Observations on the Present State of the Affairs of the River Plate Part 1

Observations on the Present State of the Affairs of the River Plate.

by Thomas Baines.

The destructive war which has now been waged for so many years, by the Chief of the Province of Buenos Ayres against the Republic of Uruguay, involves questions of so much importance to the commercial interests, and to the national honour of England, that nothing can account for the very slight attention which it has received from Parliament and the press, except the fact that many of the princ.i.p.al considerations connected with it have never yet been fully brought before the British public. In order to supply this deficiency, and to show how much it concerns the character of this country that this war should at once be brought to a close in the only manner in which it can be ended; that is, by the prompt and decided interference of the Governments of France and England, I have thought that it might be useful to lay before the public the following observations and doc.u.ments, explanatory of the principles involved in the war; of the conduct pursued by Mr. Mandeville, the British Minister to the Argentine Confederation, at the most critical period of its progress; and of the strong and rapidly-increasing interest which this country, and more especially the port of Liverpool, has in the preservation of the threatened independence of the Republic of Uruguay.

Most of the readers of these remarks are no doubt aware that the Province of the Banda Oriental, or eastern bank of the River Plate, was first const.i.tuted an independent state, under the t.i.tle of the Republic of Uruguay, at the close of the war between the Argentine Confederation and the Empire of Brazil, in the year 1828. This arrangement was in a great measure brought about by the good offices of Lord Ponsonby, the Amba.s.sador of the British Government to the Court of Rio, and the result of his negociations was so agreeable to the English Government, that the peace thus concluded was made a subject of congratulation in the speech from the throne in the year 1829. The princ.i.p.al object in forming this new Republic was, to put an end to the destructive war between Buenos Ayres and Brazil, originating in the claims put forward by both these countries to the possession of the Province of the Banda Oriental.

The Brazilians, who had had possession of it for several years, were naturally unwilling to have so warlike and powerful a state as the Argentine Republic on their most vulnerable frontier, and the Argentines were not less unwilling to have the Brazilian frontier pushed more than a hundred leagues up the River Plate, and within the limits of the ancient Viceroyalty of Paraguay, which had for ages been occupied by the Spanish race. As the only effectual solution of these difficulties, the English Government proposed that the Banda Oriental should be rendered independent of both countries, and this, after some negociation, was agreed to by all the parties concerned.

The primary object of the mediation of the English Government was the re-establishment and preservation of peace and amity between two nations, with both of which England had valuable commercial relations; and this object has been completely gained by the arrangement then effected. During the sixteen years which have elapsed since the treaty was concluded, no serious difference has occurred between Brazil and the Argentine Confederation, nor is any likely to occur so long as the barrier of an independent state is interposed between them. It is only during the last two years that serious discussions have arisen between them, and these have originated in the fears of Brazil, lest the successes of the Buenos Ayrean army, now before Monte Video, should be such as to break down the barrier established by the Ponsonby treaty, and again to bring the Buenos Ayreans on the frontiers of Rio Grande.

From apprehension of this event, the Brazilian Government has allowed General Paz, with his military staff, to pa.s.s through its territory to place himself at the head of the Correntino insurgents, who have risen against Rosas, and made common cause with Monte Video; it has also recalled Admiral Grenfell, its commander in the River Plate, as well as its diplomatic agent at Monte Video, for engaging in an ill-timed quarrel with the Monte Videan Government; and if the Buenos Ayrean army should succeed in gaining possession of the city of Monte Video, it will in all probability, whether backed or not by England and France, decide to take part in the war, rather than allow General Rosas to succeed in the designs which he now avows on the Republics of Uruguay and Paraguay, the two bulwarks of the western provinces of the Brazilian empire.

Notwithstanding the recent victories of the Brazilian General, Baron Caxias, over the rebels of Rio Grande do Sul, that province is still in a very unsettled state--far too much so to be safely exposed to the machinations of such dangerous neighbours as Generals Rosas and Oribe.

It may, therefore, be confidently expected, that if the great naval powers do not interpose, the progress of events will again bring on a war between Brazil, strengthened by the army of Uruguay, under General Rivera, that of Corrientes under General Paz, and the forces of Paraguay on one side; and Buenos Ayres on the other, backed by those other provinces of the Argentine Confederation, which still follow the fortunes of General Rosas.

What the result of such a war would be no one can predict, but its first consequence would be another blockade of Buenos Ayres, by the Brazilian fleet, its next the reinforcement of the garrison of Monte Video by a detachment of Brazilian troops, and its probable final result, after the whole of the countries engaged in it had been thoroughly ruined, the establishment of the ascendancy either of the government of Buenos Ayres, or of that of Brazil at Monte Video. This would be alike opposed to the wishes and the interests of the Monte Videans themselves, to the interests of a large portion of South America, and to those of the nations trading with it. A small Independent State, like the Republic of Uruguay, governed as it has ever been since the date of its independence on the most liberal commercial principles, is the best of all checks on the commercial illiberality of the neighbouring countries, and is much too valuable to be sacrificed by the Government of any commercial nation which has at heart the prosperity of its subjects.

If it should be said that neutral nations have no right to interpose between belligerents, even for the purpose of preserving the national independence of the weaker, I answer, that no longer since than last year, the Government of this country was prepared to have interposed, if it had been necessary, in order to preserve the independence of the Empire of Morocco; and that the Government of France fully admitted the right of England to do so in such a case, by giving a promise beforehand that it would not use its victory either to conquer the territory or to destroy the independence of the offending state. The reason why England was prepared to resist the conquest of Morocco was, that such a conquest would have seriously endangered her interests and influence in the Mediterranean; and one princ.i.p.al reason why she should interfere to prevent the conquest of Monte Video by the army and squadron of Buenos Ayres is, that such a conquest would jeopardise her valuable commerce and her influence in the River Plate, the only outlet of regions larger than all the great Kingdoms of Western Europe united. Brazil has the same right to interpose that Austria would have to resist the conquest of Sardinia, or Prussia the conquest of Belgium, by France.

Many advantages have resulted both to the commerce of foreign nations, and to the prosperity of the people of Uruguay, from the recognition of its independence both of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, which were not antic.i.p.ated at the time when it was established, the whole of which, as we shall show, will be lost if it is allowed to be absorbed by or placed in dependence on Buenos Ayres. Amongst these advantages are the following:--

The creation of an Independent State on the eastern bank of the River Plate has given the commercial nations of Europe trading with those vast countries of South America, whose only means of intercourse with the rest of the world is through that River, a greatly increased security against being again cut off from communication with them, as they were during the Brazilian blockade, in the years 1825, 6, and 7. At that time, both banks of the river were involved in the war, the city of Monte Video being in the hands of the Brazilians, and the Province which now forms the Republic of Uruguay being in arms against them. The consequence of this state of things was, that the whole of the countries watered by the great rivers Parana, Paraguay, Uruguay, and their innumerable tributary streams, as well as the provinces of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, were cut off from all communication with Europe for nearly three years, and that the great commerce which even then was carried on by England and other nations with those countries, was for the time destroyed. Some notion may be formed of the inconvenience which this country alone sustained from the blockade of the river, from the following facts. In the years 1822, 3, 4, and 5, the four years preceding it, the average annual value of the exports from England to the River Plate, was 909,330, whilst in 1826, 7, and 8, during the blockade, it fell to 279,463, and in 1827, to 150,000, and even that small remnant of trade was carried on by vessels which broke the blockade. At a subsequent period, namely, in the years 1838-9, and 40, there was again a blockade in the River Plate, established by France, a power much more capable of making a blockade respected than Brazil, but as the east bank of the river was no longer under the control of Buenos Ayres, which was the power against whom the blockade was directed, the evils resulting from it were comparatively small. Foreign s.h.i.+ps were still able to proceed to Monte Video, (thanks to the independence of Uruguay), and thus, although one line of intercourse with the interior was cut off by the blockade of the port of Buenos Ayres, the other up the river Uruguay was kept open. In consequence of this, the evils of the blockade were, in a great measure, confined to the city of Buenos Ayres and its immediate neighbourhood, for the eastern bank of the river flourished more than ever, the communication with the interior was never closed, and the commerce of the nations trading with those countries continued to increase. When it is considered (and it ought never to be lost sight of,) that the commerce of foreign nations with the whole of the central regions of South America depends entirely on the keeping open one or other of these lines of communication, it will be seen that it is a matter, not merely of national but of universal importance, though in an especial manner to England, to maintain the entire independence of Monte Video of Buenos Ayres, so as to diminish as much as possible the danger of both being closed at the same time and by the same political events. We say the entire independence of Monte Video, for though the nominal independence of the country might be preserved, even if the Buenos Ayrean army, under General Oribe, should get possession of the city of Monte Video, that officer would be compelled to lean on General Rosas for support to protect him against the majority of his fellow countrymen, who are now in arms against him quite as much as the chiefs of the Banda Oriental were in 1826, 7, and 8, compelled to lean on Buenos Ayres for protection against the arms of Brazil; and to follow the fortunes of Buenos Ayres in any war in which General Rosas might involve himself, either with Brazil or any of the nations of Europe. This would again be fatal to the trade of the River Plate.

It is not generally known, although it is very important that it should be, that this trade amounted in 1842, including both imports and exports, to upwards of Three Millions sterling, at the port of Monte Video alone. It is still, however, in its infancy, and requires nothing but a few years of peace, with the introduction of steam navigation on the Parana, the Uruguay, and their tributaries,[A] to give it an extension which will render it of vital importance to the merchants and manufacturers of England. The Parana and the Paraguay, together, are known to be navigable to a.s.sumption, which is fifteen hundred miles above Buenos Ayres, to vessels drawing nine feet water, and there is every reason to believe that both those rivers might be navigated a thousand miles higher by iron steamers, such as those recently built at Birkenhead, by order of the East India Company, for the navigation of the Indus and the Sutlej, the former of which, when carrying guns and troops, draw only four feet water, the latter of which, when loaded in the same manner, not more than two and a half. The Uruguay is equally navigable for several hundred miles to the Salto Chico, (the little leap), and if a short ca.n.a.l was cut, to turn that rapid and the much more formidable one of the Salto Grande,[B] it would be navigable for many hundred miles above the Falls. Several of the tributaries of these gigantic streams are larger than the Rhine, the Elbe, or the Tagus, and great numbers of them than the Thames or the Mersey, and the whole of this vast net-work of waters is connected with the still more stupendous river of the Amazons, by a short portage to the Madeira, one of the princ.i.p.al tributaries of that king of rivers. The natural products which these unrivalled lines of river communication might be made the means of bringing to the ports on the Rivers Plate and Amazons are varied and inexhaustible. In addition to the large supplies of hides, wool, tallow, and provisions, which these countries now furnish, Paraguay and Corrientes are capable of supplying the finest timber for s.h.i.+p-building purposes, sugar the growth of free labour, the best kinds of tobacco, cotton-wool, dyewoods, drugs, the tea of Paraguay, and the precious metals from Bolivia and the back provinces of Brazil. It is now only twenty or thirty years since steam navigation was introduced on the Mississippi, and the consequence of its introduction has been an extension of cultivation and population such as the world never before saw. The natural resources of the great valleys of the Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay, merely require to be developed by the same means to make Monte Video and Buenos Ayres as flouris.h.i.+ng as New Orleans, and to make the commerce of the River Plate rival that of the Mississippi. It is perhaps vain to hope that anything will induce the present Governor of Buenos Ayres to abandon the suicidal policy which is at once impeding the intercourse with the interior, and depriving that city of the princ.i.p.al benefits of its unrivalled position, but this only renders it the more necessary to keep open the only other course, namely, that through the Uruguay, by which the resources of these vast countries can be brought into activity.

For another of the great advantages which has resulted from the independence of Monte Video, has been the opening of a new channel for the commercial intercourse between Europe and the central states of South America, in peace as well as in war; and this channel the Monte Videan Government has laboured to improve and keep open, as zealously and as successfully as the Buenos Ayrean Government has laboured to narrow and impede the old ones. The Buenos Ayrean Government has been warned repeatedly by its warmest friends of the consequences which would result from its illiberal commercial policy; but they might just as well have reasoned with the winds; for, the only effect of the contrast between the rapidly increasing prosperity of Monte Video and the declining state of Buenos Ayres, has been to excite the most deadly hatred and jealousy towards Monte Video on the part of the Buenos Ayrean Government, and a settled determination to drag down that rapidly improving city to its own level. The following sketch of the commercial policy of the two countries will show what have been the princ.i.p.al causes of the prosperity of Monte Video, and what of the decline of Buenos Ayres; and also how strong a claim the policy of the former gives it on the sympathy and support of this country.

A large portion of the revenue, both of Monte Video and of Province of Buenos Ayres, is raised by taxes on the importation of foreign goods, and the rate of duties is not excessive in either case. It is not on this account that any one complains of the Buenos Ayrean Government, but because it confines foreign commerce to the single port of Buenos Ayres, and excludes both foreigners and foreign vessels from the other ports of the Confederation, as strictly as the Chinese formerly excluded them from every port except Canton. This it is able to effect by its command over the entrance to the river Parana, the direct route to Entre Rios, Corrientes, and the other provinces of the Confederation. Whilst the provincial Government of Buenos Ayres thus excludes all foreign vessels from the Parana, and as far as its control extends from the Uruguay, it claims the right to expend the whole of the customs' revenue raised at Buenos Ayres. The upper provinces very naturally consider this unjust, and insist on having either a share of the revenue collected at Buenos Ayres (somewhat on the principle adopted amongst the states of the German Zollverein), or on having a general Congress of all the provinces of the Confederation to decide how the money shall be distributed. This General Rosas and his adherents refuse, and this refusal, coupled with the equally positive refusal of the same parties to allow foreign vessels to ascend the river, is one princ.i.p.al cause of the frequent wars between the states of the Argentine Confederation on the banks of the river and the Government of Buenos Ayres, one of which is now raging between it and Corrientes. In this way the commerce with the interior is continually interrupted. The policy of the Monte Videan Government is in every respect the reverse of this, for it not only throws open the ports of Monte Video, Maldonado, and Colonia, on the River Plate, but those of Soriano and Paysandu, on the Uruguay, the Yaguaron, on the Laguna Merin, and the dry port of Taquarembo on the Brazilian frontier to all the world, and thus gives every part of the republic all the advantages of foreign commerce.

There is a still greater difference, if it is possible, in the policy adopted by the two governments with regard to the transit trade. At Monte Video goods may be landed without the payment of any duty, may be there deposited in the Custom-house stores for any length of time, on the payment of a smaller warehouse rent than is usually paid in Liverpool, and may be sent to any of the independent countries in the interior, or re-s.h.i.+pped to foreign parts, without the payment of a dollar. The Government goes even further than this, for it allows goods in transit to be conveyed through the whole territory of the Republic, with a guia or Custom-house Permit to all parts of the frontier, and to be forwarded into the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, into the Republic of Paraguay, and into the back provinces of the empire of Brazil, perfectly free from duty. Hence goods are constantly forwarded up the Uruguay, instead of going to Buenos Ayres to pay duty to General Rosas. The natural consequence of this is, that the people of all the adjoining states have a friendly feeling towards Monte Video.

Corrientes has several times risen against the connection with General Rosas, in support of Monte Video, and Brazil is prepared, if necessary, to interfere to save it from his grasp. In fact, it is quite evident that nothing but an entire change of policy on the part of Buenos Ayres can prevent a general war against its usurpations. The policy of Rosas with regard to goods in transit to the Independent States of the interior is altogether different from that of Monte Video, for, when landed at Buenos Ayres, they pay the same duties as if they were intended for consumption there, and not a sixpence, or what is less than a sixpence, a Buenos Ayrean paper dollar, is ever returned. When goods are intended for re-exportation by sea, the difference is in appearance less, but much the same in reality, for whilst they can be landed at Monte Video without paying any duty, can remain there as long as the owners like, and can then be re-exported duty free, at Buenos Ayres they cannot be landed without paying the full duties, their owners lose all claim to have any part of those duties returned, if they are not re-exported within six months, and it is only with the greatest difficulty and after waiting many months that they obtain any return at all, even if they are exported within that time.

A similar contrast is also seen in the spirit in which the Governments of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video treat the diplomatic agents of foreign nations. Soon after the death of the Dictator Francia, the English Government determined to send a diplomatic agent to the Republic of Paraguay. This gentleman, Mr. Gordon, first landed at Buenos Ayres, hoping to be allowed to proceed up the Parana to a.s.sumption, the capital, but he soon found that it was no part of General Rosas's policy to allow any such communication. The consequence was, that after remaining at Buenos Ayres for some time combatting the pretences under which permission was refused, he found that there was no hope of his being allowed to proceed to the seat of his mission, through the countries subject to the dominion of General Rosas, and crossed over to Monte Video. There he was received with every attention, and furnished by General Rivera with a guard of honour, under whose escort he travelled to the frontiers of Paraguay. Mr. Gordon's letter of acknowledgement to General Rivera will be found in the Appendix, and it would be difficult to find a stronger ill.u.s.tration of the opposite spirit of the two Governments than is presented by this transaction. Not Francia himself was ever more determined to cut off Paraguay from communication with the rest of the world than is General Rosas, and the key to his conduct is, that he is determined, if possible, to reduce the people of that Republic to subjection to his authority. No longer since than the 15th of January last, a long article appeared in the official _Gazette_ of Buenos Ayres, censuring the Governments of Brazil and Bolivia for recognizing the independence of Paraguay.

In addition to all these advantages arising out of the independence of the Republic of Uruguay, it ought to be mentioned that the Government of Monte Video has preserved an undepreciated silver currency through all its difficulties, whilst the Buenos Ayrean Government has issued such ma.s.ses of paper without ever redeeming it, that the Buenos Ayrean paper dollar is not worth more than 4-1/4d. at the present time. The other states of the Argentine Confederation positively refuse to take the Buenos Ayrean paper money, but foreign merchants are compelled to take it, or to dispose of their goods by barter, which is seldom possible.

The consequence of the liberal commercial system adopted by Monte Video, aided by the excellence of its situation has been to raise that city, in fourteen years, to the position of one of the first commercial places in America, as will be seen from the following summary of the export and import trade in 1842, the year before the commencement of the siege:--

EXPORTS.

638,424 Hides, salted $2,553,696 780,097 Hides, dry 2,340,291 60,904 Hides 91,356 100,583 Skins of Sheep 201,706 111,801 (arrobas) Tallow 223,602 4,444 (tons) Bones 31,108 2,690 (arrobas) Mares Oil 4,035 26,462 (arrobas) Hair 79,386 946,955 Horns 28,408.5 96,540 (arrobas) Wool 144,810 3,341 (dozens) Skins of Sheep 6,682 8,019 (quintals) Garras 8,019 1,109 (tons) Ashes 8,872 18,198 (arrobas) Fat 36,396 424 (dozens) Skins of Nonatos 848 938 Ditto Nutria 2,345 513,641 (quintals) Meat 1,540,923 121 (barrels) Tripe, salted 726 150 (barrels) Meat 1,200 2,065 (boxes) Candles 6,195 170 (dozens) Tongues 170 470 Mules 9,400 2,380 (lbs.) Ostrich Feathers 892.4 ------------ Value of Exports $7,321,066.1 Value of Imports on which duty was paid $9,237,696 -------------

How much this extensive trade has increased since the establishment of the independence of Monte Video, will be seen from the following statement of the increase of British s.h.i.+pping from 1830 to 1842:--

BRITISH s.h.i.+PPING.

Years. s.h.i.+ps. Tonnage. Men.

1830 41 7480 425 1831 36 6418 387 1832 30 5577 324 1833 51 9377 541 1834 65 12339 664 1835 54 10571 573 1836 58 11121 628 1837 63 12874 708 1838 100 20800 1143 1839 103 21257 1147 1840 132 23821 1447 1841 159 34537 1788

Up to the 6th of September, 1842, 128 British vessels had arrived at Monte Video during that year.

COMPARISON OF THE COMMERCE OF MONTE VIDEO AND BUENOS AYRES.

Number of merchant vessels arrived at the Ports of Monte Video and Buenos Ayres during the half-year ending June 30th, 1842:--

Monte Video. Buenos Ayres.

National 16 0 Brazilian 54 17 American 48 31 Chilian 1 1 British 115 47 French 52 20 Spanish 44 17 Sardinian 76 14 Portuguese 4 2 Hamburgh 14 8 Danish 17 12 Austrian 6 0 Swedish 9 8 Belgian 3 1 Bremen 3 3 Prussian 6 0 Russian 1 1 Hanoverian 1 1 Lubeck 2 0 Norwegian 3 2 Tuscan 1 1 --- --- 475 186 --- ---

Great as this trade is, there is no reason why its future increase should not be as rapid as its past. There are at present several millions of cattle roving over the boundless pastures watered by the Uruguay, the Rio Negro, the St. Lucia, and the two hundred arroyos or rivulets which flow into them, and with a few years of peace, this number would be doubled, or if it was found more profitable, flocks of sheep might be introduced instead. The repeal of the duty on foreign wool, by the Act of 1844, gives additional encouragement to the raising of this kind of stock, and the reduction in the duty on foreign provisions made by the tariff of 1842, would, if this country was at peace, throw a considerable portion of the provision trade created by that reduction of duty, and at present monopolized by the United States, into Monte Video. Enormous quant.i.ties of meat are now wasted, which it might be worth while to prepare for this market, in a way suited for the English taste.

Pastoral countries, such as the territory of Uruguay, New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, and South Africa, have this great advantage over arable countries that their resources can be developed much more rapidly, with a much smaller amount of labour, and with much less capital. This is one of the causes of the sudden rise of the trade with Australia, and it is also a considerable cause of the rapid development of the prosperity of Monte Video. Its power of producing hides, wool, tallow, and provisions is unlimited, by any thing except the deficient numbers of its population; and whilst on this subject, I may mention that Monte Video is the only one of all the Republics formed out of the ancient possessions of Spain which has been sufficiently well governed to attract to its sh.o.r.es any considerable number of emigrants from Europe. It will be seen from the following table extracted from the books of the Custom House at Monte Video, that not less than 33,607 emigrants arrived in that port between November, 1835, and December, 1842:--

_Table made from the books at the Sala de Comercio of the number of pa.s.sengers who arrived at Monte Video from Nov.

1835 inclusive, to the end of 1842._

KEY: A: Basques, from both sides of the Pyrenees.

B: Frenchmen.

C: Gallicians.

D: Catalanes.

E: Spaniards from Cadiz, &c.

F: Genoese.

G: Canarios.

H: Portuguese and Brazilians.

I: Miscellaneous.

J: Total.

----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- A B C D E F G H I J ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1836 1116 56 ... 94 112 365 744 782 331 3600 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1837 348 72 101 485 310 175 949 454 223 3117 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1838 1939 71 85 264 284 645 2320 294 177 6079 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1839 233 69 141 64 53 202 ... 160 111 1033 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1840 1107 80 106 107 58 727 ... 316 122 2623 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1841 3965 121 408 104 92 2552 365 101 111 7819 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----- 1842 4968 227 502 143 293 2123 774 140 166 9336 ====+=======+=====+=====+=====+=====+======+======+=====+=====+===== 13676 696 1343 1261 1202 6789 5152 2247 1241 33607 ----+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+-----

Of this large number of emigrants, 13,676, it will be seen, were from the Basque provinces; 696 from France; 3806 from Spain; 6789 from Genoa; 5152 from the Canary Islands; 2247 from Portugal and Brazil, and 1241 from other parts of the world. If, as has been said by one of our greatest writers, there is no worse sign of the condition of a country than the fact of large ma.s.ses of its subjects leaving it, surely it must be considered an equally strong proof of the goodness of a Government and the resources of a country when great ma.s.ses of foreign emigrants are pouring into it. In this respect, Monte Video stands pre-eminent above all the States of America, except those founded by the British race, and considering the limited extent of its territory, and the short period of its independent existence, it can scarcely be said to yield to them.

Having thus shown the grounds on which the Government and people of Monte Video are ent.i.tled to the sympathies and support of England, I shall now proceed to say a few words on the present disastrous position of the affairs of that Republic.

For the last two years, the city of Monte Video has been besieged by an army composed almost entirely of Buenos Ayrean troops, commanded by General Manuel Oribe, the expatriated President of Uruguay, who claims to be the legal President of the Republic, and whose avowed object is to overturn the present Government, and to seize on supreme power for himself, and blockaded by sea by a Buenos Ayrean squadron, commanded by William Brown, a British subject in the pay of General Rosas. If the army of General Oribe was composed of Monte Videans, England could have nothing to say in this matter, as his success would be merely the subst.i.tution of the chief of one native party for another; but this is not the case. Oribe has neither army, fleet, nor treasures of his own, and owes every thing to General Rosas as absolutely as if he was a Buenos Ayrean citizen. To allow him, therefore, to get and to retain possession of Monte Video, would be to establish the authority of Buenos Ayres on the east bank of the river as effectually as on the west, and this I have already shown would be most injurious to the interests of England, of Brazil, and the other adjoining States, as well as to Monte Video itself, and to the upper States of the Argentine confederation.

Whatever might be the wishes of General Oribe, it is evident that he would have no chance of retaining power any longer than he made himself agreeable to General Rosas. In the city he has a considerable number of supporters amongst the shopkeepers and a few amongst the merchants, but in the country, the landed proprietors and gauchos or peasantry are all opposed to him, and are enrolled in the armies of General Rivera, or his lieutenants. When President, he was besieged and deposed by this cla.s.s, against which the mere townsmen can effect nothing. If he got possession of the city, he would not be able to raise such a native force as would sustain him. He must, therefore, retain the Buenos Ayrean army in his pay, or he could not stir a mile from the walls without being attacked by the army of Rivera. Hence he would continue in a state of dependence on General Rosas for many years, if indeed he ever became entirely independent of him. Thus, it will be seen, that this is not a struggle to decide whether Oribe or Rivera shall be chief of the Republic, but whether the Republic shall remain independent or become subservient to the will of its bitterest enemy.

If the will of General Rosas should thus be allowed to become the law of Monte Video, the prosperity of that country is at an end. A very large revenue would be required for the support of the Buenos Ayrean mercenaries, and it is not at all unlikely that Rosas, who confiscated the property of the whole of the Unitarian or Centralist Party to pay the expense of a former civil war, would insist on the repayment of the whole, or at least of a part of the expenses of the present war, in carrying on which the finances of Buenos Ayres have been brought to the verge of ruin. To raise the money required for these purposes, there are only two ways; the first, the confiscation of the property of Oribe's opponents; the second, a great increase of the taxes on foreign imports.

The first of these measures would destroy all the best connections of the English merchants, and ruin all the most respectable men in the Republic, whilst the second would quite as effectually destroy its foreign commerce.

It is by no means certain, however, that even the name of independence would long be left to Monte Video, if General Oribe should succeed.

General Rosas would, in all probability, soon grow tired of supplying troops and money to support another man's authority, whilst General Oribe's necessities would compel him to submit to anything which his patron might propose, even if he went the length of proposing the annexation of Monte Video to Buenos Ayres, in humble imitation of the annexation of Texas to the United States. The last letters from Monte Video state, that Oribe has been getting together, at the Buceo, all the members of his former Legislative a.s.sembly, who had followed him to Buenos Ayres or joined him there, and with their aid he will soon form an a.s.sembly quite capable of performing any act which it may suit his convenience to have performed. With such materials we shall scarcely fail to have a repet.i.tion of the annexation of Texas on the banks of the River Plate, whenever it may suit the plans of General Rosas and the necessities of General Oribe to effect it.

It is not, however, merely on grounds of policy and humanity that England is called upon to interfere in this contest, but it is bound to do so by the distinct pledges of a.s.sistance given by Mr. Mandeville, the English Minister at Buenos Ayres, to the Government of Monte Video, in the name of his own Government. In December, 1842, at the most critical period of the war, that gentleman formally announced, both to the Governments of Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, that England and France had determined to put an end to the war, and demanded that they should both cease from hostilities.[C] Not content with this, he addressed an official letter to Senor Vidal, the Secretary of State to the Republic of Uruguay, urging him and his Government not to relax, but rather to redouble their efforts to resist the Buenos Ayreans, until the arrival of the a.s.sistance which, he stated, might be expected daily from Europe.[D] The letters of Mr. Mandeville will be found in the appendix to this pamphlet, and it will be for the public to decide whether promises so distinct and emphatic, accompanied by exhortations so strong, do not justify the Government of Monte Video, and the merchants trading with that country, in calling on the British Government to fulfil the engagements of its representative. Indeed it is impossible that the Government of England can allow Monte Video to be taken and plundered, the leading men of the Republic to be murdered or driven into exile, and the Republic itself to be annihilated, without destroying the high reputation which England has so long possessed in all those countries for honour and uprightness.

That these consequences will be justly chargeable either on the Representative or the Government of this country, if Monte Video should be taken, is evident from a consideration of the circ.u.mstances under which Mr. Mandeville gave his promises and his urgent recommendation quoted above. The letters containing them were written in the period which intervened between the total defeat of the Monte Videan army at Arroyo Grande, and the advance of General Oribe and the Buenos Ayrean forces on that city. When they were given, the Monte Videan Government was in a state of the utmost uncertainty as to whether further resistance would not be a useless waste of human life, and whether it could have any other effect than to render its own position more desperate. The infantry of Rivera, the only force up to that time available for the defence of the city was destroyed, and the cavalry was broken, and discouraged, besides being totally useless for the purpose of resisting a siege. Within the city were a considerable number of Oribe's supporters, and many neutrals, including nine-tenths of the foreign population. At this critical moment the letters of Mr.

Mandeville, given above, were written, and it is the opinion of those who were at Monte Video at the time, that it was those letters which induced the Government to forego all attempts at negotiation, and to call upon the whole population to rise and resist to the last. With this view, besides calling on those cla.s.ses of the people which had previously taken part in the struggle, to rally round the Government, it declared all the negro slaves in the Republic free, and formed them into regiments of infantry for the defence of the capital, and it also gave every encouragement to the foreign population which had emigrated for the purpose of following the pursuits of peaceful industry, to take up arms. By these means, an army of some thousand men was formed within the city, chiefly from cla.s.ses not before compromised, whilst in the open country, the landed proprietors and peasantry, were encouraged to take arms again under the command of their favourite chief Rivera. Thus the war was renewed, and the whole population of the Republic was again engaged in a struggle which, from the great disproportion of the forces, nothing but the promised intervention of England and France can bring to a close which will not be fatal to them.