INTRODUCTION

THE material of which this textbook is composed must be so new to the vast majority of both teachers and students of Spanish in this country, that the need of an introduction has been deemed imperative by the editors.

Americans have of late been growing more and more alive to the urgent necessity of gaining a better knowledge of the vast continent and the peoples to the south of them. Argentina, as the most prosperous of the South American republics, has claimed no small share of this newly awakened interest. It is hoped that this book will aid in promoting and strengthening this interest, and that this introduction, in its turn, will be of aid in elucidating and furnishing a proper background for the material herein presented.

If we wish to understand Argentina, we must begin first of all by familiarizing ourselves with one pivotal sentiment that has permeated and controlled every aspect of Argentine life and development since colonial days. This sentiment is an exalted and haughty patriotism, so intense, indeed, that the tone with which an Argentine says “Soy argentino”, is no whit less assertive and proud than that in which citizens of ancient Rome were wont to say “Civis Romanus sum”.

Whatever the origin of this sentiment, the evidences of it are irrefutable. Argentina has to-day about nine million inhabitants: of these, fully two thirds are of recent foreign origin, mainly Italian and Spanish, and to a much smaller extent, English, French, and German. Argentina, in other words, has relatively a much larger population of recent foreign extraction than the United States. Nevertheless, the hyphen does not exist in Argentina; and the terms Italo-Argentine, Hispano-Argentine, Franco-Argentine, etc., are entirely unknown. The jealous and uncompromising patriotism of the Argentine makes hyphenated national designations impossible. If we turn from the evidence of purely popular sentiment to the more sober and more controlled evidence of literature, we find the same thing. Take away from the literature of Argentina the theme of patriotism, and you have taken away its most distinctive and its greatest life-giving element. It has been said, and justly, that the Italian literature of the nineteenth century centered entirely about the theme of Italian unification, voicing during the first half of the century the aspirations of her great men for a united Italy, and during the second half intoning the pæan of joy at the accomplishment of those aspirations. The same may be said of Argentine literature. The names of the great leaders of her immortal Revolution, both against the mother country and later against the internal caudillo tyrants—the most important of whom was Rosas—and the deeds that they performed, recur again and again through the pages of her men of letters, whatever be the form of literature they engage in, narrative, dramatic, or poetic.

It is for this reason that for the proper understanding of the Argentine temperament, as evidenced by her literature as well as by her popular ideals, the knowledge of her political history, beginning with the time of the English invasions in 1806 (when the latent nationalism of the then Viceroyalty of the Plata first manifested itself in action), is a requisite of prime importance.

Until the year 1776, Argentina had been but a negligible part of the Spanish possessions in South America, being a dependency of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Despite, however, the short-sighted commercial policy of Spain, which forbade the colonies from trading with any European country, save the mother country, and then by restricted routes and through specific Spanish ports, Buenos Aires, towards the end of the eighteenth century, had far outstripped all other colonial cities with the exception of Lima. By royal decree, therefore, on the 8th of August, 1776, the Viceroyalty of the Plata River was established with Buenos Aires as its capital. It included what is to-day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and the province of Rio Grande, belonging now to Brazil.

The first Viceroy was Don Pedro de Ceballos, a soldier of ability and an administrator of unusual talent. As a result of the war he waged against the Portuguese, who had taken possession of northern Uruguay and the harbor of La Colonia, this port was won back to the Viceroyalty of the Plata. It may be said that the driving out of the Portuguese from La Colonia marks the first of a series of events that finally led to the independence of Argentina; for, if Buenos Aires had been able to grow commercially, it had been due, in no small measure, to the clandestine trade that was carried on through the port of La Colonia. Its capture forced the Viceroy to assume a very grave responsibility; namely, to change on his own authority the trade regulations then in force. His permission to allow certain foreign merchandise to come into Buenos Aires, an act which was later approved by the Crown, was the first recognition of the needs of the new Viceroyalty, as well as of the pressure that the colonists could bring to bear upon the mother country.

Of the Viceroys that followed Ceballos till the period of the English invasions, there is but one that deserves to be recalled here. He was Don Juan José de Vértiz, under whose administration still greater commercial freedom was granted to Buenos Aires. To take the place of the schools of the Jesuits, who were at this time expelled from Spain and the colonies, Vértiz founded in Buenos Aires the Colegio de San Carlos. It was also during his administration that the famous brothers Biedma explored Patagonia, and that the settlement of this immense region was begun, forestalling thus the plans contemplated by the English as a result of the voyages of Thomas Falkner.

The decay into which Spain had fallen towards the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the rule of the seas that England gained as a result of the battle of Trafalgar (1805), led the English to attempt the conquest of the Viceroyalty of the Plata, of whose great possibilities Falkner, upon his return to England, had given a glowing account. Sir Home Popham, therefore, who had coöperated with Sir David Baird in the occupation of the Cape, put 1635 men under the orders of General W. Beresford for the purpose of capturing Buenos Aires. The English expedition landed at Quilmes, not far from Buenos Aires, the 25th of June, 1806. The Viceroy at that time was Don Rafael de Sobremonte, one of the weakest men who had occupied that important office since the establishment of the Viceroyalty of the Plata. Instead of leading the colonies against the invader, he fled to the interior with whatever moneys he was able to gather from the treasury. Under these circumstances the English force, small as it was, easily took possession of Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, the people under the leadership of Don Santiago de Liniers and Don Juan Martín Pueyrredón, prepared to drive out the invader, and it was not long before Liniers, with the aid of forces from Montevideo, and Pueyrredón, with forces hastily raised in the province, forced Beresford to surrender unconditionally. In recognition of the valor and ability displayed by Liniers, the people chose him as their leader, forcing Sobremonte to surrender his power. This was the second time that the colonists imposed their will; the time was not distant when they should do so forever.