General Whitelocke decided on a second assault on Buenos Ayres; having first, and unsuccessfully, attempted to persuade General Linières to release his prisoners. The failure of his attempt on the city will, perhaps, be more readily understood, if a few words of description of Buenos Ayres, as it was in 1807, precede the narrative.
Major Nicolls’ 45 Regiment, MS. Journal in R. A. Record Office.
The city extended for nearly three miles along the banks of the Rio de la Plata, and its breadth at the widest point was about a mile and a half. The population, including the suburban villas or quintas, was about 70,000. Like most modern cities in the United States and Canada, it had been Captain Frazer’s and Capt. Dickson’s Letters to D. A. Gen. built on a fixed plan, not left to the distorted tastes of individual proprietors—as is not unfrequently the case in England. Its streets and squares were large, broad, and convenient; and although the individual houses did not always harmonise, and were rarely impressive, they did little injury to the general effect. Most of them were two-storeyed, and built in Moorish fashion, in the form of a square, with one large entry, the different apartments on the ground floor opening into the square, and the roof flat, and occasionally terraced. The Fort, or Citadel, was a miserable work, with a parapet of little more than two feet in height. In many places it was incapable of resisting artillery fire, and, at the best, was of little use save in overawing a mob, or as a receptacle for the city treasure and the public records. The most important public buildings were the Cathedral, and the churches of St. Francisco, St. Domingo, St. Michael, and the Jesuits—all imposing enough externally, but with gaudy interiors, which offended the sober taste of English travellers. There was also a large civic hall, known as the Cabildos; and the Plaza de Toros, where the passion of the inhabitants for bull-fighting was gratified, was a very striking place. The Custom-house, Arsenal, and theatres were small and unimposing.
For many reasons Buenos Ayres was admirably adapted for defence against an enemy whose attack should develop itself in the form of street fighting. The barracks were scattered over the city in low, retired squares, and the houses were like so many small fortifications. Their shape rendered each perfectly distinct, and not easily assailable save from a neighbouring roof. This one weak point led to the passing of a law, which might have led at times to embarrassing results, under which the proprietor of one house was permitted to fire at any stranger whom he might detect on the roof of an adjoining one. The gates and doors of the houses were very strong, made of wood several inches thick, and heavily bolted and barred; the windows had strong iron railings outside, and heavy wooden shutters with iron fastenings within; and the flat roofs were very useful, both for offence and defence. Altogether, it was as awkward a city to take in the way unhappily chosen by General Whitelocke, as can be imagined.
In most of the squares enclosed by the larger houses there were wells; but the water was brackish, and the inhabitants preferred the water from the river, which was sold in the streets, and which, although somewhat muddy, became clear when allowed to stand, and, with the addition of a little alum, was believed to have peculiar virtues for clearing and strengthening the voice. The river, between Buenos Ayres and Colonia, was about thirty miles in breadth; and it should be mentioned that the latter place had already surrendered to a force of 800 English troops, under Colonel Pack of the 71st, who had made his escape from Buenos Ayres shortly after the assassination of Captain Ogilvie. The Artillery with this force was commanded by Captain Wilgress, who had recovered from the wound he received at Monte Video, only to receive a second and more severe injury at Colonia. His detachment manned two light 6-pounders and two light 3-pounders; and he had in addition eight Spanish 16-pounders, with which it was intended to arm the defensive works proposed to be erected at Colonia. Had these last-mentioned guns, and the siege ordnance left at the village of Reduccion and at Monte Video, been brought against Buenos Ayres, with a view to its bombardment, there is no doubt that the city, whose streets proved a tomb to the attacking forces, would have been their prize.
The country round Buenos Ayres was well wooded, and the land in the immediate vicinity rich and singularly productive. Thanks to the inquiring minds of General Beresford’s force, it was ascertained that beef, mutton, fowls, and river fish, were cheap and abundant, bread excellent, and the markets filled daily soon after sunrise with wild-fowl, quails, and partridges in abundance. The last-named birds must have resembled the Canadian tree partridge, as they were caught with ease, even in the immediate suburbs, by means of a noose at the end of a stick. There was abundance of larger game in the country, both four-footed and winged, and Major Nicolls’ Diary. vulltures and birds of that class, luckily, very common too, otherwise the air would be infected by the quantity of carrion left after the men, dogs, and pigs had been satisfied.... Bullocks are here what the cocoa-trees are in India. They turn them to the following uses: food, fuel, shoes, ropes, trunks, sacks, covering for houses, beds, bridles, saddles, bird-cages, drinking-cups, &c...·· Their horses are the accidental breed of the country, descended from those originally brought by the Spaniards. They are undersized, but show some blood, are very tractable, and hardy. Each proprietor affixes his mark on his droves, makes geldings of them, and they run wild till required for use or sale. They are driven in now and then for inspection. The King of Spain is a proprietor; his mark is the tip of the left ear cut off. They are of very trifling value in the drove—not more than half a dollar each. It is not uncommon for a traveller whose horse is jaded to catch another and leave his own. The Peons, or country people, who have more Indian than Spanish blood in them, are very expert horsemen. They tame a wild horse in a few hours, but by severe treatment. Their bridles are those used by the Mamelukes, and they use stick and spur without reluctance.”
The chief exports from Buenos Ayres were hides, tallow, skins of valuable animals, bark, coffee, and spices; the imports were cloths, wearing apparel, glass, earthenware, cutlery, &c. So extensive was the trade of the place, and so keen were the inhabitants for its development, that it is not to be wondered at that, in the first flush of short-lived conquest, the English commanders dwelt on its possible advantage to Great Britain in terms, which the hope of justifying an unauthorized expedition may possibly have made somewhat fervent.
The moral aspect of Buenos Ayres in 1807 seems to have been very uninviting. Immorality of the grossest description prevailed in both sexes and in all classes; indolence and intemperance characterized the lower orders, and the whole community was priest-ridden to an intolerable extent. The Bishop, in particular, tyrannized over all ranks and classes; and when he went anywhere in state every one knelt to him, the guards even presenting arms to him kneeling. During the short time that General Beresford commanded, the Bishop demanded the same ceremony from the English troops; but it was refused, and he never forgave it. He was a very crafty man, and to the last he affected good-will to the English; but by his orders every pulpit was used for fulminating threats against them, and for inventing and exaggerating tales of English atrocity. To such an extent was this carried, that the better class of the inhabitants did not dare to make any advances to the English officers, or show them open kindness, although they always welcomed them to their houses if they came uninvited. The revenue of the Bishop was very great, and included a fourth part of all sums paid as fees at births, marriages, and funerals, the amount of which varied with the will and ability of the parties concerned, or their friends. Another fourth went to the King, and the remainder to the canons of the church in which the necessary ceremony was performed. The priests of Buenos Ayres were very numerous, and their private life was said to be most immoral. As regarded the people generally, Major Nicolls wrote: “With respect to religion, they appear to attend pretty regularly to its exterior forms, especially the women, who attend mass daily, in which, however, the men do not show so much zeal. Since, however, vice of every description follows, it does not appear likely that forms of this nature would be very useful, either in this world or as a preparation for that to come. On General Beresford’s taking the city many thousands of indulgences and remissions of all kinds were found, which have ever proved a source of revenue and power to the Roman Catholic clergy, and are here made the tools of Government.[13] The Bishop amuses the high and low every week with some pompous procession or ceremony to make the great remember that there is such a thing as religion. To the sick he holds out forty days’ plenary indulgence for going to mass and giving alms; and the poor are governed by a promise that their sins shall be forgiven. On our landing, the Bishop induced the people to swear they would defend the place to the last, for which their sins should be forgiven.”
Against this city General Whitelocke resolved to move the greater part of his force, leaving small garrisons in Monte Video and Colonia. Before describing the Expedition, an anecdote is worthy of mention, as showing, what has so frequently been shown already, the evil effects of the dual government of the Artillery which existed in the days of the Board of Ordnance. There is deposited in the Royal Dated Monte Video, 6 June, 1807. Artillery Record Office the original order to Captain Frazer, signed by General Whitelocke, desiring him, as commanding officer of Artillery and representing the Ordnance Department, “to pay the sum of forty pounds sterling for every field-piece that may be captured from the enemy during the approaching service at Buenos Ayres, according to the established usage of the service in such cases.”
In the same office is a correspondence in which Captain Frazer is forbidden by the Board to make any such payment. The question for consideration is not whether the General or the Board was right in the interpretation of the Regulations. The error of the system was that the officer who received an order from the General, under whom he was immediately serving, was made the channel for conveying to that General an intimation that his order was wrong, and was not to be obeyed. The marvel is that, under such a system, harmony was ever possible between the commanding officer of Artillery and his General; and, certainly, if tact could have been imparted to a cadet at the Academy, along with his mathematics, he would probably have found it the more useful accomplishment of the two in his after career.