CUYO.
1814--1815.
The district of Cuyo lies to the east of the Cordillera, between 31° and
35° south latitude, and extends eastward to the 66° of west longitude,
where the Andean formation dies away in the vast plain of the Argentine
Pampa. Here the snow waters flowing from the mountain ranges lose
themselves in lakes, or cut for themselves channels through the sandy
soil, forming a network of inland rivers, which flow on undeterminately
till they disappear. Peopled by colonists from East and West, this
region was the point of union between two separate peoples, in whose
alliance lay the destinies of all the Spanish colonies washed by the
Pacific.
Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis, were grouped together to form the
Province of Cuyo, when San Martin was named Governor in 1814. Here he
found the materials he required for the great enterprise he had in view.
In 1810 the inhabitants of this province were barely 40,000 in number,
but they were a hard-working, thrifty race, easily amenable to
discipline. Traders from Mendoza and San Juan crossed the Andes to
Chile, and the Pampa to Buenos Ayres, with troops of carts drawn by
bullocks, or with troops of pack-mules, laden with wine, dried fruits,
and flour. The men of San Luis were graziers of cattle and of sheep,
famed for their skill as horsemen and as Indian fighters. Without
knowledge of the character of this people it is impossible to comprehend
how San Martin could in this one Province raise an invincible army
which, sustained by it alone for three years, liberated two republics
and spread the principles of the Argentine revolution over an entire
continent.
Determined to keep free from all personal obligations to the instruments
of his policy, San Martin refused to occupy the house allotted to him by
the Cabildo of Mendoza, gave up half his salary as Governor, and, in
1815, sent his wife back to Buenos Ayres in pursuance of the system of
rigid economy which he imposed upon himself and carried out ruthlessly
in every department of his administration. In January, 1815, he was
promoted by Government to the rank of General of Brigade, which
appointment he accepted only on the understanding that he should resign
it as soon as the State was secured from Spanish domination, and
steadily refused any further promotion. Some historians have seen in
this systematic self-abnegation, an imitation of the Cardinal who
hobbled on crutches to seize the keys of Saint Peter. Doubtless he had
his ambitions, but no such design appears in the course of his life,
which was consecrated to his own people to the complete sacrifice of all
personal interest.
According to him Chile was the citadel of America, and must be
reconquered at any cost. In Mendoza he met many of the fugitives who
crossed the Andes after the disaster of Rancagua, and speedily learned
from them that the collapse of the revolution was due to the incapacity
of Carrera, and to see in O’Higgins the man of the future. He and the
Mendocinos received these fugitives with open arms and with generous
hospitality; but Carrera, though an exile on foreign soil, arrogated to
himself a position as chief of an independent nation, and as such issued
decrees from the barracks where he and his suite were quartered.
San Martin asserted his authority with firmness and with great
prudence, but these Chilians introduced an element of disorder into the
Province. Conflicts were frequent between the police and the dispersed
soldiery, who refused obedience to any but their own officers, and
continued the internecine dispute which had resulted so fatally on the
plains of Maipó.
San Martin put a summary end to this disorder, by surrounding the
barracks where Carrera and his partisans were lodged, with the troops of
Las Heras and O’Higgins. Carrera was forced to retire to San Luis,
whence he afterwards proceeded to Buenos Ayres, and his adherents
dispersed. At the same time a commission of Chilians was appointed to
collect the remnant of the treasure brought from Santiago, which was
lodged in the coffers of the Province until such time as it might be
employed for the liberation of Chile. Thus was Carrera crushed by the
man of iron, and his insensate ambition no more troubled the destinies
of his native country. Nevertheless he was well received in Buenos Ayres
by Alvear, who about that time became Supreme Director of the United
Provinces. He and Carrera were kindred spirits. Together they had served
in Spain, and together they had dreamed dreams of power and dominion in
their own land; now jealousy of San Martin became a further tie between
them.
In January, 1815, San Martin, alleging the state of his health as a
reason, sent in his resignation to the Supreme Director, who at once
accepted it and named Don Gregorio Perdriel as his successor. Perdriel
proceeded at once to Mendoza, but the leading men of the city assembled
in open Cabildo and, supported by the mass of the people, refused to
accept this new Governor, and insisted upon the withdrawal of his
resignation by San Martin. Perdriel was recalled to Buenos Ayres, and
Alvear was himself deposed in April by a mutiny of the troops in the
capital. General Rondeau, who was at that time in command of the army of
Peru, was named by the Cabildo as his successor. Alvear in his fall
dragged with him the Assembly of the year 1813, and the Cabildo
instructed the new Government to call at once a National Congress
elected by universal suffrage. The men of Mendoza applauded the
deposition of Alvear, and declared that they would not, in future,
recognise any National authority save one based upon the will of the
entire people. In logical pursuance of which declaration they decreed
that the nomination of their Governor by the central power was null and
void, and by acclamation named San Martin as the Governor elected by
themselves. The Cabildos of San Luis and San Juan confirmed this
declaration and decree, so that the Province of Cuyo became for the time
an independent State, ruled by a Governor of its own selection.
The problem now before San Martin was one of extreme difficulty. From
this small society he proposed to raise an army and to replenish an
empty treasury without exhausting the sources of production and without
waste, by inoculating all with his own ideas, and so leading them, each
man in his own station, and according to his capacity, to work zealously
together for one end. He turned the whole Province of Cuyo into an
association of workers and fighters, whose co-operation should result in
the reconquest of Chile.
He commenced by the invocation of the war-spirit among them, organizing
their militia, and forming even the children into regiments, doing
military exercise and carrying their own flags. He invited foreign
residents to enlist, among whom the most forward were the English, who
raised at their own cost a free company of light infantry, having the
right to name their own officers. But the nucleus of his army he formed
of well-disciplined troops. This spirit he kept alive by exaggerated
reports of the strength of the enemy in Chile, and by alarms of an
imminent invasion. The people seconded his efforts by voluntary
contributions for the public service. They lent mules, horses, and
harness, whenever they were required, sure of receiving them back when
the need had passed over; cartmen and muleteers carried ammunition and
supplies, and the landowners pastured his troop-horses, free of charge,
seeking no other payment than general approbation. Punishment for minor
offences was inflicted in fines, which were paid into the public
treasury, the ordinary taxes were rigidly enforced. Cuyo bled money at
every pore for the redemption of South America.
To give to his exactions the character of legal contributions,
authorized by the will of the people, he used the Cabildos as his
agents, their authority, as a sort of Parliament, giving a moral support
to measures which were in reality arbitrary decrees; and he was well
supported by the Lieutenant-Governors of San Luis and San Juan, men of
inflexible will in everything relating to the public service.
In 1814, the general revenues of the Province, raised by customs duties
and municipal taxes, amounted to nearly 180,000 dollars. The reconquest
of Chile by the Spaniards, which put an end to the trans-Andine trade,
cut off two-thirds of this revenue, so that in 1815 it was insufficient
to meet current expenses. Voluntary subscriptions failed to supply the
deficiency; a forced loan was levied upon the Spanish residents. But
these were mere expedients. Export duties were imposed, a monthly war
contribution was established, the tithes and the fund for the redemption
of Indian captives, and the intestate estates of deceased Spaniards,
were sequestered; a general property tax was levied, and forced loans
from Spaniards and Portuguese were frequently exacted. Unpaid volunteers
were never wanting when assistance was required in preparing the outfit
of the army.
News was received that an expedition of 10,000 men had left Spain for
the River Plate under the command of Morillo. San Martin called for a
public subscription in aid of the general government. The ladies of
Mendoza, headed by his own wife, set a noble example by throwing their
jewels into the public chest. The fall of Monte Video diverted the
course of the expedition, but the funds collected remained in the
treasury.
Amid all the din of military preparation the material interests of the
Province were not neglected. Education was studiously fomented,
vaccination was introduced, much attention was bestowed upon the public
promenades and upon the system of irrigation, and the most rigid economy
was enforced in every branch of the administration. The people saw in
San Martin a father whom they loved, and a ruler whom they respected.
His manners contributed to his authority and to the popularity gained by
his deeds. His austere figure aptly symbolised the paternal despotism he
established, and gave him a certain mysterious prestige. Alone among
many friends, but without one confidant, nor even a councillor, he
looked after everything himself, with no more help than that of one
secretary and two clerks. His want of education has caused some
historians to decry his talents. It was the same with William of Orange
and with Washington. They shone not by their intellect, but by their
deeds and by their personal character. As Macaulay says of Cromwell, he
spoke folly and did great things. Or, as Pascal says, the heart has
reason of which reason knows nothing.
In San Martin the will was the dominant characteristic. He worked not by
inspiration but by calculation, searching carefully first for the thing
necessary to be done, and then doing it. It has been said of him that he
was not a person but a system. He wore almost constantly the plain
uniform of the mounted grenadiers, with the Argentine cockade on his
cocked hat. He was an early riser, and usually spent all the morning at
his desk. At mid-day he went to the kitchen, chose two plates of the
food prepared, and frequently ate it there standing, washing it down
with two glasses of wine. In the winter he would afterwards take a short
walk and smoke a cigarette of black tobacco; in summer he would sleep
for two hours on a skin stretched in the verandah. All the year round he
drank coffee which he prepared himself; then, after another spell at
his desk, would spend the afternoon inspecting the public offices. In
the evening his house was open to visitors, who were forbidden to talk
politics, but if invited to a game at chess found him a doughty
adversary. At ten o’clock he wished them good-night and, after a light
supper, retired to his couch. But if illness prevented him from sleeping
he would rise and repair to his desk.
The system of government followed by San Martin in Cuyo somewhat
resembled that of Sancho Panza in his island of Barrataria, or that of
the legendary King Zafadola, who visited his taxpayers in their houses,
asking them how they could expect him to govern if they did not pay the
taxes?
An officer presented a petition for extra rations, as his salary was not
enough to live on.
“All officers are in the same case,” was the answer.
A man of San Juan, who had been made prisoner by the Spaniards in Chile
and released on parole, claimed exemption from service in the army on
that account.
“The Governor takes that responsibility upon himself, you are at liberty
to attack the enemy. But if your hands are tied by a ridiculous
prejudice they shall be untied by a platoon.”
The wife of a sergeant asked pardon for some neglect of duty by her
husband.
“I have nothing to do with women, but with soldiers subject to military
discipline.”
A prisoner applied for his release in the name of the patron saint of
the army.
“He did enough for you in saving your life.”
A farmer being accused of speaking against “La Patria,” he annulled the
sentence on condition that the accused should send ten dozen pumpkins
for the supply of the troops.
To try the temper of his officers he got up a bull-fight and sent them
into the ring as “torreadores.” As he applauded their courage he turned
to O’Higgins, who was beside him, and said:--
“These lunatics are the men we want to smash up the Spaniards.”
One day he went to the powder factory in full uniform, booted and
spurred, and was refused admission by the sentry. He came back in a
linen suit with slippers on, and was admitted. After which he gave
orders that the sentry should be relieved, and with great formality
presented him with an ounce of gold.
One day an officer presented himself, asking for the citizen Don José de
San Martin, and being admitted, confessed to him that he had lost at
play regimental money which had been entrusted to him. San Martin opened
a cabinet, took out gold coins to the amount named, and gave them to
him, saying:--
“Pay this money into the regimental chest, and keep the secret; for if
General San Martin ever hears that you have told of it, he will have you
shot upon the spot.”
Two Franciscan friars who, according to him, had shown themselves
unfriendly to “political regeneration,” were forbidden by him to confess
or to preach, and were put under arrest in their convent until further
orders. He instructed the parish priests to preach of “the justice with
which America had adopted the system of liberty”; and seeing that they
failed to do so, he further warned them that severe measures would be
adopted if they neglected “so sacred a duty.”
Among his contemporaries there were, at that time, but few who estimated
him at his real value. He himself indulged in no illusions on the
matter, but stoically trusted to time and patience to give him his true
place among them. As he wrote to Godoy Cruz, concerning reports which
were in circulation: “You will say that I was vexed. Yes, my friend,
somewhat; but, after reflection, I followed the example of Diogenes, I
dived into a butt of philosophy. A public man must suffer anything in
order that the vessel may reach her port.”
At that time he suffered from chronic disease, and could only sleep for
a few minutes at once seated on a chair, and was compelled to take opium
to gain needful rest.
On the 29th November, 1815, the army under Rondeau was completely
defeated by Pezuela at Sipe-Sipe in Upper Peru. Morillo’s expedition was
triumphant in Columbia, and the Royalists sang _Te Deums_ both in Europe
and in America. In these days of despair San Martin invited his officers
to a banquet. Never did he appear in better spirits. When the dessert
was placed on the board he rose to his feet and in a loud voice proposed
a toast:--
“To the first shot fired beyond the Andes against the oppressors of
Chile.”
His words found echo in every heart. Confidence revived. From that
moment the passage of the Andes and the reconquest of Chile ceased to be
a vague idea, it became a plan of campaign which was to change the
aspect of the war.