The gods made for me.
I am happy to be able to fortify my own opinion of the attractions and conveniences of Monte Video by the very competent authority of Mr. L. Hugh de Bonelli, secretary to Her Britannic Majesty’s legation in Bolivia, who, in a very interesting couple of volumes, published by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, in the course of last month, (February, 1854,) entitled ‘Travels in Bolivia, with a Tour across the Pampas to Buenos Ayres, &c.,’ expresses himself infinitely pleased with the place; and his description is so felicitous that I venture to append it in a note.[83]
IDA A MISA—GOING TO MASS.
Since these remarks were written, the news from the Uruguay continues to be of so conclusive a character as to give every assurance that this fine country has really at last entered upon the prosperous destiny its great natural advantages so clearly point to, provided only peace were ensured. That peace will henceforth be preserved is now certain, and consequently we may calculate on ordinary events following ordinary causes, as in all other parts of the world. By the common consent of the moderate and intelligent of all classes in the Banda Oriental, Brazil has been solicited to assume the protectorate of the Republic. This high and responsible trust she has undertaken in the spirit of magnanimity and disinterestedness that will be inferred from the perusal of our observations towards the close of the chapter on Rio Janeiro. As there stated, Brazil has no acquisitive designs on Uruguayan territory; but she has a design and determination to keep peace in that state for the sake of having a quiet neighbour on her own important southern frontier, irrespective of her natural anxiety for the advancement of so important a portion of the South American east coast as has Monte Video for its capital. She has not interfered, nor does she intend to interfere, with the internal or domestic affairs of the Republic in any way, further than securing the inhabitants the exercise of the right to elect their own rulers, and securing to those so elected the right of peaceably discharging their functions without the perpetual molestations which the armed violence of military adventurers have for so many years entailed upon all administrations in succession. As the most essential preliminary to quietude, Brazil has undertaken to remove one source of ever-irritating provocation and confusion from the Uruguay, by subsidizing the government to pay what is necessary to carry on its affairs properly and efficiently, without those pecuniary impediments that have so frequently paralysed every administration in turn; but Brazil has insisted that the fiscal resources of the Republic shall not be squandered in the mere process of collection, as has been the case hitherto. Brazil, in fact, occupies the position of a police, who has only the one object to prevent outrage, compel the observance of honesty, and ensure obedience not to her arbitrary edicts or capricious ordinances, but to the recognized laws of the country itself. It is needless to say that if the native Orientals are delighted at this stable state of things following on the anarchy that had become almost chronic, still more so are the foreigners, who constitute so large a portion of the wealthy and influential trading inhabitants of the capital, and of the landed proprietary. Some suspicions have been expressed that Brazil would convert her present position to the frustration of the liberal commercial policy lately established between some of the adjoining South American states and Europe, and that Paraguay may be relegated to her former isolation once more in consequence. But nothing can be more unfounded than such apprehension; for, apart from its being the obvious interest of Brazil to bring all portions of the continent of which she forms so important a section into commercial contiguity with the old world, the former treaties between the Banda Oriental and England and France and Sardinia, and the new ones between those latter countries and Paraguay would necessarily demand an intervention from which Brazil would intuitively shrink; and, moreover, the United States of North America would immediately resent any obstructions that should impede the course of events which she evidently contemplates by despatching a diplomatic and consular representative to Paraguay. Altogether, then, there is every reason to believe that the good offices of Brazil will prove of inestimable benefit to the Uruguay, and that that Republic and England will alike find in such offices the best auxiliary to the mutually beneficial interests between the two countries.[84]
In Monte Video, accommodation for travellers is naturally very limited, principally owing to the disorganized state of the city for so many years. Still, there are some tolerably good hotels, and a fair number of cafés and restaurants. At Buenos Ayres hotels are numerous, and so far as my experience extended, the charges are by no means extravagant, as will be sufficiently proved by a perusal of my bill of costs presented to me on leaving the Hotel de Paris, where I remained some ten days, retaining my apartments, though absent up the river nearly half the time:—
| Paper dollars. | |
|---|---|
| Bedroom and sitting-room | 210 |
| Breakfasts | 20 |
| Dinners and wine | 130 |
| Lights | 11 |
| 370 | |
| Waiters and chambermaid | 50 |
| 420 | |
| Or about 5 guineas. | |
There are also plenty of good lodging and boarding-houses, several of them kept by English and other foreign residents; and the increase to this kind of accommodation appears to be only limited by the demand.