Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

Liniers readily granted his brave adversary all the honours of war. An hour later the English general and his staff, together with the 71st regiment, whose colours bore the names of various actions in the United States and also of Saint Jean d’Acre, had to lay down their arms and standards before the raw forces of the Gascon, by which they were marched in line, and whose prisoners of war they remained. The English occupation of Buenos Ayres had lasted forty-seven days. Its abrupt termination was chiefly due to the utter absence of any intelligence-department in the occupying force. It is difficult to attach blame to General Beresford in this or indeed in any other respect. He had, in obedience to superior orders, undertaken an enterprise for which the force at his disposal was utterly inadequate, and so rapid were the movements of Liniers that he could not possibly anticipate his coming at the head of an expedition capable of opposing him. Even had he anticipated his arrival it is not easy to see what he could have done, quartered as he was in a little fort commanded on three sides by the houses of a hostile town, which had so well disguised its hostility as to afford him no pretext for treating it in an unfriendly manner. Had he adopted the alternative course of destroying all the houses whose vicinity to the fort endangered his position, he would have, doubtless, raised the population against him, and would have found it impossible to obtain provisions for his troops. As it was, he saw the insecurity of his position and had demanded succours from the Cape of Good Hope; but the intelligence and activity of Liniers anticipated their arrival.

This victory on the part of the inhabitants of a province, unaided by Spain, had immense results, since it showed the colonists at the same time their own strength and the inability of the mother country to defend them. Liniers had in fact, to use the words of Mr. Canning, called a new world into existence.

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After the surrender of Beresford the city of Buenos Ayres assumed control of its own destinies. The fugitive Viceroy, Sobremonte, who, had he acted from the first with decision, would have placed himself at the head of the armed forces at Monte Video, and there raised the national standard, had at length succeeded in assembling a militia force with which he advanced to the capital. But his evident incapacity had made him odious to the people of Buenos Ayres; and these, elated by their triumph, resolved no longer to submit to his authority. The municipality summoned the principal inhabitants for the purpose of choosing a new government. On the 14th of August, two days after the surrender of Beresford, the meeting took place. But the citizens had scarcely assembled when the hall was crowded by the people, who with one voice demanded the election of Liniers. This selection made, a commission was appointed to notify to Sobremonte that he was no longer chief of the provinces of La Plata.

Sobremonte, on receiving this information, had nothing better to do than to betake himself to Monte Video, where his militia forces might be of use in defending that place, which was still menaced by the fleet of Admiral Popham. The representatives of Buenos Ayres, foreseeing the probability of a future visit from the English, now decided that their town should be put in a state of defence forthwith. The people had already grasped the idea that they could govern themselves better than could Spain, and likewise that they were better qualified to select a suitable governor than was the court of Madrid. Nevertheless, as yet no one thought of raising his voice in favour of a separation from the mother country.

But Liniers was not long in realizing the fact that, although he had been elected Viceroy, the people who had elected him were nevertheless his masters; and he was compelled to withdraw the concessions which in a spirit of soldier-like generosity he had granted to Beresford and his men. When things had calmed down a little, the municipality had leisure to reflect that it might be well to send some explanation to Spain regarding the events which had occurred; and the envoy chosen for this purpose was Puirredon, who could claim the honour of having captured the first English piece of artillery taken. There were indeed already two parties in Buenos Ayres; the one that of Liniers, who as Viceroy represented the Spanish Government, and the other that of Puirredon, who represented the colonial democracy; and this rivalry was sedulously taken advantage of by those who aimed at the independence of the colony, and whose spokesman was Moreno. These men suggested that the new battalions to be enrolled for the defence of Buenos Ayres should be pledged to that province as a nationality. Four battalions of infantry were formed, and amongst the local militia was a corps of mulattoes and negroes, whilst there were six squadrons of gaucho cavalry.

1806.

Whilst thus in the lower Platine provinces all was preparation for the struggle which every one foresaw, in England bright hopes were built on the capture of the South-American city whose loss was not yet known. Sir David Baird, who was still at the Cape of Good Hope, received orders to reinforce Beresford with fourteen hundred men; and on the 11th of October, 1806, a squadron, commanded by Admiral Sterling, and carrying four thousand three hundred and fifty soldiers, under the orders of Sir Samuel Auchmuty, set sail for the Plata. On the 12th of November, another expedition of four thousand three hundred and ninety-one men, under the command of General Crawford, set out for Chili. The fourteen hundred men from the Cape of Good Hope reached the River Plate after the surrender of Beresford, and when Admiral Popham had realized that it was of no use to think of retaking that town. Even Monte Video was by this time so well prepared that it was impossible for him to reduce that place with the insufficient forces at his disposal. He therefore thought fit to land at Maldonado, a small harbour on the left side of the river, where he disembarked his men, and awaited an addition to his strength.

No sooner was the defeat of Beresford known in England than the ministry despatched a fast vessel from Portsmouth with orders to General Crawford to join Sir Samuel Auchmuty; whilst, shortly afterwards, a third body, consisting of sixteen hundred and thirty picked troops, set out under the orders of Lieutenant-General John Whitelocke, who was to assume the command-in-chief of the united English forces in La Plata, whose number would amount to twelve thousand men, supported by a fleet of eighteen men-of-war, together with eighty transports.

1807.