VISTA DE UNA CASA SOBRE EL RIO—VIEW OF A HOUSE ON THE RIVER.
The form of South American debates is this: members take their seats, having previously assembled in an ante-room, till a sufficient number is collected to constitute what is called a ‘sala,’ and by us, ‘a house.’ The government secretaries or ministers have their respective places, but no vote in the house. The president (or speaker) sits at a table on a platform raised above the level of the room. There is a bell at his right-hand, with which he tinkles to order. He has a secretary on either side of him; and one or two reporters are seated immediately under him. In some places, the members speak in a sitting position, which, to an Englishman, has an awkward effect. In other places they mount up into a ‘tribuno,’ or rostrum. By the former position the graces and vehemence of action are precluded; and by the latter, not only does action become a mere studied display, but the notion of business is superseded by the expectancy of a formal oration. We cannot reconcile it to ourselves in the one case, to see a man sitting and taking his snuff-box out, during the heat of debate (himself being at once the snuffer and the speaker), any more than in the other we can feel ourselves warmed by the over-wrought rapidity of action of a mercurial spirit, or the measured solemnity of a grave one, putting forth its ebullitions from a box, of which the sides are too high for elbow-room. South American members of parliament, in the exercise of a politeness not in use with ours, do not at once rise to speak, but preface all they have to say with a ‘pido la palabra,’ that is, ‘I desire leave to speak.’ The president nods assent. His eye has been caught; and the honourable member proceeds in a strain, that, in accordance, at first, with the modesty of his appeal, rises by degrees, into such rude charges, and round assertions against his opponents, as to draw from them, long before he has finished, loud and frequent interruptions, much denial of premises, and motioning of the hand and head, as if to say, ‘You shall have an answer.’ This impatience often proceeds so far, not on the part of the immediate opponent alone, of the speaking member, but of all who take a different view of the case, that the president is obliged to tinkle many times the bell by which he calls the members to order before he can procure it; and no sooner is it procured, than it is again interrupted. There are frequent calls, during the heat of debate, for the ‘quarto intermedio,’ or quarter of an hour’s rest; and few subjects, indeed, are ever deemed of interest enough to warrant a prolongation of the morning sitting, which ends at two o’clock P.M., or of the evening one, which closes at nine. In an early congress of Buenos Ayres, some point was discussed of such unusual importance, that at five o’clock in the afternoon the sitting had not come to a close. At this hour, a worthy but rather gastronomic member rose and said: ‘Gentlemen, I beg you to observe, that if we thus prolong our debates beyond our regular dinner-hour, these political discussions will at last land us in our graves.’ He was cheered by all the old doctors present; and more regular hours were thenceforth observed. Mr. Brotherton would be a well-supported member in the Buenos Ayres House of Commons.
IDA AL BAILE—GOING TO THE BALL.
The agremens of social life for natives, and, what is still more rare in South American cities, for foreigners, are numerous. Not only are there comfortable Club-Houses, to which they resort in considerable numbers, but there is the opera for lovers of music—an art, or rather a passion pursued here with even greater devotion than in the rival sister city of the Plate, of which we have spoken in the previous chapter; but here of course this passion is far more effectually administered to than at Monte Video, because of the presence of a well-supported and very effective lyric corps. As with ourselves at home, to be sure, the opera-house is resorted to not exclusively because of its chromatic or choreographic allurements, but for the fashion of the thing, and, on the part of the male sex, for the sake of the opportunity of witnessing the Buenos Ayrean belles, who, on such occasion, are seen to infinite advantage, probably even more so than on the Prado, in all the magic of mantilla, and that peculiarly bewitching gait they derive from their Andalusian mammas. Much as I had heard before-hand of what Lord Palmerston, in describing aldermen’s wives at Lord Mayors’ dinners, calls the ‘galaxy of beauty’ which assembles in the Buenos Ayrean Opera-House, I was altogether unprepared for the reality; and certainly I never saw so many charming looking women collected together, especially in a part of the theatre corresponding to our upper boxes, but here nicknamed the Hen-Coop, into which sanctum none of the worser half of humanity is admitted any more than is the better half in the Omnibus Box in Covent Garden, or what used to be such when there was a place once known as Her Majesty’s Theatre. Unlike our Omnibus Box, however, the Hen-Coop admits of its occupants being seen by the whole house, and the privilege is apparently no less gratifying to those who dispense than those who participate in it. In the regular dress boxes, ladies and gentlemen mingle as with us; and whether in mien, physiognomy, or manners, may challenge comparison with any audience I have ever seen anywhere. The Buenos Ayrean ladies are social and unreserved, without the least degree of boldness or effrontery; they mix freely with foreigners, and go about out of doors without either duenna or cavalier servente. The peculiar custom of seeming exclusiveness at the theatre just alluded to, arises from a wish to go unattended whenever they feel disposed, in their regular sitting or house dresses, which evince great natural taste and simplicity, and not from any wish to avoid the company of the other sex. Coming out of the theatre, they are met by their brothers, parents, or husbands, and walk home as unceremoniously as they go. Among their other accomplishments should be included a peculiarly graceful equestrianism, which invariably excites the admiration of all Europeans in a marked degree, and not the least so of the English, who pursue the sports of the turf with the ardour which our countrymen carry with them for that pastime wherever they go. The Buenos Ayrean races are very popular with the inhabitants; and in return their fetes and festivals find considerable favour in British eyes.[91]
PIESTAS MAYAS.—MAY-DAY IN BUENOS AYRES.
Since the restoration of peace, consequent upon the raising of the blockade by Urquiza, the trade of Buenos Ayres has wonderfully improved, and not only as regards the exports of the staples of the Plate of which we have already spoken, but in the imports of all manner of European luxuries;[92] and the letters that continue to be received here by every mail represent the animation in commercial circles as most buoyant.[93] There is now the greatest reason to believe that this state of things will long continue, or at least not be terminated by civil war, notwithstanding the fact of Urquiza having been re-appointed President of all the provinces of the Confederation, with the exception of that of Buenos Ayres. Brazil, having effected the tranquillization of the Banda Oriental, must of course be equally solicitous for the peace of the whole region on either side of the Plate; and now that the Uruguay is thus effectually closed against the machinations of any of the agitators of the Confederation, it is to be presumed that the object for which this country[94] made such costly but abortive efforts will at length be accomplished, and in a great degree by the instrumentality that would have been employed there had judicious advice been followed, viz. by the firm mediation of Brazil.