Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, JoAnn Greenwood and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
SOUTH AMERICA AND
THE WAR
BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF
A COURSE OF LECTURES DELIVERED IN
THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, KING'S COLLEGE
UNDER THE TOOKE TRUST
IN THE LENT TERM
1918
BY
F. A. KIRKPATRICK, M.A.
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1918
PREFACE
This little book contains the substance, revised and adapted for
publication, of lectures given in the Lent Term, 1918, at King's
College, London, under the Tooke Trust for providing lectures on
economic subjects. The course of lectures was in the first instance an
endeavour to perform a war-service by drawing attention to the activity
of the Germans in Latin America, and particularly to the ingenuity and
tenacity of their efforts to hold their economic ground during the war,
with a view to extending it after the conclusion of peace. A second
object was to examine more generally the bearings of the war on those
countries, and the influence of the present crisis on their development
and status in the world.
These two topics, though closely connected, are distinct. The first has
an immediate and present importance, the second has a wider historic
significance. The logical connexion between them may not seem obvious.
Yet the first enquiry, concerning German war-efforts in Latin America,
naturally and inevitably led to the second, concerning the larger issues
involved. The former topic is treated in Chapters I, II and III, the
latter in Chapters IV, V and VI. The term "South America" is used in the
title of this book as a matter of customary convenience; but it is not
meant to exclude the Antillean Republics or the Latin-American States
stretching to the North-west of the Isthmus of Panamá.
Clearly, an essay of this kind, if it was to be of any use, had to be
produced quickly. It was impossible to wait in hopes of achieving some
kind of completeness. The immediate and urgent importance of the subject
has been signally emphasised by the despatch of a special British
Diplomatic Mission to the Latin-American Republics, and by the King's
message addressed to British subjects in Latin America, in order to
inculcate the spirit of collective effort.
In the course of this essay frequent mention is made of the struggle for
emancipation, of the part which Englishmen took in that struggle and of
the great services rendered to the cause of independence by the action
of British statesmen, notably Canning. In a book which aims mainly at a
review of present conditions, it is impossible to enlarge upon these
topics, since their adequate treatment would involve some consideration
of political action on the European Continent and in the United States.
But since this passage of past history bears closely on the present
topic, it may be here mentioned that a brief account of these matters is
given in the _Cambridge Modern History_, vol. X, chap. IX.
The subject of German "peaceful penetration," which is incidentally
illustrated but not expounded in these chapters, may be studied in M.
Hauser's book entitled (in its English version) _Germany's Economic Grip
upon the World_; also in _The Bloodless War_, translated from the
Italian of Signor Ezio Gray. The character of that penetration, with its
admirable as well as its odious features, is briefly and clearly set
forth in a recent Report (Cd 9059) presented to the Board of Trade on
enemy interests in British trade.
I desire to express my indebtedness to _Le Brésil_, a weekly review of
Latin-American affairs published in Paris; to _The Times_ newspaper,
particularly the monthly _Trade Supplement_ and the South American
number (Part 183) of _The Times History of the War_; to the weekly
_South American Journal_; and to the monthly _British and Latin-American
Trade Gazette_. The quotation on pages 40-41 is taken from _The Times_;
and various other passages, not always verbally reproduced, are derived
from the same source.
It is impossible to thank by name all those who have placed at my
disposal their knowledge of Latin-American countries. But I owe an
especial debt of gratitude to the Master of Peterhouse for his aid and
advice in the production of this book.
The original matter has been considerably rearranged for purposes of
publication. But wherever convenience permitted, the lecture form has
been retained in order to indicate that the book owes its inception to
King's College, London.
F. A. K.
_August 15, 1918._
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE V
INTRODUCTION--GENERAL CONDITIONS IN
LATIN AMERICA 1
CHAP.
I. POLITICAL CURRENTS AND FORCES 14
II. THE GERMAN OUTLOOK ON LATIN AMERICA 25
III. THE ECONOMIC WAR AND ITS PROPAGANDA 34
IV. THE RECOGNITION OF LATIN AMERICA 45
V. EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE REPUBLICS 53
VI. PAN-AMERICANISM 66
LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS 78
The map at the end of the book shows the former Spanish and
Portuguese possessions in America, and also the existing
Latin-American Republics.
SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WAR
INTRODUCTION
GENERAL CONDITIONS IN LATIN AMERICA
The New World or Western Hemisphere consists of two continents. The
greater part of the northern continent is occupied by two great Powers,
which may be described as mainly Anglo-Saxon in origin and character.
One of them, the Canadian Federation, is a monarchy, covering the
northern part of the continent. The other, a republic, the United
States, occupies the middle part. To the south and south-east of these
two extensive and powerful countries stretch the twenty republics,
mainly Iberian in origin and character, which constitute Latin America.
These lands cover an area which is about twice the size of Europe or
three times the size of the United States. Their population approaches
eighty millions. Latin America, extending as it does through every
habitable latitude from the north temperate zone to the Antarctic seas,
possesses every climate and every variety of soil, and accordingly
yields, or can be made to yield, all the vegetable and animal products
of the whole world. Moreover, most of the republics also severally
contain territory of every habitable altitude, so that a man can change
his climate from torrid to temperate and from temperate to frigid simply
by walking up-hill. Thus, equatorial lands can produce within the range
of a few miles all the products of every zone. Most of the republics
also furnish an abundance and variety of mineral products. The name
Costa Rica, or Coast of Riches, which was given by the early discoverers
to a small strip of the mainland, was prophetic of all its shores. And
the fable of El Dorado, concerning its interior wealth, has proved to be
not fabulous but only allegorical.
_Geographical Grouping_
The geographical distribution of these republics should be indicated.
Three of them are island states of the Caribbean Sea. Cuba is the
largest of the Antilles; Santo Domingo and Haiti divide between them the
next largest. The rich tropical fertility of these West Indian isles has
been a proverb for centuries and need not here be emphasised. Upon the
mainland, the vast territory of Mexico and the five Central-American
republics may be grouped together, forming as they do a kind of
sub-continent, a narrowed continuation of North America. Through this
region a broad mountain-mass curves from north-west to south-east. This
configuration provides the characteristics and the varied products of
every zone upon the same parallel of latitude: the torrid coastal
strips, bordering both oceans; the beautiful, wholesome and productive
region of the central plateau and long upland valleys; and finally the
chilly inhospitable regions of the mountain heights. The long sweep of
the country south-eastwards through the tropics also provides a wide
range of character, from the cattle-rearing plains of Northern Mexico to
the coffee and banana plantations of Costa Rica. Nowhere are lands of
richer possibilities to be found.
The small newly-created Republic of Panamá completes this northern
system of Latin-American countries. Thus, before coming to South America
at all, we count ten Latin-American states, three in the Antilles, seven
upon the mainland.
The other ten republics lie within the continent of South America. That
continent is shaped by nature in lines of a vast and imposing
simplicity, so that it is possible to sketch its main features in a few
words. It is divided broadly into mountain, forest and plain--the
immense chain of the Andes, the vast Amazonian forests, the
wide-stretching plains of the Pampa, and the colossal water system of
the three rivers, Orinoco, Amazon, La Plata. The dominating element is
the great backbone, the cordillera of the Andes. From the southern
islands of Tierra del Fuego this cordillera stretches for 4000 miles
along the Pacific coast to the northern peninsulas of the Spanish Main,
and thence throws out a great eastward curve along the southern shore
of the Caribbean Sea. This continuous mountain-wall, clinging closely to
the Pacific coast, determines the whole character of the continent. In
the tropical zone, the trade winds, blowing continually from the
Atlantic, sweep across South America until they strike this towering
mountain barrier. Then they shed their moisture on its eastern slopes,
which give birth to the multitudinous upper waters of the Orinoco, the
Amazon and the western affluents of the River Plate. The Amazon rather
resembles a slowly moving inland sea, its twelve principal tributaries
all surpassing the measure of European rivers. The River Plate pours
into the ocean more water than all the rivers of Europe put together.
The Orinoco, shorter but not less voluminous, drains a vast area with
its 400 tributaries.
But the Andes, whose forest-clad eastern slopes pour these immeasurable
water-floods across the whole continent to the Atlantic, oppose to the
Pacific, in the southern tropics, a bare dry wall of rock and yellow
sand. In the north, _the garrua_, the winter mist of equatorial Peru,
supplies moisture for cultivation. South of this region, the rainless
desert stretches, a ribbon-like strip, between the mountains and the
sea. Here, except in some transverse river-valleys, not a blade of grass
can grow for over a thousand miles. Yet it is this very barrenness which
has produced the materials of fertility for other lands in the form of
guano and nitrate deposits. Far to the south, in the "roaring forties,"
these conditions are reversed. Here, moisture-laden winds blow
continually and stormily from the Pacific, feeding the dense and soaking
forests of southern Chile. In the same latitudes, to the east of the
Andes the terraced plains of Patagonia supply sheep pasture, thinly
nourished by slight rainfall, although, over so vast an extent, these
flocks amount to many millions. In the more temperate regions, between
these zones of climatic extremes, more normal conditions prevail. On one
side of the Andes are the rich valleys of Central Chile, on the other
side the wide plains of the Argentine Pampa, formerly given over to
pasture, now producing wheat, maize, flax, barley and oats as well as
meat, hides and wool.
South America has been called the fertile continent. Considering that
most of the land lies within the tropics, it might be called the
habitable continent--habitable in comfort and health by white men. In
form, the continent may be roughly compared with Africa, but the
comparison is in favour of South America. The traveller who has sailed
along the east or west coast of tropical Africa meets a contrast on
crossing the Atlantic. Along the Brazilian coast, he finds a succession
of busy ports, crowded with the shipping of all nations--flourishing and
growing cities, inhabited largely by Europeans living the normal life of
Europe. The perennial trade winds, blowing from the sea, bring coolness
and health; and, almost everywhere, the worker in the ports may make his
home upon neighbouring hills. On the west coast, tropical conditions are
even more striking. Here, a soft south wind blows continually from
cooler airs, and the Antarctic current flowing northwards refreshes all
the coast. At Lima, twelve degrees from the Line, one may wear European
dress at midsummer and, descending a few miles to the coast, may plunge
into a sea which is almost too cold. Moreover, in these regions the
Andine valleys offer every climate, and a short journey from the coast
leads one to uplands resembling southern Europe. Higher yet, beyond the
first or western chain of the Andes stretches the vast and lofty plateau
enclosed between the double or triple ranges of volcanic mountains. The
western part of Bolivia, though tropical in situation, is a temperate
land, lying as it does at a height of above 12,000 feet. This broad
Bolivian plateau narrows northwards through Peru and finally contracts
into the Ecuadorian "avenue of volcanoes." Here, in the very central
torrid zone, a double line of towering peaks shoot their fires far above
plains and slopes of perpetual snow. Thence the cordillera opens out
northwards into the broad triple range of Colombia, which encloses wide
river valleys of extraordinary richness and fertile savannahs, enjoying
perpetual spring.
Lastly, it should be noted that some of the best part of South America
begins where Africa ends. Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Capetown and Sydney
lie approximately in the same latitude, about 34° or 35° south. But some
of the best parts of Chile and Argentina stretch far to the south of
this latitude. Alone of the southern continents, South America thrusts
itself far through the cool regions of the temperate zone.
Hitherto, white settlement in South America has, in the main, followed
the easiest lines, along the coast, upon the southern plains and up the
river courses. Of the three great rivers, the Orinoco is the least
developed, partly owing to natural difficulties--namely, an uneven
shifting bed and great differences of water level--partly owing to
artificial and political conditions; but in the wet season its waters
admit navigation up the main stream and its principal western affluent,
the Apure, almost to the foothills of the Colombian Andes; and the trade
winds, blowing upstream, carry sailing craft half across the continent.
Upon the Amazon system, Manaos, one of the great ports of Brazil, is 900
miles from the sea: Iquitos, 2300 miles from salt water, is accessible
to the smaller class of ocean steamers. Upon the Paraná, 1000 miles from
the ocean, stands the port of Asunción, capital of Paraguay, accessible
to ocean ships of shallow draught and to large river steamers:
stern-wheel steamers can mount the Paraguay River 1000 miles farther to
the remote Brazilian port of Cuyabá.
The navigation of both these river systems, the Amazon and the River
Plate, is limited or rather interrupted by the fourth great feature of
the continent, the Brazilian plateau. The Paraná and its affluents
plunge from this plateau to the southern plain in tremendous waterfalls.
The southern tributaries of the Amazon pierce their way down into the
Amazonian valley along defiles, cataracts and rapids sometimes extending
scores of miles. The Amazonian affluents are mostly navigable from the
main river to the foot of these cascades. Above the cascades, there
stretch fresh reaches of navigable water, providing many paths into the
far interior. Similar conditions are found on the two branches of the
River Tocantins and on other Brazilian rivers, such as the São Francisco
and the Paranahyba. With the future growth of population, the
construction of lateral railways and, later, perhaps the partial
canalisation of rivers, there is no limit to the possibilities of
internal water communication. The wealth of water power which awaits
application is obvious. As to possibilities of water storage and
irrigation, it suffices to say that on the Lower Orinoco and also on the
Lower Amazon the difference of water level between wet and dry seasons
is at least fifty feet, and most of the affluents rise and fall
proportionately.
The great Brazilian plateau, which has just been mentioned, further
justifies the description of South America as the fertile continent--the
region of habitable tropics. The vast scale of this plateau and its
relation to the River Plate system justify its description here as a
continental feature rather than a purely national feature, although it
is mainly a national possession of Brazil. From the north-east shoulder
of the Brazilian coast, this varied plateau, seamed by many clefts,
stretches southwards and south-westward in a vast semi-circular sweep
dividing the two river-systems. The Paraná and its affluents plunge from
this plateau towards the south and west. Northwards and eastwards it
sends a multitude of streams to the Amazon and the Atlantic. These
Brazilian uplands naturally vary in character and productiveness, but
they are in great part suitable for white habitation and especially for
the grazing of cattle. There is no winter; there is little of excessive
or torrid heat; the grass grows all the year round; and in the
neighbourhood of some rivers, the grasslands are annually renovated by
seasonable and shallow floods.
_Political Distribution_
Among the republics, the United States of Brazil stand in a class apart,
by virtue of the Portuguese origin and character of that country, its
very distinct history and its immense size, occupying, as it does, more
than half the continent. As to the republics of Spanish origin, no
single classification suffices. The most obvious division is that which
groups them into tropical and temperate countries. The five republics of
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, which lie wholly within
the tropics, form a group of states which were closely connected in the
early history of emancipation and which are still marked by a general
though not very close similarity in respect of geography and
ethnological conditions. Chile and Argentina lie mainly in the
temperate zone; Uruguay wholly so; and these, with the southern parts of
Brazil, are the regions most obviously suitable for white settlement.
These three southern republics may also be described as the most
European part of the continent, whereas the five tropical republics have
a large admixture of indigenous, and, in parts, also of negro, blood.
The small sub-tropical republic of Paraguay, secluded in the interior of
the continent, does not quite fall into either group, but belongs to the
system of River Plate countries. For the three Atlantic republics of the
southern hemisphere, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, form a distinct group
or sub-continent known as the "River Plate" and thus suggest a second
classification into the Rio-Platense and the Andine states. Lastly, a
glance at the map shows that Colombia and Venezuela differ from all
their southern neighbours in that they border upon the Caribbean Sea,
that Mediterranean Sea of the New World which stretches between the two
continents. Thus these two republics complete the circle of that
Mediterranean system of lands--the Antilles, Mexico, Central America,
Panamá--in which the United States are the dominant Power and in which
Great Britain, France and Holland are also members--one may perhaps say
subsidiary members. Thus each of these republics of the Spanish Main has
a dual character. They are on the one hand South American continental
states; but their coasts also face the coasts of the United States, and
their borders, to east and west, touch lands which are not purely
Latin-American in character. Venezuela, both historically and actually,
faces both ways. On the one hand she is the country of the Orinoco, of a
vast continental interior: on the other hand she belongs also to the
Antillean system: her eastern neighbour is British Guiana, and her
territory almost locks fingers with the British island of Trinidad,
which is in some sort the distributing commercial centre for all the
Spanish Main. Thus Venezuela completes that long Antillean chain which
curves from Florida to the Spanish Main, a chain whereof several links
are in the possession of the United States. This dual character stands
out in the early history of the country. For, during most of the
colonial period, Venezuela was the only part of South America not
attached to the Viceroyalty of Lima. Eastern Venezuela depended on the
Audiencia of Santo Domingo and was thus connected with the Antilles and
with the Viceroyalty of Mexico, that is to say with North America. Then
followed a period of dependence on the Viceroyalty of Santa Fé de
Bogotá, until finally Venezuela was erected into a separate
Captaincy-general.
In the Republic of Colombia the dual position has been forced into
prominence by recent events. On the one hand Colombia is a Pacific
state, an Andine and continental country; yet her chief ports and
arteries of communication lead northwards; and, until fifteen years ago,
she bestrode the Isthmus of Panamá. In 1903 that Isthmus passed under
the control of the United States; and Colombia, which formerly included
the province of Panamá, now practically has the United States for her
nearest neighbour.
_Origin of Divisions_
The connexion of these states with Europe dates from the first voyage of
Columbus across the Atlantic and from Cabral's voyage to Brazil. The
fabric of South America, as it stands today, was constructed in the main
during the marvellous half-century from 1492 to 1542. During that time
almost all the existing states took shape, and most of the present
capitals were founded. That work is chiefly connected with five great
names, Columbus, Balboa, Cortes, Magellan, Pizarro. Columbus and his
companions or immediate successors founded the Spanish empire on the
Antilles and the Spanish Main. Balboa sighted the South Sea, crossed the
Isthmus, and claimed that ocean and all its shores for the Crown of
Castile. Cortes established the empire of New Spain in North America.
Pizarro, starting southwards from Panamá, discovered the empire of the
Incas, shattered their power and set in its place a Spanish Viceroyalty.
The political divisions marked out at the conquest, which still subsist
in the main, were determined by the course of exploration and conquest.
When a separate condottiere hit upon a convenient site for a port and
founded a city either upon the sea-board or in some inland situation
accessible from the port, his work usually came to be recognised by the
creation of a separate government. These conquistadores showed judgment
and capacity in their choice of sites and in their marches inland, which
naturally followed the most convenient lines of communication. In this
way it came about that the political divisions in the Spanish empire
were mainly determined by natural economic causes, acting through the
rather haphazard experiments of practical men rather than through any
deliberate theory. These natural economic conditions are permanent in
character: they still persist, and they account in great part for the
continuance of the chief political divisions after the achievement of
independence and for the failure of ambitious schemes and aspirations
after union or federation. Thus the separate "kingdoms" and
"captaincies-general" of imperial Spain grew into states and are now
growing into nations. An illustration may be found in the Australian
colonies. In Australia, separate existence was at first an economic
necessity, demanded by the early colonists, owing to the distinct paths
of settlement and the distance between ports. Union, achieved later by
means of federation, was the work of artificial efforts of statesmanship
acting patiently through many difficulties.
The "Indies" were dependencies or possessions of Spain down to the
nineteenth century. Viceroys, captains-general and governors were sent
out from the Peninsula to rule in the capitals: corregidores held office
in the smaller towns[1]: audiencias, at once tribunals and councils,
were established in important centres. The course of trade was regulated
and was directed solely to the Peninsula. But the strength and the basis
of the fabric lay in the municipalities, which, although the
councillors' seats were purchased from the Crown or inherited from the
original purchasers, nevertheless offered some kind of public career to
the inhabitants and afforded the means of local public vitality.
_Emancipation_
When Napoleon stretched out his hand upon the Spanish royal family and
upon the Spanish kingdom, these municipalities everywhere became the
channels of patriotic protest and resistance to French pretensions.
Owing to the collapse of the monarchy, the unsympathetic and even
hostile attitude of successive popular authorities in Spain, and the
action of certain resolute leaders guiding the natural development of
local activities, these movements in America soon shaped towards
separation. In every capital the municipality formed the nucleus of a
junta or convention, which first assumed autonomy and then was forced by
the logic of events, and particularly by Spanish attempts at repression,
to claim republican independence. The resultant struggle was shared in
common by all. Buenos Aires, having worked out for herself a fairly
tranquil and facile revolution, sent troops under San Martín to aid
Chile and to invade the royalist strongholds of Peru. Bolívar, the
Caraqueño, liberator of the Spanish Main and of Quito, sent his soldiers
southwards through Peru. Finally, Venezuelans and Argentines, from
opposite ends of the continent, stood side by side in that battle on the
Andine heights of Ayacucho which ended the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru
and the Spanish dominion on the continent. The peoples of South America,
through all subsequent divisions, have never quite forgotten that in
those days they made common cause and united in a combined effort to lay
the foundations of what might be a common destiny.
The emancipation of Mexico was a separate movement, which followed a
rather different course owing to the Indian origin of most of the
population. The issue was confused and hindered by early outbreaks,
which were in great part Indian insurrections and class conflicts not
directed to any clear aim and tainted by brigandage. An attempt was made
to cut the tangle of conflicting interests by the establishment of an
independent Mexican monarchy. In 1823 this was overthrown by a military
revolt, which started the Mexican republic on its stormy career. The
movement of separation from Spain inevitably embraced also the
Captaincy-general of Guatemala, which chose separation from Mexico, and
assumed the name of Central America--an artificial political term rather
than a geographical description. Its five provinces eventually separated
into the five republics of Central America.
Events in Brazil shaped themselves differently. Upon the French invasion
of Portugal in 1807-8, the Portuguese royal family migrated to Brazil
and made Rio for a time the capital of the Portuguese dominions. When
King John VI returned to Lisbon in 1821, he left as Regent of Brazil his
son Dom Pedro, who, a few months later, supported by Brazilian opinion,
threw off allegiance to his father and declared himself an independent
sovereign. Thus was established, or rather continued, that Brazilian
monarchy which subsisted down to 1889 and which secured to that country
tranquillity and a continuous though rather sleepy progress during the
stormy period through which Spanish America passed after the achievement
of independence.
For the long struggle had been mainly destructive. It had not only swept
away Spanish authority, but had blurred and in some parts had erased all
authority, all stability and order, had confused or obliterated whatever
had existed of political experience or tradition, and had left the
ignorant masses a prey to theorists and adventurers. The result was
that, for at least a generation after the achievement of independence,
most of the Spanish-American states were agitated by a turmoil of
multitudinous constitutional experiments, confused conflict and
destructive civil war, alternating with periods of rigorous and often
tyrannical personal despotism. These movements have been perhaps
unfairly judged in Europe. The young communities of Latin America,
wanting in political experience and torn by a long and unavoidable
struggle, were engaged in sweeping up the débris of their great
revolution.
The Republic of Chile in great part escaped that turmoil through the
establishment, after a brief period of conflict, of a fairly stable
aristocratic oligarchy of landed proprietors. Her three "revolutions"
have been landmarks rather than interruptions in her historical
development; for they were brief, decisive and conducive to a clearer
constitutional definition. Argentina, after the fall of the Dictator
Rosas in 1852, began to feel her way towards union and order, and may be
said to have achieved that end with the general acceptance of her
completed Federal Constitution in 1880. In the tropical republics
constitutional agreement was rendered more difficult by the mixture of
races, by geographical and climatic obstacles and by a comparative
remoteness from European influences. And in the Caribbean lands our own
generation has seen Presidential seats occupied by despots of the old
type, usually men of imperious and resolute character, dauntless courage
and unscrupulous indifference respecting means and methods, men
sometimes risen from the lowest station through ruthless force and
cunning. Indeed, Mexico, after a period of remarkable economic
development under the long autocracy of Porfirio Diaz, relapsed, upon
his fall in 1910-11, into the condition of a century ago.
Yet it may be generally said that the decade following 1870 was the
beginning of a new era for the Latin-American republics. The extension
of steam navigation, the building of railways, machinery applied to
agriculture, the influx of immigrants from Southern Europe and of
capital from Northern Europe, the growing demand in Europe for
foodstuffs and raw materials--all these things favoured, particularly in
the south temperate zone, a rapid and very remarkable economic
development which accompanied and aided a consolidation and closer
cohesion of the social and political fabric.
The outstanding fact in the recent history of Latin America and in her
present relations to the war is this economic development, this great
creation of new wealth during the past generation. It has been described
in many modern books upon the various republics, and can be studied in
Consular Reports, which read like romances. The Pampa has become one of
the chief granaries of the world; and Buenos Aires, the greatest city of
the southern hemisphere, is the centre of a railway system almost equal
in extent to that of the United Kingdom. Chile has been enriched by
nitrate and copper, Brazil by coffee and rubber. The High Andes have
become once more a treasure-house of mineral wealth: tropical hills,
valleys and coastal plains yield the riches of their vegetable products.
The date assigned above as the beginning of this great economic increase
is the date when the modern German Empire came into complete being. The
recent growth of Latin America coincides with the birth and growth of
the German industrial system. The organised energy, the patient
assiduity, the expanding productiveness of Germany found a great
opportunity in meeting the new needs of these rapidly growing countries.
Germans won a remarkable position in those lands and had marked out for
themselves a yet more ambitious future.
During the same period the United States, having decisively consolidated
the Union, has taken its place among the great Powers of the world. That
republic has also altered its economic character: for whereas previously
the inhabitants had been principally engaged in the internal development
of a vast territory and had been exporters mainly of foodstuffs and raw
materials, the growth of population has turned them into a commercial
people exporting manufactured goods. This dual development, political
and economic, has profoundly affected the relations of the United States
with Latin America.
Meantime the long-standing and intimate connexion between these lands
and the maritime countries of Western Europe has followed a natural and
uninterrupted course suffering no signal change except that, quickened
by a newly-awakened and more active interest on the part of Europe, it
has become closer, more sympathetic and more firmly based upon mutual
respect and understanding.
It is the object of the following pages to examine these matters with
reference to the Great War, and also to consider generally the bearings
of the war upon the development of the Latin-American countries.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The reform of 1780-84, which established a quasi-French system of
intendentes and subdelegados, need not here be treated.
CHAPTER I
POLITICAL CURRENTS AND FORCES
In estimating the bearings of the great war upon these countries, it is
necessary to review certain political forces and currents of public
thought, which the Germans have attempted to divert to diplomatic or
bellicose ends. Since these influences date in part from the era of
independence or even from an earlier date, clearness of vision demands
some historical retrospect. When, upon the achievement of independence,
schemes of Latin-American or of South American union were found
impracticable, it was inevitable that frontier disputes and national
rivalries should lead to tension and sometimes to wars between states.
When it is remembered that every one of the ten South American republics
was divided from several neighbours by frontiers partly traversing
half-explored and imperfectly mapped regions, it is perhaps surprising
that such questions have been on the whole so amicably settled, and that
those which are still pending do not appear to be menacing or dangerous.
Owing to the paucity of population on the ill-defined and remote
interior frontiers, many of these questions did not become urgent until
the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the increasing
seriousness of political interests, the steadying influences of material
growth, and the pressure of outside opinion favoured peaceful
settlement, usually by means of arbitration. It would be possible to
compile a formidable list of such disputes. Most of them are questions
concerning historical and geographical delimitation, of great local
interest, but hardly of world-wide significance, although for a time the
world was alarmed lest the frontier dispute of Argentina and Chile
should excite a conflict between the two peoples engaged in the
development of the south temperate zone, the natural seat of an
important trans-Atlantic European civilisation.
A good example of the character of such frontier questions, of their
mode of settlement and of their possible exploitation for Teutonic
purposes is to be found in the long-protracted dispute concerning the
boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana--a dispute which only
became acute when gold was discovered in the region under debate. In
deference to external influence, the whole question was submitted to
arbitration, and was decided according to historical evidence concerning
the early course of settlement. This example is of further interest as
illustrating the German method of seizing opportunities. For, today,
German propaganda seeks to revive the bitterness of this episode, and
cultivates the favour of Venezuela by holding out the prospect of the
enlargement and enrichment of that republic through the absorption of
British Guiana and Northern Brazil; just as the neighbouring Republic of
Colombia is assured that German victory and the humiliation of the
United States will mean the return of Panamá to Colombia. It would be
unwise to dismiss such persuasive lures as too fantastic even for the
tropical atmosphere of the Spanish Main. Wherever opportunities occur,
similar efforts are made to turn to account national jealousies,
resentments and ambitions, and particularly to exacerbate the relations
between Brazil and Argentina, between Peru and Chile, between Mexico and
the United States.
The rivalry between the Portuguese and Spanish elements in South America
dates from early colonial times; and, as often happens in disputes
between members of the same family, has been perhaps more warmly felt
than the historic rivalry between Anglo-Saxon and Latin in America. The
feeling was kept alive after emancipation by a dispute concerning the
possession of the Banda Oriental (now the Uruguayan Republic), which
geographically belonged rather to the Portuguese or Brazilian system,
historically to the Spanish or Argentine system. During the eighteenth
century Spaniards and Portuguese had disputed its dominion in a series
of rival settlements, of wars and treaties, which finally left Spain in
possession. The struggle for emancipation reopened the question. For
three years (1825-28) Argentina and Brazil fought for possession. The
quarrel was adjusted, through the mediation of British diplomacy, by the
recognition of the Banda Oriental as a sovereign republic. Twenty years
later, Rosas, dictator of Buenos Aires, attempted to reverse this
decision by force of arms. His fall, partly brought about by Brazilian
intervention, settled the question. But it has left traces upon the
vivacious local sentiment of those young countries.
Again, the war which Chile waged in 1879-83 against Bolivia and Peru
ended in the occupation by Chile of Western Bolivia and also of the two
southern provinces of Peru. The ultimate possession of these two
provinces is still under discussion. Meantime, they remain in Chilian
hands; and, although a friendlier atmosphere now prevails, diplomatic
relations have never been resumed between Peru and Chile.
In these inter-state questions Germany seeks her opportunity for fishing
in troubled waters. German diplomacy and propaganda have striven to
reopen these old sores and to impede Latin-American consolidation by
setting state against state, and by fomenting or reviving latent
ambitions of hegemony or aggrandisement. Those who favour Germany are to
win great territorial rewards, at the expense of their misguided
neighbours, upon the achievement of that German victory which is
represented as certain. Particular efforts have been made to embroil
Argentina with her neighbours; a prominent feature of this programme is
the dismemberment of Brazil.
But the most important of these political movements and the one which
seemed to offer most promise to German schemes, is the long dispute
between Mexico and her northern neighbour. This is a part of that
process which since the beginning of the nineteenth century has
radically altered the map of the Caribbean lands and has shifted the
whole weight of political influence in that region. The chief effort of
Germany is to exploit the historic rivalry between Anglo-Saxon America
and Latin America, and to separate north from south by reviving the
smart of past incidents and by stirring up apprehensions as to the
future.
Here, again, it is necessary to glance back and summarise the chief
actual events of that history[2]. When Latin-American independence was
achieved, between 1820 and 1824, the United States had already become
the dominant power on the Mexican Gulf by the acquisition of Louisiana
and Florida, and in 1826 she exercised the privileges of that position
by prohibiting Mexican and Colombian designs for the emancipation of
Cuba. In 1845 Texas, which nine years before had seceded from Mexico,
was admitted to the Union, and in 1846-48 half the territory of the
Mexican Republic was transferred to the United States by a process of
conquest confirmed by purchase.
A pause in advance followed, until events showed that Isthmian control
was a national necessity to the United States. It suffices here to note
the conclusion of a long diplomatic history. In 1903 the United States,
having failed to obtain concessions of the desired kind from Colombia,
supported the province of Panamá in her secession from Colombia, and
speedily obtained from the newly formed republic a perpetual lease of
the canal zone, together with a practical protectorate over the Republic
of Panamá. The United States then proceeded to construct and fortify the
canal. She also procured from Nicaragua exclusive rights concerning the
construction of any canal through Nicaraguan territory, and erected in
fact a kind of protectorate over that republic.
Meanwhile, in the Antilles events were shaping towards control from the
north. A long-standing trouble concerning Cuba culminated in the
Spanish-American War of 1898, which brought about the annexation of
Porto Rico and the Philippines to the United States, while Cuba became
a republic under the tutelage of that Power. Five years later the United
States, in order to save the Dominican Republic from European pressure,
undertook the administration of the revenues of that state. In 1915 she
interposed to suppress a revolution in Haiti. Finally last year (1917)
she purchased from Denmark the islands of St Thomas and Santa Cruz.
Recent rumours as to a proposed further purchase--that of Dutch
Guiana--have been officially denied.
These advances have not gone beyond the Caribbean area, where
geographical conditions place the United States in a dominant position.
Her relations with the more distant southern countries, not touching the
Mediterranean Sea of the New World, fall into a different category and
do not directly concern the immediate topic.
But in the Caribbean area the United States has established a Sphere of
Influence, not indeed explicitly defined as such, but recognised in
effect by other governments and accepted by some at least of the
republics occupying that region. The events of the last twenty years
further indicate that the United States is undertaking the obligation,
usual in such cases, of imposing a "Pax Americana." As in similar
instances elsewhere, this Pax Americana has not quite clearly marked its
geographical limit, nor is it guided by any theoretical consistency, but
rather by the merits of the case and the test of immediate expediency in
each instance. Thus, whereas the United States enforces peace in Haiti
and definitely undertakes to maintain internal tranquillity in Cuba, she
has on the other hand withdrawn from interposition in Mexico. The
outside world has, on the whole, treated these matters as the concern of
the United States and respected the working of the Pax Americana.
Meanwhile, geographical proximity has favoured North American commerce,
and in recent years more than half the trade of Central America was
carried on with the United States.
It has been necessary to define the situation, because it is accepted by
the Allies, while it is at the same time jealously assailed by Germany.
For Germany, too, has won a remarkable position in the same region by
her economic efforts, which have also their political side. On the one
hand Central America is in a kind of dependence upon the United States:
on the other hand, it has been said, with obvious exaggeration, but with
some epigrammatic truth, that Guatemala before the war had become a
dependency of Germany in everything but the flag. German intelligence
and industry had seized the opportunity offered in the recent
development of a comparatively backward region. Peaceful penetration was
a work of methodical effort, of organised combination. German firms,
mostly of recent origin and sprung from small beginnings, always
preferred to import from Germany in order to favour German trade. Indeed
they were bound to do so by the terms of the credit granted to them by
German banks or Hamburg export firms for starting their business. Young
men came out from Germany--serious, plodding youths, working for small
pay, taking few pleasures and immersed in business. German retail
houses, either newly established or formed by the insinuation of Germans
into native families or native firms, worked in close contact with the
importing houses. The shipping companies worked with these latter and
with the Hamburg firms. The chief German achievement in this region was
the control of the coffee industry, which was acquired by the usual
German combination of admirable industry, patience and intelligence with
unscrupulous greed and cunning. Germans advanced money to the grateful
owners of coffee estates on such terms that the native owner in course
of time found himself bound hand and foot by ever-increasing debt; and
the properties usually passed into the hands of the exacting foreign
creditor, the former owner being often kept on as paid manager. In this
way, besides doing a good stroke of business for himself, the German
served Germany by increasing German interests in the country, providing
cargo for German ships and helping to secure for Hamburg the coffee
market of Europe. Every little advantage gained by an individual German
was reckoned as a national gain, as the starting-point for another
German step forwards. Nor was German advance confined to Guatemala: it
penetrated all Central America as well as Mexico and the Antillean
Republics, especially Haiti.
But the maritime war, the British blockade and Black List and, finally,
the participation of the United States have shaken the fabric thus
laboriously raised. German ingenuity had overreached itself. For it was
the insidious and cruel method of German land-grabbing in Guatemala
which more than anything determined that republic to declare war, in
order to escape from this ignominious economic dependence, this foreign
control of a national industry. For it would be difficult to define a
clear _casus belli_. But in the peculiar form of her declaration of war
she told the world under which system she chose to live. For in April
1918 Guatemala announced that thenceforth she occupied the same position
as the United States towards the European belligerents.
The iniquity of North American intervention in Nicaragua and the implied
menace to other states were insistently preached by Germany throughout
Central America; yet, a month later, Nicaragua also declared war,
proclaiming at the same time her solidarity with the United States and
with the other belligerent American Republics.
In Costa Rica the Germans represented the non-recognition by the United
States of President Tinoco, who owed his position to a _coup d'état_, as
a menacing insult to that Republic. Then, the same Germans intrigued to
overthrow Tinoco on account of a Government proposal to tax coffee
stored for future export. The upshot was that, in May 1918, Costa Rica
declared war. Two months later Haiti took the same decisive step, and
also Honduras.
The significance of these additions to the belligerent ranks is perhaps
hardly realised in Europe. Every one of them is a serious reverse in the
economic war which Germany is waging, and every one makes it more
difficult for Germans in America to keep up communication with Hamburg.
Indeed, the tale of recent events reads like a mere series of German
reverses, snatching away advantages already gained. In 1912, the treaty
for the American purchase of the Danish Antilles was all but complete,
when German influence in the Upper House of the Danish Parliament
prevented ratification and thwarted, for the time, the plans of the
United States. During the present war, the purchase was completed,
Germany being impotent. Again, Germany, having acquired a strong
position in Haiti, designed that the Haitian Republic should become a
Teutonised base of activity, repudiating the Pax Americana and
threatening the security of American sea-paths. The United States put
out a hand, and this highly-coloured vision faded away. Cuba, Panamá,
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras--all of these in turn
struck at Germany through the declaration of war[3].
Yet Germany, beaten from point to point, still holds her ground in
Mexico. One of the curious side-scenes of the great war was the attempt
of the German Foreign Office to contrive an offensive alliance of Japan
and Mexico against the United States. Mexico was to be rewarded by the
recovery of Texas. This underhand plot against a neutral nation at peace
with Germany collapsed at its inception. Yet the present German menace
in Mexico is not to be despised. The rulers in the Mexican capital
exhibit an ostentatious cordiality towards Potsdam and sometimes an
almost petulant impatience towards the Allies. The German is the
favoured one among foreigners in the republic. Supported by the German
Legation, the German banks, and the countenance of the Mexican
authorities, Germans are strengthening their economic hold, particularly
through the acquisition of oil and mining properties. This advance has
its political side: for hopes seem to be entertained that a militant
power, inspired by Germany, may press upon the long southern frontier of
the United States, disturb her pacific influence in the Antilles,
threaten the security of her maritime routes, and interpose a barrier
between her and her scientific frontier on the Isthmus of Panamá. Such
schemes may sound fanciful, and no doubt in their entirety they are
impracticable. But it would be a mistake to regard Germany as powerless
or to undervalue her tenacious and intelligent opportunism. And, in any
case, the economic position demands attention.
A word may here be said about the German effort to hold up before the
eyes of all South America the spectre of the "Yankee peril." These
German efforts have not succeeded, as will be shown later. Yet it would
be rash optimism to assume that they have won no temporary success.
Correspondence published by the Washington authorities shows that the
German Minister at Buenos Aires succeeded in inducing the Argentine
Government to approach Chile and Bolivia with a view to a combination
against the United States--a scheme which, if carried through, might
have produced a split in the political system of the South American
Republics. A similar tendency appeared in President Irigoyen's attempt
to convoke a conference of neutral American states, an attempt which has
had no result except the dispatch of Mexican missions to Buenos Aires.
Such incidents cannot be ignored: they illustrate a movement which is
not quite effete.
From what has been said above it is obvious that German designs in
Central America and the Antilles are not quite recent in their
inception. The same is true of another field which for a generation past
has attracted German ambitions. The flourishing self-contained
German-speaking communities in Southern Brazil offered an attractive
goal to an empire which was feverishly building ships, pursuing a
maritime future and hunting for colonies. Here was a German colony in
existence and almost constituting already an _imperium in imperio_.
German emigrants, brought out by the Brazilian Emperors between 1825 and
1860, had by thrifty and intelligent industry done much to develop the
south; and their descendants--now estimated to number 400,000--inhabited
German towns, with German schools, newspapers and churches, where even
proclamations of the Brazilian Government were published in German.
Although not a product of the modern German Empire, this _Deutschtum im
Ausland_ has been studiously cultivated by that empire through every
possible agency, and especially by imperial grants to German schools,
whose pupils were taught that they were Germans owing a prior allegiance
to Germany. Some hope was entertained of carving a Teutonic state out of
Brazil, perhaps to form nominally, at all events for a time, an
independent republic. The disturbances in the south which followed the
establishment of the Brazilian Republic appeared to favour this chance,
which depended however on one condition, the countenance of Great
Britain in order to cope with the opposition of the United States. But
in any case the vigour and increase of the German element was to
dominate Southern Brazil and help to bring that region into moral
dependence upon Germany. That these designs were not viewed in South
America as wholly imaginative, is proved by a recent incident. The
Uruguayan Government, after revoking neutrality and seizing the interned
German ships, asked and obtained an assurance of Argentine support, in
case Uruguayan soil should be invaded by Germans from Southern Brazil.
It may be added that recent German commercial penetration has been
particularly active in Brazil.
Owing to their remoteness and lesser numbers, the German communities in
Southern Chile--whose first founders emigrated from Germany after the
troubles of 1848--did not invite such large political designs, although
there is reason to think that in the earlier part of the war, when a
German war fleet still kept the sea, the manifold activities of Germany
included some notion of obtaining a permanent footing in the Pacific.
These German-speaking settlements have been carefully cultivated, by the
same methods as those used in Brazil, to become a Germanising force in
Chile and a German outpost on the west coast. In 1916 a Chilian-German
League was established, to include all persons in Chile of German
origin and language, with the intention that the members should use
their influence as Chilian citizens, especially at election time, on
behalf of German interests.
Another influence which Germany strives to turn to account is the recent
movement represented by the _Unión Ibero-Americana_, which seeks to draw
together Spain and the Spanish-American republics. The German efforts to
give a Teutonic tinge to the present Spanish movement of national
revival look also towards Latin America, in the hope that friendship
with Spain may tell against French and North American influence; and
attempts are being made to exploit for that purpose the Ibero-American
celebration which is to be held in Madrid in October, 1918.
Lastly, in estimating political forces which have to be reckoned as
factors in the conflict, some mention should be made of the very warm
sentiment towards France which has prevailed for generations among
educated South Americans--a sentiment which passes the bounds of mere
private or even semi-official relations. This feeling is not universal,
and would hardly be admitted in clerical and military circles. But it is
sufficiently strong and general to be remotely compared to the sentiment
which a Greek ~apoikia~ usually entertained towards the mother-city.
French thought permeates the work of Latin-American historians and
political writers. French example and theory mould the form and the
action of governments. Paris is felt to be the capital and the centre of
inspiration for Latin civilisation. The debt of South America to France
has been generously, and indeed affectionately, avowed by a succession
of Argentine writers. A recent German semi-official utterance openly
admits and deplores the historic attachment of South America to France.
This attitude towards France can hardly fail to have some public weight;
and there is no doubt that the course pursued by Brazil has been partly
inspired by love of France.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] For the sake of brevity and clear relation to the present topic,
this history is not here examined with reference to any theory or
doctrine of policy. In order to explain the present position, the
salient facts only are given, but not the comments and explanations of
statesmen, nor the diplomatic passages leading to these events. One may
digress for a moment to point out that a sufficient interpretation of
these events is to be found in the natural expansion of a vigorous
growing people. In the process of "winning the wilderness and conquering
the continent" the United States found that a considerable part of the
field was in nominal possession of those who were doing little to use or
civilise it. These claims, which obstructed progress, were successively
disposed of. Nor has it been found possible to limit that advance to
certain indispensable acquisitions of territory. National security has
demanded varying degrees of control over neighbouring peoples of
inferior development. The process finds many historical parallels: and
it is an intensely practical, not a theoretic, matter.
[3] It may be pointed out that for nearly seventy years the United
States has acquired no territory from any Latin-American republic,
except the perpetual lease of the canal zone, which was freely granted
on most profitable conditions by the Republic of Panamá. Cuba and Panamá
owe their separate existence, together with an unexampled prosperity and
internal tranquillity, to the United States. In Nicaragua and Santo
Domingo the great material benefits of interposition seem to outweigh
sentimental objections. The financial obligations of Nicaragua have been
adjusted through the help of the United States; and it may perhaps be
felt that improved public solvency, material prosperity and internal
security, though effected through outside aid, enhance instead of
diminishing the national dignity.