ORIGIN OF THE WAR BETWEEN MONTEVIDEO AND BUENOS
AYRES.—CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF ROSAS, OURIBES—THE
CENTRALISTS, CALLED UNITARIANS, OPPOSED TO THE
REPUBLICANS.
As has been said, the war in Montevideo was caused by the personal
ambition of the two generals, Ouribes and Rivera, who were aspirants for
the Presidency of the republic. The former was defeated by the latter,
about the year 1840, and obliged to emigrate to Buenos Ayres.
At that time Rosas, the tyrant of Buenos Ayres, was engaged in war with
the Centralists, or Unitarians, who were the national and liberal party,
and were led by Generals Lavalle and Paz. Rosas received Ouribes and
many of his partizans, and gave them immediate employment in his own
army, while he conferred the supreme command of it upon the emigrant
General. Ouribes, being able to bring many reinforcements to the
tyrant's army, which was already strong, defeated Lavalle, who died in
the upper provinces of the Argentine Republic (I think Mendoza,) in a
surprise. General Paz, by intrigues and dissensions, was obliged to
abandon the struggle, after the brilliant victory of Caguazú, and to
return to Montevideo, where the greater part of the Centralists who had
fought against Rosas had retreated.
The Argentine Republic being pressed by enemies, Ouribes descended
towards Montevideo, and established his camp at Bajada, the capital of
the province of Entre-Rios, having under his command an imposing army,
and meditating with Rosas, the invasion of the State of Montevideo.
Rivera was then on the left bank of the Uruguay, preparing and receiving
all the forces which he could dispose of, and doubtless expecting to be
attacked.
Wise would have been the resolution to await the enemy in his own
positions; but, having much confidence in himself, and strengthened by
the junction with the army of Corrientes, he made arrangements to cross
the river, and seek the enemy. The Oriental and Corrientes armies
amounted to ten thousand men. Ouribes had fourteen thousand, and was
much superior in infantry and artillery.
The battle was short; and the combined armies were entirely defeated on
the Arroyo Grande. Ouribes passed the Uruguay, invaded the territory of
Montevideo, and then laid siege to the capital.
The catastrophe of Arroyo Grande, and the certainty that the implacable
ex-president would come, meditating terrible revenge, stimulated the
population of the State of Montevideo to take up arms _en masse_ and
repel the invasion by force. It should here be observed, that the war
had changed its character, and it was no longer a personal consideration
in favor of Rivera which induced the people to take up arms; but the
fear of becoming subject to the depredations and excesses of a foreign
and barbarous enemy, led them to fight for the independence of the
country.
The beginning of patriotism, which then animated the people, was the
same which led them to so many heroic deeds, and to sustain the most
desperate of struggles, at the cost of unheard of sacrifices. Then began
the glorious contest carried on by the Montevideans, which still
continues, and which will astonish the world, when its events are
exactly known.
General Paz, reduced to Montevideo, after the unfortunate occurrences in
the Argentine State, was received with acclamation by the government and
people, as general of the nascent army; and to him are certainly due the
beginnings of bravery and discipline by which it was distinguished, as
well as the system of defence which was adopted.
Rivera kept the field, made skilful movements, and was defeated by
Ouribes at India Muerta. The errors of Rivera and his conflicts
completed his discredit, and entirely removed him from the scene of
events. He is now an emigrant in Rio Janeiro, and I do not think his
influence can produce any disturbance on the Rio de la Plata.
The question of Montevideo, therefore, reduces itself to the following,
at the present epoch (1850):
Rosas, the tyrant of Buenos Ayres, and chiefly interested in the
humiliation of Montevideo, maintains an army in besieging that city, in
order to destroy it. That army is commanded by a Montevidean, who
wishes, at any cost, to command in his country; and the people of
Montevideo are fighting against that army, because they are not willing
to submit to the hated and abominated domination of Rosas and Ouribes.
Indignant at the sight of such a scene of arrogant and inhuman
oppression as that presented in Buenos Ayres and the Argentine Republic,
I was impelled to present myself in opposition to the Dictator, and to
adopt the cause of the injured as my own. Having mingled with the people
in my own country, and all my experience, short as it was, having taught
me to sympathize with them, against the old and hereditary aristocracy
of Europe, I could not regard with indifference the upstart oppressor,
Rosas, so treacherous to the principles of equality and republicanism,
which he pretended to love, while violating them, in the grossest
manner, for his own insatiable ambition. Notwithstanding the depressed
condition of the true patriot party in Montevideo, on my arrival in that
city, circumstances ere long proved favorable; and on their beginning to
renew their movements, I appeared among them with my native activity and
zeal.
I conceived the idea of performing an important service for my own
country, while devoting myself to that in which I was residing. I soon
perceived that the spirit and character of the Italians needed great
efforts, to raise them from the depressed state in which they existed in
fact, as well as in the opinion of the world; and I was determined to
elevate them, by such a practical training as alone could secure the
end.
By means of Napoleon's treachery to the cause of liberty, which he had
pretended to espouse on entering Italy, that unhappy country had been
led to a ruin more deep and complete than any of the other of his
victims; for she had been, more than any other, reduced to spiritual
slavery, as well as temporal. The allies (with Protestant Prussia and
England among them,) had restored the papacy along with monarchy and
aristocracy; and yet the Italians were vilified as a degenerate race,
and falsely accused of having brought their misfortunes upon themselves,
by their ignorance, fanaticism and pusillanimity.
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