TAMBO A REAL EL VASO—MILK AT A RIAL A GLASS.
To judge from the number of vessels and small craft laying in the harbour, you would conclude a large trade was carried on; but such is not exactly the case, although matters are fast improving; the custom-house revenue, from being down to 700,000 dollars, is now doubled, or 1,400,000 dollars, against 3½ millions of dollars which it returned in 1842, previous to the siege. The work of destruction was industriously pursued during that disastrous period, and for hundreds of miles the Banda Oriental was not only shorn of its cattle but of its population. The land, in fact, was rendered a desert waste, and made only subservient to the wants of Oribe’s army. Future annalists will hardly believe it possible that the history of a second Troy could be illustrated in the duration of the aggression it was subjected to, under the protective cannon of the two most powerful nations of Europe, France and England; but such, alas! was the fact; and the recent melancholy position of Monte Video is the fruit of an intervention that was not rendered effective, as it might have been, if vigorously followed up in conformity with the judicious advice of the resident English minister during a great part of the troubles, and whose wise suggestions are now reverted to with regretful but admiring respect, by all dispassionate men in Europe or America who have read the then requirements of the Plate by the light of subsequent experience.[79] Indeed, that this feeling has at length prevailed is shown by acts, more of justice than of favour, on the part of succeeding governments that, though tardy, are not the less honourable to those concerned. It will require many years of peaceful industry to restore this district to what it was in 1842, rich as the soil undoubtedly is, and reproductive as its affluence in cattle may be. In the meantime, a good deal of produce is brought hither from the neighbouring ports and down the rivers, in small craft, which occupy a long time on the voyage; and some idea may be formed of the number of these conveyances, when I mention having seen one as high as No. 1,200 at Buenos Ayres, where they are all numbered, and, it is to be presumed, at Monte Video likewise. It is hardly necessary to say that there is a strong rivalry between the two ports for this kind of trade, and also in numerous other respects; but Monte Video has immeasurably the advantage as a harbour, and it might be rendered as commodious as any in the world by a little energy and judicious outlay. It is much to be regretted that this peaceful rivalry should not be the predominant incentive to mercantile action, instead of each country wasting its strength and energies in interminable political squabbles. But both have paid so bitterly for the indulgence of these internecine animosities, that they are at length beginning to learn charity and reciprocal indulgence of each other’s foibles; and there is a reasonable probability that this mutual comparative toleration is the precursor of joint stability of institutions, and of that solid and progressive prosperity of which each is so eminently capable. A most remarkable evidence of the growth of this better spirit was afforded on the occasion of some disturbances in the Banda Oriental, at the close of last year, when the authorities at Buenos Ayres actually offered to place their vessels of war at the disposal of the Uruguayan authorities, for the maintenance of peace and order. This the latter were fortunately able to preserve without extraneous aid; the proffer of which, from such a quarter, augurs the advent of an era when peace as well as plenty shall take up its abiding place in these luxuriant regions, from which it seems to have fled from the hour the white man set foot upon the soil. But the good time, so ardently desiderated, is not yet exactly arrived; for such is the fluctuating condition of things in these countries, that almost every alternate mail brings accounts that upset all one’s previous calculations, and hardly is the ink dry with which we record our felicitations on the seeming solidity of peace, when tidings of civil broils once more open the door of incertitude as to the present, and the worst apprehensions as to the future. But Brazil is now the great peace-maker, and, as long as she is so, outrage at least is impossible.
One of the old defences of Monte Video is a Spanish wall, of which only a portion remains, with a Moorish-looking gateway, which has a very picturesque air about it, contrasting with the modern appearance of the houses near it. Through the gateway is visible a large quadrangular building, apparently used as a barrack in former times, but now appropriated to a much more useful purpose, that of a public market; and early in the morning may be seen dozens of people going to and fro with their purchases for the day—meat, fish, and fine vegetables. The latter appear to be in profusion; and some cauliflowers were far the largest I ever saw. Things of this sort are dear, owing to the limited cultivation, which is carried on chiefly by the Basque population, whilst the boatmen who ply for hire about the port are Italians to a man.[80] Some idea may be formed of the scarcity of labourers, when the commonest cannot be got on board ship for less than 2 dollars each (eight shillings) per day, and this must be a great drawback to the progress of the place; otherwise, what may be seen of the soil, even close to the walls of Monte Video, proves that anything could be grown there under proper cultivation. Hedges of immense aloes, cactus, clover, and other spontaneous vegetation, are everywhere visible; whilst near the edge of the bay there is splendid granite rock, in any quantity, for building purposes and paving the streets. True, you see no trees about, as they were all levelled for firewood, &c.; but that the soil close to the town can grow thousands of them, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt, and the territory of the Uruguay itself, in many parts, is famous for its timbered affluence. The citizens are now planting some trees, and with peace for a few years, the outskirts of Monte Video would present a very different appearance indeed to what they do at present. The walls of the English burial-ground were also levelled during the siege; and there is now only a hedge of aloes, which does not hide even the tombstones. Owing to that and other circumstances, there is some talk of the site being removed. Before our arrival, a revolution, attended with some bloodshed, had again broken out, and things appeared in a very unsettled state, finally coming to a head by a total upset of the then existing president, Giro, and his foreign minister, Berro, who took refuge in a French vessel of war.[81] A provisional government was soon formed, which certainly seemed to carry with it the sympathies of the people, who, it is to be hoped, will settle down again quietly—a consummation to which everything that has happened, as far as is known in Europe, since our departure, would seem to be steadily tending. Hitherto, as is notorious to every one, the great curse of these countries is personal ambition; for no man considers it necessary to consult the interests of his fellow-citizens beyond what will serve his own purpose. Such a principle as that of true patriotism, or dispensing legislation for the good of the many, was a mere chimera, and no wonder the masses should at length kick against a system by which they are always sufferers.
Fortunately, however, a most marked change in this respect has recently occurred. The love of anarchic excitement has well nigh subsided, even amongst the most volatile and hitherto inflammable portion of the population; while the sentiment conveyed in the Shakspearean malison, ‘A plague on both your houses,’ is that uppermost in the mouths of the really intelligent and respectable classes of every way of thinking, when appealed to by contending chiefs, panting for public embroilment for the sake of personal aggrandisement. A most striking, and, it is to be hoped, conclusive, evidence of this was furnished in the case of the recent ejection of the President Giro, or, rather, his own renunciation of office and attempted exercise of its functions afterwards; for, rather than join any standard, at least any that involved the disruption of the public peace, certain classes, who had hitherto been at the beck of every incendiary in turn, actually fled into the country and hid themselves, for fear of being compelled to participate in scenes they had previously so often rejoiced to riot in. The adherents of the Giro government have since made an attempt to seize upon the power they have so capriciously abandoned, and succeeded in producing some confusion for a while, especially at Colonia, whence the authorities had to fly in a whale-boat to Buenos Ayres; but the provisional executive, strong in the pacific disposition of the whole people, as already adverted to, quickly succeeded in restoring order, and maintained it with firmness and temper, till Brazil has insured enduring peace.
In speaking of the overthrow or dissolution of the recent government of President Giro, it may be necessary to state, in justice to a deserving and distinguished public servant, Sen. Don F. Castellanos, that he had no hand whatever in the circumstances which led to that occurrence, having many months before resigned the office of Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the duties of which he discharged with exemplary assiduity, ability, and success, under the exceedingly difficult obligations imposed upon the State of the Uruguay, subsequent to the siege being suddenly raised by the defeat and flight of Rosas. M. Castellanos, whose personal acquaintance I had the honour of making, is a gentleman of European as well as American repute, being well versed in the constitutional laws of the New World, and familiar with the institutions and literature of the old, speaking French and English with facility and correctness. During his administration everything possible was done to supply that great desideratum of the Uruguay and of all the South American states—immigration from Europe. To this end Senr. Castellanos, shortly after he accepted office, addressed a despatch to the Consul-General for the Republic of the Uruguay in London, commanding him to make known to all whom it might concern, that the whole of the fertile territory of the Banda Oriental was in a condition of perfect tranquillity, in which it has virtually since remained, notwithstanding the sudden cessation since of the government of which he was at the time the Foreign Minister. He stated that the authorities were anxious to receive any number of peaceable, well-disposed European emigrants, to whose industry they were prepared to guarantee all the protection extended to native citizens, together with peculiar exemptions because of their introduction of skill and capital. Complete toleration in all matters of religious observance was insured; and, in a word, every inducement held out to the redundant population of the Old World to avail itself of the fruitful soil and genial climate of a constitutionally governed country, admirably adapted in every respect to Europeans of the Saxon and German stock, the climate being temperate and healthy in an eminent degree, and its numerous rivers, extensive sea-coast, and noble harbours, affording every facility for commerce. In the present condition of our Russian trade in tallow, for whose production this region has unlimited capabilities, as it has for another staple—cotton—whose supply is by no means encouragingly ‘looming in the future,’ the announcement here made is likely to have the effect of directing towards the La Plata a considerable stream of emigration, which circumstances of various kinds—moral, sanative, and social—may repel from quarters more alluring to the inconsiderate millions. Indeed, we understand that a formidable ‘exodus,’ as the phrase is, may be looked for shortly from the Rhenish provinces on the Swiss border, to the Banda Oriental; and that an organization on a very large scale is being matured for colonizing with Germans several hundred thousand acres of the beautiful undulating tract on the borders of the Rivers Arapey Grande, Arapey Chico, and the Curaeim. There is no doubt that the causes which attract the industry and energy of the prudent Germans in this marked manner will also draw a great number of English agricultural settlers to the neighbourhood of a city in which so much English capital and enterprise are being commercially employed as in Monte Video; and a very potent stimulus to the wishes of the Uruguayan government in this respect must be afforded by the new Liverpool line of steamers, running monthly to Brazil and the Plata, under circumstances very different from those that formerly characterised the Anglo steam communication with that part of South America.
Some twelve years since, slavery was abolished in the territory of the Republic. Many hands, then obliged to devote themselves to tillage, abandoned it in order to occupy themselves in some other branches of industry which appeared to them more lucrative. Agriculture, which even then was not engaged in to any great extent, felt the blow; but what appeared fatal to it was converted into a benefit. For slaves was substituted free labour, because the government at once comprehended the necessity of favouring, by all possible means, the principal branch of industry which supports states; and agriculture, instead of dwindling away, comparatively flourished. The abandonment of the most fertile plains, and the prices of their produce, encouraged strangers to come to cultivate them; and not only did agriculture gain in extent, but the soil likewise in production, which was doubled by industry. Attracted by the certainty of profit, and encouraged by the government, the emigration to the Uruguay was daily increased, and vessels, loaded with 200 to 300 emigrants, continually arrived at Monte Video. More than one company has been formed, in order, in conjunction with the government, to promote emigration to the interior of the country and its colonization. One, under the name of ‘Pastoral and Agricultural Company of Merinos,’ (Sociedade Agricola Pastoral de Merinos) is establishing a colony near the village of Carmelo, to which it destines a large tract of land. In its centre will be formed a city, under the name of Pueblo de la Estrella; and the same colony will have a normal school of agriculture, and a garden of acclimatization and practical essays of this science. On the banks of the Uruguay, an agricultural colony of European families of the same class is also being established. In the same manner a town will be constructed there, the plan of which is being formed. Another agricultural society of the colony has promoted an association among the inhabitants of the city of Colonia, for the colonization of the country. Some time ago it issued the greater portion of its shares, and, as I learned, intended to import from the Canary Islands 50 agricultural families, of four persons each, to whom to distribute lands, seeds, instruments, &c. In the department of Soriano, other societies intend to introduce 800 to 1,000 European families, who are to devote themselves to agriculture; lastly, the necessity for the encouragement of colonization is everywhere recognized, and its promotion is sought in every possible way.
These and many other schemes of a somewhat similar kind are yet a very long way indeed from fruition; and some considerable time must elapse before they can be anything but dreams. Doubtless the disturbed state of Europe will lend a great impetus to the immigration we have spoken of, and the mere talk of the improvements we adverted to bespeaks a yearning after social good that must ultimately realize its own object. For one who knows the people well, says:—