Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/550

Rh 490 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC Santa F6&quot; was determined by the intervention of the national Government. In 1620 Buenos Ayres was separated from the authority of the Government established at Asuncion, and was made the seat of a Government extending over Mendoza, Santa FC&quot;, Entre Rios, and Corrientes, but at the same time remained, like the Government at Asuncion and that of Tucuman, which latter included Cordova, subject to the authority of the viceroyalty of Peru. After the vast expenditure of blood and treasure which was incurred by the Spaniards in establishing themselves on the River Plate as just described, the restrictive legisla tion of the home Government became a more effective hindrance to the development of its resources and the spread of civilisation over the country than the hostility of the Indian tribes. Cabot had urged the feasibility of opening an easier channel for trade with the interior of Peru through the River Plate and its tributaries than that by way of the West Indies and Panama ; and, now that his views seemed about to succeed, the interests of the trade, which had in the meantime been established by the northern route, combined to crush the threatened development of that of the River Plate. Spanish legislation endeavoured to exclude all European nations except Spain from the trade by way of the West Indies, and to prevent any trade from being transacted by way of the River Plate, thus enacting most flagrant injustice towards the people it had encouraged to settle in the latter country. The hardy pioneers of European civilisation in these regions so far overcame the pernicious influences which acted upon Spanish legislation, that in 1602 they obtained permission to export two ship loads of produce a year. But, to prevent internal trade with Peru, a custom-house was established at Cordova, to levy a duty of fifty per cent, on everything in transit to or from the River Plate. In 1665 a relaxation of this system was brought about by the continued remonstrances of the people; and in 1774 free trade was permitted between several of the American posts. In 1776, with a view to better maintaining the country against the encroachments of the Portuguese in their colonies in Brazil, Buenos Ayres was decreed the capital of a viceroyalty, with jurisdiction over the territories of the present republics of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Argentine Con federation. All this country was then opened to Spanish trade, even with Peru, and the development of its resources, so long thwarted, was allowed comparatively free play. From this time a succession of viceroys exercised jurisdic tion over the whole of these territories. Velasco, however, was made governor of the semi-civilised Indians in the Jesuit settlements of Missiones on the Rivers Parana and Uruguay, subject only to the direct authority of the home Government; and in 1806 he became also governor of the province of Paraguay, under the authority of the vice- royalty of Buenos Ayres, and these offices he still held when the independence of the country was declared. The authority of the viceroys was interrupted in the lower part of the River Plate during the wars between England and Spain. On the 27th June 1806 General Beresford landed with a body of troops from a British fleet under command of Sir Home Popham, and obtained possession of the city of Buenos Ayres. The viceroy, Sobremonte, retired to Cordova, where Liniers collected an army from all parts of the country, with which, on the 12th August, he assaulted the city, and Beresford with his troops surrendered. In the meantime Sir Home Popham had taken Maldonado; and in February 1807 Sir Samuel Auchmuty stormed and took the city of Monte Video. In May 1808 General Whitelock, with 8000 men, endeavoured to regain possession of Buenos Ayres ; but the inhabitants had made great preparations for resistance, and as all the houses were at that time built with their windows open ing on the streets, protected with strong iron railings like prison bars, and with flat roofs, each one was of itself a fortress; so that after suffering terrible slaughter in the long straight streets of the city, the invading army capi tulated, agreeing to abandon both banks of the River Plate within two months. Whitelock was brought before a court-martial appointed to inquire into the cause of the failure of the enterprise entrusted to him ; the indig nation excited against him in England, in consequence of his want of success, was as great as that excited on the River Plate against the viceroy, Sobremonte, in consequence of the first success of the English. The events which we have narrated tended to give self-con fidence to the people of Buenos Ayres, who, on applying to the home Government for assistance against the English, had been told that they must protect themselves. But the disturbances which ultimately led to the separation of the country from Spain were initiated by the refusal of the Argentines to acknowledge the Napoleonic dynasty estab lished at Madrid. Liniers, who was viceroy on the arrival of the news of the crowning of Joseph Buonaparte as king of Spain, was deposed by the adherents of Ferdinand VII. ; and on the 19th July 1809, Cisneros became viceroy in the name of Ferdinand. In compliance with the urgent appeals of the people, he opened the trade of the country to foreign nations; and on the 25th May 1810, a council was formed, with his consent, under the title of the Pro visional Government of the provinces of the Rio de la Plata. This has since been regarded as the commencement of the era of the political independence of the country. Of this council Mariano Morino, the secretary, was the most pro minent member, and the people of the city of Buenos Ayres were for some time its only effective supporters. An attempt of the Spanish party to make Cisneros presi dent of the council failed, and he retired to Monte Video. On the 31st January 1813 a congress was assembled at Buenos Ayres, and Posadas was elected dictator of the republic. Monte Video still supported the cause of Spain, but was besieged by the revolutionary army of Buenos Ayres, &quot;and capitulated in 1814. A sanguinary struggle between the party of independence and the adherents of Spain spread over all the country of the River Plate ; but on the 25th March 1816, a new congress of deputies elected by the people was assembled at Tucuman, where Payridon was declared president of the republic ; and on the 9th July the separation of the country from Spain was formally declared, and a state of comparative order was re-esta blished. Buenos Ayres was then declared the seat of government. The whole of the viceroyalty did not, how ever, acknowledge this Government. Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, established themselves each as a separate republic, after passing through scenes of disorder, whilst the city of Buenos Ayres was itself the scene of sanguinary disturbances. From this time, however, the struggle for independence became, as regards the Argentine Republic, more of a foreign than a domestic war. The combined forces of Buenos Ayres and Chili defeated the Spaniards at Chacabuco in 1817, and at Maypu in 1818; and from Chili the victorious General San Martin led his troops into Peru, where, on the 9th July 1821, he made a triumphal entry into the city of Lima, which had been the greatest stronghold of the Spanish power, having been, from the time of its foundation by Pizarro, the seat of government of the viceroyalty of Peru. A general congress was assembled at Buenos Ayres on the 1st March 1822, in the presence of ambassadors from all the liberated states, and a general amnesty was decreed, though the war was not ended until the 9th December 1824, when the republican forces gained the final victory of Ayacucho, in the Peruvian