Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/729

 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC 693 January, 1813, the chief power was vested in the "Sovereign Assembly" formed in Tucu- man, then the seat of government. About the same time Gen. Josd de San Martin, the gov- ernor of the province of Mendoza, conceived the project of crossing the Andes for the pur- pose of driving the Spaniards out of Chili. The enterprise proved successful, and Chili was freed after the memorable battles of Cha- cabuco and Maipd (1817-'18). Immediately afterward the Chilians and Argentines carried their united arms into Peru, and entered Li- ma in 1821. The Portuguese in 1816, under pretext of putting down anarchical movements set on foot in Uruguay by Artigas, descended into that territory and took possession of Monte- video, in spite of the protests of the Argentine government, then too busily engaged in pre- serving order at home and in carrying on the war of independence, to enter openly into hos- tilities against the invaders. The same year the independence of the United Provinces of La Plata was declared in Tucuman (July 9), in which city, after the dissolution of the sov- ereign assembly, a congress had assembled March 26, 1817, and promulgated a provisional constitution, Gen. Puyerredon being named supreme dictator. The seat of congress was afterward removed to Buenos Ayres, in the hope of securing greater liberty of action; but in 1820 the directory fell, and in the fol- lowing year a democratic form of govern- ment was established. The administration was composed of Gen. Rodriguez and two secre- taries, Don Bernardino Rivadavia and Don Ma- nuel Garcia. The riverine provinces soon uni- ted themselves with Buenos Ayres, and this al- liance led in 1824 to the organization of the re- public, under the administration of Las Heras. Brazil forced the United Provinces into a dec- laration of war, and blockaded the city of Bue- nos Ayres, January, 1826 ; and, though the Ar- gentine arms were for a time victorious by sea and land, the event served to prove the weak- ness of the union. It is important to remem- ber that the size of the different provinces was extremely various, and that the character and interests of the population were no less varied. It may also be added that the difficulty of establishing communication between the prov- inces rendered useless at times prudent meas- ures taken by the central government. There was almost a feudal aristocracy in the north ; in the wide ranges of the pastures the herds- men felt and exercised a rude power ; but there was a greater degree of moderation in the agricultural states. Buenos Ayres, as the only seaboard state, and as much the richest, nat- urally took the lead, both in preparing the way for independence and in forming the con- federacy. The higher classes possessed im- mense landed and other property. Many of them had been educated in Europe, and had introduced into South America the refinements of a high civilization, and hoped to extend those refinements over the whole country by means of a form of government. But under their ideas this government was to be wielded by the rich and educated classes. Their party, the Unitarios, succeeded in framing the consti- tution of 1825, under which the nation was represented by a small aristocracy. Rivadavia was the first and only president of the confed- eration under this constitution. The greater part of the large province of Buenos Ayres took its political bias from the independent and republican tone of the cattle drivers and herdsmen, who knew their power, and were not averse to asserting it. They soon found a leader in Juan Manuel de Rosas, who was descended from a noble family of Spain. Un- tutored in the arts of refinement, and at once daring in the highest degree, ambitious, and cunning, he soon found numerous supporters among the masses of the people, and especially after he had succeeded in extending the limits of the province of Buenos Ayres, by subduing the savages of the pampas and other indigenous tribes, who were implacable enemies of the gauchos or herdsmen. No sooner had he es- poused the cause of the federalists than his pop- ularity spread to the provinces, and he gained the sympathies of many prominent personages who regarded with a jealous eye the recent excesses of military power. He had opposed the Unitarios at the time of the union, although unsuccessfully; but by 1827 he had acquired sufficient influence, and found himself certain of the aid of other popular chieftains, such as Bustos, governor of G6rdoba, Ibarra, comman- dant of Santiago, Quiroga, of La Rioja, and Lopez, of Santa Fe. They protested against the constitution and government of 1825, and took up arms in force in support of their pro- test. Rivadavia, successor to Las Heras, seeing himself powerless to establish a Unitarian con- stitution, and aware that he could neither carry on the war against the Brazilians nor obtain a peace, resigned power, and Rosas and his colleagues chose Dorrego governor of Bue- nos Ayres. Dorrego made a treaty of peace with Brazil, through the mediation of England, in 1828, from which year dates the recognition of the Banda Oriental of Uruguay as an inde- pendent state, under the triple guaranty of Great Britain, the Argentine Republic, and Brazil. A confederation, based upon voluntary alliance was formed in January, 1831, between the provinces of Buenos Ayres, Corrientes, Entre-Rios, and Santa Fe, which were soon joined by the other provinces. But some of the officers who had commanded in the late war now began to regard with distrust the tri- umph of federal principles under Dorrego and the other governors ; and the established army of the republic set on foot a counter-revolution, headed by one Lavalle, an officer of some dis- tinction. Lavalle defeated Dorrego and Rosas, and shot the former without a trial. Rosas, however, with Quiroga of La Rioja and Lopez of Santa Fe, formed a new league and over- threw Lavalle, who resigned his post, Rosas be-