"Then, again, as regards languages, the British commercial traveller, armed with British catalogues and price lists [although I note with pleasure that some are now printed in Spanish], knows no language but his own, but the German invariably speaks Spanish and English, and he has carefully studied beforehand the needs of the market which he is visiting and the financial position of merchants. This gives him a great advantage over his British rival, who rarely has previous knowledge of his would-be customers, and is dependent on such chance information as he may pick up to be subsequently confirmed by inquiries at the banks. Time is thus lost, and irritation is caused to respectable buyers, who resent what appears to them impertinent suspicion."
[CHAPTER XXVII]
POLITICS AND REVOLUTIONS
The Constitution of Uruguay—Government of the Republic—Deputies and senators—Their duties—The Civil Code—Marriage—Rights of foreigners—Law—The Commission of Charity and Public Welfare—Hospitals—Orphan asylums—Infirmaries—The charity hospital lottery—The distribution of political parties—The Colorados and the Blancos—Policy of both—Feud between the parties—Old-standing strife—Explanation of the nomenclature—Origin of the feud—Rivera and Oribe—Inherited views—Attitude of the foreigners—Revolutions—Manner of their outbreak—Government precautions—The need of finance and arms—Some rebellious devices—Rifles as Manchester goods—The importance of horses—Difficulties that attend a revolutionary movement—The sweeping up of horses—Equine concentration camps—A powerful weapon in the hands of the authorities—First signs of an outbreak—Sylvan rendezvous—The question of reinforcements—Some desperate ventures—Their accustomed end—Chieftains of the north—Effect of a revolution upon local industries—Needs of the army—Estancia hands as troopers—Hasty equipment—Manner in which actual hostilities are conducted—"The Purple Land that England lost"—The spirit of modernism and the internal struggle—Tendency to localise the fields of strife—Power of the Colorado party—Whence the respective partisans are drawn—Distinguishing insignia—Some necessary precautions on the part of the foreigner—Adventures derived from colour in clothes—Some ludicrous episodes—The expense of revolution.
The Constitution of Uruguay has now stood the test of eighty years, and thus claims to be the oldest in South America, or, at all events, the one that has suffered no modification for the longest period of time. The basis on which this is composed is liberal in the extreme, and the laws undoubtedly concede to Oriental subjects an amount of freedom that can be surpassed in few other countries.
The Republic possesses two chambers, one of deputies elected by the direct vote of the people, the other of senators. In addition to their legislative functions it is the duty of these chambers to elect the President of the nation, whose term of office lasts for four years. The chambers also nominate the judges of the High Court, who, in turn, select the magistrates of the lower courts.
The civil code is largely based upon the Napoleonic model. It may be as well to note rapidly a few of its more salient features. From the point of view of the resident foreigner it is admirable in at least one respect, since it makes no distinction between the civil rights accorded to Uruguayans and those to foreigners. Civil marriage is obligatory, the offspring of a union contracted solely by the Church being considered illegitimate. In commerce the system of arrest for debt is not admitted, the only cases of the kind in which imprisonment is imposed being those in which an element of fraud has entered. In criminal law the death penalty has been abolished, and the various modes of punishment consist of solitary imprisonment, exile, deprivations, suspension from public employment, ordinary imprisonment, and fines.
On the whole, there is a satisfactory absence of red-tape in Uruguayan administrative and municipal affairs. It is true that in litigation the delays are occasionally lengthy; but the popular idea on this point has been much exaggerated, and the dispatch of legal business is far more satisfactory than is generally supposed. The great majority of officials, moreover, discharge their duties in a reasonable and fair-minded fashion that has been heartily acknowledged by many a resident foreigner.