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OBSERVATIONS
ON THE PRESENT STATE
OF THE
AFFAIRS
OF
THE RIVER PLATE.
BY
THOMAS BAINES.
"Malheur au siecle, temoin passif d'une lutte heroique, qui
croirait qu'on peut sans peril, comme sans penetration de
l'avenir, laisser immoler une nation."
CHATEAUBRIAND.
LIVERPOOL:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT THE LIVERPOOL TIMES OFFICE,
CASTLE STREET.
1845.
OBSERVATIONS
ON
THE PRESENT STATE OF
THE AFFAIRS OF THE RIVER PLATE.
The destructive war which has now been waged for so many years, by the
Chief of the Province of Buenos Ayres against the Republic of Uruguay,
involves questions of so much importance to the commercial interests,
and to the national honour of England, that nothing can account for the
very slight attention which it has received from Parliament and the
press, except the fact that many of the principal considerations
connected with it have never yet been fully brought before the British
public. In order to supply this deficiency, and to show how much it
concerns the character of this country that this war should at once be
brought to a close in the only manner in which it can be ended; that is,
by the prompt and decided interference of the Governments of France and
England, I have thought that it might be useful to lay before the public
the following observations and documents, explanatory of the principles
involved in the war; of the conduct pursued by Mr. Mandeville, the
British Minister to the Argentine Confederation, at the most critical
period of its progress; and of the strong and rapidly-increasing
interest which this country, and more especially the port of Liverpool,
has in the preservation of the threatened independence of the Republic
of Uruguay.
Most of the readers of these remarks are no doubt aware that the
Province of the Banda Oriental, or eastern bank of the River Plate, was
first constituted an independent state, under the title of the Republic
of Uruguay, at the close of the war between the Argentine Confederation
and the Empire of Brazil, in the year 1828. This arrangement was in a
great measure brought about by the good offices of Lord Ponsonby, the
Ambassador of the British Government to the Court of Rio, and the result
of his negociations was so agreeable to the English Government, that
the peace thus concluded was made a subject of congratulation in the
speech from the throne in the year 1829. The principal object in forming
this new Republic was, to put an end to the destructive war between
Buenos Ayres and Brazil, originating in the claims put forward by both
these countries to the possession of the Province of the Banda Oriental.
The Brazilians, who had had possession of it for several years, were
naturally unwilling to have so warlike and powerful a state as the
Argentine Republic on their most vulnerable frontier, and the Argentines
were not less unwilling to have the Brazilian frontier pushed more than
a hundred leagues up the River Plate, and within the limits of the
ancient Viceroyalty of Paraguay, which had for ages been occupied by the
Spanish race. As the only effectual solution of these difficulties, the
English Government proposed that the Banda Oriental should be rendered
independent of both countries, and this, after some negociation, was
agreed to by all the parties concerned.
The primary object of the mediation of the English Government was the
re-establishment and preservation of peace and amity between two
nations, with both of which England had valuable commercial relations;
and this object has been completely gained by the arrangement then
effected. During the sixteen years which have elapsed since the treaty
was concluded, no serious difference has occurred between Brazil and the
Argentine Confederation, nor is any likely to occur so long as the
barrier of an independent state is interposed between them. It is only
during the last two years that serious discussions have arisen between
them, and these have originated in the fears of Brazil, lest the
successes of the Buenos Ayrean army, now before Monte Video, should be
such as to break down the barrier established by the Ponsonby treaty,
and again to bring the Buenos Ayreans on the frontiers of Rio Grande.
From apprehension of this event, the Brazilian Government has allowed
General Paz, with his military staff, to pass through its territory to
place himself at the head of the Correntino insurgents, who have risen
against Rosas, and made common cause with Monte Video; it has also
recalled Admiral Grenfell, its commander in the River Plate, as well as
its diplomatic agent at Monte Video, for engaging in an ill-timed
quarrel with the Monte Videan Government; and if the Buenos Ayrean army
should succeed in gaining possession of the city of Monte Video, it will
in all probability, whether backed or not by England and France, decide
to take part in the war, rather than allow General Rosas to succeed in
the designs which he now avows on the Republics of Uruguay and Paraguay,
the two bulwarks of the western provinces of the Brazilian empire.
Notwithstanding the recent victories of the Brazilian General, Baron
Caxias, over the rebels of Rio Grande do Sul, that province is still in
a very unsettled state--far too much so to be safely exposed to the
machinations of such dangerous neighbours as Generals Rosas and Oribe.
It may, therefore, be confidently expected, that if the great naval
powers do not interpose, the progress of events will again bring on a
war between Brazil, strengthened by the army of Uruguay, under General
Rivera, that of Corrientes under General Paz, and the forces of Paraguay
on one side; and Buenos Ayres on the other, backed by those other
provinces of the Argentine Confederation, which still follow the
fortunes of General Rosas.
What the result of such a war would be no one can predict, but its first
consequence would be another blockade of Buenos Ayres, by the Brazilian
fleet, its next the reinforcement of the garrison of Monte Video by a
detachment of Brazilian troops, and its probable final result, after the
whole of the countries engaged in it had been thoroughly ruined, the
establishment of the ascendancy either of the government of Buenos
Ayres, or of that of Brazil at Monte Video. This would be alike opposed
to the wishes and the interests of the Monte Videans themselves, to the
interests of a large portion of South America, and to those of the
nations trading with it. A small Independent State, like the Republic of
Uruguay, governed as it has ever been since the date of its independence
on the most liberal commercial principles, is the best of all checks on
the commercial illiberality of the neighbouring countries, and is much
too valuable to be sacrificed by the Government of any commercial nation
which has at heart the prosperity of its subjects.
If it should be said that neutral nations have no right to interpose
between belligerents, even for the purpose of preserving the national
independence of the weaker, I answer, that no longer since than last
year, the Government of this country was prepared to have interposed, if
it had been necessary, in order to preserve the independence of the
Empire of Morocco; and that the Government of France fully admitted the
right of England to do so in such a case, by giving a promise beforehand
that it would not use its victory either to conquer the territory or to
destroy the independence of the offending state. The reason why England
was prepared to resist the conquest of Morocco was, that such a conquest
would have seriously endangered her interests and influence in the
Mediterranean; and one principal reason why she should interfere to
prevent the conquest of Monte Video by the army and squadron of Buenos
Ayres is, that such a conquest would jeopardise her valuable commerce
and her influence in the River Plate, the only outlet of regions larger
than all the great Kingdoms of Western Europe united. Brazil has the
same right to interpose that Austria would have to resist the conquest
of Sardinia, or Prussia the conquest of Belgium, by France.
Many advantages have resulted both to the commerce of foreign nations,
and to the prosperity of the people of Uruguay, from the recognition of
its independence both of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, which were not
anticipated at the time when it was established, the whole of which, as
we shall show, will be lost if it is allowed to be absorbed by or placed
in dependence on Buenos Ayres. Amongst these advantages are the
following:--
The creation of an Independent State on the eastern bank of the River
Plate has given the commercial nations of Europe trading with those vast
countries of South America, whose only means of intercourse with the
rest of the world is through that River, a greatly increased security
against being again cut off from communication with them, as they were
during the Brazilian blockade, in the years 1825, 6, and 7. At that
time, both banks of the river were involved in the war, the city of
Monte Video being in the hands of the Brazilians, and the Province which
now forms the Republic of Uruguay being in arms against them. The
consequence of this state of things was, that the whole of the countries
watered by the great rivers Parana, Paraguay, Uruguay, and their
innumerable tributary streams, as well as the provinces of Buenos Ayres
and Monte Video, were cut off from all communication with Europe for
nearly three years, and that the great commerce which even then was
carried on by England and other nations with those countries, was for
the time destroyed. Some notion may be formed of the inconvenience which
this country alone sustained from the blockade of the river, from the
following facts. In the years 1822, 3, 4, and 5, the four years
preceding it, the average annual value of the exports from England to
the River Plate, was L909,330, whilst in 1826, 7, and 8, during the
blockade, it fell to L279,463, and in 1827, to L150,000, and even that
small remnant of trade was carried on by vessels which broke the
blockade. At a subsequent period, namely, in the years 1838-9, and 40,
there was again a blockade in the River Plate, established by France, a
power much more capable of making a blockade respected than Brazil, but
as the east bank of the river was no longer under the control of Buenos
Ayres, which was the power against whom the blockade was directed, the
evils resulting from it were comparatively small. Foreign ships were
still able to proceed to Monte Video, (thanks to the independence of
Uruguay), and thus, although one line of intercourse with the interior
was cut off by the blockade of the port of Buenos Ayres, the other up
the river Uruguay was kept open. In consequence of this, the evils of
the blockade were, in a great measure, confined to the city of Buenos
Ayres and its immediate neighbourhood, for the eastern bank of the river
flourished more than ever, the communication with the interior was never
closed, and the commerce of the nations trading with those countries
continued to increase. When it is considered (and it ought never to be
lost sight of,) that the commerce of foreign nations with the whole of
the central regions of South America depends entirely on the keeping
open one or other of these lines of communication, it will be seen that
it is a matter, not merely of national but of universal importance,
though in an especial manner to England, to maintain the entire
independence of Monte Video of Buenos Ayres, so as to diminish as much
as possible the danger of both being closed at the same time and by the
same political events. We say the entire independence of Monte Video,
for though the nominal independence of the country might be preserved,
even if the Buenos Ayrean army, under General Oribe, should get
possession of the city of Monte Video, that officer would be compelled
to lean on General Rosas for support to protect him against the majority
of his fellow countrymen, who are now in arms against him quite as much
as the chiefs of the Banda Oriental were in 1826, 7, and 8, compelled to
lean on Buenos Ayres for protection against the arms of Brazil; and to
follow the fortunes of Buenos Ayres in any war in which General Rosas
might involve himself, either with Brazil or any of the nations of
Europe. This would again be fatal to the trade of the River Plate.
It is not generally known, although it is very important that it should
be, that this trade amounted in 1842, including both imports and
exports, to upwards of Three Millions sterling, at the port of Monte
Video alone. It is still, however, in its infancy, and requires nothing
but a few years of peace, with the introduction of steam navigation on
the Parana, the Uruguay, and their tributaries,[A] to give it an
extension which will render it of vital importance to the merchants and
manufacturers of England. The Parana and the Paraguay, together, are
known to be navigable to Assumption, which is fifteen hundred miles
above Buenos Ayres, to vessels drawing nine feet water, and there is
every reason to believe that both those rivers might be navigated a
thousand miles higher by iron steamers, such as those recently built at
Birkenhead, by order of the East India Company, for the navigation of
the Indus and the Sutlej, the former of which, when carrying guns and
troops, draw only four feet water, the latter of which, when loaded in
the same manner, not more than two and a half. The Uruguay is equally
navigable for several hundred miles to the Salto Chico, (the little
leap), and if a short canal was cut, to turn that rapid and the much
more formidable one of the Salto Grande,[B] it would be navigable for
many hundred miles above the Falls. Several of the tributaries of these
gigantic streams are larger than the Rhine, the Elbe, or the Tagus, and
great numbers of them than the Thames or the Mersey, and the whole of
this vast net-work of waters is connected with the still more stupendous
river of the Amazons, by a short portage to the Madeira, one of the
principal tributaries of that king of rivers. The natural products which
these unrivalled lines of river communication might be made the means of
bringing to the ports on the Rivers Plate and Amazons are varied and
inexhaustible. In addition to the large supplies of hides, wool, tallow,
and provisions, which these countries now furnish, Paraguay and
Corrientes are capable of supplying the finest timber for ship-building
purposes, sugar the growth of free labour, the best kinds of tobacco,
cotton-wool, dyewoods, drugs, the tea of Paraguay, and the precious
metals from Bolivia and the back provinces of Brazil. It is now only
twenty or thirty years since steam navigation was introduced on the
Mississippi, and the consequence of its introduction has been an
extension of cultivation and population such as the world never before
saw. The natural resources of the great valleys of the Parana, Paraguay,
and Uruguay, merely require to be developed by the same means to make
Monte Video and Buenos Ayres as flourishing as New Orleans, and to make
the commerce of the River Plate rival that of the Mississippi. It is
perhaps vain to hope that anything will induce the present Governor of
Buenos Ayres to abandon the suicidal policy which is at once impeding
the intercourse with the interior, and depriving that city of the
principal benefits of its unrivalled position, but this only renders it
the more necessary to keep open the only other course, namely, that
through the Uruguay, by which the resources of these vast countries can
be brought into activity.
For another of the great advantages which has resulted from the
independence of Monte Video, has been the opening of a new channel for
the commercial intercourse between Europe and the central states of
South America, in peace as well as in war; and this channel the Monte
Videan Government has laboured to improve and keep open, as zealously
and as successfully as the Buenos Ayrean Government has laboured to
narrow and impede the old ones. The Buenos Ayrean Government has been
warned repeatedly by its warmest friends of the consequences which would
result from its illiberal commercial policy; but they might just as well
have reasoned with the winds; for, the only effect of the contrast
between the rapidly increasing prosperity of Monte Video and the
declining state of Buenos Ayres, has been to excite the most deadly
hatred and jealousy towards Monte Video on the part of the Buenos Ayrean
Government, and a settled determination to drag down that rapidly
improving city to its own level. The following sketch of the commercial
policy of the two countries will show what have been the principal
causes of the prosperity of Monte Video, and what of the decline of
Buenos Ayres; and also how strong a claim the policy of the former gives
it on the sympathy and support of this country.
A large portion of the revenue, both of Monte Video and of Province of
Buenos Ayres, is raised by taxes on the importation of foreign goods,
and the rate of duties is not excessive in either case. It is not on
this account that any one complains of the Buenos Ayrean Government, but
because it confines foreign commerce to the single port of Buenos Ayres,
and excludes both foreigners and foreign vessels from the other ports of
the Confederation, as strictly as the Chinese formerly excluded them
from every port except Canton. This it is able to effect by its command
over the entrance to the river Parana, the direct route to Entre Rios,
Corrientes, and the other provinces of the Confederation. Whilst the
provincial Government of Buenos Ayres thus excludes all foreign vessels
from the Parana, and as far as its control extends from the Uruguay, it
claims the right to expend the whole of the customs' revenue raised at
Buenos Ayres. The upper provinces very naturally consider this unjust,
and insist on having either a share of the revenue collected at Buenos
Ayres (somewhat on the principle adopted amongst the states of the
German Zollverein), or on having a general Congress of all the provinces
of the Confederation to decide how the money shall be distributed. This
General Rosas and his adherents refuse, and this refusal, coupled with
the equally positive refusal of the same parties to allow foreign
vessels to ascend the river, is one principal cause of the frequent wars
between the states of the Argentine Confederation on the banks of the
river and the Government of Buenos Ayres, one of which is now raging
between it and Corrientes. In this way the commerce with the interior is
continually interrupted. The policy of the Monte Videan Government is in
every respect the reverse of this, for it not only throws open the ports
of Monte Video, Maldonado, and Colonia, on the River Plate, but those of
Soriano and Paysandu, on the Uruguay, the Yaguaron, on the Laguna Merin,
and the dry port of Taquarembo on the Brazilian frontier to all the
world, and thus gives every part of the republic all the advantages of
foreign commerce.
There is a still greater difference, if it is possible, in the policy
adopted by the two governments with regard to the transit trade. At
Monte Video goods may be landed without the payment of any duty, may be
there deposited in the Custom-house stores for any length of time, on
the payment of a smaller warehouse rent than is usually paid in
Liverpool, and may be sent to any of the independent countries in the
interior, or re-shipped to foreign parts, without the payment of a
dollar. The Government goes even further than this, for it allows goods
in transit to be conveyed through the whole territory of the Republic,
with a guia or Custom-house Permit to all parts of the frontier, and to
be forwarded into the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes,
into the Republic of Paraguay, and into the back provinces of the empire
of Brazil, perfectly free from duty. Hence goods are constantly
forwarded up the Uruguay, instead of going to Buenos Ayres to pay duty
to General Rosas. The natural consequence of this is, that the people of
all the adjoining states have a friendly feeling towards Monte Video.
Corrientes has several times risen against the connection with General
Rosas, in support of Monte Video, and Brazil is prepared, if necessary,
to interfere to save it from his grasp. In fact, it is quite evident
that nothing but an entire change of policy on the part of Buenos Ayres
can prevent a general war against its usurpations. The policy of Rosas
with regard to goods in transit to the Independent States of the
interior is altogether different from that of Monte Video, for, when
landed at Buenos Ayres, they pay the same duties as if they were
intended for consumption there, and not a sixpence, or what is less than
a sixpence, a Buenos Ayrean paper dollar, is ever returned. When goods
are intended for re-exportation by sea, the difference is in appearance
less, but much the same in reality, for whilst they can be landed at
Monte Video without paying any duty, can remain there as long as the
owners like, and can then be re-exported duty free, at Buenos Ayres they
cannot be landed without paying the full duties, their owners lose all
claim to have any part of those duties returned, if they are not
re-exported within six months, and it is only with the greatest
difficulty and after waiting many months that they obtain any return at
all, even if they are exported within that time.
A similar contrast is also seen in the spirit in which the Governments
of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video treat the diplomatic agents of foreign
nations. Soon after the death of the Dictator Francia, the English
Government determined to send a diplomatic agent to the Republic of
Paraguay. This gentleman, Mr. Gordon, first landed at Buenos Ayres,
hoping to be allowed to proceed up the Parana to Assumption, the
capital, but he soon found that it was no part of General Rosas's policy
to allow any such communication. The consequence was, that after
remaining at Buenos Ayres for some time combatting the pretences under
which permission was refused, he found that there was no hope of his
being allowed to proceed to the seat of his mission, through the
countries subject to the dominion of General Rosas, and crossed over to
Monte Video. There he was received with every attention, and furnished
by General Rivera with a guard of honour, under whose escort he
travelled to the frontiers of Paraguay. Mr. Gordon's letter of
acknowledgement to General Rivera will be found in the Appendix, and it
would be difficult to find a stronger illustration of the opposite
spirit of the two Governments than is presented by this transaction. Not
Francia himself was ever more determined to cut off Paraguay from
communication with the rest of the world than is General Rosas, and the
key to his conduct is, that he is determined, if possible, to reduce the
people of that Republic to subjection to his authority. No longer since
than the 15th of January last, a long article appeared in the official
_Gazette_ of Buenos Ayres, censuring the Governments of Brazil and
Bolivia for recognizing the independence of Paraguay.
In addition to all these advantages arising out of the independence of
the Republic of Uruguay, it ought to be mentioned that the Government of
Monte Video has preserved an undepreciated silver currency through all
its difficulties, whilst the Buenos Ayrean Government has issued such
masses of paper without ever redeeming it, that the Buenos Ayrean paper
dollar is not worth more than 4-1/4d. at the present time. The other
states of the Argentine Confederation positively refuse to take the
Buenos Ayrean paper money, but foreign merchants are compelled to take
it, or to dispose of their goods by barter, which is seldom possible.
The consequence of the liberal commercial system adopted by Monte Video,
aided by the excellence of its situation has been to raise that city, in
fourteen years, to the position of one of the first commercial places in
America, as will be seen from the following summary of the export and
import trade in 1842, the year before the commencement of the siege:--
EXPORTS.
638,424 Hides, salted $2,553,696
780,097 Hides, dry 2,340,291
60,904 Hides 91,356
100,583 Skins of Sheep 201,706
111,801 (arrobas) Tallow 223,602
4,444 (tons) Bones 31,108
2,690 (arrobas) Mares Oil 4,035
26,462 (arrobas) Hair 79,386
946,955 Horns 28,408.5
96,540 (arrobas) Wool 144,810
3,341 (dozens) Skins of Sheep 6,682
8,019 (quintals) Garras 8,019
1,109 (tons) Ashes 8,872
18,198 (arrobas) Fat 36,396
424 (dozens) Skins of Nonatos 848
938 Ditto Nutria 2,345
513,641 (quintals) Meat 1,540,923
121 (barrels) Tripe, salted 726
150 (barrels) Meat 1,200
2,065 (boxes) Candles 6,195
170 (dozens) Tongues 170
470 Mules 9,400
2,380 (lbs.) Ostrich Feathers 892.4
------------
Value of Exports $7,321,066.1
Value of Imports on which duty was paid $9,237,696
-------------
How much this extensive trade has increased since the establishment
of the independence of Monte Video, will be seen from the following
statement of the increase of British shipping from 1830 to 1842:--