Chapter X: Once More in the Porch Together (2)

But the Argentine people, in accepting the revolution of the 25th May, had delegated their power to an executive, only until the meeting of a sovereign congress. The triumvirate convened a new assembly elected by the Cabildos of the capital and of the provincial towns, which was far from representing the people, and was in no sense a congress.

At this time there existed in London a secret society, composed entirely of men born in Spanish America, organised by General Don Francisco Miranda of Venezuela, with the object of working out the independence of the Spanish colonies of America. Three members of this society, Josè de San Martin, Carlos Maria de Alvear, and Josè Matias Zapiola, all Argentines by birth, arrived in Buenos Aires on the 13th March, 1812, in the British ship _George Canning_. They at once proceeded to form a branch of this society under the name of "Los Caballeros Racionales," and found many eager adherents among the more advanced Democrats of the capital.

Taking advantage of the popular discontent with the measures of the triumvirate the "Caballeros Racionales" stirred up a commotion, and a fresh revolution in September placed the executive in the hands of a new triumvirate, consisting of:

Dr Don Juan Jose Passo,
Don Nicolas Rodriguez Peña,
Antonio Alvarez Jonte,

all of whom belonged to the Democratic party.

"The eternal captivity of Ferdinand VII., has destroyed the last rights of Spain."

Such were the words with which the new Government commenced their first address to the Argentine people. They cast aside at once the fiction of loyalty to a foreign king, and claimed to govern only by the will of the people.

In accordance with this programme they devised a new plan of electing the deputies to the assembly. Each town or city was divided into eight electoral districts; in each district the citizens voted "viva voce" for an "elector"; the eight "electors" so chosen by each city named the deputy or deputies who should represent that city. Buenos Aires, as the capital, had the right of sending four deputies to the assembly, the capital of each province two, and all other towns one each.

This was an immense advance upon the old system of leaving the right of naming deputies to the Cabildos, and produced a very fair representation of the urban population of the united provinces, but the rights of the rural population were entirely overlooked.

"The General Constituent Assembly" was inaugurated on the 31st January, 1813. Without proclaiming the independence of the united provinces, they yet took to themselves the supreme power, substituting the national arms for those of Spain; a national flag for the flag of Spain; suppressing all laws and customs which in any way recognised Spanish tribunals as courts of appeal; abolished the Inquisition and judicial torture; gave liberty to all children born of slave parents after that date; and in the service of the Litany substituted a prayer for the "Sovereign Assembly of the United Provinces" in place of the one previously offered on behalf of the King. Further, they decreed that all Europeans, whether ecclesiastics, civilians, or soldiers, who should not within fifteen days become citizens should forfeit any employment they held under Government.

In January, 1814, the assembly determined upon another great step, they abolished the triumvirate and placed Don Gervacio Posadas at the head of the state, with the title of "Supreme Director of the United Provinces," but after holding office for one year Posadas resigned, and Don Carlos Maria de Alvear was named Supreme Director.

Alvear owed his election to the influence of the "Caballeros Racionales," of which secret society he was President, but he was disliked both by the mass of the people and by the army.

The position of the united provinces was at this time very critical; the fall of Napoleon had set Ferdinand at liberty, he was again King of Spain, and was preparing at Cadiz an expedition of 15,000 men for the purpose of reconquering the revolted colonies of La Plata. Alvear despaired of securing the independence of the united provinces, but five years of revolutionary rule had inspired the entire Argentine people with a hatred of Spain; he determined to place them under the protectorate of Great Britain. With this object he chose two ambassadors, Don Manuel Belgrano and Don Bernardino Rivadavia, whom he despatched to London with credentials to the Court of Saint James, and with a despatch addressed to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which, after describing the disorder into which everything had fallen from the inaptitude of the people for self-government, he said:

"These provinces wish to belong to Great Britain, to adopt her laws, to obey her Government, and to live under her powerful influence. They deliver themselves unconditionally to the generosity and good faith of the English people."

The two ambassadors reached London in March, 1815, only to find Europe in a fresh commotion produced by the return of Napoleon from Elba. This unforeseen event, put an end to the expedition in preparation at Cadiz; greatly improved the position of Charles IV., ex-King of Spain, who still asserted his right to the crown of Spain, and was then living in retirement at Rome; and utterly precluded any hope that the British Government would adopt any policy in opposition to the interests of Ferdinand.

The two ambassadors never presented their credentials to the Court of Saint James, and, in conjunction with Sarratea, who was at that time agent in Europe for the Government of the united provinces, addressed themselves, instead, to the ex-King Charles, offering to bestow the crown of Buenos Aires upon his adopted son the Infante Don Francisco de Paula. Waterloo put an end to this negotiation, Rivadavia went to Spain to endeavour to treat with Ferdinand, and Belgrano returned to Buenos Aires.

Belgrano was no great genius, either as a military man or as a politician, but he was a hard-working, honest patriot; loving his country, and ready to make any personal sacrifice in her service, he aspired to no dignities and was careless of all emolument; he devoted his life and his energies to securing the independence of the Argentine people. But he was also a deep thinker, and foresaw that the anarchy which was spreading over the united provinces threatened evils even worse than the tyranny of Spain. During his residence in England, he had seen that the liberty of the people was perfectly compatible with monarchial institutions; he returned to Buenos Aires, convinced that the establishment of a monarchy was the only means by which order and liberty could be at once secured to the Argentine people.

During the campaign of Tucuman he had entered into friendly relations with various Indian chieftains of the interior, among them he now proposed to search for a lineal descendant of Atahualpa, for the purpose of re-establishing the Empire of the Incas. In this purpose he found many willing to join him, but the Argentine people, jealous of their new-born liberty, looked upon the project as a dream.

* * * * *

The necessities of Government had compelled them to many extreme and arbitrary measures for the replenishing of the exhausted treasury. Of these measures the Spanish residents of Buenos Aires were the especial victims. Early in the year 1812 the capital was almost drained of troops by the large reinforcements despatched to the army in the Banda Oriental, and the Spanish residents, headed by Don Martin Alzaga, entered into a conspiracy together, their object being to seize the city, put to death all the principal Argentine leaders, and to set up a new government in connection with the Spanish Cortes then assembled at Cadiz. To further their scheme they entered into a correspondence with the Princess Carlota of Brazil, and the Portuguese army, which had received orders to retire from the Banda Oriental, delayed its retreat in pursuance of secret instructions, and was held in readiness to support the conspirators if they should succeed in gaining possession of the capital.

Until the eve of the outbreak, the Government was in complete ignorance of the danger, but immediately on the discovery of the conspiracy adopted the most vigorous measures of suppression. Thirty of the principal conspirators, including Don Martin Alzaga, were shot, and their bodies hung upon gibbets, seventy-eight of less note were condemned to minor punishments, and the danger was thus averted.

* * * * *

The authors of the revolution of the 25th May, 1810, had sought to establish a new government upon the democratic basis of the sovereignty of the people. Many of them were men of great intellectual attainments, but they had adopted the ideas of the revolutionary leaders of France, in the full persuasion that that form of government, which is in theory the best, must necessarily be the best in practice. The failure of democracy in France had not opened their eyes to the fact that a government, to be securely based upon the will of the people, must be constructed in conformity with the traditions, circumstances, and instincts of the people.

The first five years of revolutionary government were thus a series of political experiments, a series of abortive attempts to govern a number of distinct provinces by schemes of administration, which might have been fully adequate for the government of the small republics of ancient Greece, or of the Italian cities of the middle ages, when each city was a separate state, but were totally inadequate for the government of an immense territory, peopled chiefly by herdsmen and shepherds. They totally failed to give the people any adequate means of expressing their will, and the result was that during these years the people, who had responded eagerly to the cry of liberty, interpreted in their own way the theory of popular sovereignty.

The nature of the country and the traditions and instincts of the people all inclined them to an aristocratic form of government; the attempt to form an administration on a democratic basis was consequently a complete failure.

The mass of the Argentine people were herdsmen and shepherds, who lived scattered over immense plains, who were yet in a state of semi-barbarism; the theory of the sovereignty of the people was interpreted to mean that each man had a right to choose his own ruler. The qualities which they could most fully appreciate were dauntless courage, a strong seat on horseback, and a ruthless will. Men possessed of such qualifications were those to whom they would naturally look as their leaders, and to whom they were ready to yield the most unquestioning obedience; but men like these were not the men to work cordially with the authors of the revolution in the regeneration of their country. Thus the leading Democrats, almost ignoring the existence of the mass of the people, except when they looked to them for aid against the Spaniards, sought only the co-operation of the towns and cities in their attempts to form a national government.

The revolution of the 25th May, 1810, was exclusively the work of the citizens of Buenos Aires. The nucleus of all the armies which fought in the subsequent campaigns was formed of the militia of Buenos Aires; the Patricios, and other regiments levied in Buenos Aires, bore the brunt in every conflict. It was the militia of Buenos Aires who marched with Belgrano through the dense woods and endless swamps of Paraguay, and held their own against the overwhelming odds of fourteen to one. It was the militia of Buenos Aires who kept the Portuguese armies in check in the Banda Oriental, laid siege to Monte Video, where the garrison outnumbered them three to one, gained the victory of the Cerrito, and eventually compelled the surrender of the city. It was the militia of Buenos Aires who penetrated with Balcarce, Diaz Velez, Puyrredon, and Belgrano to the confines of Upper Peru. It was the militia of Buenos Aires who decided with their bayonets the fields of Suipacha, Tucuman, and Salta; they stood round Belgrano and the blue-and-white standard among the rocks on that dismal night which followed the rout of Vilcapugio; they retreated with him from the still more disastrous field of Ayouma. Argentines from other provinces, Paz, Arenales, Martin Güemes, and many others, vied with their comrades from Buenos Aires in gallantry and endurance on many a hard-fought field; on two occasions Belgrano saved the remnant of his army solely through the devoted bravery of his "gaucho" allies of the interior, but in every conflict the brunt fell upon the infantry of Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires not only furnished the nucleus to every army, but her citizens impoverished themselves to provide by voluntary contributions for the support and equipment of these armies, while her trade was harassed, and at times destroyed, by the hostility of the Spanish cruisers. Of all the cities of the interior, Tucuman alone displayed equal patriotism, equal zeal for the cause of all.

But Buenos Aires in return for the great sacrifices she made, claimed for herself the chief place in the direction of affairs. The Cabildo of Buenos Aires took upon itself on more than one occasion the right of nominating the Government which ruled in the name of the Argentine people. The "Constituent Assembly" of the year 1813 was the first legislative body which in any degree represented the united provinces. This assembly soon fell under the influence of the secret society, then known as "Los Caballeros Racionales," and later on as "La Sociedad de Lautaro."

The provincial jealousy of Buenos Aires, which almost disappeared in the first burst of enthusiasm that welcomed the cry of "Liberty" raised by Buenos Aires on the 25th May, 1810, soon revived; the provincial cities began to ask themselves whether the domination of Buenos Aires, the domination of a secret and irresponsible society, was not worse than the domination of Spain. The disastrous issue of some of the campaigns, and the continued demands upon them for supplies, exhausted their patience. Then rose up a new power in the state, to which both the provincial cities and Buenos Aires, had hitherto given but slight attention--the people.

The army of Peru under Rondeau, the army of the Andes under San Martin, refused to obey the orders of a Government which was merely the mouth-piece of a clique. In their dilemma the citizens of Buenos Aires looked about for a deliverer who should free them from a despotism which threatened them with the loss of all for which they had fought. Their gaze fell upon the new power which had risen up amongst them, they appealed to the people.

In the year 1815 Josè Artigas stood forth prominently as "the man of the people." The people were in a state of semi-barbarism. He himself was little better, but he understood them, knew how to attract their sympathies to himself, and how to rule over them. The Banda Oriental, Entre Rios, and Corrientes obeyed him. In answer to the appeal of the citizens of Buenos Aires, he crossed the Parana into Santa Fè with the pompous title of "Chief of the Orientales and Protector of the Free Peoples." The men of Santa Fè received him as their deliverer. Cordova declared herself independent of Buenos Aires.

The people, knowing nothing of representative Government, chose for themselves their leaders, and prepared to yield them unlimited obedience. In every province there rose up petty chieftains, ruling with absolute sway over their followers, ready for any sacrifice to defend their country against Spain, equally ready to defend their provincial rights against the domination of Buenos Aires. These popular chieftains throughout the provinces hailed Artigas as their champion.

Alvear bestirred himself against this new enemy, and despatched an army to drive him from the province of Santa Fè. But on the frontier of Buenos Aires this army joined the popular movement, and fraternised with the barbaric hordes of Artigas. Then the citizens of Buenos Aires arose and decreed the downfall of the Government, the assembly was dissolved, and Alvear took refuge on board a foreign vessel anchored in the roadstead.

The Argentine people were left without a government, and, in presence of the anarchy which prevailed, without any legal means of appointing one. Again Buenos Aires put herself forward as the arbiter of the destinies of the nation. The Cabildo of Buenos Aires resumed to itself the powers of government, and decreed the election by the citizens of Buenos Aires of a "Junta de Observacion," which should form a provisional government until the convention of a sovereign congress. This Junta named General Rondeau, then in command of the army of Upper Peru, Supreme Director.

The new Government found itself face to face with three distinct enemies, Spain, the provinces, the people. Two provinces of the old Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires, Paraguay and the Banda Oriental, were now completely independent of Buenos Aires; every other province had an equal right to such independence; Cordova and Santa Fè utterly refused to recognise the new government; Entre Rios and Corrientes had chosen a ruler for themselves, and obeyed the orders of Josè Artigas. The people everywhere, weary of the exactions of the nominees of the capital, looked to Josè Artigas as their champion.

Artigas, obeying the universal law which impels "the man of the people" to become a despot, sought only to consolidate and extend his own power.

The Government, after a vain attempt to come to some definite arrangement with Artigas, concluded a truce with him. He retired across the Parana, and they despatched an army to occupy Santa Fè. But this Army was compelled to capitulate to the "Montonera," or "gaucho" cavalry of Santa Fè. A second army, stationed at Rosario, revolted, and demanded the resignation of the Supreme Director. The Government yielded, the "Junta de Observacion" named General Antonio Gonsalez Balcarce, Supreme Director, and the army of Buenos Aires was withdrawn from Santa Fè.

VII. THE CONGRESS OF TUCUMAN

The only hope now of putting an end to this anarchy lay in the assembling of a sovereign congress, in which all the provinces should be duly represented.

On the 24th March, 1816, this congress was convened at Tucuman, the mass of the Argentine people looking on with supreme indifference. At the same time Artigas amused himself by convening a Federal congress of his own at Paysandu in the Banda Oriental.

Each province sent deputies to the Congress of Tucuman in proportion to its estimated population, and some attempt was made to procure the representation of the campaña. Buenos Aires sent seven deputies; Cordova, five; Chuquisaca, four; Tucuman, three; Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Mendoza, and Salta, two each; La Rioja, San Luis, San Juan, Misque, Cochabamba, and Jujui, one each. The Banda Oriental, Entre-Rios Corrientes, and Santa Fè sent no deputies, Paraguay was by this time completely isolated from Argentine affairs.

The congress of Tucuman did not fully represent the Argentine people, nevertheless it was a more exact representation of the popular will than any assembly which had yet been convened. Upon one point only had the Argentine people as yet made up their minds, they looked upon themselves as an independent nation, and were ready to assert that independence before the world. To this resolve of the people, the Congress of Tucuman gave full expression.

The first measures of Congress were marked by great timidity, as though they feared to measure the extent of their power, but on the 3rd May they appointed Don Juan Martin Puyrredon Supreme Director, thus annulling the appointment of General Balcarce by the Junta of Buenos Aires.

VIII. INDEPENDENCE

In June Belgrano and San Martin arrived in Tucuman; neither of them were members of Congress, but their personal influence had great weight in the decisions of that body. In pursuance of their counsels, on the 9th July, 1816, a day ever memorable in the annals of the Argentine people, the secretary of Congress proposed this question to the deputies:

"Do you desire that the provinces of the union form a nation free and independent of the kings of Spain?"

"Yes," answered every deputy, springing to his feet.

That answer was the true, outspoken will of the Argentine people, and has been maintained by them with unshaken heroism ever since. By that answer the Argentine people took their place in the world as an independent nation. Nothing less than that answer would have justified the revolution of the 25th May, 1810. That answer was the seal to the liberties of the New World, it carried with it the independence of all the infant peoples then groaning under the tyranny of Spain.

The Act of Independence was then drawn out as follows:

"We, the representatives of the united provinces of South America, invoking that eternal Power which presides over the universe, in the name and by the authority of the people we represent, protesting before Heaven and before all nations and men of the globe, the justice of our vote, solemnly declare before all the world, that it is the unanimous and undoubted will of these provinces to break the chains which bind them to the kings of Spain, to reassert the rights of which they have been despoiled, and to take upon themselves the high character of a free nation. In consequence of which they remain with ample and full power to adopt such form of government as justice and their circumstances may require. All and each one of us so publish, declare, and notify, binding ourselves to the fulfilment and support of this their will, under the security and guarantee of our lives, fortunes, and good name."

Twenty-nine deputies signed their names to this Declaration of Independence. To maintain this independence the Argentine people, by their deputies and their authorities of every class, devoted themselves, their lives, and their properties, and amid all the convulsions through which they have since passed they have never faltered for one moment in their adhesion to this solemn declaration which was made for them by the Sovereign Congress of Tucuman on the 9th July, 1816.

Since then the anniversary of that great day has been yearly welcomed with rejoicings throughout the length and breadth of the land. Amid the vineyards of Mendoza, on the sunny plains of Santa Fè, in the peaceful seats of learning at Cordova, and amid the busy hum of commerce at Buenos Aires, the yearly recurrence of that day has been welcomed ever since. Arribeños, Rivereños, and Porteños, whatever their passing differences, alike look back in boastful pride to the day when their forefathers boldly asserted their right to a place among the nations of the world.

Through much turmoil and sorrow, through anarchy, tyranny, and bloodshed the Argentine people have struggled since the day when Buenos Aires first raised the standard of freedom. For six years they laboured before they could unite to declare themselves a nation, even to the present day their efforts to form themselves into one homogeneous people have not met with full accomplishment. But the Argentine Republic now exists, she holds her acknowledged place among the nations. The dream of those gallant men who, on the 25th May, 1810, shook themselves free from the traditions of centuries, is fulfilled.

* * * * *

In many of the events which we have so shortly chronicled in this epilogue, Don Marcelino Ponce de Leon and Don Carlos Evaña took their share, playing their parts, each according to his several character. Both of them sprang to their feet and responded with an enthusiastic "Yes" to the question proposed to the deputies by the secretary of the Sovereign Congress of Tucuman, on the 9th July, 1816, both of them signed the Declaration of Independence. Yet if you read that document you will not find either of those names there written. They represent two great sections of the Argentine people, differing widely in their principles, more widely yet in their modes of thought, who joined cordially together, to overthrow the domination of Spain, to establish the Argentine Republic.

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH

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Transcriber's note:

The original spelling and grammar have been retained.

Footnotes have been moved to the end of the chapters in
which they are referenced.

Minor changes in hyphenation and other punctuation
have been made without annotation.

Typographical changes to this volume:

Pg 6 in the aame[name] of the King of Great Britain.
Pg 31 Doña Constanica[Constancia] and Dolores
Pg 41 earned for themelves [themselves] immortal fame
Pg 75 forming perpendicular chiffs,[cliffs]
Pg 78 taking his hand let[led] him up to his mother
Pg 82 the things[thing] is to commence a
Pg 83 one of the twenty had make[made] off from the
Pg 83 he ordered them to drive to[delete to] four stout stakes
Pg 87 when the golloping[galloping] of horse
Pg 87 said Donñ[Doña] Constancia
Pg 88 Then you were made prisioner[prisoner]
Pg 99 his two brothers, Lietuenant[Lieutenant] Gordon
Pg 103 and a few sconds[seconds] afterwards
Pg 107 near to the Ensenada do[de] Barragan
Pg 107 has already reported to to[delete to] himself
Pg 126 But he shrank form[from] her
Pg 131 the losses seemed marvellously[marvelously] small
Pg 140 the distant hum with[which] told him
Pg 140 We[He] had crossed the ocean
Pg 143 on the Plaza Miserere[Miserere]
Pg 145 The right wing of this columnn[column]
Pg 146 closed by a black mound of eath[earth]
Pg 173 Very few prisoners find such kind goalers[gaolers]
Pg 177 He[We] thought him our friend
Pg 188 like one of the old partiarchs[patriarchs]
Pg 191 by any proceedure[procedure] short of an absolute rupture
Pg 196 to meddle any more in this affiar[affair]
Pg 215 who thought in[it] one of the
Pg 220 I know don't [don't know] any woman
Pg 220 her enthusiam[enthusiasm] beamed
Pg 224 Buenos[Buenas] noches y pasa adelante,
Pg 224 Upon which one of then[them] led him
Pg 229 and could bribe my goalers[gaolers].
Pg 230 Princess Carloto[Carlota] will not find
Pg 232 The idea is perfectly inadmissable[inadmissible]
Pg 236 Buenos Aires hailed the even[event] with joy
Pg 237 in which Don Carlos had esconced[ensconced] himself.
Pg 238 the interest of the is Patria[Patria is] above every other
Pg 240 But do not afflict pourself[yourself],
Pg 245 Until the new Viceroy arrive [arrives]
Pg 250 in the most critical noment[moment]
Pg 262 their follow[fellow]-countrymen.
Pg 289 said Don Ciricao[Ciriaco]
Pg 291 For this Doña[Don] Manuel Belgrano
Pg 296 he forget[forgot] that he
Pg 303 But Marcelino heardly[hardly] heard the remark
Pg 318 With heard [head] erect
Pg 322 for his bad success as a sportsmen.[sportsman]
Pg 332 Enclosed in this letter come[came] another
Pg 338 Look you, Don Alfonso," said Asnerios[Asneiros]
Pg 376 hunging[hanging] low over the city
Pg 377 clothing the whole earch[earth] with
Pg 378 than she had heart[heard] him speak
Pg 381 looked back in indignation upon his coleagues[collegues],
Pg 382 King Fedinand[Ferdinand] VII
Pg 386 Marcelino has peruasded[persuaded] him
Pg 386 He declined it," said Esneiros[Asneiros]
Pg 391 were in the enighbourhood[neighbourhood] caused
Pg 401 in the hearts of the citzens[citizens]