sometimes only to fall again prematurely; as in his description of "the far-famed walls of the Rhine, where excellent accommodation can now be had in the new hotel Feyder." His pages are frequently also disfigured by incorrect Italian, (too frequent for false prints,) such as alla Franchesi, via Felice, the high altar called baldachino, Porta Triumphale, Jornale, Fuori le Mure, Porta San Nicolla; nor can we judge more favourably of the Latinity of a writer who talks of a Columbaria, and speaks of the forum of Transitorium. In conclusion, we would heartily recommend Mr. Whiteside, for the future, either to confine himself to that forensic arena in which he so much excels; or, if he must write, to devote his attention to the translation of the works of the excellent Savonarola, which he so much recommends, and in which he shall have our cordial encouragement. We have heard a report that he is employed on a new work, to be called the Vicissitudes of Italy; if such be the case, may we suggest a more diligent investigation of original authorities; and perhaps it would not be amiss to reserve the past vicissitudes of Italy, until her present vicissitudes shall have come to some termination. Horace's advice were worth attention: nonumque prematur in annum ART. II.-1. Le General Rosas et la Question de la Plata, par M. Chevalier de Saint Robert. (General Rosas and the Question of the River Plate. By M. Chevalier de Saint Robert.) Paris, 1848. 2.-Protocolo de la Negociacion de Paz, promovida por los SS. Ministros Plenipotenciarios de los gobiernos interventores, iniciado el 21 de Marzo y terminado el 8 de Junio de 1848. Publicacion Official. (Protocol of the Negotiation for Peace, promoted by the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the mediating Governments, commenced on the 21st of March, and ended on the 8th June, 1848.-Oficial publication.) Monte Video, 1848. (The Mercantile Gazette) newspaper, 3.-La Gaceta Mercantil. published at Buenos Ayres. VOL. XXVI. NO. LI. 3 4.-El Conservador. (The Conservator) newspaper, published at Monte Video. 5.-Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and the River Plate: Correspon- 6.-Observations on the present state of the affairs of the River Plate. By AT a time, when Europe appears to be convulsed from its centre to its most remote extremities; when kings and princes are contending not merely for the maintenance of their own authority, and the vindication of their prerogatives, but for the perpetuation of their dynasties and the preservation of their lives; when anarchy arms itself with the assassin's knife, and mighty armies are moved to put down principles subversive of all order, society, and religion; when such is the state of nations with which we are most closely connected, it may, perhaps, at first sight, appear to be an inopportune moment to direct the attention of our readers to what is now occurring in a distant hemisphere, to transfer their thoughts from the great questions and the exciting events that have taken place in Paris, or Vienna, or Berlin, or Frankfort, and their awful consequences; to pass them by, and reflect on that which has happened on the banks of La Plata, and in which the chief actors are scarcely known even by name to the readers of newspapers. The ignorance that prevails with regard to the affairs of the river Plate is no apology, much less a valid reason for its perpetuation; and our justification for seeking to put an end to it is, that England, and still more, Ireland, are, as it will be presently shown, deeply interested in the progress of events in that part of the world-that to those engaged in commerce, the question is one of paramount importance, and to all who are seeking the solution of the question, "which is the most desirable place for emigration?" it is one of vital, nay, of transcendent interest. If we did not 1 so regard "the affairs of the river Plate," we should never have selected the pages of this periodical for communicating the information we possess respecting them, even though that information may afford to those, who are but lightly read in the state of South America, an insight into a condition of their fellow man, which will appear as new and strange as any thing that ever yet was embodied in the compositions of the most imaginative romance-writers. In asking the Catholic reader especially to transport himself in thought with us to the River Plate, and its tributary streams, the Parana, and Uruguay, we beg of him to bear in mind that he is proceeding to scenes and places, which attest by their very names the labours, the toils, and the sufferings of that extraordinary body of men, the Jesuits, who were there the missionaries of the gospel, and who there saved millions of souls from perdition, and in their establishment at Paraguay demonstrated that there could be, where there is the perfection of christianity that model commonwealth of which socialists dream, and communists babble, when they theorise respecting something that they, with their sordid and impure passions, could never accomplish. The places that were hallowed by the prayers of saints have been converted into the habitations of sinners; the altars raised and adorned by the hands of the holy have been despoiled and uprooted by the profane; the liberty which Catholicity ever bears with it as a companion, has been stricken down, first, by the despotism of a monarchal form of government, and then by despotism in its worst, most odious, most intolerant, and most sanguinary aspect, when it calls itself democracy," and, in accordance with the whim, the caprices, the passions, the avarice, or the cruelty of a few-a clique, a club, or a president-pillages monasteries, confiscates public, appropriates private property, banishes, kills or tortures its victims, and claims an indulgence for every crime, and a reward for the meanest bloodiest act of vice, because perpetrated in the name of "THE PEOPLE!" a Misgoverned and ill used by Spain, her South American colonies seem to have rid themselves of the misgovernment of their former sovereigns, but to have fallen into a hopeless, helpless state of anarchy, amid which the mind wanders dazzled and bewildered by the number of names of those who appear upon the surface for a day, as leaders, and then are lost sight of for ever, the causes for their tem porary elevation and their permanent downfall remaining alike inexplicable. True as this remark is, as applied to all the South American Republics for some years, it has from the commencement to the present moment, been particularly applicable to the riverine states of La Plata; where plot is involved in plot, and none has a complete development; where an unknown chief succeeds to an obscure leader, and many battles are fought for factious objects, and scarcely one-if one for the general weal, how afford to the reader a clue which may safely, clearly, and distinctly guide him through the Dædalean intricacies of this "mighty maze without a plan?" It is impossible to do so, if we cannot discover some one striking event amid a myriad of petty circumstances, and then, having found such an event, see if by its extraordinary character there may not be attached to it such an explanation as may in itself be an elucidation of all that has preceded it. In the year 1807, and in the month of February, the town of Monte Video was taken possession of by the British troops, and evacuated in the month of September. The place was not retained as a conquest, but it was occupied for such a time as to impress its conquerors with a full knowledge of its greatness, its value, and its importance; and should the changes that even then were contemplated in consequence of the state of affairs in Europe, ever occur, the necessity of not permitting it to become the means of aggrandisement to any Power that might be hostile to the British crown. In 1828, and in consequence of the advice of a truly profound statesman, a new republic was established on the banks of the river Plate, with Monte Video as its capital. For more than five years the town of Monte Video has been beset by a hostile army, and has defeated every attempt made to conquer it! Troy with its ten years' siege has filled the world with its renown, for it had a Homer to celebrate its foes and its friends. Antwerp, which yielded on the 17th August, 1585, to a generous conqueror, excited the admiration of the world by its bravery, and its resolution for withstanding all the enemy's assaults for an entire year; and yet, here is a small town, invested by a land army, and blockaded for a considerable period by a fleet, maintaining its courageous determination, and enduring every species of want, misery, and privation, rather than submit to its foe, that foe being the army of General Rosas, led on by Oribe, the ex-president of Monte Video, and who might boast in the attack on Monte Video, as Aldegund boasted with respect to the defence of Antwerp: "Quantum ab ingenio, quantum ab arte peti potuit, cœlum, mare, ac tantum non tartara in societatem auxiliumque devocavimus."* Here then there is a fact, so astounding in its mere statement as to excite attention towards, and to elicit the desire of an explanation respecting it. In that explanation is involved an exposition as to the political situation of the riverine states of La Plata, and a portraiture of the men who have either made events in those states, or have been the victims of them. Our exposition and our portraiture must be alike brief; but, freed from all unnecessary details, they will, we trust, be found clear and distinct, as the authorities on which they are based are quoted. The peculiar characteristic of the South American colonial governments, as dependencies on the Spanish crown, was their dislike to foreigners, their determination to exclude foreigners, to monopolize amongst themselves, that is, amongst the Spanish race, all the advantages to be derived from the productions of their soil, and the enjoyment of their climate. "The laws of the Indies," as they were called, enforced this exclusion of foreigners, and the junta of Spain, which, in 1809, "reorganized the States of America as integral parts of the monarchy" by its first viceroy to the provinces of Rio de La Plata, upheld this monopoly, and maintained this exclusion. The Regency of Cadiz in 1810 declared as apocryphal a decree in favour of free commerce."† The system of exclusion maintained, avowed, and acted upon by the royal colonies of Spain in South America, has had, and still has, its adherents and its champions in the revolutionized South American Republics; and it is this conflict of monopolists and exclusionists against free traders, and those who would open the rivers and the lands of South America to European enterprise and industry, that gives to us, Eng * Strada, Bel. Belgic. Dec. Sec. Lib. 7. p. 375. (Ed. Rome, 1648.) † Letter of Don Ynacio Nunez to Woodbine Parish, Esq., dated Buenos Ayres, 15th June, 1824. |