Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/752

Rh 710 [REVOLUTIONS. to lose ground, till the decisive battle of Ayacucho put an end to their power in December 1824. Rodil and Olaveta, with the obstinacy of their nation, held out for some months longer, when every chance of success was gone; but after the surrender of Callao in January 1826, the Spanish flag no longer waved on any spot in the land of the Incas. BV In New Granada and Venezuela the struggle was more rauada. bloody, variable, and protracted than in any other part of South America. As this portion of the dominions of Spain was comparatively easy of access, and from its cen tral position was in some measure the key to the whole, she made immense efforts for its preservation. No less than ten thousand troops were sent out to it within the course of one year. The patriots, on the other hand, pos sessed advantages here, in the greater intelligence of the population, and the easy intercourse with the Weat Indies. From 1809, when juntas were established in Caraccas and Quito, to the surrender of Porto Cabello in 1823, the vicissitudes of the war were numerous and e5 fcraordinary. The patriots were repeatedly on the eve of a complete triumph, and as often the state of their affairs seemed nearly hopeless. But the spirit of resistance never was entirely subdued. The cause was rooted in the hearts of the people, and was insensibly gaining ground even during its reverses. To attempt the faintest outline of the military operations would lead us beyond our proper limits. It is enough to state that the decisive victory of Carabobo, gained by the patriots in 1819, gave them an ascendancy which they never afterwards lost ; but the Spaniards, according to their custom, continued to main tain the contest as long as they had a foot of land in the country, and were only finally expelled in 1823. exico. In Mexico the revolutionary movement began at Dolores in 1810, and soon wore a very prosperous appearance; but the weakness or false pride of the Creoles, who were cajoled into the ranks of their oppressors the old Spaniards, armed against the patriots those who should have been their firmest supporters, and by one or two mischances the force of the independent &quot;^arty was ruined in November 1815, when Morelos, their able leader, was taken prisoner and executed. For six years after this period many guerilla bands maintained themselves in the provinces, and greatly annoyed the Spaniards ; but they did not act in concert, and no congress or junta professing to represent the Mexican people existed. Even during this interval the desire for independence was making great progress among the population ; but the establishment of a constitutional government in Spain in 1820, and its extension to the colonies, gave a new aspect to the affairs of Mexico. The viceroy Apodaca, while outwardly yielding obedience to the new system, was silently taking measures to effect its overthrow ; but he mis took the character of the agent he employed. This per son, the celebrated Iturbide, turned his own arms against him, proclaimed a constitution under the name of &quot; the three guarantees,&quot; and put an end to the dominion of Spain in 1821, almost without bloodshed. Iturbide, who had nothing in view but his own aggrandisement, called a O OO 7 congress, which he soon dissolved after getting himself proclaimed emperor. His usurpation kindled a spirit of resistance. He was exiled in 1823, made a new attempt on the liberties of his country in 1824, was taken prisoner, and expiated his crimes by a military death within a few weeks after he landed. uate- Guatemala was the last portion of the American con- iila- tinent which threw off the Spanish yoke. In 1821 the persons in office assembled and formed a junta. Divi sions arose, which were fomented by the intrusion of a Mexican army sent by Iturbide. This force, however, was beaten, and an elective assembly called, which de clared the country independent, and established a consti tution in July 1823. Spain now retains none of her pos sessions in the new world but Cuba and Porto Pdco. The government of Brazil was conducted by the Por tuguese on a system extremely similar to that of the Spanish colonies. The monopoly which the mother cotin- try retained of the commerce of the colony was equally rigorous ; the restrictions on its internal industry as se vere ; and the same means were employed to keep the people in a state of pupilage and ignorance. Down to 1806 a single printing-press had never existed in Brazil. In 1807, when the emperor Napoleon had resolved to possess himself of Portugal, and if possible to get the royal family into his power, the king, seeing no other means of escaping from the clutches of his enemy, cm- barked with his suite in several ships, and sailed for Brazil, where he arrived in January 1808. He was received with joy by the colonists, who anticipated great benefits from his residence, of which they were not disappointed. One by one the fetters of colonial dependence fell off. Within a few months printing-presses and newspapers were established, the ports were opened to the trade of all nations, and the people were invited and encouraged to prosecute all those branches of internal industry from which they had till now been interdicted. To crown and secure these advantages, Brazil was declared an inde pendent kingdom in 1815, subject to the crown of Portugal, but entitled to its separate administration and its own laws. The revolutionary spirit pervading the Spanish colonies now found its way into Brazil, and produced an insurrection at Pernainbuco in 1817. It was soon sub dued, but received a new impulse from the constitutional systems suddenly introduced into Spain and Portugal in 1820. To quiet the popular feeling, it was announced that the Portuguese constitution would be extended to Brazil. Before this had been done, however, the old king had sailed for Europe, leaving his son Dom Pedro to rule in his absence. The people now discovered, or believed, that the object of the king was to degrade Brazil again to the rank of a colony, and to restore the old system in all its rigour. Meetings were held, and resolutions adopted to maintain the independence of the country at all hazards ; and the patriots, gaining confidence by degrees, called loudly for the establishment of a legislature, and besought Dom Pedro to put himself at the head of the independent government. Ambition or policy induced Pedro to listen to the solicitation : in 1822 he was pro claimed emperor, and had his own title and the indepen dence of Brazil acknowledged by his father three years afterwards. A representative system was at the same time introduced. An unlucky war now arose with Buenos Ayres, which weakened both countries ; but it was at length terminated in 1828 by the recognition of the dis puted territory as an independent state under the title of the Banda Oriental. Having finished this brief notice of the series of revo lutions which broke the fetters of America, we shall now give a very short sketch of the new political order of things which has arisen out of these changes, referring for a detailed account of the several states to the articles appropriated to them in the different volumes of the pre sent work. America, with its islands, embraces at present (1874) twenty-one independent states, and various colonies belong ing to six European powers. The former are 1. The United States of North America ; 2. Brazil ; 3. Mexico ; 4. Venezuela ; 5. Colombia ; G. Ecuador or Quito ; 7. Peru; 8. Bolivia or Upper Peru ; 9. Chili; 10. La Plata, or the Argentine Republic; 11. Uruguay; 12. Paraguay; Portngi colony Brazil. Kxistin Politicr Divisio: