MODERN ARGENTINA--SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS
The era of modern Argentina is inaugurated by the Presidency of
Sarmiento in 1868. Hitherto her business had been to work out her
destiny with much waste of human life and wealth, now her task was
to create both. Population[53] began to increase and industries
flourished. Railways were extended and the administration was
improved. It was a season of prosperity in almost every part of the
world, and in this Argentina fully shared. Brazil had suffered much
during the war, and Argentina profited by supplying its needs and also
made up for her own losses by developing the vast pastoral and
agricultural resources. The only political event of importance during
Sarmiento's term of office was an insurrection in Entre Rios, where
the veteran Urquiza was still Governor. One Lopez Jordan was leader of
the revolt, and he succeeded in capturing and murdering Urquiza. The
old man deserved a more peaceful end, for, though cruel, he had aimed
at the public welfare, and he was one of those who did good service in
establishing the Republic on a firm basis. After much bloodshed the
rebellion was suppressed by young Julio Roca, a rising soldier.
Sarmiento's term of office came to an end in 1874. Mitre, favoured by
the Porteños, and Dr. Avellaneda were rivals for the succession, and
the latter became President, greatly to the annoyance of the Porteños.
He introduced a more economical policy, and the country continued to
prosper, but by far the most important event of the time was the
reduction of Patagonia--an event the magnitude of which cannot even
yet be estimated. It was less than a hundred years ago since the first
small attempts at settlement had been made there, and Patagonia was
still practically an enormous waste, a no-man's land, unmapped and
roamed over by savage Indians. General Roca, now Minister of War,
began to peg out claims for posterity. After Rosas had fallen from
power the Indians had recovered most of the territory which he had
taken from them, but now that Argentina was at peace the Government
was more than able to hold its own, and in 1878 Roca employed the
whole power of the country to subjugate Patagonia. He succeeded in
making the Rio Negro the southern boundary. The Province of Buenos
Aires claimed the whole of this new territory, but the other members
of the Federation were naturally unwilling to see her thus augmented,
and she had to be content with an addition of 63,000 square miles. The
rest of the new land was divided into Gobernaciones, or Territories,
as they would be called in the United States.
But he was to attain more notoriety in a less useful struggle. The
perennial source of discord--the Provinces against Buenos Aires or the
Federalists against the Unitarians--which ought to have been settled
on the downfall of Rosas, was once more to convulse the Republic.
Avellaneda, who was favourable to the Provinces, was determined to
choose his successor, and the opposition candidate was Dr. Tejedor,
who had the support of Mitre. Roca was the nominee of the outgoing
President. The situation rapidly became strained, and in June and
July, 1880, the partisans of either side took up arms and there was
considerable bloodshed in Buenos Aires. The advantage rested with
Roca's party; the Porteños were compelled to ask for terms of peace,
and at last the difficult constitutional question was settled. Without
delay Buenos Aires was declared the Federal capital, and although the
Porteños were nominally defeated, their principles triumphed in
reality. The result was the establishment of a strong central
Government, and this was of the happiest effect in consolidating the
Confederacy and in binding together its hitherto disjointed members.
* * * * *
This was a time of great material prosperity. Other opportunities will
be taken of dwelling on this subject; here it is sufficient to say
that industry and commerce expanded very rapidly. There was a huge
boom; men seemed to be growing rich rapidly; it was a period of
inflation and the President's attempt to establish the currency on a
gold basis was unpopular and unsuccessful. But under his rule, and
with the assistance of the able Pellegrini, the credit of Argentina
improved and a loan of £8,000,000 was negotiated. On the whole, Roca's
administration did him credit, although undoubtedly he might have
taken more advantage of the exceptionally favourable circumstances,
and introduced sounder and more honest principles of administration.
His successor, Dr. Juarez Celman, was a person of altogether inferior
stamp. The fever for speculation grew rapidly, large additions were made
to the national indebtedness, and the premium on gold doubled. The
Government, as is usually the case with South American Governments, was
below rather than above the public standard of conduct. Government,
Provinces, and municipalities, led the way in wasteful expenditure, the
inflation reached its height. The time of the inevitable crash drew
near.
In 1889 public opinion, wiser than the Government, grew apprehensive,
and the Civic Union was formed with the object of overthrowing the
President and reforming the finances and administration. Roca and
Mitre, sincerely anxious for the good of their country, were the
leading spirits in the opposition, and in July, 1890, the Revolution
began. Some fighting took place, but the spirit of faction was less
ferocious than it had been a generation ago, and most men seemed to
consider that the desperate financial condition needed radical
measures. The resistance of the Government was half-hearted, and on
July 30th Celman resigned.
Pellegrini, the Vice-President, succeeded him, and it was time for the
national affairs to be placed in more capable hands. The treasury was
empty, and there was a great burden of debt. The whole financial and
monetary system was in confusion, and in September Pellegrini was
obliged to issue notes for $50,000,000. This step provided money for
the immediate necessities of administration, but it helped to
precipitate the crash which came in March, 1891. This vast monetary
convulsion will be long remembered in England, and it has served as a
salutary warning both to European investors and to speculators in the
country itself, who now recognise that credit and the reputation for
honesty is one of the chief factors in a country's prosperity. The
Banco Nacional, in spite of all efforts on the part of the Government
to save it, was submerged, and the same fate met every other bank
except the London and River Plate. As a matter of course, political
trouble followed industrial trouble, and in February while Roca was
driving in a carriage he was fired at and slightly wounded. It was,
however, to him and Mitre that the people looked to extricate them
from their troubles, and the Porteños nominated Mitre as candidate for
the Presidency amidst great enthusiasm, but the Cordoba section was
indignant, and Mitre was induced to withdraw on condition that the new
candidate should be non-party and that the election should be
impartial. At the beginning of 1892 Saenz Peña, the candidate favoured
by Mitre and Roca, was elected, and Alem, the leader of the new
Radical party, known as the Civic Union, was banished. Pellegrini's
term of office had disappointed his supporters and few regretted his
retirement.
The task of Peña was hardly less difficult than that of Pellegrini.
The improvement in the finances and administration came very slowly,
but the chief troubles were political, for Argentina had not yet
adapted herself to the smooth working of federal institutions.
Alem, who had returned from exile, was still preaching disaffection
and taking advantage of the turbulent disposition of the various
Provinces. In 1893 Costa, the Governor of the Province of Buenos
Aires, who had a strong military force, planned the overthrow of the
central Government, and his example was followed by Santa Fé and
several other Provinces. In August Costa was forcibly deposed, but the
movement in Santa Fé was fostered by Alem, and the Radicals were eager
to overthrow Peña and his friends. Matters grew extremely serious, for
there was disaffection in the navy, but on September 25th General Roca
took command of the army, and on October 1st he rescued Rosario
from the hands of the revolutionists. Alem and other leaders were
imprisoned and the power of the Radicals vanished, but public affairs
remained in a threatening condition.
Evidence was found of widespread corruption, and that there was no
public feeling against it is shown by the following incident. Costa
had left the affairs of Buenos Aires in confusion, and the central
Government appointed Dr. Lopez to administer them. He found evidence
of malpractices against one Colonel Sarmiento and charged him, but
failed to secure a conviction. Thereupon Sarmiento provoked Lopez to a
duel, in which the latter was mortally wounded, but Sarmiento received
a merely nominal punishment. The Government was thoroughly distrusted;
it seemed powerless to reform abuses, and there was little likelihood
that if the ruling Ministers were removed their successors would do
any better. Such progress as the country made was due to the efforts
of private citizens and the improvement in the trade conditions of the
world.
The detachment of Peña from political parties had been expected to
prove advantageous, but in practice this was not the case, for the
President, having no party, had no supporters in the Congress, and
matters approached a deadlock. At the beginning of 1895 the President
found it impossible to induce the Congress to vote the Budget, and
there was also a split in the Cabinet about the fate of two naval
officers condemned for participation in the Santa Fé outbreak. Peña
wished to confirm the death sentence; there was strong opposition, and
Peña was probably glad of the excuse to resign and disappear from
political life. This took place on January 21, 1895. The sentence upon
the two officers was commuted to one of imprisonment.
He was succeeded by the Vice-President Uriburu, who had also been
chosen on account of his neutrality; but he was more successful, and
he had the powerful support of Roca and Pellegrini. During his first
year of office it seemed probable that a foreign war would be added to
all the other troubles of the Republic, for the boundary dispute with
Chile was assuming a threatening attitude and continued to disturb
public tranquillity for seven years. This subject can be treated more
conveniently in the history of the next administration, when it was
settled. In this year a boundary dispute with Brazil about the
Misiones was settled by the arbitration of President Cleveland in
favour of the latter country.[54]
Little progress in settling the nation's difficulties was made under
Uriburu, but internal and external peace was maintained. In 1898
General Roca succeeded him as President, and it was generally felt
that a man had appeared who was competent to steer the ship of State
into smoother waters. He had been of great service during the troubles
which had attended the resignation of Celman, and had kept the
disorderly elements in check. He had, all through the troubles of ten
years, been on the side of law and order, and he was practically the
leader of a national party.
In May, 1898, the President in his message to Congress denounced
judicial corruption, and the publicity which he gave to these abuses
resulted in several improvements; but there is still much matter for
adverse criticism in the administration of justice in Argentina. The
improvements in Government methods led to gradual general improvement,
which, however, was also the result of natural causes, and Argentina
became undoubtedly the most prosperous country in South America. The
fear of political disintegration has become a thing of the past, owing
to the preponderance of the capital in wealth and influence, but
neither Roca himself nor any other successor has been able to banish a
serious evil from which Argentina suffers, and which, though not
causing civil war on a large scale, brings about disquieting strikes
and riots. This is due to defective methods of government. The
President may be said to have been the "saviour of his country" in the
sense that a weaker or dishonest man would probably have plunged the
country into both domestic and foreign war, and neutralised all the
progress of a generation. But he could not bequeath political capacity
to his colleagues, nor could he eradicate many bad traditions of long
standing.
His last work was the settlement of the boundary dispute with Chile.
It is not necessary to go into the history of the subject previous to
the Treaty of 1881. In the old Spanish days there had been uncertainty
about the boundary, and during the existence of the two Republics the
quarrel had never slept. "During the whole of its progress the
Argentine Republic contended that her western boundary from north to
south was the Cordillera de los Andes, and that, in consequence, she
had dominion over all the territory eastward of the crest of the
Cordillera, the greater part of the Straits of Magellan, and the whole
of Tierra del Fuego. Chile on her part accepted the natural boundary
of the Cordillera, to a great extent, but maintained that this
boundary did not rule in the southern part of the continent; that in
Patagonia the territory on both sides of the Andes were Chilian, from
the Pacific to the Atlantic; that the Straits of Magellan were
Chilian; and that Tierra del Fuego was also Chilian."[55]
The two Republics made a Treaty in 1881. They agreed that down to 52°
S., _i.e._, to the Straits of Magellan, the boundary was to be the
Cordilleras de los Andes. The line was to pass over the highest points
of the watershed. The southern boundary was also determined. The
Treaty represents a concession on the part of Chile, who gave up her
extravagant claims to the east of Patagonia. But she still claimed
that the line should follow the highest points in the watershed, while
the Argentine Government insisted that the line should run from
highest peak to highest peak.
This Treaty was ratified, but not carried out. In 1883 the Argentine
Government informed its Ambassador at Santiago that the time had come
to trace the boundary line. But procrastination is a South American
characteristic, and the affair drifted on until, in 1888, a Convention
was made. In accordance with the Treaty of 1881, this Convention
appointed experts to trace the line. The matter, in fact, was one of
great difficulty, for unfortunately it turned out that the watersheds
and the highest summits did not coincide, and the experts disagreed
hopelessly.
The question of the rivers had raised fresh obstacles, and the experts
had brought matters to such a tangle that it was necessary in 1893 to
draw up a Protocol to explain them further. The main principle which
it fixed was that in case the high peaks of the Cordillera should be
crossed by any river, that river should be cut by the boundary line.
The experts continued their work, which was extremely arduous, for the
boundary line ran through unexplored forests and mountains. But in
1895 feelings ran to a dangerous height in both countries, and the
people of Argentina declared that the Chilians were assuming an
aggressive attitude and were likely to attack them. They were made the
more uneasy by the discovery that the army and stores had, like
everything else, suffered from long years of misrule, and Congress
voted fifty million gold dollars for military preparations. In July,
1898, a further controversy arose. The Puna de Atacama is a great salt
waste of rugged tableland, volcanic, grassless, and inhospitable.
Working from the north, the experts had found no great difficulty
until they reached this savage territory. Here there was a deadlock,
and the Chilians claimed the whole district. Possibly the belief
that the disputed territory contained considerable borax deposits
accentuated the quarrel, but the main source of it was national pride,
for the majority of the Andine territory was of small value. The
experts south of the Atacama waste proceeded more smoothly till they
reached Patagonia. "Here,[56] indeed, the fundamental condition of
identity between the "highest crest" and the "water parting" (or
"divide," as it is called in North America), existed in full force,
and no ground for dispute presented itself, the "main range" of the
Andes being exceptionally well adapted by position and structure for
an international boundary. It was the divergence of these two
essential conditions in Patagonia which imperilled the peace of South
America. The Patagonian rivers were found to flow from east to west
right athwart, or transverse to, the general trend of the Andine
mountain system from north to south. They were found to break across
the great mountain masses, and to intersperse wide valleys, across
which the boundary must either be carried from one mass of peaks to
the next or else be made to skirt the indefinite edge of cordillera
and pampas, where the two insensibly combine and where the rivers
rise. A very little examination proved the incompatibility of "higher
crests" with "water parting" as a fixed principle of demarcation in
these parts."[57]
With this fruitful field of dispute before them it is not surprising
that angry feelings were engendered, especially among the Chilians,
who have narrow territory, and were unwilling to give up a square mile
without a struggle. In August Chile despatched an ultimatum demanding
arbitration, and Roca induced his Cabinet to assent to the demand.
[Illustration: BOUNDARY LINE IN THE ANDES.]
The smaller question--the Atacama territory--was referred to the
United States. Mr. Buchanan was appointed arbiter, and he was assisted
by one Chilian and one Argentine Commissioner. Mr. Buchanan drew a
boundary line which he considered to be just, and by an ingenious
device contrived that both the agreement and the disagreement of the
Commissioners should preserve its integrity.[58] The dispute was
thus happily settled, and not long afterwards Roca met the Chilian
President at Punta Arenas, and an agreement to restrict armaments was
made.
But the Patagonian boundary was a matter of much greater difficulty. It
was referred to Great Britain, and in December, 1899, the Commission in
London issued a most exhaustive report. It was necessary to proceed very
slowly in such a perplexing matter, and public feeling was greatly
excited, both countries appearing to be eager for war. Such a
catastrophe seemed to be probable, for Señor Alcorta, the Argentine War
Minister, was extremely bellicose, but on January 31, 1902, Sir Thomas
Holdich was sent with a small Commission to endeavour to determine the
boundary line, and it was intimated to both Governments that if hostile
preparations continued King Edward VII. would be compelled to withdraw
from his position as arbiter. The tension was somewhat relieved by the
sudden death of Señor Alcorta, and Roca acted a statesmanlike part in
working for peace, and it was largely through his exertions that in
June, 1902, a Treaty was signed to restrict armaments. When Sir Thomas
Holdich's Commission gave its decision a few months later, the award was
loyally accepted.
This settlement of a great question is one of the most signal triumphs
for the principle of arbitration, for on this occasion neither party
was willing to make concessions and the disposition of both was rather
to war than to peace. The benefit of the settlement was incalculable,
for it preserved the two most flourishing States in South America from
a war which would have gone far towards ruining both.[59] This example
has been of the utmost value to South America, and arbitration is
undoubtedly beginning to replace the appeal to arms.
With this triumph of peace this modern history of Argentina may fitly
be closed. President Roca, who had deserved so well of his country,
was succeeded in 1904 by Dr. Manuel Quintana, who still holds that
post, and his term of office has been one of great material prosperity
for the Republic.
FOOTNOTES:
[53] During forty-five years before 1857 the population had only a
little more than doubled; during the forty-five years since that date
the increase has been 450 per cent. (Dawson, "South American Republics"
i. 143).
[54] "The boundary line between the Argentine Republic and the United
States of Brazil, in that part submitted to me for arbitration and
decision, is constituted and shall be established by and upon the
rivers Pepiri (also called Pepiri-guazu) and San Antonio" ("The
Misiones Award," Article VI.).
[55] Report, i. 152.
[56] _I.e._, north of Patagonia.
[57] Sir T. H. Holdich, "The Countries of the King's Award," p. 50.
[58] "Where the boundary was adverse to Chile the Argentine
Commissioner voted for it, and Mr. Buchanan siding with him gave a
majority against the Chilian representative. Where the conditions were
reversed, Mr. Buchanan agreed with the Chilian Commissioner. In this
manner the work was concluded in three days" (Akers "A History of
South America," p. 114).
[59] "Political combination is now possible between two strong and
self-reliant Republics, recognising a common ancestry, bound by the
ties of ethnic affinity, owning and revering the same splendid history
(which has before now included concerted action in the common cause of
South American freedom), and rejoicing in the present possession and
future prospect of magnificent material advantages, such as never
could possibly be secured, except under conditions of peaceful
development, unchecked and unhindered by the recurrent threat of war.
It is difficult to overestimate the results of such a combination on
the future of South America" ("Holdich," Ibid. pp. 413, 14).