Perhaps in no part of the world has such a marked distance been kept between Americans and Englishmen as in Buenos Ayres; but this, I rejoice to observe, is subsiding. Both parties are to blame. The English are said to be the most conceited nation on earth; it may be true, but our North-American friends have a touch of that quality likewise. When told of this; their reply, that “their vices they inherit from us; their virtues are peculiarly their own.”
Mr.
Rodney, the minister from North America, departed this life on the 10th of June, 1824. His death was sudden, from an attack of apoplexy. The evening previous to his decease, he had a large assemblage of visitors at his house. He was a plain republican of the old school, and much esteemed by all parties: he has left a large family. The government of Buenos Ayres evinced the most marked respect to his memory.[12] Colonel Forbes is the Secretary of Legation: he has been in Buenos Ayres since October, 1820, and acted as agent to the United States till the arrival of Mr. Rodney.
The French are numerous in Buenos Ayres; report says, they are equal in number to the British, but I do not believe it. Their trade here, what there is of it, must be advantageous: they bring every requisite for the ladies’ toilet; fans, silk stockings, perfumery, scented waters, gloves, jewellery, and those nic-nacs in which the French so much excel. Some shops make a great figure in French goods, as silks, shawls, and every essential to gratify female taste. Roquin, Meyer, & Co. is the chief mercantile French house; but there are numbers of Buenos Ayrean and other firms, that import largely from France, as do also some English houses.
There are many gentlemanly and intelligent men amongst the French settled in Buenos Ayres; but the mass will not bear a comparison with the British in point of respectability. Frenchmen themselves allow this, and laugh at the billiard-markers and waiters of Parisian growth. The superior class are to be found in the best societies of the city. Their lively manners and conversation have ever been a contrast to the reserve of the English; and, as companions, they may be more sought after than my modest countrymen: a Frenchman is at home in all countries.
The English likewise visit the first families, and give at times splendid entertainments, or tertulias; yet, I have fancied, they appear more happy when amongst themselves. Their behaviour has been attributed to pride and many other causes: the French term “mauvaise honte,” affords a better solution. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, I am convinced, the British character is esteemed; and, however the French may beat us in companionship, they cannot deprive us of that esteem.
The news of Napoleon’s death caused great tribulation in French society at Buenos Ayres. It was some time ere they would believe it; it must be a trick, they said, of the English; and until the causes of his death became so well authenticated, expressions of foul play were more than whispered. Their love for this “man of blood” has ceased to astonish me: were I a Frenchman, it is probable I should love him too.[13] On Bonaparte’s birth-day, in 1821, I observed the tri-coloured flag, waving from a French pulperia near the beach. This flag, once so formidable, and which made every Briton prepare for “bloody fight,” now floats harmlessly in Buenos Ayres, being used as a signal for merchant vessels.
A great many Portuguese are residents of Buenos Ayres, as merchants, shopkeepers, &c.; they carry on a constant commerce with the Brazils.