CHAPTER XV
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPRESSION
The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella is perhaps the most noteworthy epoch in Spanish history. It resounded with the clash of arms and with the thirst for discovery. It was also an era of intolerance. A distinctive tendency toward cruelty has ever been a prominent trait of the Spanish character. The driving out of the Moors and the elimination of the Moorish civilization, the harsh treatment of the Jews and, finally, the establishment of the Inquisition are all indicative of that tendency. These traits were carried with them into the New World in their worst forms. The Spanish expeditions to South America were marked by ferocious cruelty, unlimited bloodshed, and an unquenchable lust for treasure. A low standard of personal relations as well as a narrow conception of public morality prevailed. It was from the very worst of the population of Spain that the early colonists to Spanish South America came. Most of them were adventurers who had nothing to lose, and who were quite willing to risk their lives for the possibility of treasure. It is not unnatural that the worst characteristics of the Spanish character should early be developed, and to an abnormal degree. One quality they had to aid them—there was no lack of personal courage. Ignorant they might be, but of personal bravery there was no question, as their deeds bear witness.
In South America there were two great racial divisions, besides the tribes dwelling in Patagonia, who were quite different to either of the others. On the Pacific slope the Incas had joined together the various tribes from north of Quito to Chile into a great community over which they exercised supreme power. The people lived under established conditions; they built towns and public works and were proficient in agriculture. On the Atlantic side of the Andes, from Venezuela to the La Plata, the Indians belonged to Tupi-Guarani stock. The features and habits of some of the tribes had become slightly modified, but they show enough similarities to leave small doubt as to their common origin. These tribes were all nomadic, and existed principally on the products of the chase or wild fruits which they gathered. The Araucanian and Tehuelche Indians of Patagonia were also nomadic, but they are of a different temperament.
For three centuries after its discovery no immigration was permitted to the South American colonies except of Spaniards. These Spaniards intermarried freely with native women. From this mixture grew up the greater part of the original population of Argentina, as well as the other colonies. The gradual development of population and wealth was little understood in the mother country. Trade with foreign countries was prohibited, all mineral wealth was heavily taxed and the Crown “milked” the colonies in every way. All of the officials were native Spaniards. A feeling of animosity gradually grew up among the colonists toward the Spaniards which finally led to the outbreak of hostilities at the commencement of the nineteenth century. South Americans perhaps give too little importance to the influence of the United States in the outcome of their struggles for liberty. The idea of America for the Americans existed long before the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. That idea was in the minds of Washington and his co-workers. Their success also fired the patriotism of Bolivar, San Martin and other South American liberators.
The story of Argentina is but another chapter in the history of the short-sighted attitude of Spain toward her colonies in the New World. The sole purpose of the colonial policy of Spain seemed to be to protect the trading monopoly which had been farmed out to the merchants of Cadiz, and to keep a record of the production of silver and gold, in order to insure the collection of the royal one-fifth. Every Atlantic port of South America was closed to traffic except Nombre de Dios, on the coast of Panama. Everything destined for that continent had to be taken there, transported across the isthmus and reloaded to vessels on the Pacific. Goods destined for Argentina also had to follow this route. They were carried by vessels to Callao, Peru, and from there were taken overland even as far as Buenos Aires. It was for this reason that the early settlers of Argentina mostly came in from the Andes side. To further enforce this monopoly of trade the governors of Buenos Aires were instructed to forbid all importation and exportation from that port under penalty of death and forfeiture of property to those engaged in it.
It is little wonder that a system of corruption and an evasion of such iniquitous laws was developed. The several governors recommended modifications, but the Cadiz merchants were obdurate. Smuggling and surreptitious trading grew popular, and the officials soon became silent partners in the traffic. Although the laws remained upon the statute books nothing could keep the people from trafficking with their own products. Buenos Aires became a community of smugglers. English and Dutch ships landed their goods under the very noses of officials, took their pay in hides or money and then continued their way around Cape Horn to the west coast, where the same process was repeated. Mule trains carried these goods thus illegally entered across the plains to Cordoba and Tucuman; the officials along the way winking at this evasion of unpopular laws. The profits were distributed among officials and the soldiers were hired to shut their eyes. The abstract right of the government to enact such restrictive regulations was never questioned. They broke the laws without any qualms of conscience, but contesting them was not even dreamed of. The idea that the right to trade or to practise a profession existed only by sufferance of the government has not been eradicated even to this day. It is a relic of this age. It is not surprising that office holding became the popular vocation and has remained so even to the twentieth century.
For a long period the whole of South America was under the viceroyalty of Peru. Some of the larger capitals had bodies of officials known as Audiencias. The viceroyalty was divided into provinces, each of which had a governor. Each new region occupied was organized into a municipality, which was the real unit of their political structure. The governing body of this municipality was termed the Cabildo, and was composed of from six to twelve members who were appointed and held office for life. This body exercised the civil and judicial administration. Most of these men secured their appointment through actual purchase. The territorial jurisdiction of these municipalities was generally poorly defined, and it was sometimes almost coextensive with the province. Although the colonial governor was supposed to give a full account of his administration, he often failed to do so and conducted his office as a despotic and irresponsible ruler.
The governors were always Spaniards, and only one exception appears in Argentina, Hernandarios Saavedra. This man appears as one of the brightest names during the seventeenth century. For several years he acted as governor of Buenos Aires, and he did a great deal of good in securing justice to the Indians and curbing the military power. He retained the confidence of both natives and Spaniards by his reputation for giving a square deal to all sides. Under his policy the colonies prospered and the pastoral pursuits were greatly extended. The sixteenth century contained very little of interest to the general reader. The inhabited portions were extended but little, and there were one or two uprisings of Indians against the white man’s rule. Only one was serious and that was of the tribes on the Andean slopes, who were stirred up by a leader who claimed to be the direct descendant of the old Inca princes. This disturbance lasted for fifty years, but it ended with the capture and execution of the leader, who was known to the Spaniards as Bohorquez.
Some struggles took place between the Portuguese settlers of Brazil and the Spaniards, who had attempted to penetrate the regions watered by the upper Paraná. The “Paulistas,” inhabitants of the state of São Paulo, resisted the encroachments of the Spaniards, as they feared the Jesuit influences, which they both feared and hated. They raided the settlements of that order in Misiones and carried off several thousand of the poor natives as captives. The Iguassú River and the east bank of the Uruguay seemed to be adopted informally as the dividing line between the two races, although later differences arose over the territory now embraced in the republic of Uruguay. The Portuguese established a settlement, called Colonia, in 1680, almost opposite to Buenos Aires, which was ever a sore spot for the Spaniards and gave rise to much trouble. It became a harbouring place for smugglers and offenders against Spanish laws, but it remained under Portuguese control for a long period.