ARGENTINE-CHILENO ALLIANCE.
1817.
The alliance between Argentina and Chile, sealed with the blood of her
soldiers in the assault on Talcahuano, is the most important factor of
this epoch in the struggle for the emancipation of America, whether the
objects of the alliance be spoken of or whether its results be summed
up. This alliance, the first celebrated in the New World between
independent nations, was no artificial combination; it arose from the
natural tendencies, and from the reciprocal interests of two peoples,
and its effects were felt from Cape Horn to the Equator. Never did two
allied nations work more cordially together for one end, never were
greater deeds accomplished with such feeble resources. Without this
alliance the struggle for independence would either have failed or would
have been indefinitely retarded. It originated in the help given by each
country to the other in the first years of the struggle, from 1811 to
1814. The fall of Chile in the latter year only strengthened the bond;
it was then seen to be an absolute necessity to both. Chile alone could
not free herself from her oppressors, and Argentina without her had no
military road by which she could reach her enemy, while she herself lay
open to assault.
The Argentine Republic undertook the conquest of Chile for three
reasons: first, as a measure of self-defence; second, to secure the
dominion of the Pacific; as a means to the complete emancipation of
South America, which was the third reason for, and the final object of,
the undertaking. San Martin was the soul of the alliance, O’Higgins was
the connecting link, the Army of the Andes the muscle and sinew, and the
Lautaro Lodge the secret mechanism. It was to establish this alliance
that San Martin had so hurriedly left for Buenos Ayres after the victory
of Chacabuco.
San Martin recrossed the Andes without other company than his favourite
aide-de-camp O’Brien, and a guide. As he left Mendoza on the 19th March,
he received a letter from Pueyrredon, telling him that a war was
imminent with the Portuguese of the Banda Oriental, for which arms and
money would be required from Chile, and that in a few days he expected
five armed ships, which Carrera was bringing from North America, which
he would send on to Valparaiso and place at his orders.
The Portuguese had occupied the Banda Oriental in 1816, with the tacit
connivance of the Argentine Government, and Pueyrredon was at that time
striving to avoid a rupture by diplomacy. But a war with the Portuguese
formed no part of the plans of San Martin, who, at the end of March,
reached Buenos Ayres, and avoiding a triumphal entry, which was
preparing for him, went to business at once.
Fifteen days afterwards he commenced his return journey, having made
such arrangements as he could for the equipment and support of a naval
squadron on the Pacific, promising, as General-in-Chief, help from Chile
to the extent of 300,000 dollars.
Don José Miguel Carrera had in the year 1815 managed to raise 20,000
dollars among his personal friends in Buenos Ayres, and with this, had
gone off to the United States to raise a naval squadron for an
expedition to Chile. By lavish promises he had prevailed upon some
merchants in New York and Baltimore to sell him five ships, fully
equipped. In one of these, the corvette _Clifton_, he reached Buenos
Ayres on the 9th February, 1817. Pueyrredon not only refused to pay for
the ships, but also prohibited the further progress of the expedition,
knowing that the presence of the Carreras in Chile would be most
prejudicial to the cause of the alliance. A few days afterwards the brig
_Savage_ arrived from Baltimore, and Carrera formed a plan for escaping
with the two ships, but his intention being denounced to Pueyrredon by
one of the French adventurers who had come with him, he was arrested as
a conspirator, and confined in the Retiro Barracks, where San Martin
visited him on the 12th April. Carrera haughtily refused to shake hands
with him, and rejected his repeated offers to arrange matters for him
with Pueyrredon. They never met again.
San Martin and Pueyrredon both wrote to O’Higgins, proposing that Chile
should pension the three brothers Carrera, in recognition of their
former services. But O’Higgins considered that such a measure would
offer a reward to crime. Carrera soon afterwards escaped from prison and
fled to Monte Video; later on he became conspicuous in the ranks of the
enemies of Buenos Ayres.
On the 11th May San Martin was again in Chile, and was received in
triumph at the capital, the enthusiasm of the people being increased by
the news received the same day of the victory of Las Heras at Gavilán.
The same day he sent his friend and aide-de-camp, Alvarez Condarco, off,
by way of Buenos Ayres, to London, with money to purchase another ship
of war. Condarco had also another mission, which is enveloped in
mystery, and is pointed to as a stain on the reputation of San Martin
and O’Higgins. A certain sum was to be left in deposit in London for
their private account. The documents relating to this matter are written
in cypher, and have remained secret for more than sixty years. Only
three persons have read them, of whom two are dead, the third is the
author of this history.[10] The amount cannot have exceeded 29,500
dollars, a sum which San Martin had most certainly earned, while the
rigid exactness of all his dealings with public money placed in his
hands is unquestioned. He steadily refused all recompense for his
services; he did accept the hospitality of the city of Santiago when
there, but the yearly expenses of his establishment did not exceed 3,000
dollars.
In pursuance of the Alliance, the Government of Chile remitted 40,000
dollars to Buenos Ayres for the army of Upper Peru, and the Argentine
Government sent a thousand new muskets for the use of the Chilian army.
The maintenance of the Army of the Andes, and the filling up of death
vacancies, was assumed by Chile, and there was no further question on
either side of pecuniary responsibility.
When O’Higgins in April went to take command of the Army of the South,
he left Colonel Don Hilarion de la Quintana as his deputy at Santiago.
Quintana was an Argentine, a family connection and an aide-de-camp of
San Martin. Thus the supreme power in the State was made subject to
Argentine influence under the direction of the Lautaro Lodge. This
appointment wounded the national susceptibilities of the people, was
contrary to the policy adopted by the Argentine government, and provoked
open declarations that “Chile owed nothing to the Army of the Andes.”
To destroy this impression, government, on establishing a military
school, reserved twelve nominations of cadets for natives of the
Province of Cuyo, professing “eternal gratitude to the illustrious
peoples of the Rio de la Plata.”
But international gratitude is always a burden, and the Chilians saw in
it no reason for confiding the highest post in the State to a foreigner.
Such was the position of affairs when San Martin returned from Buenos
Ayres. Quintana and O’Higgins then both wished him to take charge of the
administration. He refused, and advised O’Higgins to appoint a Chilian
in place of Quintana.
One of the chief administrative acts of Quintana was to commence the
coinage of Chilian money, with an appropriate inscription indicative of
the establishment of Chile as a sovereign State. One thousand dollars of
this coinage were given to San Martin and Belgrano for distribution as
medals among the Argentine troops.
At this time Pueyrredon appointed Don Tomas Guido Argentine
representative in Chile, and his official reception at Santiago on the
17th May was one of the great events of the year. Quintana, as one
result of these renewed relations, sent Irizarri to Europe as the
diplomatic agent of Chile, with instructions to act in conjunction with
the diplomatic agent of the United Provinces, wherever he might be.
Rivadavia was at that time Argentine representative in Europe, and to
him were sent fresh powers and instructions to treat for the
establishment of an independent monarchy in America.
O’Higgins, from his headquarters at Concepcion, issued a decree creating
a “Legion of Merit,” in imitation of the Legion of Honour created by
Napoleon. This institution had an aristocratic tendency, as its members
enjoyed special privileges; it was, therefore, unpopular, and the
Argentine Government would permit no privileges to such Argentine
citizens as received the distinction. San Martin looked more favourably
upon it, as it responded to his idea of creating a special military
class independent of local influences.
One of the results of the restoration of Chile by Argentine arms was to
give preponderance to one of the parties into which the country was
divided. The Argentines, while recognizing the independence of the
country and establishing a national government, had imposed a dictator
upon the country, postponing indefinitely its constitutional
organization. The Government of O’Higgins had against it not only its
old adversaries, but also a large number of Chilians who were jealous of
foreign influence. They took Carrera as their chief, and National
Autonomy as their watchword, while they were animated only by personal
ambition.
Doña Javiera de Valdés, sister of the Carreras, resided at that time in
Buenos Ayres. At her house there were daily meetings of Chilian
emigrants who were hostile to O’Higgins. Among them a plot was hatched.
She herself was the life and soul of the conspiracy. It was decided that
several of the conspirators should cross the Andes to prepare their
friends in Chile for an outbreak, and should be followed by Don Luis and
by Don Juan José Carrera, who should keep quiet until joined by Don José
Miguel, who would go round Cape Horn from Monte Video, in the ship
_General Scott_, which he was expecting from New York. They thought they
had only to land in the country to be received with acclamation and
placed in charge of her destinies. All that they feared was the
Argentine army, which was to be expelled, O’Higgins was to be banished
from the country as a traitor, San Martin was to be tried by
court-martial as a criminal, and all who resisted them were to be put to
death. It was an absurd and criminal project which, if only partially
successful, would have ruined Chile for the second time.
The first party of the conspirators crossed the Andes in July. Luis
Carrera, disguised as a peon, was arrested at Mendoza for robbing the
mails. Juan José, travelling under a false name and accompanied by a
post-boy, was caught in a hailstorm during the night near San Luis; the
boy died, he was arrested on suspicion of murder, and afterwards sent on
to Mendoza and imprisoned with his brother. Luzuriaga, Governor of
Mendoza, sent full accounts of these occurrences to Santiago. Meantime
the other conspirators had arrived at a farmhouse belonging to the
Carrera family, and had been put under arrest as a measure of
precaution, in consequence of warnings from Buenos Ayres. These news
from Mendoza made it certain that some conspiracy was on foot. Numerous
arrests among the partisans of Carrera followed, the most notable among
the prisoners being Dr. Don Manuel Rodriguez. Some said that the
Government was the author of the conspiracy. The general excitement was
so great that Quintana could no longer maintain his position, and
eventually Don Luis de la Cruz, a native Chilian, chosen by the Lautaro
Lodge, was appointed Deputy Director.
San Martin, the guest of the Chilian people, residing in a palace, still
continued the simple, hard-working manner of life he had adopted in
Mendoza. He dined alone at 1 P.M., but at 4 P.M. a state dinner was
served at which Guido presided. At dessert he joined the company and
took coffee with them. In the evening his saloon was a favourite resort
of the best society of the city, the soirée being invariably opened by
singing the Argentine National Hymn, after which San Martin led off the
first minuet. These “tertulias” were celebrated in the society annals of
the day; and not a few of the Argentine officers fell captive to the
beauty and grace of the girls of Santiago, Las Heras and Guido among the
number.
San Martin had small sympathy for the Chilian people; their manners and
character did not please his austere mind, and he was not the sort of
man to make many friends. In his own country he had but three, Belgrano,
Pueyrredon, and Godoy Cruz; in Chile he had but one, O’Higgins. He also
suffered much at this time from neuralgia and rheumatism, and could only
sleep by an immoderate use of morphia. He thought that he could not
live much longer; those about him thought the same and sent notice of
their fears to Buenos Ayres, in consequence of which General Antonio
Gonzalez Balcarce, the hero of Suipacha, was sent to join him as his
second in command.
In spite of his forebodings San Martin did not falter in the prosecution
of his great enterprise, and taking advantage of his friendship with
Captain Bowles, Commodore of the British Pacific squadron, he sent,
under his care, a trusty agent to Lima with letters to the Viceroy
proposing an exchange of prisoners. This he was anxious to effect, not
only for the sake of the prisoners and their friends in both countries,
but also for the purpose of procuring an official recognition of Chile
as a belligerent power. But under these was a third purpose, to him of
more importance than either of the others. His messenger was a
confidential agent, who might thus have a pretext for meeting the
leaders of society in Lima, and opportunity for sounding them, and for
spreading among them the Argentine ideas of which he was the champion.