LAS LABANDERAS—THE LAUNDRESSES.
PLAZA DE LA VICTORIA.
BOTICA—CHEMIST’S SHOP.
We have said there is a large foreign population, some say 50,000; but though that must be a great exaggeration, there are at all events some 5000 English of all denominations, many being small tradesmen, and not a few owners of cattle and cultivators of the soil in the province; the Anglo Buenos Ayrean community mustering altogether in sufficient strength to support liberally a well-conducted though not always impartial local organ of their own, in their own language, called the British Packet, which holds somewhat the same rank among the family of John Bull on the East coast of South America that Galignani does in Paris—saving the political neutrality of the latter. There is a tolerably handsome well-frequented English, and several other protestant churches, nearly all of which have good schools in connection with them; as have also the places of worship belonging to the Germans, who muster to the number of about 900, or nearly equal to the Scotch; but the governmental influence exercised over these schools renders them less satisfactory to the parents of the children than could be desired. It is to be hoped that now there is a stable form of administration established, there will be a reformation in this respect; for, from the circumstance of Buenos Ayres possessing many institutions for the promotion of science, for painting and drawing, and some excellent libraries, not saying anything of several good newspapers, which, though in Spanish, are very useful to the foreign inhabitants, the city is perhaps one of the best for educational purposes in South America. Indeed, there is a very English aspect in many features of Buenos Ayres, not the least prominent of which are perhaps the hotels and boarding-houses, several of these establishments being conducted by English people, and by natives of the United States. Anglo intermarriages with the natives are frequent, and a few years of peace and tranquillity here, as at Monte Video, would give a wonderful impetus to population, and to the trade of the place. Some railway projects were being talked of when I was there, and still more sanguinely since I left. These, if undertaken by joint stock companies on the spot, may be carried out with remunerative success; but the government are totally helpless in the present state of their finances. One railway scheme, from the mole round to the custom-house along the margin of the river, would be a great public convenience, and easily made. Railways and steam navigation must be established, to drive these countries a-head, or they will recede into a state of semi-barbarism. They cannot stand still, or remain in their present normal condition; and it is to be hoped they will take heart of grace from the position and example of Brazil, which shows that it is not climate, race, geographical position, nor fertility of soil, that gives prosperity to a country; but 1st, peace, and, above all, internal peace; and, 2ndly, a determination to avail of the advantages which peace alone permits of, when it is a peace secured, not by the leaden despotism of a Paraguayan Francia or a Muscovite Nicholas, but by a constitutional government, rendering every man equal in the eye of the law, and rendering the law equally applicable to every man’s case, from the President or Emperor, to the humblest citizen, whatever his creed, colour, or profession. In reference to the system of government prevailing in Buenos Ayres, it is only necessary to say that, like all the South American republics, nominal freedom is maintained on the widest basis. Forty-four deputies, one-half of whom are elected every year by the people, compose the junta, or legislative assembly, by whom the governor,[90] or captain-general, is chosen for three years, he being altogether unfettered in his choice of ministry, but their policy must of course be acceptable to the junta to be rendered effective, as in the case of the British Cabinet and House of Commons. The provisional governor now in office is Don Manuel Pinto; and from all I could hear, his conduct, and that of his ministers, is regarded with as much general favour as could be reasonably expected, considering his and their exceedingly anomalous position. For it is to be remembered that Buenos Ayres is, de jure, a province of the Argentine Confederation, and yet de facto, separated from it, the difficulty being to determine how far either condition is acceptable, or the contrary, whether to the Buenos Ayreans themselves, or to any, and how many, of the other provinces, whose constancy to any one view, whether as affecting their individual or federative status, cannot be counted upon for a month together. I had not an opportunity of attending the Buenos Ayrean Assembly, but believe that the description given of that at Rio is tolerably applicable to it, and that both, and indeed those of all the states of the continent, were very accurately pourtrayed by Mr. Robinson several years ago, nothing whatever having occurred since to qualify his sketch, viz.,—