[II. THE YEAR 1810]
"The new government lost no time in propagating the revolution throughout the Viceroyalty, inviting the towns to follow the example of Buenos Aires, to appoint popular assemblies, and to name deputies to form a congress, which should decide their future fate. Where the people were free to express their opinions the vote was unanimous. Maldonado and Colonia, in the Banda Oriental; Las Misiones and Corrientes, La Bajada and Santa Fè, along the rivers; San Luis, in the interior of the Pampas; Mendoza and San Juan, at the foot of the Andes; Salta and Tucuman, on the confines of Upper Peru, answered the call of the capital; Chili soon afterwards following the same example."[16]
The revolution of the 25th May, 1810, was the work exclusively of the citizens of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires took upon herself the responsibility of the step, and spared neither blood nor treasure to secure to herself and to the Argentine people, that liberty which she was the first to proclaim in South America as the birthright of man. Throughout the provinces there were many friendly to the cause, but there were also many who were not so, and more still who looked on with perfect apathy, and were ready to accept as their rulers any who might claim the sceptre which had fallen from the hands of Spain.
To secure the triumph of her friends, Buenos Aires fitted out an army composed of volunteers, equipped by private subscription, and despatched it into the provinces. From Cordova this army marched to the borders of Upper Peru, under the command of Don Antonio Balcarce, defeated Goyeneche and other Spanish generals in several actions, shot General Nieto and other chiefs, and completely freed the Arribeño provinces from Spanish rule. The revolution advanced in every direction, Chili entered into strict alliance with the Junta of Buenos Aires, and sent a contingent of troops, and the auxiliary army, again victorious at Suipacha, menaced with destruction the last remnants of the Spanish army of Upper Peru.
A second expedition was also despatched to Paraguay under the command of Don Manuel Belgrano, who received the grade of general. Belgrano crossed the Paranà on the 19th December, putting to flight a small force under Colonel Thompson, which opposed his passage, and occupied the town of Itapùa.
But there was one exception to this general success which attended the first measures of the Revolutionary Junta. General Don Francisco Elio, Governor of Monte Video under the late Viceroy Cisneros, was appointed in his place Viceroy of Buenos Aires by the new Regency of Cadiz. Until the receipt of this appointment Elio had given a favourable hearing to the emissaries of the Junta Gubernativa, but he now insisted upon their recognition of his authority, and, finding his friendly overtures rejected, declared war against Buenos Aires, and despatched the Spanish squadron to blockade that port. The authority of Spain was for a time re-established throughout the Banda Oriental, but the blockade of Buenos Aires, after lasting three months, was raised in November, through the intervention of Lord Strangford, who considered the Junta Gubernativa, who ruled in the name of King Ferdinand, as the allies of Great Britain.
So ended the year 1810. During the seven months which had elapsed since the revolution of the 25th May, many reforms had been introduced into the administration, chiefly through the influence of Dr Don Mariano Moreno, secretary to the Junta Gubernativa, but even his far-seeing intellect did not fully comprehend the magnitude of the task Buenos Aires had taken upon herself.
The first aim of the patriots was to procure the concurrence of all the different provinces of the Viceroyalty. The next necessity was to organise some entirely new form of government, which should amalgamate these different provinces into one people. The history of the Argentine Republic for the next six years, is the record of struggles for these two objects, and of resistance against the attempts of Spain to re-establish her authority.
The cry of "Liberty" raised in Buenos Aires on the 25th May, 1810, had resounded throughout the Western Hemisphere, awakening responsive echoes in the hearts of the down-trodden colonists of Spain. Venezuela and Mexico had arisen against their oppressors, Chili had declared for the revolution, Peru alone remained faithful to Spain, and Peruvian troops marched under the Spanish flag against the patriot armies of Buenos Aires. But in Buenos Aires only had the champions of liberty any secure footing, to Buenos Aires alone could the enslaved peoples of America look for the full achievement of their freedom.
[16] "La Historia de Belgrano," by General Mitre, from which work the dates and facts of this Epilogue are chiefly taken.