a change. Rivadavia was elevated to the Presidentship, and the congress asked him to bestow a constitution on the country. Thus the Provincial Governments, which led to a Federal system, were obliterated for the purpose of substituting in their place a government of unity, or a centralised government; and it was then, correctly speaking, that appeared the two parties, the 'Unitarians' and the Federalists,' names, we may remark, that have since been written in blood, and that have resounded amid deeds of horror, such as men calling themselves christians, never before perpetrated upon each other. Even then, however, they were not new names -they had been assumed by hostile parties from the first days of the Revolution; but they were then employed as characterising the two opposite principles of government, each of which had its respective advocates and supporters. Then they were emblems of principles; but of late years they are only the rallying cries of parties, and signify the very opposite of that which was the original meaning given to them. Thus, 'the Unitarians' is the name applied by General Rosas to those who are not Unitarians, because they are opposed to the centralization of power in his hands." In 1826 and 1827 the names of Unitarians and of Federalists were properly applied to two distinct parties. "The party of Unitarians, at the head of which was Rivadavia, was composed of all the men formed in his school enthusiastic in their notions, and impatient, like him, of realizing that magnificent project which they had traced out for the country. This party was, if we may use the expression, a civic party; that is, it was the exponent of the opinions of the city-that is to say, of the most enlightened class of citizens-those most strongly impressed with the habits of Europeans, and the European notions of liberty. The Federalists had as their leader Colonel Dorrego-it was the Military party, and it represented the feelings of those dwelling in the country, as opposed to the inhabitants of towns. Principally composed of the leading men (Caudillos) in the interior of the country, it insisted upon a Provincial organization. Each party, it is manifest, adopted as its principle of policy, that which was most conducive to its own interests, and, therefore, it was not possible to shake the conviction of either. When, then, the Congress, in 1827, gave a constitution, the Provinces who were dominated over by the Federalists, finding that their interests were not sufficiently attended to, rejected it. Rivadavia then resigned the Presidentship. The Congress accepted the resignation, and named Vicente Lopez as his successor. The Congress, however, finding that it was exposed to a constant opposition from the Provinces, separated. The new President, Lopez, fell with it, and the Central Government a second time disappeared. A mere junta then re-established itself at Buenos Ayres, and named ! Dorrego as governor of the Province. The Federal party triumphed."* This triumph led to a civil war. Dorrego, as the leader of the Federalists, was defeated in battle, and shot by Lavalle, the commander of the Unitarians. This act of vengeance was followed by many conflicts, by many bloodstained reprisals; but, at length, terminated by the submission of Lavalle to his adversaries. He had to retire from Buenos Ayres to be succeeded by Rosas. The war in which the Argentine provinces was now engaged, was a war between the civilized inhabitants of the towns, and the uncivilized inhabitants of the provinces. The pamphlet of M. Chevalier de Saint Robert gives a truly graphic description of the latter, and of their hero Rosas; and the following passages, translated from his pamphlet, will, we are sure, be read with interest: "The town population," observes the author from whom we quote, "is almost exclusively Spanish, and represents Europe and the habits of civilization: the country population represents the original inhabitants, that is barbarism, with all the customs and habits of primitive life. The population of the Pampas have a peculiar physiognomy, such as is to be found in no other part of the world. They exhibit the instincts and the faculties which the desert every where developes, but still they have not those traits which elsewhere particularize a pastoral or a warlike tribe. The Arab, who dwells or wanders in the deserts of Asia, is but a fraction of that great Mahommedan society that dwells in cities. The tribe coincides with society in many things, it has the same creed, the same obedience to religious dogmas, and preserves every where the same traditional organization. There is nothing like this to be found in the Pampas. "In the bosom of those immense plains, which extend from Salta to the Cordilleras, that is, over a space of more than seven hundred leagues, there are to be found neither distinct castes, nor tribes, nor creeds, nor even that which may be properly called a nation. There is nothing to be found but estancias (farms) scattered here and there, which form so many petty republics, isolated from the rest of the world, living by themselves, and separated from each other by the desert. Alone in the midst of those over whom he is a complete master, the estanciero is out of every kind of society whatsoever, with no other law than that of force, with no other rules to guide him but those that are self-imposed, and with no other motive to influence him than his own caprice. There is * M. Chevalier de Saint Robert, p. 12. nothing to disturb his repose, to dispute his power, or interfere with his tranquillity except the tiger that may sometimes lurk about his grounds, or the wild Indians that may occasionally make a hostile incursion on his domains. His children and his domestics, gauchos like himself, pass the same sort of life, that is to say, without ambition, without desires, and without any species of agricultural labour. All they have to do is to mark and to kill, at certain periods, the herds of oxen and flocks of sheep which constitute the fortune of the estanciero, and that satisfy the wants of all. Purely carnivorous, the gaucho's only food consists of flesh and water-bread and spirituous liquors are as much unknown to him as the simplest elements of social life. In a country in which the only wealth of the inhabitants arises from the incessant destruction of innumerable flocks, it can be easily understood how their sanguinary occupation must tend to obliterate every sentiment of pity, and induce an indifference to the perpetration of acts of cruelty. The readiness to shed blood-a ferocity which is at the same time obdurate and brutal-constitutes the prominent feature in the character of the pure gaucho. "The first instrument that the infantile hand of the gaucho grasps is the knife-the first things that attract his attention as a child, are the pouring out of blood, and the palpitating flesh of expiring animals. From his earliest years, as soon as he is able to walk, he is taught how he may with the greatest skill approach the living beast, hough it, and if he has the strength, kill it. Such are the sports of his childhood-he pursues them ardently, and amid the approving smiles of his family. As soon as he acquires sufficient strength, he takes part in the labours of the estancia; they are the sole arts he has to study, and he concentrates all his intellectual powers in mastering them. From that time forth he arms himself with a large knife, and for a single moment of his life he never parts with it. It is to his hand an additional limb-he makes use of it always, in all cases, in every circumstance, and constantly with wonderful skill and address. The same knife that in the morning had been used to slaughter a bullock, or to kill a tiger, aids him in the day time to cut his dinner, and at night to carve out a skin tent, or else to repair his saddle, or to mend his mandoline. With the gaucho the knife is often used as an argument in support of his opinions. In the midst of a conversation apparently carried on in amity, the formidable knife glitters on a sudden in the hand of one of the speakers, the ponchos are rolled around the left arm, and a conflict commences, Soon deep gashes are seen on the face, the blood gushes forth, and not unfrequently one of the combatants falls lifeless to the earth; but no one thinks of interfering with the combat, and when it is over the conversation is resumed as if nothing extraordinary had occurred. No person is disturbed by it-not even the women, who remain as cold unmoved spectators of the affray! It may easily be surmised what sort of persons they must be, of which such a scene is but a specimen of their domestic manners. Thus the savage education of the estancia produces in the gaucho a complete indifference as to human life, by familiarizing him from his most tender years to the contemplation of a violent death, whether it is that he inflicts it on another or receives it himself. He lifts his knife against a man with the same indifference that he strikes down a bullock: the idea which everywhere else attaches to the crime of homicide does not exist in his mind; for in slaying another he yields not less to habit than to the impulse of his wild and barbarous nature. "If, perchance, a murder of this kind is committed so close to a town that there is reason to apprehend the pursuit of justice, every one is eager to favour the flight of the guilty person. The fleetest horse is at his service, and he departs certain to find wherever he goes, the favour and sympathy of all. Then, with that marvellous instinct which is common to all the savage races, he feels no hesitation in venturing into the numerous plains of the pampas. Alone, in the midst of a boundless desert, and in which the eye strains itself in vain to discover a boundary, he advances without the slightest feeling of uneasiness-he does so watching the course of the stars, listening to the winds, watching, interrogating, discovering the cause of the slightest noise that reaches his ears, and he at length arrives at the place he sought, without ever straying for it, even for a moment. The lasso which is rolled around his horse's neck the bolas suspended to his saddle, and the inseparable knife suffice to assure him food, and to secure him against every danger-even against the tiger. When he is hungry, he selects one out of the herd of beeves that cover the plain, pursues it, lassos it, kills it, cuts out of it a piece of flesh, which he eats raw, or cooks, and thus refreshes himself for the journey of the following day. "If murder be a common incident in the life of a gaucho, it often also becomes the means to him of emerging from obscurity, and of obtaining renown amongst his associates. When a gaucho has rendered himself remarkable by his audacity and address in single combats, companions gather around him, and he soon finds himself at the head of a considerable party. He 'commences a campaign,' sets himself in open defiance to the laws, and in a short time acquires a celebrity which rallies a crowd about him. "The greater part of the petty chiefs, caudillos, who took part in the events of the Revolution, were indebted for their elevation to circumstances such as we have described. At the head of numerous gauchos, which they picked up in the estancias, and whose dangerous instincts they excited, they traversed the country as its masters, invaded the cities, scattering terror around them, and marking their passage by desolation. The Federal system, in sanctioning the Provincial organization, only aided in favouring their ambition, and increasing still more their influence in the country. When Dorrego and the Federalists of Buenos Ayres, who for a moment rested upon their support, attempted to stop them in their career, it was found that the time for doing so had passed away. With their partizans, who had large bodies of men under their command, these chiefs disposed of the material force of the provinces, and henceforward the government was no longer capable of subduing them. Nurtured in ignorance; grown up to manhood with the habits of savages; proceeding always by violence, hostile by nature to the things of civilized life, they advanced against Buenos Ayres for the purpose of destroying there the last obstacle to their triumph. Such were the men who formed the party of the country, and to whom the defeat of Lavalle consigned the fate of the nation. "Amongst these men there was one whose character readily obtained for him the foremost place, and in whom nature had developed all those qualities which are calculated to strike the minds of the masses and to dominate over them. Marvellously accomplished in all the bodily exercises to which men, accustomed to pass their lives in the midst of wide plains, devote themselves, no one with greater boldness flung himself upon the back of a wild unbroken horse, no lance was more promptly, more surely thrown than his, and never was lasso nor bola flung with more skill than by him in a word, no one possessed in so pre-eminent a degree, those qualities which render an individual the object of admiration to a crowd, as the person to whom we refer-that person was Juan Manuel Rosas. "Proprietor of an Estancia, which, by his intelligence and his rigid management, he rendered a model establishment, and subsequently invited by the richest proprietors of the province of Buenos Ayres to take care of their estates, Manuel Rosas speedily succeeded in exercising an influence, and gaining a command over all who came in contact with him. In the midst of an ignorant population, disposed by instinct to arm themselves on every occasion to follow any person who would offer himself as a leader, it was not difficult for Rosas to create a considerable party to support him. Named first an officer, and then a colonel, he, in a short time, was placed at the head of all his associates; and when the Federalists of Buenos Ayres committed the fault of seeking a support from without, it was upon him their eyes were cast, and he became the commander of the country party."* Such is the account given by a Frenchman who has been officially engaged in the affairs of the River Plate, of the early career of General Rosas. It is, in part, corrobo * M. Chevalier de Saint Robert, pp. 14-17. |