CHAP. VII. POWER VESTED IN ROSAS. 89 a convocation of the partisans of the Governor for the time being, much more likely to confirm than to control his despotic sway. Without any defined league or general engagement amongst themselves, even to guarantee the integrity of the Republic, or anything like a congress or representative body to watch over their common interests since the dissolution of that in 1827, they have been obliged to delegate to the executive Government of Buenos Ayres the sole and entire charge of all their national concerns-their defence in war-the maintenance of their foreign relations -the management of the public debt-and of all matters of common interest to the republic at large-a trust which, in virtue of the unlimited powers conferred upon General Rosas, the present Governor of Buenos Ayres, has become, de facto, vested, with all its duties and responsibilities, in one single individual—a strange ending of a struggle for Federalism. The pretext for giving these extraordinary powers to General Rosas has been the civil and foreign wars in which the Republic has been engaged for many years past. That however cannot last for ever; and for the respectability as well as interests of the Republic it seems to be admitted by all parties that the sooner their national Government can be placed upon a more constitutional and promising footing the better. Under the present circumstances of the provinces, and after the failure of so many constituent congresses, it has been suggested that this object might perhaps be brought about with the least amount of difficulty or risk of causing the people of the interior any fresh fears for their provincial independence, by their agreeing to the occasional convocation of a Diet, something like that of the Germanic States at Frankfort, under the recognised presidency of the Government of Buenos Ayres, which might be as limited as they please in its objects, and strictly confined to conferences upon matters affecting the interests of the Confederation in common. Some such arrangement would realize the Form as well as the Name of a Confederation. It is not my purpose to attempt more than a general L outline of the events which have led to this state of things in the Argentine Republic, or to enter into the details of the party struggles and domestic troubles which have been so fatal to the progress of their social organization it would be a thankless office to attempt to do so in the still excited state of parties in those countries, and would be of little interest, even if it could be made intelligible, to English readers. As one of their own ministers once observed to me, "Theirs is as yet but the A B C of government, the beginnings of which, like the foundation-stones of a new building, are perhaps better kept out of view." I may, however, observe that if the people of these provinces have made as yet but small progress compared with what was expected of them, the same difficulty in arriving at any settled political organization is equally manifest in all the new Spanish American States, although under circumstances very dissimilar as regards their locality, climate, wants and physical condition, with hardly one common element, in fact, amongst them, save their having been all brought up in, and habituated to, the same colonial system of the old mother country which seems to have been so effectual, as doubtless it was intended to be, in unfitting the people for a state of civil liberty and independence, and rendering them helpless as children when left to themselves and thrown upon their own resources. Our ignorance in England of the real state of the people of South America when they first separated from Spain, naturally led us to look back to what had taken place in our own North American colonies, and, with but little discrimination perhaps, to anticipate the same rapid advance in their social condition, whereas nothing in reality could be more dissimilar than the circumstances of the colonial subjects of Great Britain and Spain when their political emancipation took place. In the British Colonies the foundations of good government were already laid, the principles of civil administration were perfectly understood, and the transition was almost imperceptible. On the other hand, in the Spanish Colonies the whole policy of the mother country seems to have been based on perpetuating the servile state and ignorance of the natives: branded as an inferior race, they were, with rare exceptions, excluded from all offices of trust and honour in the civil, military, or ecclesiastical departments of the government, from commerce, and every other pursuit which might tend to the development of native talent or industry. The very history of their own country was withheld from them, no doubt lest it should open their eyes to the reality of their condition.* When the struggle came, the question of their independence was soon settled irrevocably; but as to the elements for the construction at once of anything like a good government of their own, they certainly did not exist. Under these circumstances what was perfectly natural took place; in the absence of any other real power, that of military command, which had grown out of the war, obtained an ascendancy, the influence of which in all the new States became soon apparent. They fell, in fact, all of them more or less under military despotism; the people, dazzled with the victories and martial achievements of their leaders, imperceptibly passed from one yoke to another. It is true that National Congresses and Legislative Assemblies were everywhere convoked; but generally aiming at more than was practicable or compatible with their circumstances, they in most instances failed, and by their failure rather confirmed the absolute power of the military chiefs. * The following Decree, prohibiting Robertson's History of America,' by Galvez, the Spanish Minister in 1779, must be seen to be believed:--- “CIRCULAR. "El Exmo. Sr. virey de estas provincias en oficio de 7 del presente me dice lo siguiente. "El Sr. D. José de Galbez, en carta de 22 de Diciembre del año próximo pasado, me dice lo siguiente: El Dr. Guillermo Robertson, Rector de la Universidad de Edinburgo, y cronista de Escocia, ha escrito y publicado, en idioma Ingles, la historia del descubrimiento de la America ; y teniendo el rey justes motivos para que dicha obra no se introduzca en España ni sus Indias, ha resuelto su ma gestad, que con el mayor rigor y vigi- The South Americans, however, abolished the slave trade, put an end to the tribute money and the mita, or forced service of the Indians,-to the Inquisition, and the use of the torture; passed laws to secure the person from arbitrary arrest; nominally sanctioned, more or less, the liberty of the press; and invited foreigners to establish themselves in the country-measures which gained them popularity and support amongst men of liberal principles in Europe, who fancied they saw in them evidences of a fitness amongst the people at large for free institutions; but this was an error. The people of South America shouted, indeed, with their leaders, "Independence and Liberty," and gallantly fought for and established the first; but as to Liberty, in our sense of the word, they knew very little about it: how could they? To speak of the people of the provinces of La Plata : up to the period when they assumed the management of their own affairs, throughout the whole of that vast extent of country from Lima to Buenos Ayres, more than a thousand leagues, including many cities and populous towns, with their universities and colleges, and schools, and tribunals of justice, civil and ecclesiastical, there was but one miserable old printing press known to exist, which had formerly belonged to the Jesuits of Cordova.* In the greater part of the provinces there is no such thing to this day. The Code of the Indies, devised for a totally different state of things-for bondsmen, not freemen- the real yoke of the mother country, is still hanging about their necks. They have yet practically to learn that true liberty in a civilised state of society can only really exist where the powers of the ruling authorities are duly defined and counterbalanced, and where the laws-not the colonial laws of Old Spain-are so administered by honest and independent Judges as to ensure to every member of the community entire security of person as well as of property, prompt redress for wrongs, and the right of freely expressing his political opinions. * See Pazos' Letters on the United Provinces of South America, addressed to the Hon. Henry Clay. 1819. > CHAP. VII. SLOW GROWTH OF FREE INSTITUTIONS. 93 It is the working of such laws that makes men really free, and fit for the enjoyment of free institutions; but such a state of things is not brought about in a day, or in a generation, nor can it be produced by any parchment Constitution, however perfect in theory. To quote the words of one of our own most eminent Constitutional authorities," There is no such thing as Liberty in the abstract: it cannot result from a single law, nor even from the will of the people; it must be bound up with, and form part of, the customs and usages which distinguish one nation from another." "The most perfect system of laws in theory, as well as the most perfect forms of government which the philosopher can devise, are of no force unless they have been rendered by usage congenial to the feelings and manners of the people. Quid leges sine moribus?' says the poet, who speaks only the language of truth in saying that laws avail nothing unless founded upon the habits and usages of a nation."* If the experiment has so often failed in some of the oldest states of Europe, is it reasonable that we should expect it to be more successful in such infant states as these new Republics, where the whole of an ancient systemand that a Spanish one-must be remodelled according to the requirements of an entirely new state of the population? Time and we of all people in the world ought best to know how long a time. time is requisite to bring such good fruit to maturity. Education, the Press, a more frequent intercourse with the rest of the world, and experience not the less valuable because dearly bought, are all tending gradually to enlighten the inhabitants of these new countries, and to prepare them for their future destinies. Spain, knowing as she did the consequences of her own colonial system, and the incapacity for self-government in which it had left the South Americans, might well urge that as an argument against the recognition of their independence by other countries; but it was to little purpose she did so when it was manifest to all the world that her * Lord Abinger's Charge to the Grand Jury of Leicester in 1839. |