Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/551

Rh ARGENTINE REPUBLIC 491 districts of the Amazon. The Spanish Government did not, however, formally acknowledge the independence of the country until the year 1842. On the 23d January 1825, a National Constitution for the federal states which form the present Argentine Republic was decreed ; and on the 2d February of the same year, Sir Woodbine Parish, acting under the instructions of Mr Canning, signed a com mercial treaty in Buenos Ayres, by which the British Government acknowledged the independence of the country, For details of the history of the country up to the time of independence the reader is referred to the work of Sir Woodbine Parish, and to the Historia Argentina, published in Buenos Ayres. These works have been followed in this short narrative, except when otherwise stated, or in unquestionable matters to which they do not allude. Whilst the events already described were in progress, Buenos Ayres was involved in a war with Brazil, in conse quence of the Government of the country having, in 1817, taken possession of the Banda Oriental, which, under the rule of Artigas, had become a scene of anarchy. Buenos Ayres, unassisted by the northern provinces, waged war with Brazil for the possession of the Banda Oriental, until, in the year 1827, by the mediation of England, that country was made independent of both powers. The origin and progress of that war are more connected with the history of the Oriental than with that of the Argentine Republic. Under the new regime, inaugurated as above described in 1825, Rivadavia, who was elected president, endeavoured to establish a strong central government ; and his party obtained the name of Unitarians in contradistinction to their opponents the Federals, who endeavoured to keep each state or province as independent as possible of the National Government. At the expiration of Rivadavia s term of office his opponents triumphed in the election of Vicente Lopez as president ; and he was followed in 1827 by Dorrego, another represen tative of the Federal party. The Unitarians, under the leadership of General Lavalle and his troops, relieved from the war in the Banda Oriental, rebelled against the admini stration, and in 1828 they defeated the Federals, under Dorrego and General Rosas, in a battle in which Dorrego was taken prisoner and afterwards shot. General Rosas then became chief of the Federal party. In 1829 he defeated Lavalle ; and obtaining from Congress, during a &quot; reign of terror, such extraordinary powers as enabled him to rule as dictator, he became as hostile to many members of the Federal party as to the Unitarians. In 1838, a dispute between Rosas and the French Government led to a blockade of the port of Buenos Ayres by the French fleet; and, encouraged by this occurrence, Lavalle, in 1839, returned to the country to rally the Unitarian party. In 1 840 he invaded the province of Buenos Ayres at the head of troops raised chiefly in the province of Entre Rios ; but he was routed by the Federal army under General Pacheco, and was chased as far as the city of Jujuy, where he was overtaken and shot by troops under the command of Oribe. The rule of Rosas was now one of terror and almost inces sant bloodshed in Buenos Ayres, whilst his partisans, General Oribe and Colonel Mazza, endeavoured to exter minate the Unitarians throughout the province. This scene of slaughter was extended to the Banda Oriental by the attempt of Oribe, with the support of Rosas, and of Urquiza, governor of Entre Rios, to establish himself as president of that republic, whose existing Government was hostile to Rosas, and sheltered all political refugees from the country under his despotic rule. The siege of Monte Video by the forces of Rosas led to a joint intervention of England and France, and in 1815 the English minister plenipotentiary declared Buenos Ayres blockaded, and deter- mired to establish direct communications with the Republic of Paraguay by ascending the Parana, the right of navigat ing which was denied to foreign flags by Rosas, who had always refused to acknowledge the separation of the Govern ment of Paraguay from the authority of Buenos Ayres. At Point Obligado, just above the delta of the river, a severe fight occurred, in which the men of the combined squadrons landed and carried the batteries by storm, after Captain Hope of the &quot;Firebrand&quot; and his crew had succeeded in cutting a heavy iron chain which closed the river under their fire. The allied forces then proceeded to Paraguay, and proclaimed the navigation of the mighty river which forms the highway to that country free to all nations. Ineffectual attempts were made by the allies to induce the people of the River Plate, and more especially Urquiza, to rise against the despotic rule of Rosas ; and finding the accomplishment of this impracticable without an army, they withdrew their several forces, and raised the blockade of Buenos Ayres in 1847. Brazil, whose alliance England and France had rejected in consequence of the opposition of that country to the English policy in the suppression of the slave trade, now came to terms with Urquiza ; and the forces of Brazil, under Caxias, allied with those raised and commanded by Urquiza, invaded the province of Buenos Ayres, and routed the army of Rosas on the 3d February 1852 at Monte Caseros, about 10 miles from the city. Rosas escaped from the battlefield in disguise, and sought protection at the house of the English charge d affaires^ whom he was conveyed on board H.B.M. steamer &quot; Locust,&quot; leaving the city in a delirium of joy at its sudden emancipation from, his tyranny. A provisional Government was formed under Urquiza, and the Brazilian and Oriental troops retired. Urquiza then assembled all the provincial governors at San Nicholas, in the province of Buenos Ayres, and on the 31st May they proclaimed a new constitution, with Urquiza as provisional director of the Argentine nation. This constitution gave each province two representatives in the Senate or Upper Chamber of a Congress of Representatives, which was duly elected and met at Santa Fe ; but the people of Buenos Ayres, consider ing that their political and commercial pre-eminence were not duly represented in the Congress, rose in rebellion against it on the llth September. Alsina then became governor of Buenos Ayres ; and in the new civil war which was now inaugurated might be regarded as the representa tive of the city, which was his chief support, in opposition to the peasantry, who throughout the country districts were chiefly partisans of Urquiza, or of Rosas. Alsina resigned office in face of a rising of the country districts, under Colonel Lagos, in favour of a restoration of Rosas ; but Pacheco, who had defeated the Unitarian General Lavalle in 1840, rallied the city party, and with the support of the most influential citizens, proclaimed the aged General Pintos provisional governor, and the influence of the leading members of the foreign community was actively exerted in his favour. The defence of the city, now besieged by Lagos, was entrusted to General Hornos ; and Urquiza, having been duly elected president by the other thirteen provinces, came to terms with Lagos, and took command of the army of the besiegers; and in April 1853 his fleet blockaded the port. In July the besiegers suddenly dis appeared without awaiting an expected sally of the city forces under General Paz, now commander-in-chief. Urquiza signed, on board H.B.M. steamer&quot; Locust,&quot; as representative of the thirteen provinces, a treaty with Sir Charles Hotham, by which the free navigation of the rivers was confirmed. The province of Buenos Ayres then became established as an independent state, and inaugurated an era of commercial and political development, with Obligado as constitutional governor, whilst Parana became the capital of the thirteen provinces under Urquiza. Differential duties imposed by the Confederation for the purpose of preventing the foreign