ANARCHY AND DESPOTISM--THE WAR WITH PARAGUAY
The rule of Rivadavia was of great value to the country. He reformed
the laws and administration, introduced wide and somewhat drastic
ecclesiastical changes, established the University of Buenos Aires,
and, in general, pursued an enlightened and progressive policy.[49]
But the country was divided into two hostile parties, and neither
being prepared to tolerate the triumph of the opposing system, the
position of Rivadavia was rendered very difficult. He belonged to the
Unitarian party, and its members have succeeded in maintaining their
system, which aimed at a Republic with merely municipal local
government. Buenos Aires was to be the administrative centre and to
control every province, and thus to hold the position which Paris
occupied in France. But the propertied classes in the interior
belonged chiefly to the Federalist party. They viewed with suspicion
the oligarchy of office at the capital, and advocated a federation on
the model of the United States. At first Rivadavia held his ground
against his active opponents, led by Manuel Dorrego, who were eagerly
looking for an occasion against him; and this was speedily found in a
foreign war.
Uruguay has been united to Brazil, but in 1825 it revolted against the
Emperor, and, as might have been expected, Argentina took the part of
her neighbour, and Brazil declared war. Assisted by Admiral Brown, an
Irishman, the Argentines inflicted great loss upon Brazilian shipping,
and Alvear took command of a large army, which invaded Rio Grande do
Sul and completely defeated the Brazilians at Ituzaingo on February
20, 1827. This blow was decisive, and a treaty was made by which
Rivadavia, distracted by domestic troubles and anxious to secure peace
at any price, agreed that Uruguay should still remain a part of Brazil.
His enemies had already spared no efforts to rouse prejudice and inflame
public resentment against him. Appeals had been made to provincial
jealousies, the issue of paper-money was alleged to be draining the
country of the precious metals, and even his statesmanlike efforts to
encourage immigration and the hospitality he offered to foreigners were
matters of accusation against him. The treaty raised a storm of
indignation, and had to be annulled. Rivadavia was so completely
discredited by this transaction that on July 7, 1827, he was forced to
resign, and thus the country lost probably the best constructive
statesman she has produced--a loss which she could ill afford.
Dorrego succeeded him, but in reality the Republic was showing a
strong tendency to split up, and Lopez in Santa Fé, Ibarra in
Santiago, Bustos in Cordoba, and Quiroga in Cuyo, possessed almost as
much power as Dorrego at Buenos Aires. However, with the help of
several of these men, he succeeded in ending the war by a compromise
which left Uruguay an independent state. Argentina was thus free to
devote herself to domestic warfare.
Lavalle was now the head of the Unitarians, and he succeeded in
expelling Dorrego from Buenos Aires. The latter fled to his estates
and raised a body of adherents, but was captured and shot by Lavalle.
The death of Dorrego cleared the way for a man who was destined to
have a much longer political life than is usual in South America, and
also to fill a much larger space in the eyes of the world. That man
was Juan Manuel Rosas.
Darwin records that he and the well-wishers of Argentina were looking
with satisfaction and hope at the vigorous measures and rapid advances
of this remarkable man, and he also adds in a note written years
afterwards that these hopes had been miserably disappointed. Rosas
was a rich man, and from his earliest days had been engaged in
cattle-raising on the southern Pampas. In this hardy open-air life he
had greatly distinguished himself by his boldness and skill in riding,
and was the idol of hundreds of half-savage Gauchos. He was not
endowed with signal abilities, but he was a hard, practical man, full
of audacity and little troubled by scruples. He was now the chief of
the Federalists, but at first there seemed little prospect that he
would be able to make head against Lavalle. The latter led an army to
attack his enemies in Santa Fé, while General Paz marched upon
Cordoba, and at the same time they sent some veteran troops to operate
against Rosas in the south. But these were overthrown by the hardy
horsemen of Rosas, and he came to the rescue of the Federalists.
General Paz had captured Cordoba, and defeated Quiroga with heavy
slaughter, but Rosas' weight turned the scale. He marched to Buenos
Aires, and in June, 1829, Lavalle, who had become involved in a
dispute with the French Minister, was glad to resign and leave the
country. His successor, Viamont, was a puppet of Rosas.
On December 8, 1829, Rosas was elected Captain-General in the
interests of the Federalists, but he had no intention of allowing
Federalist principles to stand in the way of his supreme rule. Lopez
was despatched against Paz, who had the misfortune to be accidentally
taken prisoner. Showing unusual magnanimity, Lopez spared his life.
The troops of the Unitarians never recovered from the loss of their
brave leader, and being attacked by the ferocious Quiroga and driven
to Tucuman, they were in a hopeless position. Quiroga butchered five
hundred prisoners in cold blood, and few of the remnants of Paz's army
escaped to Bolivia.
Rosas then employed himself in consolidating his power at Buenos
Aires, and with this object he repealed several of the Liberal laws of
Rivadavia. In this task he was assisted by a clever and crafty man
named Anchorena, with whose collaboration he passed a rigorous law of
"suspects" directed against the Unitarians. Severe as he was against
that party, and detested as he was by the late holders of office in
the capital, who resented the dominion of a rustic, he was really, by
his masterful measures, advancing the principle against which he posed
as the nominal antagonist.[50] At the end of 1832 his term of office
came to an end, and he was re-elected. But as his extraordinary powers
were not renewed he haughtily refused office, and left Buenos Aires to
reduce the Indians of the Pampa, who had taken advantage of the civil
discords of Argentina. Again a man of straw was put at the helm. His
name was Balcarce.
In the Indian war Rosas was successful, penetrating as far as the Rio
Negro and destroying, according to his own computation, twenty
thousand of the enemy. It is not necessary to describe the manoeuvres
and hesitations which preceded his return to nominal as well as real
power. In 1835 he accepted the title of Governor and Captain-General,
and henceforth ruled as a military Dictator. Never was there a more
ruthless tyrant. The two most prominent soldiers and possible rivals
left in Buenos Aires were Quiroga and Lopez. Quiroga had seen the
elevation of Rosas with ill-concealed disgust, and the new Dictator
resolved to make away with him. Rosas, therefore, commissioned him to
go to pacify Salta and Tucuman, and on his way thither caused him and
his suite to be assassinated. Shortly afterwards Lopez died, and it is
only necessary to say that his physician was handsomely rewarded by
Rosas. He established a reign of terror, and formed a club of ruffians
called the Massorca, whose business it was to murder his enemies. One
Maza attempted a Parliamentary resistance to him, and the crafty
Dictator, after the plan had failed, first lulled him into security by
vague promises of safety and then sent four men to stab him to death.
His death was followed by an extensive proscription; in fact, the
history at this period is distinctly Tacitean.
The power of Rosas was the greater because he had the help of a skilful
general named Urquiza, against whom none of the Dictator's many enemies
could make head. For a long time his power was unassailable, for the
poignards of the Massorca were ready to repress any opposition, and even
the Church was powerless against him. He expelled the Jesuits, paying a
tribute at the same time to "their Christian and moral virtues," but
declaring that they were opposed to the principles of government.
Undoubtedly they were to the principles of his Government.
One of the main features of his policy was jealousy of foreign
influence. He decided that all children born in Argentina were _ipso
facto_ citizens and liable to military service, and this decision
remains in force at the present day. It led, however, to endless trouble
with France. It is probable that if he had been able Rosas would have
closed the country to all foreign nations, as his brother-tyrant,
Francia, did in Paraguay.
But the old Greek saying that the worst disease of tyranny is the
impossibility of reposing trust in its friends was to be justified, and
Urquiza, his right-hand man, who had crushed the invaders from Uruguay
at the battle of India Muerta and who had overawed all opposition, was
at last to prove faithless. He had long been established as Governor of
Entre Rios, where he had acted with remorseless cruelty in stamping out
disaffection. His first attempts to subvert the authority of Rosas were
unsuccessful, but in 1851 he made an alliance with Brazil and one of the
Uruguayan factions, and in the December of that year he assembled a
force of twenty-four thousand men, crossed the Parana, and marched into
Santa Fé. On February 3, 1852, Rosas was overwhelmed at the battle of
Casseros near the capital and he fled to Europe. Twenty-five years later
he died in Hampshire.
Rosas disappeared unregretted. Although it is possible that at the
time he came to the front a military dictatorship was the only
possible form of government, yet he was one of the worst of the long
list of South American tyrants, and it is probably impossible to find
any redeeming feature about him except the fact that he encouraged
agriculture--a service which was largely neutralised by his hatred of
foreigners and foreign commerce. Undoubtedly he stopped the progress of
a promising country, not only for the twenty years of his remorseless
tyranny but for the long years which were required to recover from the
effects of his sanguinary and soulless domination.[51]
Anxious as all were for peace and constitutional government, there was
some civil warfare and much dissension before the position of Urquiza
could be secured. Finally, on May 1, 1853, the Constituent Congress
drew up a Federal constitution, and this is practically still in
force.[52] Hardly less important was the treaty of the 10th of July
following, made with England, France, and the United States, which
declared that the Parana and other rivers should be for ever open to
navigation.
Urquiza was elected the first President under the new constitution for
a period of six years, and the country began to recuperate. The port
of Rosario sprang into being, and the other river cities rapidly
doubled in population. But towards the end of Urquiza's term civil
troubles were renewed. The Province of Buenos Aires had been left
outside the Confederation and was in a position of antagonism to the
other Provinces. The party of the capital was called the Porteños--the
men of the Port--and they took the place of the old Unitarian
party. In 1859 Buenos Aires actually declared war upon the Federal
Government, but Urquiza defeated its forces. Before a settlement could
be made his term of office expired and he was succeeded by Dr. Durqui.
Fortunately, the Governor of Buenos Aires, Bartolemo Mitre, was a true
patriot, and though he was obliged to make war upon the President his
efforts were directed to settling the Federal question, and they were,
for the time, successful. Urquiza evacuated the capital and retired
southwards. Mitre followed him with a large army, and in October,
1861, defeated him at Pavon and himself became President.
It would have been well if the energies of Mitre had been left
unhampered to settle the thorny question of the respective claims of
the Porteños and the provincials, but it was the misfortune of
Argentina to be suddenly involved in the most serious foreign war of
its history. This was the great Paraguayan war.
The occasion of the hostilities was Uruguay. That country had long been
distracted by the savage political strife of the Colorados and Blancos,
and in 1864 the Blancos, having got the upper hand, elected Dr. Aguirre
to the Presidency, who, by his rigorous measures against all suspected
of disaffection, excited the resentment of both Argentina and Brazil.
Both of these countries had important stock-raising interests on the
Uruguay frontiers, and in the civil turmoil their subjects were
frequently subjected to extortion and plunder. Having incurred the
hostility of its too-powerful neighbours, Uruguay looked about for an
ally, and found one in General Lopez, the Dictator of Paraguay.
Lopez in his youth had visited Europe, admired the great armies of the
Continent, and returned convinced that he might play the part of
Napoleon in South America. He had still hardly reached middle age and
was able, cruel, and obstinate. He devoted all his efforts to raising
and equipping an army by which he hoped to make himself the arbiter of
South American politics. Accordingly he welcomed the appeal of
Uruguay, and declared that he would regard an invasion of Uruguay by
Brazil as an unfriendly act. When Brazil attacked Uruguay he did not,
indeed, hasten to fulfil his promise; he cared nothing for the
Colorados or Blancos, and the difficulties of invading Brazil were at
first insuperable, but he was awaiting a favourable opportunity
for his own aggrandisement. As far as Uruguay was concerned the
Brazilians soon settled the matter; they beat down all resistance, set
up Flores as President in February, 1865, and having established good
relations with Montevideo, withdrew their army. But Lopez was a more
difficult problem.
Lopez had already declared war; he had attacked Brazilian ships and
made preparations to invade Rio Grande do Sul. His main object was to
crush the Brazilian troops in the Plate district before they could be
reinforced. His plans were bold, but there appeared no reason why they
should not be successful. He had forty-five thousand infantry, ten
thousand cavalry, and adequate artillery. Another fact in his favour
was the friendship of Urquiza, now Governor of Corrientes, who was the
enemy of Mitre. Both Brazil and Paraguay requested permission from
Mitre to march their army through Misiones, but the President wished
to remain neutral and refused both requests. Lopez, however, was
dismayed by no obstacle, and directed General Robles with twenty-five
thousand men to invade Corrientes. They soon overran the province.
Argentina was in an awkward position, for her regular army amounted to
six thousand men only, but she had the support of Brazil and Uruguay.
On June 2, 1865, the defeat of the Paraguayan fleet by Brazil at
Riachuelo baulked Lopez's schemes of an offensive war, and the allies
prepared to invade Corrientes. Lopez was further hampered by the
defection of Urquiza, who finally refused to assist him.
The plan for the invasion of Rio Grande had not been abandoned, but
the Paraguayan force was opposed by that of Brazil and Uruguay on
August 17th, and suffered defeat. A month later the defeated army
under Ertigarribia surrendered. Before the end of the year Lopez was
compelled to evacuate the Argentine territory.
But his position was less unfavourable than might be supposed upon a
comparison of the resources of the contending countries, for he had an
excellent army and the country between the Parana and the Paraguay was
admirably adapted to defensive operations. It was densely wooded and
liable to floods which often made it impassable. As long as he could
hold Humaita, where he had erected batteries to stop the Brazilian
fleet, it would be impossible for the allies to make an effective
advance. They had an army of forty thousand men concentrated near the
town of Corrientes, and by April, 1866, they had forced the passage of
the Parana and were in Paraguay. On May 24th they were attacked by
twenty-five thousand Paraguayans and a desperate battle ensued, which
ended in the victory of the allies. The Paraguayans lost five thousand
killed and wounded, and their opponents, who lost about two thousand,
were so severely crippled that they could not advance upon Humaita--a
movement which might have ended the war.
The army was devoted to Lopez and the Paraguayan made a fine soldier,
while the allies, encamped in unhealthy swamps, lost heavily from
disease. Mitre at last began an onward movement, but on September 22nd
he was repulsed with great slaughter at Curupaiti, and the war came to
a standstill. There was a long pause, for the difficulties of the
allies were enormous and cholera broke out in their camp. It was not
till November, 1867, that the Brazilian army succeeded in crossing the
Paraguay north of Humaita, and this clever movement of the Brazilian
Marshal Caxias decided the fate of the war. The allied armies began to
close round Humaita and Brazilian warships forced their way beyond
Curupaiti. Lopez fought with remarkable determination and skill, but
his embarrassments rapidly increased, and on February 18, 1868, the
Brazilian fleet ran the batteries at Humaita, and this entirely
disorganised the transport system of Lopez, who relied chiefly upon
his waterways. All through the year fighting continued, but on
December 27, 1868, Lopez received a crushing defeat at Angostura,
south of Asuncion, and he was compelled to fly into the interior. A
few days later the Brazilians occupied Asuncion. But the irrepressible
Lopez proclaimed a new capital at Peribebuy and made desperate efforts
to carry on the war. After much fighting the allies succeeded in
capturing the town in August, 1869, and pursuing Lopez, defeated him
at Campo Grande, the last pitched battle of the war. He fled into the
forest with his mistress, Madame Lynch, his children, and numerous
faithful followers. Even in this extremity he still kept the field,
until at last, on March 1, 1870, while he was encamped far to the
north on the river Aquidaban, his men were thrown into a panic by the
approach of the enemy. In the confusion Lopez and his staff attempted
to escape, but the General's horse stuck in a swamp; he refused
to surrender, and was killed by a spear-thrust. Thus died this
extraordinary man, who had wantonly led his country into a war in
which five-sixths of her population perished.
During this long war the domestic history of Argentina was uneventful.
Brazil was far more prominent in the war than Argentina, for General
Mitre was several times distracted by rebellions in the north-west
which called him from Paraguay. The rebels were easily driven across
the Andes. But the constitutional question had never been settled, and
hostility to the Porteños became stronger. The influence of Mitre had
waned, and in 1868 Sarmiento was quietly elected in his place.
The close of the Paraguayan war is also the close of the anarchical
period of Argentina's history. Hereafter, though she was often to be
unwisely governed, the worst of the wars and revolutions were at an
end, and the people were to devote themselves to developing the
natural wealth of the country. Since the Revolution, her history had
been almost as bloodstained and turbulent as the worst of her
neighbours, but henceforward peace and prosperity, though not
uninterrupted, are to distinguish her from the other South American
Republics.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] In 1825 he successfully introduced Southdown sheep.
[50] "In fact, for Don Juan Manuel the Federal cause was solely a
means of attaining power. This object gained, he proved by his
extraordinary concentration of authority that he was more of a
Unitarian than any one else" (Brossard, "La Plata," p. 181).
[51] Brossard, who knew him personally, gives Rosas the following
character: "A man of the country, Rosas has indeed been the chief of the
reaction of men of the country against the predominant influence of the
town. Steeped in the prejudices of Castilian pride, he loathes all
foreigners alike. Their energy and capital might enrich his country, but
he accords them a grudging welcome. Being an agriculturist by birth, by
training, and by taste, he is little interested in industry. This
preference has inspired several good measures; he sets a good example in
his estates, which are perfectly managed and cultivated. He has
encouraged the culture of cereals, and thus under his rule he has
justified the extremely high custom duty by which he struck a blow at
the wheat formerly demanded by Buenos Aires from North America. In other
measures he has overshot his mark. Having been brought up in the rigid
principles of the Spanish colonial system, he does not understand trade,
and only permits it when surrounded by prohibitive tariffs and stringent
custom duties. Thus we have stagnation in commerce and industry and
complete neglect of objects of material utility" ("Considérations," pp.
458-9).
[52] Although the constitution of Argentina is in form Federal, the
logic of facts has been too strong for the intentions of its framers.
The immense importance of Buenos Aires has, in effect, forced upon the
Republic a centralised form of government, and the Provinces are
largely under the direct control of the administration at the capital.