Brazil and the River Plate in 1868

by William Hadfield

BUENOS AYRES AND THE OTHER PROVINCES A FIELD FOR EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION.

The following interesting and reliable statement has been published and circulated under the authority of the Argentine Government:—

The recommendations of the Argentine Republic to Europeans are:—

1. That the climate is as healthy and as favourable to vigour and longevity as that of England, or any other country of Europe.

2. That its cultivable lands are practically of unlimited extent, and require no outlay for clearing.

3. That it contains already, and especially at Buenos Ayres, the Capital, a large and prosperous European population, composed of Italians, French, English, Scotch and Irish, Germans, Portuguese, and others.

4. That the Government is solidly established and perfectly liberal, the aim of all parties being to maintain the financial honour of the country, to preserve peace, and to promote the development of industry and commerce.

5. That, while the State religion is Roman Catholic, complete toleration is upheld, churches of all denominations being established at Buenos Ayres and other places, where a considerable portion of the settlers are English or German Protestants, or Scotch Presbyterians.

6. That there is fortnightly[^[13]] postal communications with England and the Continent by powerful Mail Steamers from Southampton and Bordeaux.

7. That the commercial policy of the country is in the direction of free trade.

8. That there is a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between Great Britain and the Republic, and that foreigners are exempted from compulsory military service or forced loans.

9. That there are a sufficient number of British subjects in the Republic to render a knowledge of the Spanish language non-essential for immigrants, and that this language is capable, during a short residence, of being more easily acquired than any other: likewise, that an English newspaper is regularly published at Buenos Ayres, and also at the city and port of Rosario, and that there is an influential English Bank and other institutions.

10. That the staple productions of the country are such as at all times to command the markets of the world, the principal exports being tallow, hides, and wool, while, during the past year, a trade in preserved meat has been opened up which seems to promise, if sufficient attention be given to establish a scientific process of curing, to assume proportions as sudden and profitable as those of the newly-developed petroleum trade of North America; that there is also a mining district in the interior provinces on the slope of the Andes, which appears, from the operations thus far conducted, to be one of the richest silver regions yet discovered.

11. That the country is being opened up in all directions by English Railway enterprises, one of which, the Rosario and Cordova Line, will be 247 miles in length, and is considered to be ultimately destined to cross the entire country to Chili, and thus to form a highway for the traffic between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

12. That the acquisition of land is easy and its tenure secure, and that additional and extraordinary facilities for settlement are in course of introduction by the circumstance of about a million of acres on the sides of their line having been ceded to the Rosario and Cordova (Central Argentine) Railway Company, and of a grant of 10,400 square miles in the fertile province of Cordova having been made to Mr. Etchegaray, which is to be transferred to a London Company.

Finally, it is to be observed, that the debt of the country, foreign and internal, the interest on which is paid with unfailing punctuality, is comparatively small; that it is gradually in course of extinction, and that the six per cent. bonds in the London market range between 90 and 100; that there are no direct taxes; and that the commerce of the country is increasing with such rapidity, that in the Board of Trade Returns of British exports for the past year (1864), it figures for £1,758,058, and stands higher in the list than Chili or Peru, and, as regards European countries, higher than Prussia, Sweden and Norway, Denmark, and many others with which we have an important traffic.

The present population of the Argentine Republic is but about 2,000,000, and immigration may be said to be its only want. This is felt and acknowledged by all classes, and every arrival is therefore warmly welcomed. The tide thither is gradually increasing, and persons best acquainted with the country express a conviction that the growth of Buenos Ayres, which at present is a fine city, with about 200,000 inhabitants, will during the next twenty years rival that which has been witnessed at New York during the like period in the past. In several cases persons of moderate capital have emigrated from Australia and New Zealand to the Argentine Republic, owing to the advantages of its greater proximity to England, and its superior facilities for the acquisition of land.

By far the greater portion of the country consists of rich alluvial plains, constituting what are called the Pampas. The climate is subject to a great difference of temperature in winter and summer, but the changes are gradual and regular. The winter is about as cold as the English November, with white frosts, and ice at sunrise. “Taken as a whole, the Pampas may be said to enjoy as beautiful and as salubrious an atmosphere as the most healthy parts of Greece and Italy, and without being subject to malaria.”[^[14]]

The country is universally celebrated for the abundance of its cattle, horses, sheep, goats, asses, mules, and swine. The number of cattle fifteen years ago was estimated at 12,000,000, and the horses, mules, and asses at more than 4,000,000, and they are supposed since that period to have largely increased.

The salubrity of the climate seems especially beneficial to immigrants from this country, its influence being singularly restorative wherever there is any tendency to bronchial or pulmonary affections. In some districts, such as that of the beautiful city and province of Cordova, these disorders appear to be almost unknown, and as on the completion of the Central Argentine Railway it will be possible to reach the city of Cordova from London in little more than a month, that place may probably become a sanitarium for Europeans in a majority of the most important cases where change of climate is desirable.