[78] The Trade of London with the River Plate has materially increased during the last few years, and is very different now from what it was twenty years ago. Then vessels used to be a long time on the berth, or were partly loaded with manufactured goods, and afterwards filled up with coals, or called at the Cape de Verds to load salt, as the remainder of their cargo; whereas, now they are despatched with full cargoes of manufactured goods every two or three weeks. This marked improvement arises partly from the comparative tranquillity of the River Plate provinces, and the greater wants of the people, and partly from the more expeditious and commercial mode of carriage in this country, by means of which considerable parcels of goods from the manufacturing districts are now forwarded to London for shipment by the vessels regularly despatched by Messrs. Martin and Scott, the London and River Plate ship-brokers, who afford merchants every facility in shipping by their vessels, the expenses of goods thus forwarded never exceeding and, in many cases, being very considerably less, by this than by any other route whatever. The number of vessels despatched from London within the last four years has been about 60, averaging 15 ships, aggregating 2,745 tons’ register, or 4,423 tons of actual storeage, shipped annually. Of this number, 37 were British and 23 foreign, chiefly of the Danish flag; 25 of these vessels were sent to Buenos Ayres direct, 12 to Monte Video direct, and 23 to Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, the restrictions formerly existing between Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, so that no vessel touching at the one port could discharge at the other, having been abolished since the deposition of Rosas. The goods shipped from London are coals, when required for ballast, iron, zinc, and other metals, paint, oil, anchors and chains, hardware, hollow ware, tools and agricultural implements, earthenware, rope, beer, &c. There are also considerable shipments of linen, cotton, and woollen goods, hosiery, haberdashery, together with a considerable quantity of millinery, silks, and fancy goods, wines, spirits, furniture, toys, and pianos. Of these goods, anchors and chains, tools and agricultural implements, earthenware, and cotton goods are, for the most part, sent up specially from the inland manufacturing districts for shipment. The produce of the River Plate arriving in London is very considerable, and consists of salted and dry ox and cow-hides, horse-hides, tallow, mares’ grease, bone-ash, animal manure, wool, hair, horns, and bones. There is also, occasionally, a small quantity of Paraguay tobacco, ostrich and vulture feathers, nutria, chinchilla, and other skins. These remarks apply in an increased degree to Liverpool, between which port and the Plate the commercial intercourse is infinitely greater than between London and the Plate, the imports and exports being necessarily much the same as to quality. The trade between Liverpool and the ports of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video for 1853 collectively amounted to 64 vessels, consisting of 11,850 tons.
[79] Sir William Gore Ouseley was the British Minister here referred to. It is alike foreign to the purposes of this volume, and to the wishes of the writer, to express any opinion on the policy pursued by England, in the affairs of the Plate, at the period mentioned; but he deems it the merest justice to the reputation of the diplomatist just named for sagaciously judging of ‘coming events’ by the ‘shadows cast before,’ to record a fact familiar to every one who has sojourned, for ever so brief a period, in the River Plate, viz., that the inhabitants of all classes, without exception, native or foreign, are as unanimous now in their approving remembrance of his conduct, as they were at the time it elicited their spontaneous applause in an enduring and complimentary form. Not less than 800 native Monte Videans, embracing the elite of the whole community[A] not actually in the interest of the enemy, tendered their grateful thanks for his efforts to preserve the national independence—efforts which, had they not been thwarted in quarters where the utmost assistance should have been accorded, would have secured that object, while avoiding years of war and bloodshed, and saving some millions of property lost to the commerce of the world by a continuance of the disturbances by Rosas. His exertions for the promotion of commerce formed the most marked item of eulogium in the address from the French[B] inhabitants, and is particularly deserving of being dwelt upon, now that the mercantile course of action he recommended so strenuously, as to the opening of the rivers, has been ratified in respect to Paraguay, whither he sent our recent Plenipotentiary there no less than eight years ago, as we shall see when we come to speak of that country. Of the sense entertained of his merits by the English at Monte Video, their address,[C] subjoined below, is sufficiently explanatory; but something still more significant is the circumstance that, though Sir William was a party to the unfortunate loan by British capitalists, and though it has been hitherto found impossible to obtain payment thereof, principal or interest, in any form, no word of censure is vented against him; for it is felt that the loan was a wise and prudent measure at the time, and that had the spirit in which it was entered into on both sides been carried out in the sense then understood, as it readily might have been, but for shortsightedness at home, the lenders would have been paid with at least as much regularity as the French government, who continued their assistance long after England had backed out of the engagement, to the same effect. And, undoubtedly, the French government have every right to be paid; for, without their continuous aid Monte Video must have fallen, and Rosas would at this moment have been Dictator of the whole Argentine Confederation, of which the Uruguay, and probably Paraguay also, would have been component parts. It is further felt that even after the untoward turn affairs have taken, as regards the original engagement about the loan, the interest might readily be continued to be paid, were the customs’ receipts administered in the judicious mode initiated when Sir William obtained the money for the government, viz., by a committee, composed chiefly of foreign merchants, who collected the dues with so small an expense that there was always a considerable surplus; whereas in native hands the aggregate received barely paid the cost of collection. It is gratifying to find, even at the twelfth hour, years after misrepresentations to the contrary had effected their momentary object in causing the recall of Sir William from an arena where the cajolery and the bullying of Rosas were rendered alike abortive by the tact and vigour of the British Minister, that these truths are now recognized, not merely by the Anglo South American public, but by the English authorities at home, whose esprit de corps renders them ever reluctant to admit that an injustice can be committed against a servant of the Crown, and still more reluctant to make any reparation for it.[D] On the accession of the Derby administration, one of the first acts of the Foreign Minister, Lord Malmesbury, who, in common with the Imperial ruler of France, had devoted a great deal of consideration to questions of South American commercial policy, was to despatch Sir C. Hotham on a mission for the completion of the work in which that gallant officer had been previously engaged at the instance of Sir William; and the noble lord, rightly feeling how much was due to the originator of the same design, obtained the Order of the Bath for the late minister to the Plate, expressly on the ground of the services he had rendered to his country and to humanity during his mission there, and which are specially alluded to in the addresses presented to him, as quoted in the foregoing page. Though the present administration do not, or at least did not, appear to attach the same importance as their predecessors to the recent South American commercial treaties, it is understood that they have not failed to express their appreciation of the pioneer in the path of progress in that direction; and that they have admitted that a very hasty, and consequently very erroneous, judgment had been passed on his political conduct in the Plate. Why that judgment should have been hasty, why it should have been formed on the representations of those whose policy and whose patron, (the Dictator,) have since been swept away, and are now only mentioned to be derided, is a secret which it would require the penetrative perseverance of Mr. Urquhart himself to detect. But it is, at least, satisfactory to know that the amende has been made as liberally as it is in the nature of the official genus to do these things; and that a gentleman in whose family the diplomatic faculty may be said to be hereditary,[E] and with whom we have reason to hope it will not terminate,[F] has been authoritatively pronounced to have proved himself worthy of his antecedents. It is, however, more immediately in reference to his services to commerce that his name is introduced here; for it is impossible to allude to the late South American treaties of ’53 without feeling that Sir W. Gore Ouseley’s labours of ’46 in that cause place him in the same relation to what has been accomplished by Lord Malmesbury and Sir C. Hotham as the inquiries of the Import Duties’ Committee placed Mr. Hume in respect to the Free-trade achievements of Messrs. Cobden and Bright.
[A] Senor. Los infrascriptos Ciudadanos naturales de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay sienten la necesidad de manifestar a V. E. el altisimo aprecio en que tienen la lealtad de su caracter, y los muchos y relevantes servicios que V. E. en el desempeno de las funciones que le habia confiado el Gobierno de S. M. su Augusta Soberana, ha prestado a la causa de la Independencia de nuestra Patria. La guerra que devasta el suelo en que hemos nacido es, en todo rigor, de parte de los Orientales, una lucha de defensa legitima y de Independencia—lucha que no hemos provocado, y en cuyo termino no buscamos ni apetecemos mas que la conservacion de la situacion en que nos coloco el pacto celebrado en 1828 entre el Imperio del Brazil y la Republica Argentina—que nos esta reconocida por todas las Naciones, y virtual, pero solemnemente garantida por la Inglaterra y la Francia. Ciertos de la eficacia de esta garantia y del interes politico y comercial que tienen esas dos grandes potencias en el mantenimiento de la Nacionalidad Oriental,—con todas sus consecuencias, y en que no que—de absorvida por un Poder anti-social y repulsivo de toda idea civilizadora, los Orientales procuraron su apoyo y una alianza justa y decorosa. El principio en que esta alianza se basaba era honroso, y los fines, a mas de honrosos civilizadores y fecundos en resultados beneficos, para la paz externa de estas regiones, y para la paz interior de nuestro pais que deseamos, con toda la fuerza de que somos capaces, teniendo por mira unica, que reconciliada la familia Oriental a que pertenecemos, fuera de toda coaccion e influencia estrana, pueda elegir en libertad, y en la forma consagrada en sus leyes, un Gobierno suyo, que la rija con suecion a la Constitucion y a los intereses Orientales. Los dos Agentes encargados en 1845 por la Inglaterra y la Francia de dar apoyo a la nacionalidad Oriental volviendo la paz a nuestros hogares, y los Senores Almirantes Inglefield y Lainé, que han tenido el mando de las fuerzas interventoras, han desempenado mision tan noble del modo mas cordial, mas conforme al pensamiento esplicitamente declarado por sus Gobiernos al pensamiento y al deseo del nuestro, y de todos los buenos Orientales; por lo que reconocemos deberles sincera y profunda gratitud. Permitanos V.E. consagrar en esta carta, respecto de su persona, la espresion de ese sentimiento; que agreguemos a ella la de los votos que hacemos por sus prosperidades—y le pidamos conserve siempre la memoria de nuestra Patria y la de los Ciudadanos que interpretes, sin dudaen, este acto, de la sociedad en que viven—tenemos el honor de ofrecer a V.E. el homenage del respeto, de la adhesion y de la amistad que le profesamos y con que somos. De V.E. affmos Servidores.
[TRANSLATION]
Sir,—The undersigned native citizens of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay feel the necessity of manifesting to your Excellency the very great esteem in which they hold the loyalty of your character, and the many high services that your Excellency, in the discharge of the functions confided to you by the Government of Her Majesty, your august Sovereign, has lent to the cause of the independence of our country. The war which desolates our native soil is strictly, on the part of the Orientals, a struggle of legitimate defence and of independence—a struggle which we have not provoked, and in the result of which we neither seek nor desire more than the preservation of the position in which we were placed by the compact celebrated in 1828, between the Empire of Brazil and the Argentine Republic—a position recognized by all nations, and virtually, but solemnly, guaranteed by England and France. Certain of the efficacy of this guarantee, and of the political and commercial interest of these two great Powers in the maintenance of the Oriented Nationality, with all its consequences, and in its not being crushed by an anti-social power, repelling every idea of civilization, the Orientals sought their aid, and a just and proper alliance. The principle on which this alliance was based was honourable, and its objects, besides being honourable, were civilizing and fertile in beneficial results for the external peace of these regions, and for the internal peace of our country, which we desire with all the strength we possess, having for sole object, that the Oriental family to which we belong being reconciled, it may, without foreign coercion or influence, elect, freely, and in the mode consecrated by its laws, its own government, which shall rule it in conformity with the constitution and the Oriental interests. The two agents charged in 1845, by England and France, to give aid to the Oriental nationality and restore peace to our hearths, and the Admirals Englefield and Lainé, who had command of the intervening forces, have discharged so noble a mission in the manner most cordial, most in conformity with the intentions explicitly declared by their governments, and with the thoughts and desire of ours, and of all good Orientals; for which we acknowledge that we owe them sincere and profound gratitude. We beg your Excellency will permit us to record in this letter, as regards yourself personally, the expression of this sentiment; let us add that of the wishes we entertain for your prosperity, and we beg you always to preserve a recollection of our country and that of those citizens, who, faithful interpreters of the feelings of the country in which they live, have the honour of offering to your Excellency the homage of the respect, adhesion and friendship which we possess, and with which we are,—your Excellency’s most faithful servants, &c., &c.
[B] Monsieur le Ministre Plénipotentiaire. Les soussignés, residants Français à Montevideo, ont appris avec une sincere affliction votre prochain départ pour l’Angleterre. Les preuves réitérées de votre bienveillance pour nous, le parfait accord qui a tonjours régné entre vous et Monsieur le Baron Deffaudis, votre générosité envers nos com patriotes malheureux, la noblesse de votre caractère, votre constante sollicitude à défendre les intérèts généraux du commerce, peuvent vous avoir attiré l’animosité des ennemis de l’intervention et de l’humanite; mais ils vous ont acquis la reconnaissance des populations civilisées des deux rives de la Plate. Daignez done, Monsieur le Ministre Plénipotentiaire, accepter le tribut de nos regrets les plus sinceres; croire que votre souvenir nous sera toujours cher, et agréer l’hommage des sentiments respectueux avec lesquels nous avons l’honneur d’être, Monsieur le Ministre Plénipotentiaire, vos très-obeissants serviteurs.
[C] Address of the British residents and merchants to the British minister to the states of La Plata.—We, the undersigned, British merchants and residents of Monte Video, having learned with sorrow, that your Excellency is on the eve of retiring from the position you have held amongst us, with so much credit to yourself and benefit to our country, beg leave to express our sense of admiration at the enlightened and impartial conduct, just views, and penetrating judgment which have distinguished you throughout your arduous career, during the intervention of the British and French governments in the River Plate. We gladly bear witness to the firmness, justice, and humanity, which characterized your proceedings, amidst the numerous difficulties and afflicting scenes which have often surrounded you; and we have beheld with unmixed satisfaction the constant harmony that has prevailed between your Excellency and your respected colleague, Baron Deffaudis, which as well as your individual efforts, has so greatly promoted concord and unanimity among all classes of both nations, and foreigners, in Monte Video. Impressed with a deep sense of obligation for your invariable attention to the interests of British subjects, and for your watchful care over their persons and property, whenever endangered, and also for the kindness and urbanity which have marked your personal intercourse with us, we cannot permit your Excellency to leave these shores without receiving our heartfelt thanks and grateful acknowledgments. With a just appreciation of the merits of your Excellency in your official capacity, and an affectionate regard for your private character, we beg you will accept our sincere wishes for the future health and happiness of yourself and family. We have the honour to be, &c. (Signed by 85 British residents.)
[D] This, however, is more apparent than real. Though the Earl of Derby, speaking on the Address to the Throne, the opening night of the present session, pleasantly twitted Ministers with their omission in the Royal Speech of all allusion to Sir C. Hotham’s Paraguayan mission, and with consequent indifference to its objects, it must not be inferred that the Aberdeen Cabinet is in the least degree insensible to the importance of securing such benefits to our commerce as the Malmesbury Treaty seeks to accomplish, though there may be some discrepancy of opinion as to the extent that treaty succeeded in such direction. Seven years ago, Lord Aberdeen, then foreign secretary in the Peel Administration, in his instructions to Sir William G. Ouseley, then minister at Buenos Ayres, for his guidance in the joint intervention by England and France between Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, said:—‘The war in which the Argentine arms are at present engaged, is waged against a state, the independence of which England is virtually bound to uphold.’ Lord Aberdeen instructed his minister, ‘to open up the great arteries of the South-American continent to the free circulation of commerce, would be not only a vast benefit to the trade of Europe, but a practical, and perhaps the best, security for the preservation of peace in South America.’
[E] So long ago as the reign of Elizabeth, Sir John Ouseley, of Courteen-hall, Northamptonshire, a distinguished military officer, in obedience to the orders of the Earl of Essex, then commanding in Portugal, went ambassador to the Emperor of Morocco, and subsequently fell at the siege of Breda, in 1624. The uncle of Sir William and father of the present baronet (Rev. Sir F. Arthur Gore Ouseley, to whom the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of York, and Marchioness of Salisbury, stood sponsors), was the celebrated ambassador to Persia, of which country he obtained the Order of the Lion and the Sun, and subsequently the Grand Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of St. Alexander Newski, when he was appointed plenipotentiary to St. Petersburgh. His brother, Sir William, (father of the late minister to the Plate), accompanied him to Persia, was the well-known historian of that mission, as already stated, and author of many learned Oriental works, in recognition of whose merits he received the Order of Knighthood.
[F] The eldest son of Sir William, Mr. W. Charles Ouseley, accompanied the expedition of the blockading squadron up the Parana river; and, inheriting his father’s faculty of pictorial delineation, as evinced in the ‘South American Sketches,’ contributed to that magnificent volume two subjects, taken at Corrientes, which will be found copied in the chapter devoted to that country; but, owing to haste on the part of our artist, the copy affords an imperfect idea of the original. Mr. W. C. Ouseley likewise accompanied Sir C. Hotham, as attaché, during the recent mission to Paraguay, and returned with his Excellency in the autumn of 1853.