguay, is navigable for 800 miles

in the dry season by vessels drawing six feet of water, and in the

rainy season by vessels drawing twice as much. Beyond that 800 miles,

it is navigable as a canal for 600 miles, almost to its sources in the

mountains of Brazil, not far from one of the streams navigable into the

heart of Bolivia upwards of 1,000 miles from the Atlantic. The Uruguay

is navigable for 300 miles from its junction with the Parana, and there

the navigation is stopped by a ledge of rocks which does not affect the

level of the stream. Were this impediment removed—and the governments of

Brazil and Buenos Ayres are bound by treaty to remove it—the river would

be navigable for 300 miles further. Thus together there is an interior

navigation from the Plate of at least 1,600 miles, and probably when the

country shall be fully explored for many hundred more miles, opening up

for the use of the closely-pressed people of Europe some of the finest

countries of the globe. The great empire of the south, extending through

more than thirty degrees of latitude, and in its widest part through

thirty degrees of longitude, with a population of about 5,000,000, and a

portion of them slaves, is increasing in people and wealth much faster

than the countries on the Plate. It is extending its trade year by year,

and may in the end absorb and incorporate the neighbouring republics;

but it is yet far from that consummation. Unless, therefore, some more

European life be infused into the countries on the Plate, unless spare

hands from England, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, each of which

has already supplied some of the scattered population on the Plate, go

thither, and bring those countries more into contact with Europe, they

are likely to remain only half tenanted for ages.

[107] When Rosas, in his protest, announced that he was preparing great

military and naval armaments, with a view of invading and incorporating

her in the Argentine Confederation, Paraguay speedily raised an effective

army of more than 30,000 men; and calculating that force at the moderate

rate of two per cent. on the entire population, the result is above a

million, which, as already stated, is more than double the population

of the Argentine provinces and the State of Uruguay united—a fact which

explains why it is that Paraguay imports more than all the interior

provinces of the Confederation, including the province, though not the

port, of Buenos Ayres itself.

The town of _Conception_ has been resuscitated from its decay by the

government founding the town of St. Salvador, on the Paraguay, and

covering all the fords by a line of small fortified posts. New works and

branches of industry have been commenced, and quarries of calcareous

stone, an article which Paraguay, before Francia’s time, imported, are

now worked. The _Encyclopædia Britannica_, now being published, puts down

the population of Assumption, the capital, at 12,000, which is certainly

considerably under the real number. With an activity and zeal which would

do honour to governments better furnished with resources and auxiliary

means, the consular government undertook to open new roads, by cutting

through the forests to an extraordinary extent, in order to facilitate

transit and the trade to the exterior. The road which was opened across

the mountain called _Caro_ is twelve leagues in length and fifty feet

broad. That which traverses Mount _Palomares_ is thirteen leagues long,

and of the same breadth as the first; and Mount _Caagazu_ has been cut

by a road six leagues long and thirty-six feet wide. There is also now

approaching completion a road which is passable for carriages from

_Villa-Rica_ to the bank of the Parana. Bridges have been constructed

over several water-courses and dangerous ravines, and where the

breadth of the rivers has been too great, commodious ferries have been

established at the expense of the government. In the district of Rosario,

where there are many grazing estates, the proprietors were frequently

exposed to excessive droughts, which occasioned the dispersion, mixture,

and loss of the herds. The government has had a canal opened from five

to six leagues long, and which, serving as a reservoir to many brooks,

will retain water even in the most terrible droughts. A similar route has

been carried out in the department of _San Estanislao_. The government

has resolved on founding other new towns, and has overcome the obstacles

opposed to the development of others already existing, such as _Villa

Franca_, which, situated at the bottom of a plain, suffered much in the

rainy season. It opened drains for the stagnant waters, and the soil has

been much improved.

There is one arrangement which does the greatest honour to the liberalism

and equity of the consular government. We may, properly speaking, say

that there are no slaves in Paraguay; the number is not quite certain,

but, from the statement of a recent traveller, there would not appear to

be more than one thousand in the whole of the territory of the Republic.

The consular government, in order to put a stop to slavery in a natural

manner, although it be on so small a scale, has declared every child

born of slaves to be free, and has prohibited, by a decree, all fresh

importations.

[108] The climate, which has so much influence on the prosperity of a

country, is salubrious, equable, and agreeable. Although tropical, this

region is exempt from the fevers which commit such ravages at Havana and

New Orleans, and from the earthquakes and hurricanes of the West Indies

and other tropical countries. All epidemics are unknown: in fact, the

climate of Paraguay is proverbially salubrious, one proof of which is,

that there is an unusual proportionate number of octogenarians, and even

centenarians. The British and French war-steamers, Locust and Flambart,

were lately there for upwards of two months, during the hottest season,

without a single case of serious illness occurring on board. Such, too,

was the case when a French steamer was sent up by the British and French

Ministers in 1846. Though the heat is great, it is infinitely more

bearable than in most parts of the Brazils; while all experience goes to

show that Europeans become speedily acclimated.

[109] Prolific as are so many portions of South America, there is no one

area of anything like the same magnitude to be compared for a moment with

Paraguay. Here are cultivated, with an easy success to which the wants

of the inhabitants are the only limit, cotton, sugar, indigo, cochineal,

and the finest tobacco in the world; dyes of great value abound, as also

various wild plants of the hemp kind, capable of being converted to the

greatest utility; resinous trees, amongst them several producing the

Indian-rubber and gutta-percha gums; copaiba, rhubarb, and medicinal

plants of equal virtue, its sarsaparilla being superior to all others,

and its bark having still as high a repute among pharmaceutical savants

as when first introduced thence into Europe by the Jesuits towards the

middle of the seventeenth century. Plantations of coffee have lately

been commenced, and answer excellently. Fruits and grain embrace nearly

all that are indigenous to the temperate and the torrid zone; and the

cattle may be multiplied to an indefinite extent if advantage be taken

for that purpose of the illimitable pasturage—an important consideration

just now, bearing in mind the sources of our supply of hides and tallow,

whether from the North of Europe or South America itself. Direct European

intercourse, by means of the Malmesbury treaty, not only promises to be

productive of the utmost good to Paraguay proper, but, through Paraguay,

to the remotest provinces of the Confederation, and beyond, to the

spurs of the Andes. The Vermejo, already twice explored, puts Paraguay

in communication with the vast provinces of Salta, Jujui, and Tucuman;

and if, as there is good reason to believe, the Pilcomayo is navigable

considerably above Paraguay, her commerce would go straight to the

heart of Bolivia. By the river Paraguay itself ships of 200 tons can

ascend to Cuiaba, the capital of the Brazilian province of Matto-Grosso;

while the interior of Paraguay is interlaced all over with navigable

streams emptying themselves into the great fluvial artery after which

the province is named—thus facilitating the transport, in the manner of

the Chinese canals, of its produce to the markets of Assumption and the

thriving town of Pilar.

[110] The natives of Paraguay are docile to their superiors, vigorous,

inured to hardship, and intelligent; at the same time that they are

sober, phlegmatic, and not likely to be carried away by enthusiasm. They

do not appear to be endowed with that impetuous and exalted valour which

seeks to confront danger and death; they would, therefore, not be well

adapted for offensive warfare. But they possess, without any doubt, that

severe and immovable intrepidity which sees danger and death without

being shaken by them, an invaluable quality for defensive war, and which,

developed by exercise and arms, may in its turn serve for the attack.

The Paraguayan is firm and tenacious in his projects: in whatever he

undertakes, if he meets with resistance, he grows obstinate, and dies

rather than yield or desist. He is insensible to stimulants, and the

seduction of immoderate desires. His family, his valley, his country, the

government which he idolizes, are all the world to him. He is, however,

notwithstanding his apparent phlegm, most susceptible in whatsoever

he considers to be foreign domination, superiority, or influence, and

attributes to contempt the most indifferent act which is repugnant to

his habits, his customs, or his interests. He does not, however, evince

his resentment by words or cries—he is too concentrated for that; but

still he allows no opportunity to escape of expressing by monosyllables,

gestures, or actions, more energetic than words, what is passing at the

bottom of his heart.

[111] The first consul, Don Carlos Antonio Lopez, is a rich landed

proprietor. He received in his youth, at the College of Assumption,

such education as during the first years of this century could be met

with in the American colleges. When his studies were concluded, he gave

lessons in theology at the same college, and was installed in a chair of,

what at that time was termed, philosophy. He afterwards devoted himself

particularly to the study of jurisprudence, and to the profession of

an advocate, and exercised it, according to general report, with zeal,

impartiality, and disinterestedness, which acquired him credit, friends,

and a select number of clients. When it became dangerous, under the

tyranny of the Dictator, to exercise a profession so independent as that

of advocate, M. Lopez retired to his estate, 40 leagues from Assumption,

and gave himself up entirely to agriculture, and to the perusal of the

few books which he had been able to procure. He very rarely went to the

capital, and then only for a few days. His retired life, the description

of seclusion to which he had condemned himself, providentially saved him

from the distrust and terrors of the Dictator, and from imprisonment or

death, which were their usual consequences. M. Lopez has never quitted

his country, and previously he had not taken the smallest share in public

affairs. He was unable to make acquaintance with the excellent works

published on numerous branches of public administration and political

economy, or to obtain the least intelligence of the events which had

occurred in Europe and America during the preceding twenty years, for the

Dictator persecuted, with more rigour than the Inquisition itself, men

of learning and their books, and neither one nor the other had been able

to penetrate Paraguay. Nevertheless, the acts and writings of M. Lopez

have shown that he was no stranger to sound doctrines of administration,

and that he had meditated in his retreat on the situation of his country,

its necessities, the evils it suffered, and their causes, as well as on

the remedies which it would be possible to apply to them. Such qualities

would naturally acquire for him an ascendancy and preponderance in

the management of affairs; and, thus acquired, he has exercised them

discreetly and vigorously.

The second consul, Don Mariano Roque Alonzo, was a soldier who reckoned

many years service in barracks and garrisons. He commanded a corps or

battalion of the troops which occupied the capital, when his companions

in arms appointed him Commandant-General in the interval between the

death of the Dictator and the assembly of Congress. During this short

period he maintained public order, and protected the tranquillity of the

citizens with zeal and moderation. Like a man of good sense and honour,

and of docile character, he at once acknowledged the superiority of his

colleague, which of itself is a merit, and always deferred to it, in

which he rendered a great service to his country.

In 1844, Congress again assembled, and elected M. Lopez president, a

renewal of confidence which his excellent conduct in the interval of

years that had elapsed since his first election fully justified; and the

same may, of course, be said of his subsequent re-election.

[112] In 1849, when the army of Paraguay gave signs of life by occupying

a part of the province of Corrientes, to protect the introduction of

a large convoy of military equipments purchased from Brazil by the

president, General Rosas, who had laughed at the army of Paraguay, found

nothing to oppose to it when it appeared but a defensive attitude. At

the present time that army, from its acquirements and discipline, is the

envy of the armies of the different nations of South America. A treaty

of alliance, offensive and defensive, entered into somewhat later with

the Brazils, and ratified by the Emperor, revealed the existence of

Paraguay to the political world, since this treaty had for its basis the

preservation of the nationality of the Oriental State.

The Dictator had a great number of men under arms; but there was no army

or any military organization of any kind, and the soldiery was allowed

to oppress the other classes. On the other hand, it happened with the

military service, as with all other branches of the administration,

that there were no other laws nor rules than the capricious will of

the Dictator: there was no law to fix the term of service; the private

soldiers had already served a long time, and had a right to their

discharge. Detachment and garrison duty, even in the remotest parts of

the frontiers, was performed without any turn of service or regularity.

The troops remained there sometimes as long as fifteen years without

being relieved, and without receiving any other assistance or pay than a

meagre ration of meat. The consular government gradually allowed these

officers and soldiers to retire, and replaced them with 3,000 men,

obtained by recruiting. The officers who had served for long periods had

small pensions awarded them, and the longest term for the most distant

detachments was reduced to three years.

[113] The Dictator died in 1840, at the age of 85, of apoplexy, leaving

the country in the most dangerous crisis in which a nation can find

itself, that of complete ‘acephalousness’ (being without a head).

Exclusively occupied with himself, the Dictator had neither foreseen

nor prepared anything for cases so easy to anticipate as illness or

death. Nevertheless, there were no parties in Paraguay; neither violent

reactions nor disorders have been seen there, which has, with reason,

surprised all the world. Nor did the country return to the subjection of

Buenos Ayres, which, however, is sufficiently explained by the character

of the inhabitants. The moment the Dictator was dead, his ‘actuario,’

(the person through whom all business with Francia was transacted,)

who doubtless desired to follow out his system, and succeed him under

the name and shadow of some military chiefs, suggested to the four

commandants of four of the ‘corps d’armée’ which occupied the capital

the idea of self-electing themselves into authority and forming a

government. The advice pleased these officers; they added an alcalde to

their number, elected the president, and composed a governmental junta,

of which the ‘actuario’ made himself secretary. But neither the junta

nor the secretary knew how to, or were able to, maintain their footing.

The junta itself had been installed but a few days when it decreed

the arrest of its own secretary, who knowing well, doubtless, what he

deserved, hung himself in prison. The other military chiefs soon made

those who formed the junta imperatively feel the necessity of convoking a

congress, and of doing so by an authority not confined to theirs. After

some hesitation, the natural consequence of the acephalous state of the

country, these military chiefs named a ‘Commandant General of Arms,’

without any administrative authority, and with no other attribute than

that of convoking a congress within a given time, and of watching in the

interval over the maintenance of public order. This new personage did not

fail to execute the orders he had received, and convoked a congress in

March, 1841, six months after the death of the Dictator. This congress,

composed of 500 members, elected directly by universal suffrage, hastened

to satisfy the first necessity of Paraguay, that of an authority to take

the cause of the country and its administration in hand; and the void, so

full of danger to the public weal, was filled up. A government, composed

of two consuls, was immediately appointed, and no other obligation was

imposed on it than that of ‘maintaining and defending the independence

and integrity of the Republic,’ and which it was to swear before being

formally inducted into office. Finally, the congress had the wisdom to

consider its task to be thus terminated, and it added nothing to the

duties of the consuls thus elected than a recommendation to encourage

public education, relying for the rest on the conscience and knowledge of

these magistrates.

A consular government, composed of two individuals, with identical

rights and attributes, but who unavoidably differed in character, ideas,

and education, was eminently defective, and carried within itself the

germs of great inconveniences and dangers to the State. But, happily, it

produced none, thanks to the deference and docility of one magistrate,

the prudence and superiority of the other, and the short duration of

their term of office, which was but for three years.

During the Dictatorship education had been altogether abandoned; the

establishments devoted to instruction had been closed, and their

resources diverted to other purposes. Lopez established primary schools,

and laid the foundation for a college; and two Jesuits arriving about

1844, one of them took charge of a school for mathematics; but they left

the country in 1846.

Religion and public worship, which exercise so much influence on the

morality of a people, were suffering much from the want of spiritual

advisers. At the death of the Dictator there were only fifty priests in

Paraguay, all old, and several verging on decrepitude. Many churches

in the country, even in populous parishes, were closed for want of

pastors. The consular government hastened to remedy so great an evil: it

commenced negotiations with the Holy See, and presented two priests for

consecration as bishops; one, as diocesan, and the other as coadjutor.

In the meantime it pressed the head of the bishopric to extend to those

parishes which were destitute of pastors the jurisdiction of the nearest

rectors.

[114] The revenue of Paraguay is derived principally from the duties

levied on goods imported and exported, (the former of which ought to be

considerably modified, and the latter reduced to almost nothing,) stamped

paper, shopkeepers’ licences, the tithe of the produce of the soil, and

the ‘half-annaata’ tax (half the value of the waste lands granted by

government); but we are, as yet, ignorant of the details, no statistical

documents being yet published in the Republic.

There is also, however, another and not inconsiderable branch of revenue,

viz.: the monopoly enjoyed by government of the sale of ‘maté,’ or

Paraguay tea. It purchases this herb as prepared in the forests of the

state, and when well packed and in good condition, at a given price,

and disposes of it to the merchants for exportation, as well as to the

consumers, at the rate of seven rials per arrobe.

What will at a later period constitute incalculable wealth for Paraguay

are its lands and forests: it will derive a very considerable revenue

from them. More than half of the surface of the territory is public

property, comprising immense forests of timber, of the most varied and

valued kinds, within reach of navigable rivers. These lands at present

are of little value; but they will speedily acquire a much greater, for

the president has adopted a very wise system of disposing of them, viz.,

granting them to applicants at a perpetual ground-rent of five per cent.

on the amount at which they are valued by competent persons. This plan

will greatly facilitate their sale.

[115] The consular government opened the world to men who had been

separated from it for thirty years, through the complete isolation in

which Francia kept the country; internal communications and relations,

which were limited to the most indispensable acts of material life, were

relieved from the dangers and obstacles which tended to restrict and

paralyse them. Access to _Stapua_ was permitted to every one who desired

to betake himself to that market, and navigation to all who desired

to export the produce of the country. The idea and the hope of seeing

commerce spring up anew, alone sufficed to reanimate the spirits and

awaken the minds of men long benumbed under an oppressive yoke.

This renewal of hope and labour was, in a great measure, due to the

encouragement given to the consular government. There were families

fallen into a state of poverty bordering on utter destitution; the

government came to their assistance by causing to be distributed amongst

them more than three thousand head of cattle; and in goods, instruments,

and tools, to the value of more than twenty-two thousand dollars. They

were thus set up again, and enabled to resume their labours.

[116] The administration of justice at Paraguay is as simple as it

naturally ought to be with a people whose civil relations are few

in number and little complicated; but the increase of property and

the complication of relations will require tribunals more learnedly

organized. What the consular government did sufficed to create legal

order, and put an end to the reign of force and arbitrary sway, which

the Dictator had substituted for the rule of justice; but in criminal

trials an innovation was introduced, which, although imperfect, will

be perfected in time, when education has made greater advance, and

which will incontestably serve as a basis for the institution of the

jury, the source of so many benefits. It was ordained, that in order to

pronounce criminal sentences, the judge should associate with himself

two individuals, drawn by lot out of a list previously made. The

confiscations under the Dictator, the enormous fines which he imposed,

and which were equivalent to confiscation, had reduced a great number of

families to misery; the consular government restored such property as yet

existed, and adjudged some indemnities for those which had been disposed

of; the rural estates which had been applied to the public service, and

which it would not have been convenient to withdraw, were purchased from

the former and legitimate possessors. This striking act of equity alone

completed a revolution in the social and administrative order of Paraguay.

[117] The government which succeeded Francia’s despotism, and of

which M. Lopez was the head, did not allow the least sign of blame or

disapprobation of the Dictator’s conduct to transpire. It would indeed

have been useless, and have set a bad example, to abuse his memory and

awaken a remembrance of irreparable evils.

From the death of the Dictator to the installation of the consulate, all

persecution, as well as the sanguinary executions and fusillades, so

common during Francia’s tyrannical sway, had ceased. But the political

prisoners, to the number of more than 600, had not been released, with

four or five exceptions, and suffered the same evils in the dungeons and

casemates. When the consuls, however, were elected, they released all

these political prisoners, and sent them to their families. It was a

significant act. It showed to all that the reign of cruelty and terror

had given place in the counsels of the government to principles of

mildness and sound policy. It was natural that the agents and employés of

the Dictator should have inspired resentments and profound hatred by the

pitiless way in which they had executed the orders they had received; and

complaints did begin to be heard against some of the officials for the

abuse they had made of their authority.

[118] From the crowd of rank and fashion, I had a good opportunity of

observing the costumes. The limited intercourse between this part of

South America and other lands has, of late years, degenerated to almost

entire seclusion. It would, therefore, be unreasonable to expect the

inhabitants could procure dresses of equal beauty to those of more

favoured nations. But the country manufactures of which the garments were

principally formed, though comparatively coarse, were very elaborately

worked by hand, and, consequently, infinitely dearer than female attire

of the same quality in Europe. For example, a small coarse towel, or

napkin, embroidered or worked all round by hand, was worth a doubloon, or

ounce of gold, equal, nearly, to four pounds sterling.—_Robertson._

[119] The Pacific Steam Navigation Company under contract with Her

Majesty’s Government for the conveyance of the mails semi-monthly between

Panama and Valparaiso, in connection with the Royal Mail Steam Packet

Company, have now on the West Coast of South America the following

steam-ships, viz:—

Lima 1,100 tons and 400 horse power

Bogota 1,100 ” ” 400 ”

Santiago 1,000 ” ” 400 ”

Bolivia 800 ” ” 280 ”

New Granada 600 ” ” 200 ”

Valdivia 700 ” ” 180 ”

Osprey 300 ” ” 100 ”

The distance steamed annually is about 200,000 miles, and the number of

intermediate ports touched at on the coasts of New Granada, Equador,

Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, between the termini, is about 13. The company

have also a contract with the Government of Chili for the conveyance of

mails monthly between Valparaiso and Chili, as mentioned in the text.

[120] Though I have quoted in the appendix a good deal of data referring

to the Falklands, I cannot mention those islands in the text of this

volume for the last time without adducing in evidence of their extreme

eligibility, in connection with Australian commerce, the annexed letter

from the very competent authority whose signature it bears. It is

addressed to my fellow-townsman, Mr. Jeffrey, of Compton House, who,

after a very able speech in Liverpool in promotion of the decimal system,

in illustration of which he quoted the principle of circle sailing, put

some questions, at the instance of a friend, to Mr. Towson, in respect

to the Falklands, and received in reply the following remarks, whose

accuracy has been so strikingly corroborated by Captain Matthews, of the

Great Britain, whose letter will be found in another page:—

Local Marine Board, Liverpool, 31st December, 1853: My dear

Sir,—The Falkland Islands are the best possible coaling

stations for steamers homeward bound from Australia. The Marco

Polo and Eagle sighted them on their celebrated homeward

passages; consequently they lay in the best track. They are

also situated about midway. It is true that less than one-third

of the coals is required between Australia and the Falkland

Islands, which will be consumed during the homeward voyage.

But, under all circumstances, it is desirable to coal here,

as it will enable the ship to start from Australia in good

sailing trim, instead of being overburdened with coals on that

part of the voyage in which steam is of but little value. A

half-cargo of coals at Australia, and a full cargo of coals at

the Falkland Islands, is what I have recommended for steamers,

in cases in which I have been consulted. Although I think it

possible that steamers will at length make the voyage without

coaling at any intermediate station; I still think that it is

less likely that this will be adopted on the homeward passage

than on the outward, because, on the first half of the voyage

out, coals will be required most, but homeward on the second

half, so that, as a coaling station, the Falkland Islands

stand preëminent. Also for steamers bound to the West coast of

America, North and South, the Falkland Islands will be the best

coaling station both out and home.—I am, my dear Sir, yours

truly,—JOHN THOMAS TOWSON.—_To James R. Jeffery, Esq._

[121] In proof of this we may here cite the letter of Captain Matthews,

of the Great Britain, as already alluded to:—

Liverpool, 1st April, 1854.

Gentlemen,—I have much pleasure in complying with your

request that I should lay before you a brief statement of the

advantages afforded by the Falkland Islands as a place of call

for ocean steamers. Captain Grant, of the Sea Bird, in the very

interesting letter which he wrote to you from Stanley relative

to the deposit of coal for the Great Britain, has already made

you aware of the excellence of that harbour, and of its easy

access. I am able, from my own experience, to confirm, in every

particular, Capt. Grant’s remarks.

The government charts are exceedingly correct; the land as

you approach it is made out without any difficulty, and we

saw Pembroke Point and its beacon (now to be superseded by a

lighthouse) at the distance of seven miles. The harbour itself

is like a large dock, secure from all winds, and with an

entrance sufficiently wide for a good smart sailing vessel to

beat through with ease. All the dangerous points are distinctly

marked by the kelp or sea-weed. The anchorage is excellent,

varying from four to five fathoms at low water, so that the

Great Britain is everywhere in perfect safety; and even were

she to touch the ground, she would not receive any injury, as

the bottom is all soft mud.

The facility for watering ships is good: a reservoir, holding

about 200 tons of water, communicates by means of pipes with

the end of a jetty, where, even when the tide is out, there

is always about three feet of water, which is sufficient for

a flat boat to float off ten tons at a time. The casks in

the boat are filled by fastening a short hose to the pipes,

and thus one ship can be watered as rapidly as if she were

in Liverpool. The Governor, of whose courteous and obliging

conduct I cannot speak too highly, promised that, should

Stanley become a port of call for steamers, a floating tank

shall be built, so that water could be alongside the ship

immediately on her arrival, and pumped into the tanks or casks,

as the case may be.

There are considerable herds of cattle on the islands, and when

put up to feed (as was the case with the Great Britain) their

beef is very good; vegetables of the more ordinary kind, such

as potatoes, cabbages, and turnips, can be had when in season.

Ship chandlery and grocery stores can also be purchased to a

limited extent. Labour is scarce, as the population of Stanley

(the only settlement) is only about 400. But every year as the

islands become better known this want will no doubt be less

felt.

I should add that the hulk for coaling the Great Britain was

placed in the most convenient situation. I experienced not

the slightest difficulty in this or any other matter during

this detention of four days in these islands, owing chiefly to

the good management of Mr. Dale, the agent for the Falkland

Islands’ Company, who was immediately in attendance on arrival

of the ship, and continued until the hulk with coals was

alongside. The zealous attention and kindness of this gentleman

to my passengers and myself whenever his services were required

will always be remembered by us.

I remain, gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

(Signed) BARNARD R. MATTHEWS.

Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co.

[122] Speaking of this functionary, I am reminded that I have left the

diplomatic and consular corps of some few of the states of South America

unenumerated. The following brief particulars, however, will be found to

embrace all that is necessary to be known on such head, in respect to the

states in any way coming within the scope of the foregoing pages:—

Venezuela has at present no diplomatic representative in this country.

The consuls are Mr. J. Milligan, London; Mr. A. Fox, Falmouth; Mr. W.

Watson, Liverpool; and Mr. J. Ferguson, Belfast. The British consuls are

the Hon. R. Bingham, who was attached to the mission at Naples in 1818,

to the embassy at Paris in 1823, to the mission at Madrid in 1825, to

the embassy at Lisbon in 1828, appointed paid attaché at Madrid in 1829,

secretary of legation at Munich in 1831, at Turin in 1839, and chargé

d’affaires and consul-general in Venezuela in 1852, salary 1200_l._;

Mr. J. Riddel, La Guyra, 200_l._; Mr. J. McWhirter, acting consul in

Venezuela from 1835 to 1837, and from 1839 to 1843, appointed vice-consul

at Puerto Cabello in 1843, 200_l._; Mr. E. T. Harrison, Maracaibo,

200_l._; and Mr. K. Mathison, unpaid consul at Angostura from 1841 to

1845, appointed vice-consul at Bolivar in 1847, salary 200_l._

Bolivia is diplomatically represented in England by General Andrea Santa

Cruz, minister plenipotentiary. The Bolivian consuls are Baron Scholey,

consul-general, whose office is 1, London-street, Fenchurch-street,

London; Mr. H. Morris, Dover; Mr. T. W. Fox, Plymouth; and Mr. R. Dunkin,

Llanelly and Swansea. The British chargé d’affaires and consul-general

in Bolivia is Mr. J. A. Lloyd, formerly aide-de-camp to a West India

governor, who permitted him to proceed to Columbia, where he was officer

of engineers to General Bolivar, in 1827 was sent to the isthmus of

Darien, and laid down the line of railway, was afterwards scientifically

employed by the Admiralty and the Royal Society, in 1831 was appointed

surveyor-general and civil engineer in chief at Mauritius, in 1850 a

special commissioner for the Exhibition of 1851, and at the close of the

latter year to his present post at Sucre, where his salary is 1200_l._

The consuls of Equador in this country are Mr. W. P. Robertson,

consul-general, 5, Barge-yard, Bucklersbury, London; Mr. E. Mocatta,

Liverpool; Mr. G. Dunlop, Southampton; and Mr. M. R. Ryan, Limerick. The

British consul at Guayaquil is Mr. W. Cope, whose salary is 1000_l._

[123] A writer in the city article of the _Times_ of February 17th,

dating from the Plate, shortly after the occurrence, says:—

The Lusitania, belonging to the Liverpool Screw Steam Company,

made the passage from England in 35 days. The Argentine

paddle-wheel steamboat, belonging to the same company, when

leaving the harbour about a fortnight since for Buenos Ayres,

struck upon a reef of rocks running from the Cerro. All efforts

to get her off proving ineffectual, she was abandoned, and

sold on account of the underwriters for 4,600 duros, but is

likely to prove a dead loss to the purchasers, as the engines

cannot be abstracted. The loss of this vessel is not only a

serious one to the company, but to the public in this part of

the world. By her punctuality and speed she had just succeeded

in driving away all competitors, and would have paid very

handsomely. When replacing her, it is believed, the company

would do well to send a larger vessel, but of no deeper draught

of water.

Brazil, the River Plate, and the Falkland Islands With the Cape Horn route to Australia. Including notices of Lisbon, Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde. · 第 17 / 17 章

_Sir,—The undersigned native citizens of the Oriental Republic