[44] President Blanco asks from his Congress (May 1876) a law which shall “declare the Church of Venezuela independent of the Roman Episcopate, and order that parish priests shall be elected by the faithful, the bishops by the rectors of parishes, and archbishops by Congress, returning to the usage of the primitive Church, founded by Jesus Christ and his Apostles.” Congress replies: “Faithful to our duties, our convictions, and the holy doctrines of the religion of Jesus, we do not hesitate to emancipate the Church of Venezuela from that Episcopate which pretends, as an infallible and omnipotent power, to absorb the vitality of a free people.” The leading newspaper of Venezuela discriminates with equal accuracy between the Papacy and Christianity—between “the genuine religion of Christ and those adulterations of his law which substitute the reign of vanity, pride, and contempt for mankind, for the doctrine of gentleness, meekness, and love.”
[45] Amounting in value to forty million sterling.
[46] The depth of this ignorance is illustrated by the circumstance that the Mexican post-office carries annually one letter for each five of the population. The English post-office carries thirty-five letters for each of the population.
[47] In twenty-two years (from 1855 to 1877) her foreign commerce—imports and exports together—had doubled, rising from seven and a half to fifteen million sterling.
[48] Chili was wise enough to offer the command of her fleet during this struggle to an English hero whom a less wise but scarcely more ungrateful English Government had wronged and cast out. Lord Cochrane, who combined in a singular degree prudence with daring, performed so many marvellous achievements that the terror of his name seemed to paralyze the enemy. Ultimately, with the inconsiderable force under his command, he drove the Spanish fleet away, and was supreme on the Chilian coast.
[49] The debt of Paraguay is £117,000,000.
[50] The Dictator himself perished by the lance of a Brazilian soldier.
[51] Some of his achievements were eminently fitted to bind to his cause a rude and daring people. Standing once over a gateway, through which a troop of wild horses were being driven at full speed, he dropped on to the back of one previously selected. He bore in his hand a leathern rein, which he fastened securely round the mouth of the terrified and madly-galloping horse; and in half-an-hour he rode back, the animal now trembling and subdued.
[52] Rosas made his way to England, where he spent the remaining twenty-six years of his life.
[53] It has been said, with pardonable exaggeration, that “the Argentine Republic consists of the province of Buenos Ayres and thirteen mud-huts.” The thirteen provinces are so poor that for many years regular monthly remittances have been sent them from Buenos Ayres to defray the expense of the local governments.