To leave Buenos Ayres, if it is only for a neighbouring town, passports must be obtained, which cost two dollars to quit the country, and four reals for any neighbouring town. Surprise is expressed that we can manage without those ceremonies in England; some passengers arriving from thence were once asked by a visiting officer for their English passports.
Army.—The standing army of the province consists of from 2500 to 3000 men in six regiments, viz. three of infantry, and three of cavalry. Of the infantry, there is one regiment of artillery, one Caçadores, and one of the line. There are also two regiments of Civicas, or militia.
The troops have lately improved, both in appearance and discipline; and indeed, there was great need of it: at present, a great deal cannot be said in their praise. Their manœuvres are few, such as forming line, companies, &c. and some minor movements, as firing volleys, street firing, &c. sufficient, probably, for the warfare in which they are likely to be engaged. The sudden change of front, close column, solid squares, the quick deploying into line, close firing, and rapid bayonet charge, are not to be seen among the troops of Buenos Ayres. Against veterans they could make but a feeble resistance; but in defending the town, with the assistance of the inhabitants and their house fortifications, they would be invincible; and to this mode of fighting I would advise the Buenos Ayreans to trust, should their city ever again be attacked.
The artillery corps are better: they work the guns with smartness, and have a good train of artillery, of six, eight, and twelve pounders, taken from the Spaniards at Monte Video and other places. Repeated exercise and firing take place with those great guns, early in a morning, on the beach.
The uniform coat of the soldiers is blue, with different facings of red, white, and green: they have caps like our infantry. The undress is a foraging cap, with a loop hanging on one side, trowsers of all colours, and some without shoes or stockings. The recruits are not immediately clothed in the soldier’s uniform, but drilled in all their dirt and native raggedness. The population will not admit of the mode of recruiting practised in Europe; they take every one they can: the equipments and material of their army are not, in consequence, very imposing.
If the men, in their attire, look sometimes like Sir John Falstaff’s famed regiment—not so the officers; they have fine showy uniforms, and cocked hats with the national cockade. The subaltern part are young men; the colonels make a good soldier-like appearance. Colonel Ramirez, in his blue coat and gold epaulets, always puts me in mind of a British naval officer; and Colonel Alvarez, who was wounded in our storming of Monte Video, reminds me of Raymond of Drury-Lane theatre.
There are some French and German officers in the service: the former, in blue coats and white facings, still look like the soldiers of Napoleon.
The only English officer at present in the military service of Buenos Ayres, is a gentleman named Charles Bowness; who, from having been nearly fifteen years in this country, is, in appearance, more like a Spaniard than an Englishman. He left England when very young, and has not heard of his family since his departure.
It was seldom that military officers were seen out of uniform; they wore it in the theatre, in the coffee-house, and in the assembly. But this fashion has changed; and when not on duty, the dress of the citizen is now preferred. On the continent of Europe, we are in constant contact with the military, and as constantly reminded of military despotism.